Commander Thayaparan

COMMENT | The cancellation of Fa Abdul’s play 'Sex in Georgetown City' (later renamed 'Love in Georgetown City'), is the kind of fascist tactic that most Malaysians should be horrified with, but which goes unnoticed because people do not understand how religious extremists count on small wins to achieve a big victory.

I read Pravindharan Balakrishnan’s letter to Malaysiakini about the cancellation of the play and marvelled at how Pravindharan talked about “functionalism,” our education system and conflicting normative values, which made it sound like we were at a tea party instead of a knife fight in an alley, which is exactly what the fight against religious extremism is in this country.

It is ridiculous talking about our screwed-up education system when the reality is that in Penang, for instance, the state government, which likes to claim it believes in secular values, has made it a point to out-spend the previous state government when it comes to Islamic funding. Just last year when Lim Guan Eng was still chief minister, he crowed that RM4.11 million to Islamic affairs showed that the state government did not neglect the welfare of Malays and Islam in the state.

I have made this point numerous times. When you fund organisations that promote a specific kind of Islamic narrative, what you get are religious bigots and extremists, probably enjoying gorging on state coffers, spouting religious propaganda to clamp down on our public space and define public policy.

So when the Penang mufti. objecting to a play he did not see because of its original title, says this - “Art and entertainment activities that are left uncontrolled will only lead to the destruction of humankind” – what we are left with is not a religious operative attempting to crack down on our public space, but rather state-sponsored, state-funded and state-sanctioned religious thuggery, that is attempting to define art and what is acceptable discourse in our public space.

Forget functionalism, this is about fascism. This is also about lies and hypocrisy. Both of which are the currency extremists trade in. Penang PAS Youth information chief Ahmad Shafian Ujar claimed that this play will lead to ‘free sex, baby dumping, drugs and other social issues.”

Which community is he representing? I did not see Christian, Hindu or Buddhist religious operatives protesting this play. So he’s there not for the non-Malays, but for the Malay community, the Islamic community.

What does this say about these social issues? It tells us that these "social problems" are more prevalent in areas where religious dogma is public policy This is a fact. Now, those places, I am sure, are not staging English-language productions with titles such as 'Sex in Kota Bharu.'

So when this religious operative blames the DAP state government for not cracking down on plays like this, I blame the Penang state government for continuing to outspend BN in furthering the agenda of religious intolerance and for failing to redefine the Malay/Muslim agenda in Penang.

That RM4.11 million could have been spent on bolstering educational initiatives for young Malays and after-school secular activities for Malay students, instead of funnelling money to the Islamic affairs bureaucracy which, let me guess, has no state oversight. This is what people mean when they say that Pakatan Harapan is not changing the narrative.

Drenched with sex

Then there is the hypocrisy. These religious types always like to make it seem as if non-Malays are obsessed with sex. Even though this particular play was written and produced by a Muslim, the implication is that these so-called liberal values are always attached to “sex”. The reality is that the Malay/Muslim media is drenched with sex. The Malay press reports endlessly on the sex lives of celebrities. They report endlessly on the sexual activities of the average Malay rakyat.

The Malay readership laps up these stories. For all this talk about banning plays and works of literature by these religious hoodlums, what is in the Malay media is the constant exploration, or should that be exploitation, of sex.

One of the protesters of Fa Abdul’s play was worried that the LGBTQ agenda would be propagated by her play. How about this? A couple of months ago, Malay-language daily Kosmo! ran a cover story title – ‘Terseksa jadi hamba seks teman serumah’ (Coerced into becoming sex-slave of housemate). For the record, I am not an avid Kosmo! reader. I have many young Malay friends who pass me this kind of news stories because to them it demonstrates the hypocrisy in their community.

This particular story is about how a young Malay male named Zach, in a loving heterosexual relationship with Shira, is blackmailed into committing homosexual sex acts with his housemate, Fariz, after the latter lends him money which he cannot pay back.

I have not seen Fa Abdul’s play, but this rencana utama (lead story) seems to me something our moral guardians would latch onto. I am curious though: if someone is blackmailed into committing homosexual sex acts, is it still a religious crime? After all, Zach thought this was a test from god - Dia juga mengakui lebih positif dan menganggap perkenalannya dengan Fariz adalah ujian daripada Tuhan. How does someone get coerced into committing homosexual acts? Apparently, he could not repay his loan, so he had sex in lieu of repayment. Then the guy records their sex acts and blackmails him for more sex.

