Source: thediplomat.com

The attacks should prompt Muslim-majority states to examine their own records.

filipinofreethinkers.org

The two major Muslim-majority states of Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia, have joined the chorus of condemnations against the deadly attacks in Paris on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

The incident against the newspaper, infamous for its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad whose depiction is forbidden in some interpretations of Islam, has once again thrust the issue of free speech to the international stage. In response, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak took to Twitter to declare his country’s unity with the French people, while Indonesia’s foreign ministry issued a statement backing French efforts to “bring the perpetrators to justice.”’

While this solidarity and moral clarity is admirable, these countries continue to persecute editors, cartoonists and other citizens at home for exercising the same freedom of speech Charlie Hebdo was entitled to. It did not escape the attention of some, for instance, that two of the most prominent voices from the region condemning the attacks – the editor of The Jakarta Post, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, and the controversial Malaysian cartoonist Zunar – are both also under scrutiny at home for cartoons that were deemed to offend public sensibilities.

Meidyatama is being investigated for blasphemy in Indonesia after his newspaper published a cartoon of the flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militant group last… read more at thediplomat.com