Malaysiakini : What serious offence did the duo commit to warrant such treatment?

The police force, especially then inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, said the arrests were made for “insulting Islam” after the death of PAS spiritual leader Haron Din the previous day.

In Ooi’s case, the police interpreted the Spanish word adios (goodbye) as derogatory.

The truth is that the police can be “super-efficient” if they choose. If it is argued that this incident occurred in September 2016 and the situation has changed, let’s look at a later case.

In March last year, Ricky Shane Cagampang, 33, pleaded guilty in the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court to making a Facebook post deemed insulting to Islam concerning the sale of socks bearing the word Allah.

The case was investigated, and the offender was arrested, got a nod from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, produced in court, convicted, and sent to prison - all in five days.

Velvet gloves for PAS

Last week, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail both claimed the police do not use favouritism or double standards in investigating cases related to race, religion, and royalty.

But on Sunday, Saifuddin told a different story.

He said that if Putrajaya is strict in enforcing laws involving the “3R” issues of religion, race, and royal institution, leaders from PAS would make up most of those implicated.

“I can confirm that if action were taken based on existing laws, many of (PAS secretary-general) Takiyuddin Hassan’s colleagues would be affected,” Sinar Harian quoted him as saying.

“If I or the police were to enforce provisions under the Penal Code, the (Communications and Multimedia Act), or other laws, they would be among the most frequently penalised,” he added.

So, he is confirming that members of the Islamic party are treated with velvet gloves and, above all, there is selective police action and prosecution.

Is this why no action has been taken against those making provocative statements touching the 3Rs?

Is Zamri untouchable too?

Is this why Muslim convert preacher Zamri Vinoth has not been touched and allowed to continue to taunt and mock the Hindu religion on social media?

Zamri last week said Hindus performing the Kavadi ritual “dance” are like those who are drunk or possessed.

After Meta removed his post on Sunday, he re-posted it later that night, claiming he did not need to be remorseful for his remarks as he only stated facts.

He defiantly wrote: “I only stated facts and truth. No court has decided that what I wrote insulted anyone nor has there been a ruling telling me to remove the post.”

Is this why he defies the government and its institutions with impunity?

Is this why calls by government MPs and ministers continue to fall on deaf ears? Is Zamri one of those “untouchables” like PAS leaders who can say anything and everything as if above the law?

This is not the first time Zamri has mocked, ridiculed, and scorned the Hindu religion and it will not be the last. He will continue his tirade unless he faces the full wrath of the law.

But when the police close the files on his cases and classify them as “NFA” (no further action), can we expect anything?

Anwar and Saifuddin cannot pull wool over our eyes and continue to say one thing and do another. They must ensure that the laws of the land are applied equally and fairly to all.

Malaysiakini : COMMENT | We should start with what Zamri Vinoth said: “If you find it upsetting, then stop doing it so that others won’t follow.

“If you choose to continue, then don’t be offended (when others mock it). So, pick one.”

He is saying that the religious practices of Hindus are debased (macam orang kena rasuk) while intoxicated (mabuk todi), but if you do not want people to mock your debased practices, stop doing them.

In other words, Zamri, who has links with the state religious bureaucracy, is telling Hindus that they have to stop their religious practices if they do not want people to mock them.

If you listen to what Zamri says or even Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, another state-linked religious convert, you will notice the echoes of what Zakir Naik pushes in his “inspirational” sermons.

This idea that there is something wrong with your faith is why conversion is necessary to ameliorate doubts about your faith and circumstances.

You have to understand who Zamri is - a preacher who was arrested and then released in 2019 for a sermon which insulted Hindus in Malaysia.

Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin claimed that Zamri was only testifying when it came to his personal experience with the Hindu faith.

What Zamri was doing as a professional proselytiser was creating a narrative for Muslims to use to convert Hindus in the course of his professional duties.

Understanding Zamri

You have to understand the role of a preacher like Zamri.

A follower of Zakir and member of Angkatan Skuad Mubaligh Malaysia, Zamri is known as an “independent” preacher as if there are a plurality of Islamic narratives in this country. There isn’t.

The Islamic Development Department (Jakim) hooked up with Zamri in 2017 to give courses on the Tamil language to increase productivity when it comes to proselytising in a multilingual milieu.

What this course was supposed to do was make it easier for Muslim preachers (state-sanctioned) attempting to convert Indians, using Tamil as an entry point into their lives.

The idea of Muslim converts as the perfect vehicles to proselytise is nothing new.

Ridhuan, for instance, always pleaded “special knowledge” when it came to the Chinese community, hence, his “attacks” against the community had the appearance of legitimacy to a certain section of the Muslim community.

This idea of using converts to preach is propagated by proselytising faiths all over the world.

I understand the Hindu outrage when it comes to what Zamri said.

While most Hindus expect their faith to be mocked, especially in the current political climate, the reason why the video of these deejays mocking Thaipusam struck close to home was that this spiritual experience is both personal and public to the community.

It is a personal act of devotion on public display. This, of course, means it is open to interpretation and discussion.

Power to sanction

The problem with the religious discourse in this country is not that people are going about insulting each other’s religion, but rather the state has the power to sanction people for trespassing on religious and racial issues.

This power is often applied unequally, with the state-sanctioned religion and its adherents getting off scot-free, when the same does not apply to the other religions.

The question is, will the state take action against Zamri, or will the religious apparatus of the state take action against him?

The state apparatus took days to take action against Zamri’s post.

This preacher, in response to a rather dumb debate challenge by MIC, claimed that this was probably the first time in history that a Hindu MP was up for debate, which just goes to show you how ignorant this preacher is.

If this had been a transgression against the religion of the state, all hell would have broken loose.

Clearly, if you follow Jakim’s reasoning, Zamri did something that went against the tenets of Islam.

However, various Muslim political leaders have cautioned against raising religious sentiments instead of calling for the sanction of this preacher.

Maybe he did this because he thinks that since he has been arrested by the state and let off, sued by people and let off and has faced no sanctions from the state religious bureaucracy, he believes that what he said was in accordance with the teachings of Islam and the ideas promulgated by Jakim.

Or is Zamri mocking Jakim? Maybe Jakim understands that whoever is backing him is more powerful and has more influence than Jakim?

Maybe Zamri understands that Jakim will not take action against someone whom the state has relied on in their proselytising efforts?

Sowing discontent

What we are dealing with here are state-sponsored religious provocateurs. We are dealing with people whose aim is to sow discontent in the Indian Malaysian community.

The fact that Zamri continues to be a state actor when it comes to religious discourse should tell us something about the way Jakim views other religions.

The fact that Zamri can openly mock the supposed tenets of Jakim and the religion of the state is demonstrative of how much influence he and his ilk have over Madani.

You have to wonder, is the state enabling Zamri to engage in Zakir-type proselytising?

In Libya, converting to Christianity is a crime punishable by death. For instance, a Christian convert from a Muslim background received a death sentence in September 2022. He remains imprisoned while his case is pending with the Supreme Court.

In March 2023, at least six Libyan Christians from a Muslim background were also arrested. The authorities tried to force them (under torture) to recant their faith. At the same time, two American Christians were arrested and forcibly expelled from the country following accusations of proselytizing.

The main Christian groups in Libya currently consist of Sub-Saharan migrants and some Egyptian Copts. Open Doors reports that all Coptic Orthodox churches in the country have been destroyed or abandoned. The remaining Sub-Saharan African Christians are doubly vulnerable to persecution and discrimination based on race and religion.