And Zach eventually reconciled his relationship with Fariz as a test from god - Dia juga mengakui lebih positif dan menganggap perkenalannya dengan Fariz adalah ujian daripada Tuhan.

Why isn't there a clamour to shut down Kosmo!? Because our moral guardians are more interested in clamping down the public space in urban areas than in the Malay/Muslim public space?

Awang Hadi, Prisoner of RM90 Million, How Mamakthir squeezes Hadi's balls to dump UMNO

Its leaders have been exposed as corrupt individuals who would condone lying if it serves their narrow political interests. The withdrawal of the defamation suit and settlement against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown merely confirmed that PAS had received RM90 million from Umno just before the last general election.

Although its president Abdul Hadi Awang gave a detailed statement in a London court about the confession of the party’s central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz, yet in Malaysia, he pretended that he had not heard the recording. The out-of-court settlement in the UK with Rewcastle-Brown was another way of admitting that PAS actually had no case against her.

Further, the failure of PAS to expunge the actual statement from the article was proof beyond doubt that the party had accepted money from Umno. Hadi’s meeting with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last Friday and the promise that PAS would not support Umno in the Semenyih by-election was an attempt to wiggle out of a tight situation.

PAS and its leadership are in deep trouble. Its leaders have been painted as corrupted and a bunch of liars. The luxurious lifestyle of its leaders has been exposed to the public. In short, the artificial religious moral order that its leaders created have fallen flat. The party is in shambles.

Nobody trusts that Hadi, being such an opportunistic person, would stick to his promise to Mahathir that he would not support Umno in the coming by-election. He is too deceptive and slippery to be trusted. Even after receiving funds from Umno, Hadi would not think twice of betraying Umno. Umno deserves PAS and vice-versa.

A new twist

A few days after Hadi’s meeting with Mahathir, PAS leaders have come out with a new story, saying that they met up with Mahathir to reassure their support in case there is a vote of non-confidence against the prime minister by members of the other Pakatan Harapan component parties.

This is another preposterous lie by PAS leaders to cover up their moral decadence.

There is no such thing as other Harapan component parties trying to destabilise Mahathir. It is merely a figment of the wild imagination of PAS leaders trying to ingratiate themselves with Mahathir.

The recent U-turns by PAS leaders is a fear that the party is losing its political relevance in the country. Lies, corruption and opportunism are undermining the party from within.
If its leaders can condone lies in the name of religion, then there is no stopping the party from condoning other nefarious activities.

Amongst PAS leaders, there is fear of being investigated and the party deregistered for indulging in corruption. They do not have much choice other than to fall at the feet of Mahathir.

COMMENT | Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul's story is a familiar one when it comes to why people join Parti Sosialis Malaysia. Working for an NGO when he first came across PSM, he was impressed by their dedication to the rakyat.

As the PSM candidate for the coming Semenyih by-election, he is doing everything you would expect from a candidate of a political party that has always demanded real change, but has been failing at the ballot box.

He has declared his assets and agreed to a debate. The latter is a tiresome prospect because there are no real political debates – even in the West – where it is all about personality and not about policy.

Our Great Leader

COMMENT | One question that kept cropping up before May 9, was, could Pakatan Harapan control Dr Mahathir Mohamad if the coalition won the election? Harapan political operatives assured their base and fence- sitters that there were mechanisms in place that would constrain the former prime minister who many claimed was the architect of the kleptocracy that then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was leading. Very quickly after the election, it becomes obvious that Mahathir was still playing by his own rules and all those voices pre-election were muted, embroiled in their own battles of grappling with a bureaucracy that was attempting to find its new master.

Most people view Mahathir’s backtracking on accepting Umno members as some sort of betrayal of Harapan and the people who voted for them. But is it really a betrayal? I was not the only one writing of how the fall of Umno would see an infusion of Umno talent into Bersatu. I remember writing of how that this was the game plan, that Bersatu was the lifeboat for Umno members who wanted to jump ship.

