The Ape and Jackass from Pas Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh

Malaysiakini : COMMENT | Almost two weeks after the sensitive Bible remarks uttered by PAS lawmaker Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, it is clear that the people of Sarawak have not got over it yet. Yesterday, 10 NGO and civil society leaders lodged a police report against the Pasir Puteh MP at the Kota Sentosa police station in Kuching.

Last Thursday (Sept 3), my colleagues in the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS), also lodged a similar report in Kuching. We did so to express our solidarity with the Association of Churches, Sarawak’s (ACS) strong protest against the PAS lawmaker. The Council of Churches of Malaysia had also demanded an apology from Zawawi.

It has been nine years since MoCS has lodged a police report against any politician. Zawawi’s case was one we took exception to. Hence, this affirmative action. It is wrong, wrong, wrong for an MP to speak negatively in the august House against another religion that is not his own. Surely, even the not-so-smart MPs with a little brain would realise that they must be guided by such decorum.

Even though we are aware that it would be difficult for the police to take action against lawmakers for their speeches in Parliament, the report is to put on record our vehement protest against hate and sacrilegious statements from politicians.

ACS chairperson Kuching Archbishop Simon Poh (above, second from left) had earlier described the MP’s remark as a “direct insult” to the Christian holy text. In an interview with the media last week, the archbishop rightly said that “Parliament is a place to solve, not create problems”. Isn’t it an irony that an MP, who has claimed to have studied comparative religion, and is supposedly an intelligent fella, has to be told by a non-politician and a clergyman of how to conduct himself in Parliament?

Zawawi, it would do you a world of good to heed the archbishop’s sincere advice.
Yesterday, Senior Minister Fadillah Yusof of PBB also hit out at Zawawi, saying that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) does not condone such action. Fadillah, who is also the works minister, stressed that although GPS is part of the Perikatan Nasional-led federal government, it does not mean that the Sarawak’s ruling coalition supports individuals from the PN pact who say things that go against the GPS’ struggle for Sarawakians.

Ticking off the PAS lawmaker isn’t enough. I urge Fadillah (above) to bring up the matter with PN chief and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and have Zawawi reprimanded for his callous indulgence in open bigotry. The MP must be told to apologise. There are no two ways around it. This is a demand from Sarawak Christians, and we expect PN and GPS to deliver.

The majority of Malaysians, including Muslims, do not tolerate religious bigots and extremists. So, will Zawawi be man enough to apologise? And he must do it with sincerity from the heart and not just say that “if my words have hurt some groups, I apologise”. To me, that is not good enough. It smacks of insincerity. That is a politician’s familiar attempt of getting away with a straight apology and salvaging some self-pride.
If Zawawi remains defiant and still refuses to apologise to Christians, then we would know how to judge the man’s character and whether he is worthy of being an elected representative.

If our words are considered acrimonious or have hurt others, even unintentionally, it takes a real man and leader to express humility in acknowledging the possibility of a mistake. So far, there is no indication that Zawawi possesses any humility.

'We're all against drunk driving'

I have also digested the Pasir Puteh MP’s lengthy defence of his speech and why he does not think it is necessary for him to apologise as “Christians have no right to be offended”. No matter how he tried to defend himself, what has drunk-driving got to do with religion in the first place? Has it not occurred to Zawawi that all of us (sans drunkards) are against drunk-driving and would support heavier penalties for the offence?

Why the need to indulge in bigotry and claim that the Bible had been distorted? I don’t think a real expert in comparative religion will ever talk negatively about other faiths. That will only cause divisiveness, animosity and hatred in a pluralistic society. At times, I wonder whether Zawawi is another ambitious PAS politician who is only attempting his best to hasten his climb up the political ladder by impressing his party bosses with his Islamic credentials.