By Charles Santiago, MP for Klang
Finally the police are investigating Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) chief Abdullah Zaik Abdullah Rahman. Finally.
He has spewed enough venom to poison the minds of every Malaysian over the past few months. But now, finally, the police are taking action over his call to the Malays to “correct the historical mistake” with regard to the Chinese.
According to Abdullah Zaik’s skewed theory, the ancestors of the Malaysian Chinese are intruders who were in cahoots with the British to oppress the Malays.
And he has refused to apologize. He believes he spoke facts. I believed I was numb to stupidity.
In my age, one would have learned to ignore ignorance. But it’s hard to sit back and let such statements pass as they have serious consequences in multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia. And I have said this over and over.
It’s not clear what Abdullah Zaik was fermenting in his mind when he asked for the historical mistake to be corrected but it sends a shiver down my spine.
Malaysia is clearly at a crossroad. The play of religion on politics, for the strengthening of political power, is threatening to completely break down the social fabric of the society.
We have become a society where crucial issues such as hudud, abuse of power by the ruling elite and people in uniform and anything else that has an impact on every Malaysian cannot be discussed in a civil manner.
It is inevitable that some powerful people or organizations would vomit out inflammatory statements, just the way Abdullah Zaik has.
He has had his outbursts touching on racial and religious matters, often taking serious jibes at the non-Malays. The police, then, did not go knocking on his doors. They were, instead, busy trying to catch seditious lines in a political satire.
The lack of police action signals that anyone with political connections can make insensitive, irresponsible statements and not get into trouble.
Ibrahim Ali’s remarks, comments from some cabinet members and many of Utusan Malaysia’s editorials speak volumes.
And Prime Minister Najib Razak’s silence on pressing issues such as the UiTM salvo where 12 students were allegedly forced to convert to Islam, rising anti-Christian sentiments, the swing to the ultra-orthodox seen in the banning of books recently, the increasing need to regulate everyday lives of the Malays, the heightened level of persecution against the LGBT community, will only serve to accelerate Malaysia’s regression.
But Mr Prime Minister, I know you won’t speak up given that your position within your party is shaky and you need to pander to the conservative elements in UMNO.
So I am going to take the liberty here to tell you that the ugly clamoring for power and in its pursuit, the vulgar use of race and religion, will have the butterfly effect, where political, economic and social developments will eventually impact the whole country and its people. The end result will be devastating for all of us.
And Abdullah Zaik, this message goes to you too. -The Rocket