James Chin’s 2017 article on why Mahathir is at the centre of Malaysia’s opposition power play is required reading for anyone who thinks that Mahathir’s moves are out of the ordinary. In it, he not only describes the political machinations of someone I consider the shrewdest political operator in modern Malaysian history but also clearly articulates the reasons why Mahathir joined the then opposition.

In numerous articles, I reminded readers that we should not be naive when it comes to backing Mahathir. As Chin rightly pointed out, the reason Mahathir joined the opposition was not for reform but to oust Najib. The central reason why this was feasible because it involved the Malay political establishment which is the only power structure which matters.

Two points, Chin made (and in all modesty which I have made numerous times also) are worth revising.

1. “The other two pillars of the Malay establishment, the civil service and the security forces, would also be much more likely to accept a non-BN government with Mahathir than they would one without. The Malay establishment has a deep fear of the DAP who many view as Chinese chauvinists who would destroy Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) and Ketuanan Islam (Islam supremacy) should they win government. With Mahathir at the helm of Harapan, these fears are minimised.”

2. “In summary, if the defenders of the Malay establishment are forced to hand over power to someone from outside the Umno, should it lose the upcoming election, there is no better person than Mahathir. For them, Mahathir simply represents an alternative Ketuanan Melayu leadership, rather than real political reforms.”

While PAS and Umno may attempt to continue the narrative that the “Chinese DAP" is controlling Mahathir, what they are really worried about is that the old maverick is slowly consolidating Bersatu’s power in the civil service and the security apparatus.

Some people see these Umno defectors as merely corrupt politicians jumping ship but it is deeper than that. What is really happening is people with influence in the Malay establishment and people who actually have an understanding of how the bureaucracy works – corruption and all – pledging allegiance to Bersatu to carry on "business as usual" to sustain a dominant Malay power structure, which Bersatu aims to be.

Post-Mahathir milieu

Bersatu, which is slowly replacing Umno as the right-wing Malay party capable of maintaining the system of patronage and privilege of the Malay community, is not something that happened overnight. It was the game plan from the start and if you believe that Harapan political operatives did not know this, then they are incompetent or are just plain lying to their base. Or maybe the base was drunk on the Kool-Aid.

Nowhere is this game plan more evident than in the recent allegations by Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer that the Harapan win rattled senior members of the judiciary (for a whole minute) but then they “extremely happy” when members of the old regime were elevated. "The talk among the judicial members was that they were appointed because of the influence of an ex-minister who they served earlier.”

So the question changes from “Can Harapan control Mahathir” to “Does Harapan want to control Mahathir?” This is really the question, right? Voters may have been fooled by the promises of reform but does anyone really think that the power-brokers in Harapan were fooled into thinking that joining up with Mahathir, the creation of Bersatu and the ousting of Najib would really bring the reform that this country needed?

Forget about the broken promises. Look at what is happening in Harapan. Besides a few nanny state policies, what they have been doing is reworking the policies of the former Umno/BN regime. This goes far beyond renaming BRIM or retaining propaganda organisations or re-tweaking economic and social policies to give them a new spin which is the least of our problems.

These days, the DAP seems more interested in deflecting than in reforming, going after the MCA which has nothing to lose by reminding DAP of its failed reform policies. Meanwhile, PKR and Amanah are having to grapple with the fact that the Malay establishment has very little use for them and the smarter political operatives are already forming alliances which would be of use in a post-Mahathir milieu.

Sure, you can point to some political operatives who are making noises about the moves of the Harapan Grand Poohbah but the reality is that the real power-brokers in Harapan and their influential minions are remaining silent because they understand that this was the nature of the bargain they made to get federal power.

The upcoming Semenyih by-election is a good example of the inevitability of the ascension of Bersatu. Even if Bersatu loses Semenyih, it more than makes up for it with further defections from Umno. While a loss in Semenyih may look bad perception-wise, the reality is that the Malay establishment never relied on elections to maintain power.

Umno may claim bragging rights if they win Semenyih but it would be worse for them in the long run if more members jump ship and they are straddled with an “official” alliance with PAS. People will forget the Semeyih loss in wake of more defections and consolidating power through defections is a game not anything as unpredictable as elections.

COMMENT | For those of us who view religious extremism, which is reaching critical levels as the existential threat facing this country, Siti Kasim is the raised middle finger to the religious bigots, fascist crypto-Islamists and race supremacists who have control and influence in this country.