There are few church buildings that remain standing in Libya. They remain vulnerable targets for an attack, especially by Islamic groups.

Virtually all Muslims in Libya belong to Sunni Islam. Sharia law is upheld throughout the country. Muslim converts to Christianity face violent pressure from family, their community and the government to renounce their new faith. Hence, most Libyan nationals who are Christians keep their faith secret.

Homes where Christians live and the small shops that they run are vulnerable to being targeted by criminal groups, radical Islamic groups, and even government officials.

As in most Muslim countries, converting from Islam brings massive social pressure and converts are always most at risk first from their families. Libyan Christians are often afraid to meet with other Christians since any kind of non-Islamic religious gathering, including worship at churches, is forbidden for Libyans.

Depending on the region, migrants may gather in (house) churches but doing so exposes them to serious security risks; thus, many stay away out of fear. Even so, they still face threats of kidnapping and other forms of abuse.

Bringing Arabic Christian literature and Bibles into the country is strictly forbidden. Proselytizing or missionary activity among Muslims is officially prohibited.

According to the research conducted by Open Doors, in Libya, in recent years,

• Both convert and migrant Christians in Libya have been detained for faith-related reasons. Tribal groups, as well as government officials (who are often connected to radical Islamic groups or militias), are responsible for such detentions.
• Several church buildings and other places of Christian worship have experienced being attacked. They are often demolished or damaged.
• Several Sub-Saharan African Christians have been kidnapped for ransom.
• Several Christian migrants (mostly from Sub-Saharan African countries) held in detention centers in Libya have reportedly been raped and beaten.
• Slavery, forced labor and human trafficking are still widespread despite an international outcry in 2017 when CNN showed video evidence of an auction of Sub-Saharan Africans. Many of the Sub-Saharan African migrants are Christian.
• Women have a lower position within Libyan family life than men, caused by tribal norms corresponding to Sharia.
• If suspected of being interested in Christianity, a Libyan woman can face house arrest, sexual assault, forced marriage or even death.
• Christian migrant women crossing Libya are also vulnerable to abduction and trafficking, especially when separated from their male companions, such as is common at migrant detention centers. They are reported to have been forced into prostitution.
• Women often experience sexual violence because of their faith, sometimes as a form of punishment. They encounter social and cultural barriers to the prosecution of any offense.
• Christian men face loss of employment, physical and mental abuse, and eviction from their family home.
• Libyan men and boys have been increasingly forced to fight in militias, causing many to flee their hometowns to evade such a fate.

Libya is currently divided between two governments: the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli and a government in Benghazi under the protection of Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF).

Parliamentary and presidential elections were originally planned for 2021 but were indefinitely postponed after major disagreements erupted between all political factions.

Representatives of both the Eastern-based House of Representatives and Western-based High Council of State are now working on a new election framework, but it is unlikely that any major faction will agree to ceding power.

“Having just one central government controlling the whole of Libya would seem to be the only way to end the lawlessness in the country… But whatever the outcome, the situation for converts from Islam to Christianity will remain very sensitive and insecure,” notes Open Doors.

It is not only Christians who are subject to severe abuse in Libya. Ibadi and Sufi Muslims in Libya who do not belong to the Sunni Islamic traditions also face violations in the form of violent attacks by Sunni militant groups. They also face general discrimination in society. In addition, atheists and those who openly question Sunni Islamic doctrine are very much at risk.

Libya, however, was once a majority-Christian land.

The area of North Africa which has been known as Libya since 1911 was part of the Roman, then later the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, between 146 BC and 643 AD.

The name of the country comes from the Ancient Greek Λιβύη “Libue” which, at the time, referred to the continent of Africa in general.

In ancient times, Greeks, Assyrians and Persians, among others, ruled parts of Libya. The Greeks left profound traces in ancient Libya. Cyrene, for instance, was an ancient Greek city in Libya, founded in 631 BC by a community of Greek emigrants from the island of Thera in the Aegean.

Cyrene became one of the great intellectual centres of the classical world, providing a medical school. There were renowned scholars such as the geographer Eratosthenes, and the philosopher Aristippus, founder of the Cyrenaics.

In 96 BC Cyrenaica came under Roman rule and in 67 BC was united with Crete to form a senatorial province, with Cyrene as local capital. With the Roman conquest, the entire region of present-day Libya became part of the Roman Empire.

The territory of modern Libya had separate histories until Roman times, as Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. The origins of Christianity in Libya are also ancient because its foundation is attributed by many historians to the Evangelist Saint Mark.

Professor Thomas C. Oden writes:

From about A.D. 68 till the Muslim conquest of A.D. 643, Libya housed a vibrant, creative Christian community that contributed to the shape of the faith even as we know it today. By the mid-190s A.D., Leptis Magna could claim favorite sons as the Roman pontiff, Victor the African, and as the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus. A rich and energetic community produced a wide variety of key players from early martyrs to great thinkers to arch-heretics.

The brightest period of Roman Libya was under emperor Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna.

“Leptis Magna was enlarged and embellished by Septimius Severus, who was born there and later became emperor. It was one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire, with its imposing public monuments, harbour, market-place, storehouses, shops and residential districts,” says UNESCO.

Tragically, this civility was not to last. North Africa was invaded by Arab armies in the seventh century. That’s when its downfall began – alongside the process of violent Arabization and Islamization.

What is left today of the once Roman, Greek, Christian Libya? A country in perpetual war, ruined by Islamic barbarians.

Once a heartland for Christianity, Libya has become a country known for the persecution of not only its tiny Christian minority but also other non-Muslims. It is one of the world centres of terrorism.

Schoolchildren across the non-Muslim world should be taught about the true history of Islamization and the destruction it has brought to numerous, magnificent civilisations.

European coalition politics and dysfunctional right-wing parties which often make it impossible to form a government continue to cripple any meaningful European response to the crisis.

America’s strong executive branch and two-party system have their pitfalls, but they also make it possible for someone like Trump (or, vice versa Obama) to be elected and have free reign to make significant changes over the course of four years. That’s difficult to accomplish in Europe where governments rise and fall, and can be brought down through coalition and internal party backstabbing. If Trump had won an election in Europe, he would have likely lasted six months before being brought down in a palace coup. Most likely though, like Geert Wilders, he would never have even been allowed to take office and make any changes in the first place.

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, who survived multiple rounds of elections and coalition failures to become one of the country’s longest serving prime ministers, shows that it is possible to remain in office, but at the cost of constant political maneuverings and compromises with coalition members that make it difficult to make any meaningful changes in the country.

Parliamentary governments are meant to be fragile by design, but that weakness has not made Europe more democratic, rather it has turned over control of countries to unelected officials, lifetime bureaucrats running ‘caretaker’ governments while the parties squabble, NGOs, activist groups whose externally funded street riots can topple government and the European Union.

And all of that may make it impossible for Europe to vote its way out of the Islamization crisis.

European voters have been slowly moving to the right as the pace of Islamic terrorism continues to pick up. But the rising number of terrorist attacks is only a symptom of the growing Islamization. The same demographic processes that gifted Germany with 3 terrorist attacks in 3 months and Austria with two terrorist plots in two weeks also raises the power of Muslim voters.

After Geert Wilders called for “no more Morrocans”, the Netherlands compromise ruling coalition, from which he was excluded, included a Moroccan immigrant.

There are two arrows trending upward in Europe. One is growing voter awareness while the other is rising Muslim demographics. The race between those two arrows may determine whether Europe, formerly the cradle of Western civilization, has a future.

