Fudgy Logic
Technorati tags: Federal Constitution, Fudgy Logic, Malaysia, Article 11, Conservatives, Islam
No, it's not a typo.
The term fudgy logic is something Walski made up yesterday morning while driving in to work. You probably won't find it in any dictionary. Walski only recently submitted it to the Urban Dictionary for review (although, if you Googled fudgy logic you may come up with a handful of references).
It basically denotes a faulty method of reasoning, whereby, beginning with a conclusion, it is the process of using faulty and sometimes made up assumptions, reasoning and justifications, to arrive at the said foregone conclusion. Let's look at an example.
"Proton is the national car. Therefore, I oppose any discussions about the automotive industry outside the context of Proton." - Mat Nusia
And that is exactly the kind of stand, vis-a-vis the Malaysian Federal Costitution, being made by conservative Muslims (or so we are led to believe), as articulated by one specific blogger, who seems to be of the opinion that he speaks on behalf of all Muslims in Malaysia. In the first-person plural, to boot, giving the allusion of superiority and some sort of imagined authority.
Specifically, this person chooses to uphold Article 3 of the Federal Constitution, in which is stated that "Islam is the religion of the Federation", as part of subsection (1). And this is possibly the only portion of that article that he could see (people with tunnel-vision tend to do that). The complete subsection reads as follows:
Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation
Article 3 consists of five (5) clauses, and clause (4) states:
Nothing in this Article derogates from any other provision of this Constitution.
What this means is that all other Articles 1, 2, 4 through 183 stand as they are written, and Article 3 takes nothing away from them. Including Article 11. Upholding Article 3 in its entirety (and not selecetive portions as one deems convenient) implicitly upholds Article 11 as well.
To argue that one portion of clause (1) alone means that the entire Federal Constitution of the Federation of Malaysia cannot be interpreted in a secular sense would generally be thought of as wishful thinking to most. To Walski, it's fudgy logic.
"My momma says Stupid is as Stupid does"
Tom Hanks in Forest Gump