Whether fighting for the rights of women, indigenous people, the LGBTQ community or opposing radical Islam, Siti Kasim has made herself a target for the religious bureaucracy and political operatives in the establishment.

While most Muslims who do not support the darker paths of Islam are content to hope for a moderate agenda from the political and religious elite, Siti openly advocates a progressive agenda for all Malaysians.

In this interview, Siti reminds us why people who read are dangerous to the established order of things, and continues in her effort to save Malaysia from the political and religious class who view her as a threat to their dominion.

Siti Kasim is an inconvenient reminder that the progressive forces in this country that could save Malaysia are being marginalised, and that speaking truth to power is problematic in these partisan times.

Do you think the persecution you face is based on the fact that you are a woman questioning religious dogma? Yes, being an outspoken woman does not sit well with the patriarchy culture of radical Islamism. Also, a woman who does not conform to their view on how a Muslim woman should be.

How do you cope with the harassment you receive?

I try to ignore and focus on my causes. Of course, I can’t run away from reading the nasty messages sent to me, but I take it in my stride and believe that what I am doing is right for my country and my fellow Malaysians. The supportive messages I receive give me the strength to continue, and I know I am on the right path. I thank God for giving me a strong constitution to face all the negativity thrown at me.

What do you think is the Attorney-General's Chambers' (AGC) role in the current charges against you?

I am not sure what is the AGC’s role in the current charges against me. (Note: This interview was conducted before the AGC dropped the charges against Siti Kasim for showing her middle finger to hecklers in a forum.) From what’s stated by OCCI Fadzil, he received the endorsement to charge me from the previous AGC. I believe it’s selective persecution against me by certain quarters within the government.

How do you engage with Muslims who believe in the Islamist mode of thinking and believe that sanctions against you are justified?

You have no hope of engaging with them. These are people who are indoctrinated in radical Islamism. The teachings, the mentality of which is no different from that of Talibanism and ISIS terrorists. Only Taliban and ISIS terrorists will sanction others for being different from them. The only difference between them and the Taliban and ISIS is that they have no power or weapons to carry out their threats. When they have those, the country will be torn asunder.

Yet our government does not seem to realise that we have a serious terrorist mentality bred with extreme prejudice inside our society, which needs to be eradicated. This is a serious problem today.

Malay-Muslims are participating in and leading terrorist organisations all around the world. We have groups like Skuad Badar, which is nothing more than a terrorist organisation without weapons terrorising people. We have people like Amri Che Mat and Pastor Koh disappearing in plain daylight and never to be heard again. We should be terrified. Not talking about it is not going to make it go away. We need to tackle it head-on with extreme conviction.

Does being a "liberal" Muslim who appeals to a certain demographic bring with it more problems when engaging in the Islamic discourse? It should not be. Remember our Rukun Negara has the word 'liberal' in it, and it was written by Malay leadership at a time when Malay society needed to progress. In fact, most of the liberal Muslims I know have more knowledge about the Quran than the majority of the Malay population because liberals read more on their own and don't depend on the cleric class to tell them about their religion.

Do you think that Mujahid Yusof Rawa (photo) is doing enough to offer a counter-narrative in the Islamic discourse in this country?

No. They are still not facing the fact that our religious-bent Malaysian education system is delivering to us every year a more radicalised Islamist generation who are intolerant and increasingly militant in mindset. It is no surprise that PAS is increasing in strength, and Umno has to be more radical Islamist than before in order to gain Malay votes.
We need to change this mindset by changing education to go back to our secular humanist roots. The roots that made the Malays progressive and more developed in the 80s.

What do you think is the most important issue facing the Orang Asal community in this country and what has the Harapan government done to address this issue?

First, I'd like to correct the usage of Orang Asal and Orang Asli. The 'Orang Asal' term is used for Sabah and Sarawak indigenous people, whilst Orang Asli is for those in the peninsula. The Orang Asli are largely forest or agriculture based, although several individuals have achieved levels of educational and economic success comparable to those of the dominant population.