Islamic terrorism serves the same function in Europe as it does across the Middle East. The twin alternatives of Islamization by ‘choice’ or by force. Much of Europe’s elite political class has chosen Islamization by choice. Islamization by force is a reminder that choice doesn’t enter into it.

In the UK, a man burned a Koran in front of the Turkish consulate.in London. A Muslim man attacked him with a knife. The authorities arrested both. They released the stabber on bail while the Koran burner was kept locked up on charges of “intent to cause against the religious institution of Islam.”

That and the coverup of countless girls raped by Muslim sex grooming gangs is what Islamization by choice looks like.

Current numbers appear to show a lead for Nigel Farage’s Reform party, ahead of the mainline parties, for the first time, but Farage has also made it clear that he’s no longer opposed to Islamization. Reform has received sizable funds from Muslim millionaire Zia Yusuf.

UK voters may want a change, but much like voters across Europe, there is no easy way for the country that once prided itself on democracy to vote its way out of an impending theocracy.

Voters may be ready, but politicians aren’t.

PIS

Let me be very clear. PAS and their ilk have always claimed that the urban centres are the domains of non-Muslims and, thus, anathema to Islamic values. They have made it very clear in their strategies and propaganda that DAP is a stand-in for the non-Muslim community.

They have accused DAP of interfering in Islam, most recently in Perak, and secretly controlling the Madani government.

Hence, this supposed displacement of urban, especially Malay poor, is said to be through the secret manoeuvres of DAP because they are the supposed puppet masters of the Madani regime.

Mind you, they do not have to say this openly because they do not have to. This is exactly the kind of anti-Jewish rhetoric that has been around for decades and not only in Malaysia. This is the kind of dog whistle politics that the Malay political establishment has been enabling for decades.

Remember, blaming the Jews for the problems of Muslims is exactly like blaming the Chinese for the social, economic, and political problems of the Malay community.

PAS has played this card before. Just last year, PAS had a very vocal and overt campaign comparing Malay ownership in Penang to the Palestinian issue.

As reported in the press, “The party claims that Penang has carried out a ‘systematic seizure’ by taking over ownership and control of areas that were originally predominantly Malay-Muslim. They allege that this was done by changing the status of rural land to urban land and implementing mega projects and luxury developments.

“If this matter is not stopped, it is possible that in 50 years, the Malays will disappear from their own homeland.”

Hate speech

Everything most Malays are taught about the Palestinian conflict, they get from National Civics Bureau courses and state-sponsored sermons in mosques.

This is why PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang gets to say something like this: “When Umno and PAS unite, they are accused of wishing to go to war with other races. (Our accusers are) like the Jews who did not want Muslims to be united during the Prophet’s time. This is a disease we must fight. Let’s join forces and send the enemy to hell.”

Consider the hate speech of Muslim convert Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, a preacher, who took anti-Semitism to a new level by comparing his Chinese brothers and sisters to the most obscene stereotype of Jews, pleading special knowledge about their community since he was a kafir (infidel) like them before embracing Islam.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that the Jews are “crooks”: “(So) what is the reason we don’t allow Israelites to come here? We say they are crooks (penyangak), and we just got rid of one crook.”

And this was when he was stumping for a non-Muslim Pakatan Harapan candidate.

This idea that spreading hate for the “Jews” makes good capital is what every Islamic political party in this country does.

No subtlety

Except, of course, when the real world intrudes and Islamists are made to understand that you cannot expect to be part of the international community and think you are exempt from certain rules.

This is a competition about who defends the Palestinian cause better for a local audience. And in case the prime minister hasn’t noticed, he is playing a rigged game that the state (and him) created decades ago.

Remember in 2017 when convicted felon and then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, in propping up the Palestinian cause, claimed that he will not back down from the Jerusalem issue even if his body is cut into pieces, did anyone else think of the “It’s just a flesh wound” scene from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”? Maybe it is just me.

Of course, the non-Muslim component of Harapan will keep their mouths shut because by opposing anti-Semitism, they suddenly become anti-Muslim, except of course when they need the help of Malay political operatives on the campaign trail.

Ultimately, it’s hard to blame PAS for following this rancid playbook because everyone else does it, too. It is just that PAS is not subtle about it.

If the Malays are the Palestinians in this narrative, who do you think the Jews are?

Ahmed Al Yamahi, the UAE appointed ‘president’ of the Arab Parliament, accused Israel of a “genocidal war in Gaza” “unequivocally placed the blame for this escalation on the Israeli occupation authorities”, urged the UN to “hold the Israeli government and its settlers accountable for their crimes and violations against the Palestinian people” and and called for Arab unity to support the ‘Palestinian’ cause.

And unlike the fake grand mufti quotes, these were published directly on government sites.

The Saudi and UAE governments issued statements condemning terrorist attacks in their own countries and even some abroad, and many condemnations of Israel, none of Hamas for its treatment of the Bibas children.

Coverage in state owned media outlets sometimes read like outright Hamas propaganda.

A story in Al-Bayan, a Dubai state owned media outlet, described Hamas as having “handed over the bodies of four Israeli prisoners” while falsely claiming that they were “killed in deliberate Israeli airstrikes designed to kill them”.

Al-Bayan used the term ‘Asra’ to refer to the murdered children which in Arabic tends to refer to ‘prisoners of war’ as in Koran 8:67: “It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war (and free them with ransom) until he had made a great slaughter (among his enemies) in the land.”

While not every media story from the Saudis and Emiratis was this bad, the more sympathetic accounts tended to appear in English while the Arabic language coverage was muted or hostile.

I found no official condemnations from either Saudi Arabia or the UAE: all I could find was an interfaith panel discussion with Jewish and Muslim participants at the Dialogue of Civilizations in Abu Dhabi. The Muslim participants were veterans of dialogue with Jews and Israelis, and had expressed opposition to Hamas and Islamic terrorism against Israel.

At the panel, one Emirati participant called for a moment of silence for the Bibas children.

But such views were coming from a small group of young activists with a large presence on social media rather than from actual government officials and religious leaders. The Abraham Accords has made it possible for such views to be aired, even with government sponsorship, at interfaith events, but they are not by any means the actual position of their governments.

The single condemnation at an interfaith panel, like the fake quotes of the grand muftis, shows that there is no larger rejection of the Hamas coffin spectacle in the Muslim world. The distaste for Hamas in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as in other parts of the Arab world, have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with hostility toward the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UAE offered an initial condemnation of the Oct 7 attacks followed by a long string of condemnations of Israel throughout the war including support for war crimes charges.

And the UAE was the least bad of them all.

The unfortunate truth is that there is very little opposition to Muslim terrorism unless it’s directed at fellow Muslims. ISIS has the highest margin of Muslim opposition not because it burned people alive and raped little girls, but because it declared a caliphate and treated all Muslims who refused to acknowledge its supremacy as heretics and infidels. Al Qaeda enjoyed wide support in the Muslim world when it was flying planes into skyscrapers, but once it bombed a hotel wedding in Jordan and began a civil war in Iraq, its popularity diminished among Muslims.

The UAE turned on the Muslim Brotherhood after it plotted to seize power. The Saudis joined the crackdown on the Brotherhood a year later. But a few years before all this, there had been an uproar over the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

The Saudis and the UAE distrust Hamas because of its sponsorship by their enemies, Qatar and Iran, and its origins as a Muslim Brotherhood organization, but their objections have nothing to do with its killing of Israelis of whatever age or opposition to terrorism as a general principle.

