Malaysiakini : "Efforts by the government to uphold Islam can be seen in the constitution which has placed Islam as the religion of the federation." - Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki

COMMENT | The quote by Asyraf that opens this piece was made when he was a panellist at a conference titled "Bicara Minda dan Sesi Dialog Perjuangan For All" in 2017. Why is this important? This is important because another panellist at that conference was then Umno info chief Annuar Musa.

Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa recently said that the recent guidelines for alcohol applications and sales had nothing to do with religion and was a strategy to look after the well-being of "the Kuala Lumpur community, especially the less fortunate and the needy in continuing with their lives amidst the Covid-19 pandemic".

The prime minister, on another related issue, even "joked" about how it may be a good idea for nightclubs and pubs to remain closed because it is difficult to have "social distancing" in these venues points to the kind of religious and moral pandering that goes in this Malay uber alles government.

Take this anecdote from Martin Vengadesan's latest report where "live music and deejays are already not allowed, but many more are not even permitted to play piped-in music or even broadcast entertainment on their TV screens".

Keep in mind: this is a country where we have a religious body which decries "excessive laughter", where it was reported that "Jakim (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) believes that the guidelines will be a reference point for all parties, including those in the creative industry, so that the work they produce is in line with Islamic teachings and will not impact the society negatively."

Annuar Musa, if you recall, was the political operative who, at a red shirt rally in 2015, claimed that his racism was based on "Islam".

"Being racial is endorsed in Islam as long as you are not cruel towards other people. This rally, if you say is racist, yes. What are you scared of? Islam has put in place guidelines; what is not allowed is racism that is cruel towards other races," he was reported to have said.

Annuar attempted to walk back on those statements, arguing that his love for his "race" did not make him a racist and that even the prophet decried racism but loving one's own race did not fall into the Islamic definition of racism.

Remember when a group of agitators started "taking down" alcoholic drinks in Kampung Manjoi, and the feeble statements made by the Perak MB who told folks not to take the law into their own hands but advised other shop operators operating in other Malay villages to be "more sensitive to the feeling of locals"?

Annuar Musa talked about religion not being cruel towards "other people" but attempting to curtail the sale and distribution of products which are important – for whatever reasons – to non-Muslims, goes against the canard that non-Muslims are told that Islamic laws do not affect them.

Our "sensitivities" do not matter when it comes to the promulgation of laws that curtail our civil liberties and economic activities. When religious operatives rejoice because of laws and regulations that conform to their religious dogma, this is evidence that such laws having "nothing to do with religion" is pure grade A horse manure.

When these restrictions were announced, the Islamic forces in this country rejoiced. We have had numerous religious and political operatives from PAS, and even Umno, laud this decision as some sort of recognition of the religious imperatives of this government, even though the state claimed this has nothing to do with religion.

What better time to weaken our public and private spheres than during a pandemic? The movement control order was the perfect opportunity to curtail commercial activities that the deep Islamic state deems to be antithetical to the concept of an authentic Islamic state.

The fact that Annuar attempts to portray this as anything other than further encroachment of our non-Muslim public spheres, and the fact that there has been very little pushback from Malay opposition political operatives, is further evidence that this is a "religious issue" because Malay/Muslim political operatives do not want to be caught on the "wrong" side of this issue.

The agenda of the religious state since Perikatan Nasional achieved power is to ensure that non-Muslims are subject to Islamic dogma, whether they like it or not.

It is just that low hanging fruits, like alcohol licences, pubs and nightclubs, are easier overt targets. The idea is that they will have enough non-Muslim support who are duped into this scam – for whatever reasons - and then to normalise the agenda of the Islamic state.

Three years ago, the state security apparatus stopped a terrorist attempt by a young man to bomb a beer festival. His main goal was to disrupt the event and kill non-Muslims. We know this because initial investigations, as reported in the press, revealed that he "was motivated by incidents affecting Muslims, and decided that Malaysia had strayed from its role as a true Islamic nation". We also know from initial investigations that he did not have any contact with any Malaysian or Islamic State militants.

What does this tell us about the state of play of the religious agenda of this country? Whenever laws which have a direct impact on the economic issue of non-Muslims, but I would argue more importantly on the erosion of our public and private spheres, the state uses all sorts of "secular" rationales. Despite this, we have extremists who do not think that the state is going far enough. Where do you think these extremists get these ideas?

Annuar Musa does not get to say that the government cares for the well-being of the Kuala Lumpur community. He has already said that he cares about the Malays uber alles, and what we are witnessing is his devotion to his first and only love.

This is what I refer to as the religious pandemic agenda.