Nevertheless, it is no hidden secret that the Orang Asli rank among the most marginalised of Malaysians today, not just in terms of numbers, but in their ability to determine their own fate. The once politically autonomous and independent people are but a pale likeness of their ancestors. Much of this has to do with the fact that the Malaysian nation state does not recognise the Orang Asli as a separate people - that is, as distinct groups associated with particular territorial bases and requiring 'government' on a different basis from that of the other communities.

But, as can be discerned from their demands, the Orang Asli are not, at least not yet, seeking self-determination in the sense that they want to secede from the Malaysian nation-state. Rather, the desire is to exercise full autonomy in their traditional territories, both in the control and ownership of their lands, and in the determination of their way of life and in the way they deal with the dominant society.

The issue of Orang Asli land rights is but the most visible and deeply-felt manifestation of the principal problem facing the Orang Asli viz-a-viz the unwillingness of the state to recognise the Orang Asli as a distinct people. Using the 'land rights' problem as a strategy for Orang Asli political mobilisation is rational because the issue is deeply felt among the communities, easily identifiable, and it is the source of much social stress for the Orang Asli.

With the recent suit which our federal government initiated against the Kelantan state government, it can be seen that the Pakatan Harapan government is attempting to correct the wrongs. We have also seen more Orang Asli senators being appointed when they came into power.

From our engagement with the current government, we can see there is a lot more improvement than before, at least with the current minister in charge of Orang Asli Affairs. We hope the Harapan government will continue with its determination in trying to solve our Orang Asli problems.

Do you believe that Harapan has a moderate Islamic agenda?

They have, but they do not know how to go about it. They do not have the leadership for it. The political will is missing. I will be talking in more detail on this subject in my column soon.

Do you think it is important for non-Muslims to speak up when they witness Islamic transgressions or does this make the situation worse?

Yes. We need them to stand up for fellow Malaysians, and Malays who are being persecuted by the conservative Islamist authorities, to ensure Malaysia will always be the home for their children and grandchildren to live in and prosper. When any public policy is based on any religious ideology, every citizen must have the right to speak up about it.

Is the press doing its part in highlighting Islamic provocations?

No. It has not done enough to highlight and criticise.

Why do think "moderate" Muslims are afraid to speak up?

Just look at the social media comments by their so-called fellow Muslims against anyone who does not conform to them. The amount of vile comments, threats of sanctions, harassment, persecution and even threat of physical harm by the Islamist elements in Malay society are enough to scare away and silence many Muslims.

Do you think the Malay community needs Islamic departments at state and federal levels?

Under ideal conditions, the answer would have been 'no', but in our environment we need a federal department that can monitor and revamp radical Islamic teaching that is going on today to abolish them. That should be their job.

Our Great Leader

COMMENT | The quote by Lim Kit Siang that opens this piece is open for debate. Most post-election analyses have determined that Mahathir did not create the Malay tsunami that his allies hoped he would.

For the record, in numerous pieces before the 14th general election, I advocated that Harapan should stop waffling and endorse the former prime minister for the top job, using the same line of reasoning as Kit Siang.

The upcoming Semenyih by-election comes on the heels of the Cameron Highlands debacle. Post-May 9, the Malay power brokers in Harapan and their non-Malay enablers have failed to counter the Malay and Islamic narratives of the Umno/PAS union. This by-election is seen as a bellwether for Malay support of Harapan, and Harapan political operatives tell me that they are leaving nothing to chance.

If you thought that Harapan playing the BN game in Cameron Highlands was bad, you will witness the full glory of neo-BN in the Semenyih by-election. Most analysts agree that Harapan has to play the race and religion card in Semenyih. This has received blowback from many quarters, which puzzles me.

Harapan partisans have been calling and emailing me, outraged that the strategy seems to be to court the Malay vote in the upcoming Semenyih by-election, which runs contrary to the idea of New Malaysia. Firstly, there is no New Malaysia. This should be evident by now.

If Bersatu and Mahathir were needed before the election to court the rural and semi-urban Malay vote, why is there opposition to tactics and strategies to maintain the Malay vote post-May 9? Lim Kit Siang said, “Pakatan Harapan lacks any personality capable of convincing rural Malay voters to support the pact, aside from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.”

In 2017, Kit Siang said that while he did not agree with all of Mahathir’s reasoning for not allowing the DAP to contest under the Bersatu ticket – if the DAP were de-registered – he understood his stand. Meanwhile, Mahathir said that PPBM (Bersatu) needed to remain a Malay party because the Malays were still communal.