After the atrocities of Oct 7, Saudi approval ratings for Hamas rose from 10% to 40%. 95% of Saudis polled did not believe that Hamas had killed civilians. The vast majority of Saudis opposed improving relations with Israel and believed that it would eventually be destroyed.

Expecting the Grand Mufti to condemn Hamas is a fantasy. As is Saudi normalization.

The Abraham Accords is at best a regional alliance against common enemies in Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, and not based on a deeper friendship or a recognition of mutual humanity. Those desperate to believe otherwise have been forced to invent fake condemnations to substitute for the real ones that should have been issued, but weren’t and never will be.

Americans and Israelis have spent too long living in a fantasy world when it comes to peace in the Middle East. Fake quotes are no substitute for dealing with the reality of Islamic terrorism.

Zakar Naik the bearded Goat

Now to be clear, I do not know how many “English people” were around, but when the camera panned to the audience, there were many people who were obviously not “English people”.

Now I do not know why Zakir spoke in English and not BM. I mean if people bemoan the lack of BM usage, surely at such a prestigious event with a world-renowned speaker, there should have been some effort to promote the national language.

After all, English speakers are accused of not understanding Malay sensitivities but then how does someone like Zakir, who speaks at these events attended predominately by BM language speakers manage to convey his ideas about the religion of the state without offending anyone?

Hadi said leaders who use foreign languages are “those who are still colonised and lack a sense of national identity” which is strange because Zakir is a world-renowned Islamic leader and he speaks in English to attentive audiences all over the world and apparently now in Perlis.

How is this possible? I get that Zakir comes from a country which was colonised but why would he speak in the language of his colonisers? I mean sure, he speaks English because he wants a wider audience but doesn’t he know that he is only reinforcing the colonial mindset at the expense of his religion’s superiority?

Is Hadi really saying that Zakir is shackled by his colonial mindset? It is also kind of strange. Hadi said it is chaotic with all these languages spoken in the city and the capital, etc, but here we have English spoken at a religious convention and everything is serene. It was as if Zakir speaking in English held their attention.

‘All languages are knowledge’

In 2002, when the old maverick decided it was time for Maths and Science to be taught in English (PPSMI) across schools in different stages, the opposition was throwing up roadblocks.

Indeed, so comical were the protestations that Hadi, who was then the menteri besar of Terengganu, issued a statement expressing “full support” for Dong Jiao Zong and the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall “in their effort to uphold the use of mother tongue in the teaching of Science and Maths in Chinese primary schools”.

Indeed as reported in the press, “Hadi, who is Terengganu menteri besar, also said PAS was not against the effort to upgrade the proficiency of English and other languages to help Malaysians cope with globalisation. The statement reaffirmed that PAS ‘regards all languages as knowledge’.”

Would you believe that PAS back in the day (2002) from reportage “passed a resolution at their national convention to support wider use of the Chinese language in Malaysia.” The next day, Sin Chew Jit Poh quoted a PAS vice-president, Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali, as saying that China has become increasingly important in regional affairs and the global economy. As such, he said, learning Chinese was crucial as it would enhance the competitiveness of Malaysians.

So all this is really nonsensical when you really think about it. What makes Malaysia great is that we have the possibility of being a major meeting place in the region where nearly every Southeast Asian language is spoken and with the volatility of current geopolitics, this is a good thing. As PAS believed back in the day.

Language is knowledge. And as we know, knowledge is power. The only threat to BM are those who wish to weaponise the national language.

Lastly, I don’t really know how Zakir self-identifies, but I know I could find out because if I had a conversation with him it would be in English.

Malaysiakini : Second fiddle

Of course, Umno/Perikatan Nasional defines this new era with the DAP having to play second fiddle to Malay uber alles (above all else) parties, which are playing an extremely dangerous religious and racial game.

At each turn, DAP partisans argued that the various permutations of these Malay uber alles parties were different - but the reality is, all that these Malay uber alles parties desired was dominance over the Malay polity, as measured by electoral power, and used DAP at one time or another to reverse their political fortunes.

Loke says the DAP speaks up through the proper channels. Mind you, “proper channels” in Malaysian parlance are private channels, and nobody can hold you accountable for what you said or claim to have said.

Remember when Ronnie Liu bid sayonara to the DAP, he made public statements which highlighted the similarity between the way how DAP operates now and how the MCA used to operate - “They may not know it (but) they are starting to say (things like), ‘we have to compromise’, ‘we have to look at the bigger picture’, ‘we’ll try to deal with the problem internally’.”

And what exactly has the DAP done for the meritocratic agenda of this country? Before the DAP tasted real political power, they were gung ho on the concept of meritocracy and their guns were trained on Umno.

Remember back in the day when DAP national chairperson Lim Guan Eng debated then MCA big cheese Chua Soi Lek, the former thundered - “I’ll tell you why MCA set up TAR College, it is because there is a quota for Chinese students to enter public universities, and therefore the need (for MCA) to compensate for it.”

DAP never gave MCA the benefit of this excuse, and neither should anyone who believes in any kind of institutional reform.

Honestly, even a convicted felon played a part in recognising TAR College - now a university - which earned the ire of the old maverick Dr Mahathir Mohamad - “If last time we could only get a government job by having a diploma from public universities, now we have to accept a diploma (certificate) from TARUC.

“This is all because of votes. All these have occurred because of the stupidity of the Malays.”

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Will DAP cave?

These days, the rakyat is left wondering if DAP will cave when it comes to important policy issues because, with the creation of this coalition government, all they seem interested in doing is justifying the policies of the government, even if it goes against their campaign manifesto or more damning, their so-called principles.

What is important for the non-Malay polity to understand, is that the MCA’s power-sharing model was a big failure in terms of acting as a moderating force for politics in this country although it did produce long-standing beneficial results for the non-Malay community.

This last bit is made worse by the reality that the DAP is attempting to emulate the BN-era power-sharing model, which a significant percentage of the Malay voting public has chosen to reject.

What hurts the DAP the most is the hypocrisy of cuddling up with Malay structures - donning the hijab, waxing eloquent about reading the Quran in Malay, and a host of other initiatives to reach out to the Malay community - and then having a base which wants a secular egalitarian government which the DAP plays to.

This is why PN uses this line of attack against the DAP because they understand Malay power structures in Madani will leave the DAP to fend for itself.

I would argue that Umno/PN’s propaganda that DAP is “anti-Malay” and “anti-Islam” was beneficial to the DAP because non-Malays flocked to their banner under the mistaken impression that secularism and egalitarianism were the bedrock on which DAP was founded on.

As a supposedly multiracial party, the DAP has now got to contend with the reality that the Indian community is now coming to the realisation (no matter how hard partisans attempt to push the Bangsa Malaysia Kool-aid) that the dialectic between the legacy parties revolves around the Malay/Chinese dialectic at the expense to genuine inclusive reform.

Want to know why someone like Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh takes potshots at every opportunity at the DAP?

Political operatives like him understand that it really does not matter what they do because the DAP support base will not punish the DAP, unlike the Malay majority polity who have demonstrated their willingness to shift their support to whatever reactionary Malay/Muslim party they think best serves their interests.

We are in a very dangerous period in Malaysian politics. I have no idea if the DAP can or even wants to maintain the secular democratic line. All I know is that this could be a golden era for the religious extremists and it remains to be seen the role DAP plays in this.

Malaysiakini : Interference of the religious bureaucracy

All laws are created to discourage certain types of behaviour and thinking. What were these rules or guidelines designed to discourage?

