No interest in democracy, equality, justice

MYSinChew.com - Bigotry at its worse (extracts):

By Azmi Sharom (law lecturer at Universiti Malaya)

It is amazing how far PAS has fallen from their slogan "PAS for all" ten years ago to the divisive and horrible party that they are today 

I can't believe what was said by Hadi Awang, the president of PAS.

His proposal that if PAS was in power then all government policy will be decided only by Muslims and implementation will be done by a mix of Muslims and non-Muslims, is truly despicable.

This is bigotry at its worse and I am speechless that a national political leader of a major party can make such a suggestion.

It is amazing how far PAS has fallen from their slogan "PAS for all" ten years ago to the divisive and horrible party that they are today.

Imagine proposing a two tier level of government based on religion. This is akin to apartheid and colonialism where some members of our society are considered second class. In effect what he is saying is that non-Muslims have no say in policy matters and are only used to implement what has been decided. This sounds like colonialism to me. The masters decide, the collies just do the work.

I cannot begin to say how disgusted I am by this. But I am also very fearful. Is this view just the ramblings of one person or is it a belief of his party members as well. If it is the latter then that means a large portion of our population really have no interest in democracy, equality and justice.

My dear Prof, unlike you I can, that is, believe in the bigotry of Hadi Awang. In my posts I've mentioned on a number of occasions that Hadi Awang was more of an ultra Malay nationalist than an ultra Islamist. And I would venture to guess his sense of ultra Malay nationalism might be be among the worst, if not the worst.

In my belief, a true Muslim would be one who is anti-sectarianism or supranationalistic, based on my observations-readings which among many things saw lower caste Indians becoming Muslims to escape the evils of a caste-based society, to wit, by joining the Ummah Wāhidah. So how can Islam or its true teachings be racist. Only mangled and/or corrupt interpretations by unhappy mortal beings could bring its name to such a sad disreputable stage.

But alas, Hadi Awang has NOT elevated himself to such noble thinking, that of being anti-sectarianism or supranationalistic. I am inclined to believe he is more of a nationalistic Malay than a Muslim, and thus we saw/heard him some time ago warning of another May 13* if the Penang State government were to hold third-tier (local council) elections.

* a cleric let alone a Muslim priest threatening May 13?? And for what?

He must have seen (and feared) those local elections, usually in urban areas, would deprive his PAS members of Pakatan Rakyat appointments to councillor positions, then by state appointments rather than via local elections. In that sense, he's not for democracy and its institutions.

PAS became 'PAS for all' with a kinder face to non-Muslims only because of allahyarhum Nik Aziz or his legacy, but once Hadi Awang became President of PAS, adios to 'PAS for all', as the north-eastern leopard reveals its spots, fangs, claws and predatory self again.

Finally, in your pondering as per above, namely, Is this view just the ramblings of one person or is it a belief of his party members as well. If it is the latter then that means a large portion of our population really have no interest in democracy, equality and justice, I'm afraid it's the latter, namely, a large portion of our population really have no interest in democracy, equality and justice, as we saw throughout our political history in the series of calls to strip citizenship of some 'nons' just for sometimes inconsequential matters or to slap someone not to one's liking.

Sulaiman Yassin (Mat Over), slapping David Teo during a TN50 open dialogue session, on May 17, 2017, embarrassingly right in front of PM Najib

sheer racism 

rewards for slapping Teresa Kok
any sign of interest in democracy, equality and justice?
or just arrogant lawlessness

Leaving aside crazy provocative blokes like Namewee and the Alvivi Duo, some of those calls have been outrageously intolerant as in the flabbergasting demand by Mahathir for the citizenship of Ambiga Sreenevasan to be revoked, just because she was involved in the BERSIH movement.

Ambiga Sreenevasan
born and bred in Malaysia

That shocking intolerant call by Mahathir was reported by many media outlets, eg. the Star Online, but let us use a foreign newspaper to ensure the MCA's Star has not been biased - mind you, at that time BERSIH 3.0 was held, Mahathir was still with the BN so the Star Online wouldn't have been, wakakaka. But anyway, Tasmania's The Examiner had this to say (extracts):

Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister who ruled for 22 years, last week called for Ms Ambiga to be stripped of her citizenship.

Ms Ambiga said she and her family had lived in Malaysia for generations and she would leave it to others to judge whether Dr Mahathir - who broke a promise to stay out of politics when he left office in 2002 - was playing race politics in a country where ethnic Malays made up about 65 per cent of the population of 28 million. Ethnic Chinese account for another 25 per cent and ethnic Indians 8 per cent.

Indeed, Mahathir showed no interest in democracy, equality and justice in many of his draconian measures when he was PM, but apart from those, because following realisation that Ambiga Sreenevasan, a pasture-ised (born in the country) and not naturalised Malaysian, could not be stripped of her citizenship as and when people like Mahathir and his ilks demanded, the former PM then suggested the Constitution be amended to allow that, namely, the stripping of Ambiga's citizenship.

His seeming "familiarity" with amending the Constitution to suit his intolerant convenience has been horrendously notorious but far far more frightening, it has been a horrifyingly terrifying and chilling reflection of what must have been his intrinsic disdain for the sanctity of such a hallowed national document, democracy, its laws and judicial system.

Lord President of Judiciary and 5 High Court judges sacked 

you tell me what happened? 

106 people incarcerated without due process of the law, some for years. 4 newspapers banned 

Indeed, a large portion of our population really have no interest in democracy, equality and justice, and this disappointing lack is not just limited to PAS members.

But one final word, Mahathir was not only intolerant then, but also hypocritical, for a mere couple of years later after wanting to strip Ambiga of her citizenship for nothing more than her involvement in BERSIH (2013), he subsequently joined BERSIH 4 and 5 in 2015 and 2016 respectively - of course when that suited him and his political agenda, notwithstanding his empty promise to stay out of politics after he left office in 2002.

he should have called for his own citizenship to be stripped off 

It would be a fantasy, though mind you, a delightful fantasy, to expect him to call for his own citizenship to be stripped off as he did towards Ambiga, wakakaka.

But even more disappointing has been that, despite Mahathir's abysmal record of specious back-flips, shameless about-turns and acrobatic principles (and lack of), many Malaysians who once hated him and referred sneeringly to him as MahaFiraun for his draconian dictatorship, now adulate him, the new Janus, two-faced and also the god of their future as he was of their past (or of their parents').

Aiyoyo, ornithological species of identical plumage tend to congregate in closer proximity, wakakaka.