Mahathir said: “If they (Malay voters) see a multi-racial party, they will not support it. They (Pakatan Rakyat) got a lot of support from the Chinese, but little Malay support and without it, you can’t win. So we can replace Umno with our group (Bersatu), not by being like Umno, but we would be a Malay party.”

Kit Siang seemed fine with this and offered a kind of restatement of old Alliance-style politics when he claimed – “Bersatu was still more Malaysian than Umno, as the former wants Malays to unite and work with other citizens, while the latter wants Malaysians to remain Malays, Chinese and Indians and is even trying to polarise the next elections as a battle between the Malays and Chinese.”

So this whole idea of Bersatu and Malay power brokers playing the race and religion card in Semenyih as something anathema to New Malaysian politics is horse manure. There are two kinds of partisans. The ones who understand they were making a deal with the devil to oust Najib, and those who believed there was a new Malaysia.

'RM90 million scandal a positive strategy'

Bersatu and PAS people who I talk to are feeling good about the upcoming Semenyih by-election. Umno has never been the underdog, one said, and if we take Semenyih, we would have demonstrated that we are still a force to be reckoned with in the Malay community, an old Umno friend, said recently.

Meanwhile, PAS political operatives tell me that they are going to be playing up the “persecution” card in their campaigning. “This RM90 million scandal could be a positive strategy for us, because the AG is a non-Malay, and we can argue that this is some sort of religious persecution,” one of them said.

Indeed, for people who held their noses and voted for Harapan, knowing full well what they were getting into, the stench is becoming unbearable. But what else is there for Harapan to do, asked a non-Malay political operative who spoke to me a few days ago. People, non-Malays, talk about the “Malay” strategy as if it were something in the past and not the strategy Harapan employed to give it federal power.

I keep asking Malay political operatives in Harapan why they do not offer a counter-Malay narrative to what Umno and PAS are offering. The answer is always the same. The grassroots are not interested. Those who voted for Harapan are mocked by those who did not vote for Harapan, as being lied to by Mahathir. They took a chance on us and now we have to deliver like Umno, a Harapan political backer informed me.

I argued that this is the problem. The Malay political elite does not want to change the narrative. The non-Malay establishment has calculated that it is better that they play along, instead of making waves, allowing the discourse to be dominated by this New Malaysia horse manure which plays into the hands of the far right.

I often reference this Bersatu strategist I like talking to because she gives it to me straight: “Commander, it is like this. The Malays are in a win-win situation now. Those who did not vote for us are not going to be marginalised by Harapan, and they know it.
“Those who voted for us are a bit confused as to what exactly the Harapan Malay agenda is. PAS and Umno are pointing to those policies which they say usurp Malay rights and Islam. We have to play the race and religion card and if any non-Malay member says how can we do this, they are liars because they knew this would be a fight for the Malay vote.”

Malaysiakini : “Ong said given the more serious nature of the revelation, Najib must ask the two ministers to quit to reflect his seriousness in upholding accountability.” - Malay Mail, June 26, 2013

COMMENT | I have no idea what will become of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the mass graves at Wang Kelian. While NGOs and activists have expressed support for the government’s decision to set up this RCI, I remain sceptical if anything will come of it.

Wang Kelian is more than just a mass grave. It is an indictment of a system that is mired in corruption bordering on the evil and a society that has very little interests in the plight of marginalised peoples who come to our homeland.

We are a nation that has still not acknowledged our history of slavery upon the indigenous people of this country. We do not attempt to learn from our past. We bury it, hoping that we may escape whatever lessons it could have taught us.

The executive director of the human rights NGO Tenaganita, Glorene A Das, reminded the powers that be to also investigate the individuals (including those who may be politically linked) who were behind the cover-up of Wang Kelian: “The reported cover-up of the activities of human trafficking syndicates and the annihilation of vital evidence needs to be explained; those involved in it should be brought to justice, without fear or favour.”

And this is an important point. The fact is that Wang Kelian could not have happened if the was no collusion among crime syndicates, the state security apparatus and most importantly, the political class who were needed to facilitate and give legitimacy to a cover-up. We are talking about high crimes perpetrated by local actors working in concert with foreign high-ranking officials.