Are these laws meant to further racial and religious divides by discouraging Muslims from attending events that encourage interaction and empathy between divergent religious and cultural sections of society? What exactly did Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s religious czar hope to encourage or discourage with these laws or guidelines?

Aaron said in a joint presser with the religious czar - “However, the advice cannot be construed as a policy. We must be reminded that any policies made must consider national unity and get cabinet permission first.”

So let me get this straight. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Na’im Mokhtar did all of this, and made these pronouncements in Parliament without informing the cabinet about this?

He decided on his own, that this was the policy for Muslims and non-Muslims in this country? This is a blatant example of how the religious bureaucracy is attempting to interfere in the lives of non-Muslims and Muslims in this country.

Does all of this sound like the kind of powers the proposed Mufti Bill gives the religious bureaucracy? The bill is best defined by Sisters in Islam – “The Mufti Bill, which grants unelected officials the power to legislate without transparency or due process, exemplifies the dangerous erosion of democratic principles and constitutional rights.

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READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | Polemics surrounding FT Mufti Bill

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“Such laws risk undermining the fundamental freedoms of Malaysians, fostering a culture of control rather than empowerment, and silencing diverse perspectives crucial for a progressive society.”

Madani made this an issue

Recently the prime minister said - “Some have raised the issue of Malays celebrating Chinese New Year, Thaipusam - things that have never been a problem for decades are now being made into an issue.”

So this begs the question. Why did Anwar’s religious czar make this an issue? If for decades Muslims were celebrating and grieving through religious events with their non-Muslim brethren, why is it an issue now? Do not blame Perikatan Nasional, this is all about Madani.

Did Anwar know about these laws or guidelines? Even the members of his coalition were taken by surprise because as Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan said - “Amongst others, this will affect Muslim wakil rakyat (people’s representatives) who are invited to events in their capacity as elected representatives.”

Now of course the prime minister as reported in the press says “the guidelines are unnecessary as Muslims know their limits”.

The question is, does his religious czar know his limits?

For decades before Madani, Muslims were attending religious events of non-Muslims. For decades before Madani, Muslim political operatives and the average rakyat not only attended events but their sensitivities were not offended.

For decades before Madani, Muslims who attended non-Muslim religious events did not stray from their faith. However, Madani has made this an issue.

Anwar cannot have it both ways. He cannot play the ingenue and ask why the lack of tolerance now and imply PN has something to do with it and on the other hand have a religious czar who creates policy which further stokes racial and religious division in this country. Then Madani backtracks after giving enough policy ideas to PN to carry out when they assume power.

This is why PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden wants the religious authorities free from political interference because he knows that in a theocracy, religious authorities and the political apparatus are one and the same.

Similarly, Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh warns non-Muslims not to interfere in the affairs of Muslims even though with these guidelines, non-Muslims have to be supplicant before the religious authorities if they want to have friends or even more tragic family members attend their religious observances.

Imagine a daughter who has embraced Islam not being allowed to attend the funeral of her Buddhist father if the funeral is not stripped of everything that would offend her sensitivities.

Furthermore, Akmal is engaging in the kind of class preoccupations which is emblematic of theocracies, where the average rakyat are considered ignorant and the wealthy are considered learned in religion, hence there is no need for moral policing in the wealthy or upper classes but the lower classes constantly feel the harsh glare of the religious authorities on them.

What rational Malaysians should be worried about is - is the religious czar merely an incompetent political operative or is the religious bureaucracy testing the waters.

Can you imagine what operatives who had mala fide intentions to religious harmony could do with the legal power of the Mufti Bill?

Malaysiakini : Preposterous and possibly illegal

For the uninitiated, only vegetarian food is served in Hindu temples, and liquor is a definite “no”. More importantly, no one in his right mind would belittle another religion, especially so in the House of God.

The Hindu priests’ rituals are conducted in ancient Sanskrit, a language few understand. Therefore, making speeches or singing songs as propaganda is not an issue. Ditto for religious sermons and the singing of hymns in churches which are primarily related to the Almighty.

Has there ever been an occasion where another religion has been demonised in houses of worship?

Important religious rituals and weddings are conducted during auspicious times according to the Hindu almanac, and barring them from being held during Muslim prayer times is not acceptable.

If the department can only issue guidelines or requirements to Muslims under its purview, dictating terms and imposing conditions on non-Muslims is unjustified and may border on illegality.

Another requirement is that premises do not contain non-Islamic religious symbols.

Should the statues and photographs of deities be removed from the temple? This is a preposterous demand that can never be implemented or enforced.

Undermining govt’s efforts

This certainly goes against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s stand on strengthening unity.

Last Monday, he admonished certain quarters that made an issue about different ethnic groups in the country celebrating the festivals of other communities.

“Some have raised the issue of Malays celebrating Chinese New Year, Thaipusam - things that have never been a problem for decades are now being made into an issue.

“But do we want to entertain this or focus on our unity? Do we continue having differences of opinion, or do we strengthen unity? And why unity? To boost our economy,” Bernama reported him as saying.

These proposals are unnecessary, impractical, and divisive. They threaten religious freedom and undermine the government’s efforts. They are an affront to a multi-racial and multi-religious society.

Na’im’s subsequent statement that the guidelines were advisory and aimed at fostering “social and cultural” harmony among Malaysia’s multi-religious society is utter bunkum, to say the least.

“The guidelines are meant to spur the government’s efforts to strengthen unity and sow respect among the communities without any fear or misunderstanding from an Islamic perspective.

“The guidelines outline how Muslims could attend non-Muslim events in a manner that is orderly, respectful, and in adherence to Islamic principles.

“The guidelines will also ensure that the participation of Muslims in such activities does not spark controversy or infringe upon religious sensitivities.”

Where does it end?

For decades, Malaysians have attended each other’s religious and cultural events in houses of worship without issues. There has always been mutual respect and understanding of the diverse religious constraints and requirements.

YB Minister, if Muslims need guidance on attending non-Muslim events, it should be directed at them; regulating events is unwarranted and an abuse of one’s right to the freedom of association.

Were Na’im’s proposals formulated overnight, or was there discussion and consensus with stakeholders before they were presented in Parliament?

Was the prime minister, whose international Islamic credentials are known, consulted? Or was it a discreet and covert way of undermining him?

If previously air wells resembling a cross, hot dogs, and wordings on a cake were considered “sensitive”, now that term has been extended to the mere presence of human beings.

I wrote: “How do you put an end to this? Two words stand out in this issue - ‘sensitive’ and ‘confused’. They are interchangeable and are most often misused and abused for self-interest.”

Under the proposed guidelines, Muslim couples cannot bless and extend their best wishes to newlyweds who tie the knot in a temple or a church.

They can only do so after removing all fittings, including photographs, murals, and stained-glass windows (which will be misconstrued as religious symbols).

Tools of divisiveness

Whenever the opportunity arises, politicians and so-called community leaders on both sides quickly schedule meetings with the community.

Some falsely sell a non-existent product called “Muhibah”. The sales pitch is usually spiced up with related words - unity, congruence, understanding, considerateness, religious and racial acceptance.

But these words are not worth the paper they are written on. Once they turn their backs, they know they failed.

Some politicians and religious leaders have become tools of divisiveness used by some quarters - unknowingly or otherwise for selfish purposes - to claim and establish religious supremacy, while some are trying to show that they are holier than thou.

Or is there a dark state operating within?

