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Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Mahathir's Pandora Box - how he eff-ed up our politics with religion

FMT:

When religion and politics don’t mix

Some Malaysians may have forgotten that it was during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first tenure as prime minister that religion was used, with a passion, to win votes.

When the Iranian Revolution swept across Iran at the end of the 1970s and experienced an Islamic revival, PAS became stronger as a political party.

Mahathir was afraid of the rising influence of PAS on the Malays, so he tried to appeal to them by making Malaysia more Islamic. A new dress code and a ban on the use of certain words by non-Muslims were started during his tenure.



Aiyoyo, Lu mudah lupa, Apek kawan Lu pun macam itu



One could add the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) or the National Civics Bureau, the dumbing down of the learning of English in schools, and Project IC in Sabah. In Project IC, or Project M, hundreds of thousands of immigrants of Muslim origin, mostly from the southern Philippines, were given ICs to change the demographics of the state.


In her interview with FMT, former minister Rafidah Aziz, who was sacked from Umno in 2018, claimed that she was sick of the “toxicity” of Malaysian politics. She also said she feared for Malaysia’s future because religion was used as a political tool.


Many Malaysians breathed a sigh of relief at her frank remarks. She is a straight talker and her views would have carried a lot of weight. Here was a veteran politician who empathised with them. They had been forced to live with the toxic combination of religion and politics for decades. It is a view that is shared by both Malays and non-Malays.


Some people did wonder why it took Rafidah a few decades to open up. Others said “better late than never”, and a few said “talk is cheap, she should have spoken up when she had the power to act and do something about it”.

Malaysians have been saddled with this problem since the 1980s. Some of those who were critical of the use of religion have found themselves punished under the strict laws of the country.

Perhaps, the real tragedy of Malaysia is the failure of Umno-Baru to admit its culpability in the current state of the nation.

Religion is allegedly used to undermine the people of other faiths. Non-Muslims cannot use certain words in their bibles. There have been cases of Muslim converts allegedly allowed to insult people of other faiths and are not punished. Moral policing became the norm. Jakim grew in influence and power. All this had its roots in the early 1980s, when both PAS and Umno competed for votes.

Today, there are PAS politicians who flaunt their wealth unashamedly. One only has to look at Kelantan to see the disparity between the life led by these politicians and the ordinary Kelantanese.





SADA rugi, masih beli VELLFIRE

The heady combination of religion and political power has also clouded the judgment of many Muslim politicians. They ride roughshod over the ordinary Malaysians, and some break the rules with impunity. Not surprisingly, religious controversies such as those surrounding the demolition of temples arise.





To mark Int'l Women's Day, Perak PAS official moots polygamy

Perak PAS information chief Wan Tarmizi Abd Aziz has suggested that women should mark International Women's Day by consenting to polygamy.

"Women's Day will be more meaningful if a woman gifts another woman to her spouse as a mark of appreciation of other women," Wan Tarmizi wrote on his Facebook account.

Our failure to deal with each corruption scandal over the past four decades successfully laid the foundation for 1MDB. Or have we forgotten about 1MDB?

Put simply, the corruption catastrophe and toxic politics hitting Malaysia is not an overnight phenomenon. The seeds were sown during Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister. We need to look at the crux of the problem. It is ironic, that what Mahathir started in the 1980s caused his and Umno-Baru’s downfall.

What are the views of other veteran politicians who served alongside Rafidah? Do they disagree with her?



4 comments:

  1. Eh, but now who is fren fren with PAS...?

    QUOTE
    MCA gives new friend PAS the thumbs-up
    Khoo Gek San
    28 Jan 2020

    MCA president Wee Ka Siong says his party work can work with PAS as long as there is no threat to the spirit of pluralism, as espoused in the federal constitution. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, January 28, 2020.

    MCA has no issues working with PAS to battle Pakatan Harapan in the next general election......said Wee Ka Siong.

    The MCA president said his party will work with PAS under the current arrangement as long as there is no threat to the spirit of pluralism, as espoused in the federal constitution.
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
  2. Read Carefully the first 3 paragraphs.

    Mariam did not say is was Toonsie's fault that religion was mixed up in our politics.

    She blamed PAS because they started this dangerous trend.

    She said Toonsie was forced to follow PAS in using Islam to win the support of Malays for UMNO. Toonsie had no choice, or so he thought.

    QUOTE
    Some Malaysians may have forgotten that it was during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first tenure as prime minister that religion was used, with a passion, to win votes.

    When the Iranian Revolution swept across Iran at the end of the 1970s and experienced an Islamic revival, PAS became stronger as a political party.

    Mahathir was afraid of the rising influence of PAS on the Malays, so he tried to appeal to them by making Malaysia more Islamic.
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mahathir resigned as PM in 2003, apart from the brief, ineffectual 18 months after 2018.

    It's a cop-out to simply keep blaming Mahathir for the Malaysia's malaise.

    His successors, as well as plenty other Malay politicians , and Chinese collaborationists were active promoters of the dysfunctional policies.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And Wee Ka Siong is willing to go to bed with PAS..looks like MCA did not learn the lesson taught to DAP.

    Both are real idiots to trust PAS..PAS style is to suck you dry then discard you. Yes, they (PAS) will tolerate you and say the right things to lure you and when the time comes, PAS will just fuck you through and through.

    And you deserve it for your stupidity and desperation.

    ReplyDelete