With this in mind, the idea that the police are going to “assist” in this RCI is laughable. One of the things I argued that the new Pakatan Harapan government should do, after their historic May 9 win, is to unearth the killers and slavers of Wang Kelian. I have a deep mistrust of the state security apparatus. Please refer to this piece.

In it you will discover that all Bukit Aman has done is to stonewall journalists investigating this case. They dodged questions from the then opposition political operatives, contaminated (or worse) the crime scenes and these were enabled by the ruling BN regime. International publications like the Guardian reported that the state department claimed that there was high-level participation of government officials in Malaysia and Thailand in the Wang Kelian mass killings.

A police Special Branch report compiled over 10 years detailed the systemic corruption within the enforcement agencies, claiming that at least 80 percent of law enforcement officers at the border were corrupt. The DAP’s Steven Sim (photo), who has been doing sterling work, which often went unreported, questioned then home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the status of 12 police officers who were persons of interests in this crime and what did the home minister say in his written reply? That there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.

No independent investigation was done

Bukit Aman, when this issue first seeped into the mainstream media, claimed that there was no evidence that any police personnel were involved. Never mind that evidence was tampered with. Never mind that there was circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing. Never mind that political operatives from the highest levels of the Umno system were repeating the same denials as the state security apparatus, despite no independent investigation having been done.

We are now to believe that the police are suddenly interested in discovering the “truth”
Unfortunately, the "truth" is unpalatable when it comes to human trafficking in Malaysia. As per this report: In one of their major coups in 2011, the Special Branch arrested eight Immigration Department officers based at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for their alleged involvement in a human-trafficking operation. When interrogating the suspects, one of them was asked, "Who else are in the payroll of the syndicate?" And the shocking answer was: "It would be easier if you asked us for the names of officers not on the take."

Do you know what is dangerous about the game we are playing here? Forget about the fact that Bukit Aman assisting in this investigation should raise red flags. Consider the political operatives and their hangers-on who could have been involved in this. What we have are political operatives who are now part of the government, who were also part of the old regime. Who can you really trust when it comes to this RCI, in the sense that some kind of political interference could be applied to save the collective behinds of political operatives in the establishment and the opposition.

What we have are political operatives and their hangers-on who could have profited or covered up crimes in the old regime and who now work in this new regime. Would they really be interested in the truth being exposed? Would they really be interested to shine a light on the nexus of criminal enterprises, the security apparatus and political power in this country?

And what of the state security apparatus? Has there been any real reform since the Harapan government took over? There were rumblings of closing down certain units and chatter on the streets was because these units had become so entangled in criminal syndicates they were supposed to be investigating. It would be easier to close down these units and sweep everything under the carpet. I have said before, that the state security apparatus is riddled with petty fiefdoms, whose allegiances shift with the turning of the political tide.

COMMENT | One of the things I find interesting is former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s public transformation of his image as a privileged Malay politician to that of an everyman attempting to fight the system hell-bent on destroying him. The Pakatan Harapan regime, for various reasons, comes off as malicious or tone-deaf to the message Najib is disseminating to the Malay base.

What Najib is doing is tapping into the class resentments in the Malay community, while demonising the Chinese community through a stand-in – the DAP. Harapan plays the same narrative – like demonsing the PRC – not realising (or not caring) that this narrative ultimately arrives at the same destination, the Malaysian Chinese community as a scapegoat for the mendacity of mainstream Malay international business deals, or toxic communal relationship or dissatisfaction of economic standards brought upon by unbalanced economic polices that favour a specific capitalist class in the Malay community.

COMMENT | Malaysiakini columnist Zan Azlee’s latest piece is a response to Hafidz Baharom’s letter – and the discourse surrounding the hypocrisy of supporting Icerd but justifying the overt racism of certain property-owners here in Malaysia.

Mind you, I do not think Zan understands the etymology of the term “institutional racism” (which I will leave to readers to discover and which is why I use the word “overt”) but I understand where he is coming from. What he means, I assume, are the pro-Malay racist policies that define the social, economic and political landscape of Malaysia.

Nor do I think that Zan was justifying racism but it sure as hell comes off that way when a couple with the means to pay for accommodation are rejected based on the colour of their skin or their religious beliefs. The last thing they would think is the landlord is “fussy” and I am sure if you told them that this landlord supports Icerd, they would burst out in laughter.