Malaysiakini : One of the individuals who made a police report against Harith said - “That is an insolent act and police should take stern action. Harith opened up the space for this issue to be ridiculed, and that is blatantly rude.”

Nowhere did Harith make fun of the religion of the state nor did he invite anyone to make fun of the religion of the state.

Indeed, what Harith was doing is satirising the rhetoric and diktats of religious operatives and here is the important part (see quote in Derbyshire) “any governmental body” that claims to be the gatekeepers of the religion of the state. And keep in mind he did not do this explicitly.

The intent behind Harith’s comedy was the reality that his faith could not be compromised simply because religious operatives and the state informed the rakyat that it could.

If anything, Harith’s comedy was exemplifying the better angels of his faith.

If Harith was not insulting his faith and not inviting others to do the same, what has this got to do with religion?

Religious gatekeepers

Well, Harith’s comedy was insulting to the gatekeepers of the religion of the state. It was insulting to the religious classes and those who supported them. It was insulting to the idea that faith is not an individual expression of belief but rather state-sanctioned mandates.

And of course, nobody in the political class is going to come to Harith’s defence for obvious reasons - even though the comedian has been the poster child for a New Malaysia and progressive politics for decades, and even though at various times in his career he has peddled state-sponsored apologia and propaganda.

Non-Muslim political operatives are afraid they would be accused of being anti-religion of the state and Muslim political operatives would be afraid of being termed “liberals”.

Those people who fear “liberalism”, however, they define it, in reality, fear the loss of power when empowered societies choose alternatives.

So yes, liberalism is a threat to any kind of religion the state preaches. Mind you the religious class may actually win in a “fair” democratic contest because that is one of the perils of democracy.

Beyond institutional safeguards, democracy is a risky endeavour, but I would take it to anything a theocracy has to offer.

Remember Sisters in Islam?

Keep in mind that in this country if you go against the religious establishment, you are deemed a “liberal”. After having lost at the Court of Appeal, Sisters in Islam is appealing to the Federal Court.

Keep in mind how the fatwa defined deviancy when it came to SIS – “SIS Forum, individuals, organisations and institutions adopting ideologies of liberalism and pluralism are deviant and against the teaching of Islam.”

Then, there are independent preachers like Wan Ji Wan Hussin who gained infamy for being sentenced for insulting the Selangor sultan, but was always considered a “deviant” especially when he criticised how the religious bureaucracy in this country operated.

He triggers the religious class when he says something like: “I don't agree that only Islam can be propagated. The Federal Constitution states that, but I don't agree with it from the viewpoint of religion. Let the law practitioners debate if it’s from the law’s point of view.

“But as someone who studied religion, that statement is wrong. Non-Muslims should be given the right to give their views, as opposed to only the Muslims being able can do so. Maybe that's why people have accused me of being ‘liberal’.”

Remember the always-interesting, late Kassim Ahmad. To his admirers, the persecution of this public intellectual demonstrated the fear the state had of what he wrote and said, and this made him the poster child for the kind of Islam they believed was “acceptable” in a multiracial and multi-religious country like Malaysia.

To his detractors, he was a purveyor of falsity that threatened Muslim solidarity and he was a puppet of the liberal West whose writings and speeches would cause the collapse of Malay/Muslim political and religious hegemony.

But Kassim was a devout Muslim who believed that his faith was hijacked by interpreters who had agendas of their own that were not compatible with his interpretation of what would lead to a liberated world.

And do not for one second believe that all these individuals or organisations are or were the liberal vanguard of this country.

They have advocated or dissented against causes which most "Western indoctrinated liberals" would be offended by.

What they are or were, are voices who dissented in their own ways against the religious class and the orthodoxy of the state. All of them were and are practising Muslims.

But what is most damaging about this, is the fact that the political and religious class would rather people believe that Harith somehow invited people to offend the religion of the state or had offended it rather than acknowledge that Harith was satirising the diktats of a religious governmental body or the religious class which should be open to debate and not immune to criticism or satire in a democratic country.

Does this pass for free speech in Madani?

Malaysiakini : Ham-gate

Of course, now we have the ham-gate scandal and the reality that Jakim data has demonstrated that over 70 percent of halal certification is for non-bumiputera business, which I take to mean non-Muslim business, considering the loaded political definition of the term.

Indeed in an article published by Sinar Daily in 2023, there were efforts being made to court Muslim businesses to obtain halal certification.

This point was also made by the Halal Development Corporation (HDC) Berhad which disclosed that non-bumiputera are the majority of halal certification holders: “Non-bumiputera companies have traditionally dominated the food manufacturing sector, but this is not an issue because they adhere to the standards set by Jakim,” said chairperson Khairul Azwan Harun.

Hence unlike what the PAS Youth chief said during Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s halal controversy - “The ones who should have been worried are the Muslims, who are concerned about ingesting non-halal food. Non-Muslims don’t have to worry about anything, and in fact, they will feel better because halal food is cleaner,” - this is not exactly the case.

The biggest stakeholders when it comes to halal certification are non-Muslim or non-bumiputera businesses and indeed the bureaucracy is actively courting Muslim businesses to get halal certification because to them (Muslims) the certification is not a big issue.

After all, Kok, while responding to public comments by the Madani religious czar during the mandatory halal certification debacle, pointed out the extra burden to Muslim-owned restaurants - “Although many restaurants do not serve pork or alcohol, they do not apply for halal certification. This includes thousands of small Malay restaurant operators.”

Of course, she ends up being investigated by the state while Zaid Ibrahim who told Jakim to concentrate on the persecution of the sodomy of young boys, in religious schools, is somehow immune from this most pressing of issues - “Sodomy is now an epidemic. Young boys are traumatised and abused all over the country. Yet, our religious affairs minister is only interested in halal certificates,” said the former law minister on X.

Territorial

Of course, halal certification does not mean that brands are not open to attack by the far religious right and rabble-rousers. Remember when there was a threat to ZUS Coffee because of its logo - “Responding to a question from Malaysiakini at the event in Sunway Pyramid Mall in Selangor, ZUS Coffee vice president Stephy Foong said the company is ‘deeply saddened’ by the boycott call, especially because all its outlets are certified halal by Jakim.”

When former law minister Zaid, in his defence of Kok against Bersatu’s attacks, claimed that she did not have a deep understanding of the issue, defined that deep understanding - “The deep understanding I can think of is that Jakim will make a lot of money. Already, it’s a billion ringgit business, and if the purpose is to make easy money, say so.”

And like most big businesses, Jakim is protective of its territory. In 2016, the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) and the Malaysia Institute of International Islamic Cooperation (Ikiam) proposed a “halal certification” that differentiated between halal products produced by Muslims and non-Muslims.

Why, you ask? Well, according to Risda at the time - “The need for another halal logo is to distinguish products that were produced by Muslims against that of non-Muslims besides helping Risda smallholding entrepreneurs and Muslim entrepreneurs make forays into the halal markets locally and abroad.”

Of course, Jakim had to issue a reminder - “If Ikiam and Risda proceed with using a new halal logo for Muslim-made products (without Jakim’s approval), it is an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 (Halal certification and identification) Order,” it said.

‘Is it good for us?’

Keep in mind that just because something is certified halal does not mean it is good for us, in the sense that it has nutritional value.

A point made by Syed Farid al-Attas, professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore during the mandatory halal controversy last year - “For example, whether a banana leaf restaurant has a certificate or not, it is still halal. On the other hand, many restaurants are halal-certified, but we can prove that the food is not good.

