PH lied in the manifesto

The Malaysian Insight - Who is happiest at opposition's by-election hat-trick? by Ravinder Singh

Who is happiest, PAS, Umno or Barisan Nasional, at the opposition’s three by-election victories in a row?

Er ... Tun ..

Not bloody now ... people are looking

Now, what was it you wanted? 

None of them. The happiest party is that fugitive from India who has been given permanent resident status by Malaysia; who got red-carpet treatment and hugs from Mujahid Yusof Rawa, and who is free to go about preaching his brand of Islam and creating disunity in multi-racial Malaysia.

Why? The answer is obvious for all to see. His brand of Islam is gaining strength. His brand of Islam, that Muslims must vote for Muslims even if the Muslim candidate is corrupt to the core, because he has “iman” since he goes to the mosque, and never for a non-Muslim candidate who even though he he may be the cleanest, he does not have “iman” because he does not go to the mosque.

Race and religion were freely used in these by-elections, with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang preaching that Muslims must vote for Muslims, just like Zakir Naik. So Zakir must be the most elated person now, as his brand of Islam has been accepted and is being practised by Malaysian Muslims.

Race and religion have been used by politicians since the labelling of one group of Malaysians as “pendatang”. Following this, Biro Tata Negara (BTN) was set up with the specific purpose of indoctrination about “ketuanan” (superiority) of one race and religion over all the others.

BTN was/is my babe 

National schools took on the character of religious schools and children were subjected to discrimination based on race and religion.

With all the groundwork prepared, in comes Zakir, a self-proclaimed authority on Islam to preach his brand of Islam that contrasts with the teaching of the Prophet. The Prophet said “to you yours, and to me mine”, but Zakir Naik disagrees with this. Zakir says the whole world should be Muslim as all other faiths are fake. He teaches that a corrupt Muslim is a better leader in a multi-racial country than the cleanest non-Muslim.

On another score, there are calls for PH to reflect seriously on the reasons the voters seem to be abandoning it so soon after having given it overwhelming support in GE 14.

PH started off well, making appointments to some critical jobs and standing firm despite a hue and cry from some quarters.

The people then asked when the promises in the manifesto would be implemented. The “lawak-lawak” (jokingly given) reply that the promises in the manifesto were made not expecting to win the election was disastrous to the credibility of PH. It amounted to saying that the PH had lied in the manifesto and this brought PH’s moral standing down drastically in the eyes of the voters who had voted PH on the strength of those promises.

Then there was the case of Ronald Kiandee, chairman of the PAC, who jumped the fence and who the PM insisted could hold on to the post because he was in the opposition when he was appointed. What sort of logic was this? It amounted to arrogance and disregard for PH’s own rule that the PAC Chair must be from the opposition.

When the issue of Ministers with fake degrees came up, again it was brushed aside showing that PH had no moral courage to do the right thing. This bending backwards to brush aside matters like this smack of arrogance.

So the attitude that “I will not bow to public pressure” must change. It did in the case of the PAC after Nurul’s resignation and possible resignations by the rest. But why had such action to be taken to show disgust before doing the right thing?

The same way PH had promised to stop racism and improve race relations. But no action was taken against the “samseng” (gangsters) in Manjoi who trespassed into a convenience store and threatened to break the beer bottles if they were not removed. And the MB of NS had the temerity to ban the sale of beer in a golf club.

PH must seriously start implementing the promises it had made. If there is genuine constraint in implementing something, then don’t make “lawak-lawak” excuses but talk straight and explain in a gentlemanly manner.

And of course, money matters mean a lot to the lower income groups. Promises were made to help them. They should be fulfilled.