The idea that you can be in favour of something like Icerd yet still believe that individuals are perfectly within their rights to discriminate based on race or religion is exactly the kind of horse manure that infects this country and which helps the political class maintain power.

One “award-winning” journalist when interviewed on a radio station actually said that while racism is a problem, she did not believe the state had the right to legislate when it comes to personal property. She made the distinction between the “discrimination” of (and by) the state and babbled on about how education would slowly ameliorate individual racism.

Really? The state is always legislating when it comes to individual property. The state is always legislating when it comes to how we conduct business. This idea for anti-discrimination laws when it comes to tenancy agreements (for instance) and something the state should not get involved in, is complete horse manure.

The central theme of Icerd is eliminating all forms of racism and discrimination and while the legalese of this convention is contextualised in support of certain race-based agendas, at the heart of it, what its proponents hoped Icerd would do is put us on the road towards reforming a system which is mired in the kind of racism and bigotry detrimental to social and economic cohesion.

This really goes beyond to use Zan’s term “fussy” landlords but rather the poisoned racial discourse in this country where certain types of racism are accepted – nay, encouraged - but where people clamour for the state to get rid of its racist policies.
“Racial preference” is such a quaint term. It’s like saying some of my best friends are people in my non-preferred category but I just do not want to rent out to them. Landlords having specific criteria that anyone could theoretically fulfil is not racism. It becomes racism when the criterion is race, or bigotry when it comes to religion.

Of course, people are blind to some things in this country or worse, do not really care. This idea that the state was racist, which created a separate space for the non-Malays to compete, live and die in, has resulted in a discourse which not only alienates people but also encourages a siege mentality in the non-Malay community.

It like people who scream that there is no discrimination in the private sector and that the only discrimination that exists is the kind carried out by the state. Or when they claim that there is discrimination in the private sector but it is more important for the state to handle the discrimination it perpetuates.

Really dumb

What people fail to understand is that the political class in this country benefit when people condone certain forms of racism instead of rejecting them outright. Racists will make all sort of justifications for their racism which will include prior experience with a specific race, falling back on racial stereotypes, deep-rooted anger for the systemic racism by the state or just plain, old-fashioned ignorance.

And the political class likes this state of play. Indeed, when mainstream politicians advocate some form of anti-discriminatory laws, what they are really doing is inviting the non-Malays especially to call out the racism of the state while defending the racial preference of the individual which is spun to look like the preference of the community even though many people would object to justifying racism in their name. Or at least, that’s what I hope.

Why do they do this? Because it helps their narrative that without the protection of preferential policies, they would be at the mercy of the minorities who have no problem – or so they claim – with preferential policies of their own.

They get to point to the hypocrisy of these people who clamour for something like Icerd but have no problem being “racists” when it comes to their interests. This is why the majority need the protection of the state and why the minorities want to strip the majority of this protection or so the official mainstream goes. This whole idea that some pundits like to propagate that, “We are Malaysians, we are all racists” to support certain agendas while disavowing others is really dumb.

Whenever I hear this, I say, “Speak for yourself.” I am always questioning my ideas when it comes to race and religion. I support legalisation and ideas which address these issues and sometimes disagree with the solutions offered.

Imagine what would happen if a non-Malay politician said that he or she supports something like Icerd but also supports the right of landlords for racial preference. What signal would this send to the Malay community? So it's easy under the cover of anonymity to promote a racist agenda but not so easy to justify such a stand either politically or morally when you are promoting a "new Malaysia".

All this goes back to the Bangsa Malaysia Kool-Aid. That stupid idea that seeks to eliminate race from the discourse under certain - political expedient – conditions. This has made an honest conversation about race impossible. If people were seriously interested in reform, they would support something like Icerd and condemn the racism that is perpetrated through government policy as well as condemn racism carried out by some of the rakyat.

COMMENT | This is God’s honest truth. I am more wary of the crypto Islamists within Pakatan Harapan – more so now that Harapan is the establishment – than I am of PAS. 

There was a meme floating around before the Cameron Highlands by-election, that Harapan should be working in some form or another with PAS. After the by-election, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was asked, considering the results, if it was time for Harapan to woo PAS.