“In a narrow sense, it is halal because it does not contain pork and alcohol, but in a broader sense, is it good for us?”

He also reinforced a point already made by Zaid - “This has nothing to do with religion. This is the bureaucratisation of religion. I think it has more to do with the fact that halal certification is an industry.”

So halal is big business and yes, non-Muslim companies benefit, or at least they believe they benefit from halal certification.

Now, of course, demanding transparency and accountability by the major stakeholders would be construed by religious agitators as going at the 3Rs, but wouldn’t it be something if Jakim actually was protective of its major stakeholders instead of using them as punching bags whenever rabble-rousers threaten the economic ecosystem which Jakim is attempting to nurture?

However, this is not only about business but also politics, and it’s convenient for fascist politics to use the instrument of the state as a cudgel.

Malaysiakini : Safeguarding bumi interests

Let us revisit Anwar’s “don’t spook the Malays” statement when he first made it. He said: “It gives a very negative perception. The Malays are worried, the government has only been formed so if we demand that they surrender, it is too soon.

“What is important now, for me, is to instil a strong confidence that we will defend the rights of all people without sacrificing bumiputera interests as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.”

Racial supremacy has been normalised in Malaysia’s political and social domains, and claiming to be anti-racist and democratic puts you in the crosshairs of the state security apparatus because you hurt the sensitivities of a certain community or are going against the Constitution of this country.

Anwar asked young Malaysians to stand up against religious bigotry. How would the prime minister defend this country against charges of religious bigotry by young people when in this country non-Muslims are banned from using certain words?

In this country, there are cases of non-Muslim children being unilaterally converted and kidnapped. In this country, non-Muslims are warned not to disturb Muslim rights when advocating their democratic rights and social justice.

In this country, non-Muslim economic endeavours are curtailed because of Muslim piety. In this country in some states, non-Muslim places of worship are subject to restrictions on who can enter.

In this country, non-Muslim religions are mocked by celebrity preachers. In this country, non-Muslims are often demonised and used as scapegoats by political operatives and political elites. In this country, non-Muslims are told that we are not citizens but rather pendatang.

Anwar’s response

The prime minister said - “I will be tough on this. They can criticise me for my policies, but they cannot use (the) race and religious cards”.

Who exactly is he talking about? When has Madani ever come down hard on religious provocateurs in this country? Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh continues to stir up racial and religious sentiment claiming he does this because he defends race and religion.

Anwar always makes it a point to denounce secularism and progressive democratic principles. The PAS-led Perikatan Nasional are carrying out unconstitutional, or at least could be legally challenged, syariah activities in the states they control and the federal government remains silent.

Actually what the federal government has been doing is giving legitimacy to those possibly unconstitutional activities by mooting the Federal Territories Mufti bill and cracking down on freedom of speech.

Indeed, there has never been religious provocation from within or outside his government that the prime minister has gotten involved in except to chide someone like Teresa Kok for responding to public comments from his own religious czar.

Touching on the 3R

What happens if young people in this country dare stand up against religious bigotry? Think about it. The Constitution guarantees free speech and freedom of worship but the reality is those freedoms have been chipped away for decades.

While on the surface we have those rights, slowly but surely, the supremacy of the religion of the state - not as some sort of state religion but as a means of control - has sublimated the intent of the Constitution.

Well, it means that for non-Muslim young people, standing up for their rights would be going against the 3R. It means that if you object to a policy based on religious grounds, you are going against the 3Rs. Non-Muslim dissent against religious extremism or interference has been weaponised.

And as far as treating undocumented workers and refugees humanely, has Anwar forgotten the daily scandals involving the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees or the horrors of Wang Kelian which have still not been exposed?

At this point, these kinds of speeches by the prime minister are merely rubbing salt in the wounds of rational Malaysians.

The reality is that young Malaysians are either leaving this country, or they are seriously thinking about leaving, or voting for the green wave which is chickens coming home to roost.

Malaysiakini : Moving the Najib piece

The questions rational Malaysians have to ask is what does Madani want to do with Najib? We have to ask this as no Madani member has said that Najib getting his house arrest or even a full pardon is a calamitous thing.

The only folk playing it somewhat straight is Umno. For the most part, they want Najib to walk or at least walk around his house.

The worst thing about this hiding is that it gives legitimacy to a whole range of voices who only have mala fide intentions to the idea of a secular and democratic Malaysia.

Zahid the saviour?

Khairy Jamaluddin was right in that there was an intention to hide this addendum for whatever reasons.

The former Umno man was right when he claimed that there was a conspiracy in Madani to keep Najib in jail or that some people in Umno want to keep Najib in jail.

He was also right to claim that party chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wants to be a saviour but a saviour to who exactly, Khairy is unsure.

I hate even writing this, but as a former minister, Khairy is right again when he questioned the believability of the legal apparatus of the government claiming that it did not know about this addendum’s existence.

Bridget Welsh, one of the best hands when it comes to Malaysian politics, reminds us in her opinion piece “Partial pardon poison” that with Najib staying behind bars, Zahid’s position as Umno president remains secure.

“He (Zahid) is the only clear winner of the partial pardon decision. He can claim some leniency was gained through pressure, but does not have to fear displacement - at least for now.”

The “for now” part, at least, is urgent now. Mind you, the reduced sentence was merely the tenderising process and I am sure Najib will get his get-out-of-jail card eventually or at the very least his house arrest, which for Malaysia and a man of his resources, means the same thing.

His acolytes in Umno are already plotting their next move, and no doubt the rakyat would be subjected to another “sandiwara” (show) very soon.

Rakyat’s trust eroding, kleptocrats getting away

With the way Madani operates, I am sure that the only people who will benefit from this are the illiberal forces of this country.

All the prime minister has done with this issue and the high-profile corruption cases is to muddy the waters. And rational Malaysians have to wonder why.

Indeed, when a convict – this would be the former prime minister – uses the current premier’s words as a point for his political persecution defence, you know you are in Madaniville.

“I believe Anwar’s recent remarks on flaws in the prosecutorial process strongly validate my longstanding concerns about the legal proceedings against me.

“For six years, I have maintained that these proceedings exemplify rushed and flawed prosecutions,” Najib told the court last week during the defence stage of his RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption trial.

In justifying the dismissal not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for Zahid’s corruption case linked to millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim advanced the narrative that this was partly a political persecution by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The fact that Zahid, Najib, and every other alleged kleptocrat said the same thing points to the narrative that is being shaped by the mainstream political establishment when it comes to how it deals with kleptocrats.

Of course, when Anwar made those remarks, which occurred when Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor was acquitted of money laundering charges, he said - “Why (ask me about Rosmah’s case outcome)? Do you want me to interfere in the judicial process? I have my personal view and I have my personal reasons, whether I like it or dislike it.

“But we have to talk about judicial independence. How do you want judicial independence?"

How do I want my judicial independence? Well done, of course. But this has nothing to do with judicial independence.

Indeed when it comes to this addendum no matter what the prime minister says, there were operatives in the justice system who knew of this addendum and they all kept their mouths shut hiding the truth from the rakyat. This is a pattern when it comes to the justice apparatus in Madani.

As former MACC chief Latheefa Koya, who belled the cat in the Zahid case, reminded us - “Stop trying to fool the people by repeating endlessly that Zahid’s DNAA was the court’s decision.

“Article 145(3) is clear, the court had no choice in the matter. So don’t blame the court.”

Former Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s public statements in the Zahid case were prophetic.

“We saw the evidence. The judge found a prima facie case.

“You insult our intelligence and the judge for pursuing this line of argument.

“Don’t defend the indefensible and then talk about reform,” the lawyer said.

This is another self-inflicted wound that the men from Madani have engineered. What the prime minister has done is cast a shadow over every operative in his administration, but worst of all, he has given the PAS-led Perikatan Nasional a new narrative to hang their hat on.

Now we know why all these laws restricting free speech are in play. This is not about the opposition’s hypocrisy. Any rational person knows they are mendacious and hypocritical.

This is about how people can trust the good ship Madani and the person steering it.

Malaysiakini : The king and his royal brothers are there to protect the interests of the rakyat. So, why is Najib driving a wedge between the rakyat and the royals?

Some people claim that the Madani government has acted as if it has been muzzled, and badly mismanaged the royal addendum saga, thus enabling Najib to crow non-stop about his house arrest. The administration must work harder to bolster its image before the rakyat is further disillusioned.

Members of the opposition are taking full advantage of Najib gloating in public about his royal addendum and house arrest. Will the Madani administration stop them from undermining the government?

Like night follows day, many Malaysians fear that a full pardon will possibly follow the move to allow a house arrest. They strongly believe this will happen especially after the unexpected reduction in his sentence.

Najib has been through three courts. The High Court, the Appeals Court, and the Federal Court. He was tried by nine judges. The apology which he offered, years after his sentencing, was made almost as an afterthought and sounded most insincere.

The rakyat was shocked by last year’s reduction in his sentence and the discounted fine. They worry about the two-tiered system of justice in the nation. They compare people who were jailed after stealing food to feed their families with Najib who stole billions of ringgit, not to feed his family, but to satisfy his and his family’s greed.

We are aware that when the Pardons Boards for the various states meet and consider the appeals of prisoners, their decisions are not announced in the media. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa has confirmed that decisions are never made public as they are confidential.

We also understand, perhaps rightly or wrongly, that when prisoner appeals are submitted to the Pardons Board, the applicants would naturally be told whether their appeals have either been denied or approved.

However, Najib’s appeal is mired in controversy. If he was given house arrest or a pardon, the whole nation would be horrified. The reduction in his sentence and discount for his fines has already angered us.

Why are the authorities lenient with Najib? He dominates the media at a time when we want to hear Putrajaya discuss important things about Malaysia, like the protection of children and young women, ways to combat rising crime, the failures and corruption of Puspakom which we’ve known about for decades, the environmental degradation, flood mitigation measures, the healthcare system, and cost of living crisis.

Master manipulator

Don’t ignore Najib’s seven-minute video which he made a week after his conviction. He claimed that the SRC International money had been used for Umno-Baru’s “welfare programmes” and “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) initiatives for orphans. Apparently, none had been used for himself.

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Prisons are full of people who claim to be innocent.

These welfare programmes were not mentioned during his trial, the witnesses failed to mention these welfare programmes, and he omitted to mention the orphans.

Najib is not just a common thief who stole the rakyat’s money, he is also a liar and a desperate one, who is still trying to convince his gullible supporters, that he is innocent of all the charges.

He is a convicted felon and he should be left to serve his sentence. He should not be allowed house arrest or further reductions of his fine and sentencing.

On the day Najib was convicted of all seven charges, for abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust, a succession of Umno-Baru leaders expressed their sympathy for the convicted criminal.

Where was their sympathy for the rakyat?

Despite overwhelming evidence from overseas supplied by governments and financial institutions, Najib continued to be economical with the truth about 1MDB.

Najib appears to wield more power now than some ministers in Putrajaya. He is a master manipulator and good at controlling people.

The Madani administration should stop him from issuing statements from Kajang.

Malaysiakini : So it is better for these Malays to think of DAP as whipping boys rather than a political party that opposes a theocratic state because God knows, nobody wants to spook the Malays.

These recent attacks by Akmal and the “Green Wave” were humiliating and extreme, but what was made clear was that DAP could not rely on the Madani establishment to counter the extreme attacks of the religious far right.

When Kok was embroiled in the halal certificate fiasco, what did the prime minister, the one that DAP would sacrifice anything for, say?

"There is a problem... regulations are necessary so that Muslims do not feel apprehensive. But if she (Kok) feels that the regulations are not necessary in a certain area, discuss it properly," Anwar had said when Kok raised the matter.

Keep in mind that Kok was only responding to public statements from the religious head of the prime minister’s cabinet.

The fact that Kok is still under investigation is further evidence that any kind of dissent concerning a religious policy which affects non-Muslims would involve state security intervention.

‘Sin of secularism’

Meanwhile, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is linking DAP to the scourge of secularism. Oh, how I wish DAP defended secular principles as enthusiastically as they bend over for Madani.

I would use this platform to defend nearly everything it says and do. It is not as if DAP has not touted its secular pedigree when it suited its purposes.

Loke had previously said that his party need not drop the secular nation agenda and its slogan “Malaysian Malaysia” merely to reap support from other ethnic groups.

“Before forming the unity government, all parties agreed not to touch on each party’s principles and constitutions,” he added.

Mufti bill perfect test

The Federal Territories Mufti Bill, a bill which would radically change the power dynamics between secular and religious law of this country, is still in play.

This would be the perfect opportunity to test DAP’s commitment to secularism. DAP not only has to object to this bill but this should not come as a surprise to its coalition partners because everyone knows where DAP stands on the issue of separation between mosque and state, right?

The state wants its non-Muslim partners to be complicit in the formation of religious laws. Why? Because it not only gives a fig leaf of democratic legitimacy but also demonstrates religious and racial superiority over its partners.

Any kind of religious law - no matter the religion - is, in reality, a suicide pact.

Death of free speech

Remember that DAP supported the death of free speech - albeit in a most cowardly fashion - seeing as how the Communications and Multimedia Act amendments were pushed through.

DAP and Harapan would have virulently opposed these amendments if they had been done by PN.

Madani has gift-wrapped a set of legal but oppressive tools for the “Green Wave”.

Where does this leave rational Malaysians? Nowhere good.

You see there is no trade-off. If Madani could point to policies in education, healthcare and social services which were egalitarian and utilitarian, then rational people would have no choice but to ignore these political moves by the Madani elites as the price of doing business.

Bridget Welsh talked about this betrayal in her comment piece “A politics of betrayal?”.

“Those who wanted a different government from that of Umno now have the same party and practices in power, with Anwar providing the means for the party’s leaders and their family members to be rehabilitated, including through taxpayer-funded patronage,” she said.

Easy surfing for ‘Green Wave’

We are always told that if it was not a Madani government, then we would have to accept the “Green Wave”. I say why make the “Green Wave’s” job easier? Why lay the foundation in terms of policy and governmental procedure, or lack of it, for the “Green Wave”?

A good example of this gaslighting is Howard Lee’s latest piece about PAS’ “derhaka” (treason).

The hypocritical and mendacious PN has demonstrated that it is willing to slay Malay establishment sacred cows to gain political power.

However, the greatest threat to the non-Malay community came from within this unity government when the Umno youth leader inflamed the KK Mart issue, which caused domestic terrorist attacks against the convenience store chain. Not to mention, the founders of KK Mart were humiliated and dragged through the court system.

The grand old man of Malaysian politics, Lim Kit Saing, said in a recent speech, that we should learn from life experiences, I concur. DAP shouldn't play the victim card if they are willingly a punching bag for the illiberal forces.