Malaysian Nons blinded by Hatred of Religion

Yesterday I posted 

Anwar Ibrahim correctly chided France’s Macron on 'Freedom of Expression', which was about the sad tragedy of a French teacher, Monsieur Samuel Paty, who was decapitated by a crazy Chechen terrorist because he considered Paty had blasphemed against his prophet for showing his class caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in various obscene scenarios as training aid to his teaching of 'freedom of expression'.

Naturally French President Emmanuel Macron was livid with rage over the horrendous crime but alas, according to TRTWorld, Macron went about ... amplifying ad nauseam a crude Islamophobic discourse that creates the impression that France is at the risk of losing its identity and future to alleged Islamist forces.

The gruesome murder of a 47-year-old history teacher, Samuel Paty, gave Macron the perfect opportunity to use this strategy. Macron stated that “he was killed because the Islamists want our future. They know that with quiet heroes like him, they will never have it.”

Regardless of how some circumstances surrounding the crime remain to be elucidated, Macron chose to double down on the anti-Islam discourse. He swiftly singled out an entire religion and proposed a bill that proposes policing this religion under the guise of national security.

In political reality, Macron was attempting to exploit anti-Muslim bigotry to bolster his own political ratings.

His low approval ratings and his fear of not being re-elected had led him to adopt such a drastic anti-Muslim campaign which he hoped would make him popular again and distract French voters to overlook the nation's current problems - sounds familiar?

News report tells us that in September 2020, an IPSOS opinion poll revealed that the French population has a pessimistic view of France under the Macron presidency – 78% of respondents said that France was in decline and 27% of them said that such a decline is irreversible.

When asked about the three main issues preoccupying them individually, the interviewees chose the Covid-19 pandemic, the declining purchasing power, and the future of the social security system, respectively.

The report says the French government has badly handled all three areas. Macron failed to take the necessary decisions to protect the country during the initial stages of the pandemic. His government committed borderline criminal negligence by telling the French people that wearing masks was not necessary.

Such a bungled response, combined with Macron’s ill-conceived economic policies, led France into recession mode after witnessing its worst-ever growth slump. Moreover, it is no secret Macron has been trying hard to shake France’s social security in favour of neoliberal agendas. However, following several strikes, he was obliged to reverse course. Against this backdrop, Macron became the least popular French President ever.

That explains Macron's deliberate anti-Islamic campaign which resulted in the Islamic World including our own Anwar Ibrahim (coincidentally a close matey of Recep Tayyip Erdogen) chiding Macron, saying "Freedom of speech is an essential value of Islam and the Muslim world does not need any more lectures about its significance, least of all from those who suffer from Islamophobia."

Of course Anwar has to say that for three reasons, to wit, (1) as a Muslim he was motivated to defend his religion against a cynical Islamophobe, and (2) he has an Islamic obligation to support his matey Erdogen, and (3) his own domestic credentials could do with a bit of Islamic burnishing, not the least for his supporters.

Be that as it was, many commentators at my blog here sadly missed the points I made in my posting Anwar Ibrahim correctly chided France’s Macron on 'Freedom of Expression'.

No one at no time accused the French (and especially the Germans under Angela Merkel) of less-than-benevolent treatment of Arabic and North African refugees. That was not the thrust of my post because I am and many others as well are very respectful of European benevolence towards refugees. 

My point was about the 'deliberate' choice of some in Europe to purposely provoke, rile and abuse Muslim feelings on a virtually non-negotiable highly sensitive topic. To make the issue smacked of hypocrisy and double standards, those culprits dare not touch (and in the same breath, even staunchly and stoutly defend) the sensitivities of the Jews.

I showed examples of obvious overt outrageous European hypocrisy and double standards, especially at the Charlie Hebdo office, where its management sacked those who touched on Jews (or alleged anti-Semitism). I also showed its management possessed pro-Israeli affinity.

But a couple of my visitors (eg. TS) failed to read that (or deliberately ignored those examples), and predictably railed against Muslim ingratitude to European benevolence, and (wakakaka, TS) even managed to drag his political bête noire, the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) into alleged disrepute, wakakaka again.

While we lament Samuel Paty's horrific death and condemn his perpetrator, as I mentioned, couldn't Teacher (late) Samuel Paty teach that (subject of 'Freedom of Expression'), showing how Charlie Hebdo's director the (late) Stephane Charbonnier abused the 'Freedom of Expression' of its cartoonist Siné (Maurice Sinet) by sacking him when he refused then to publish an apology to the (obviously powerful) bridal couple, or how David Irving was jailed in Austria for merely questioning the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, etc etc.

Why must Monsieur Paty used the fabricated disrespectful caricatures of a religious prophet as his training aid?

Wasn't his actions deliberate, and considered sinister?

But I am aware that there exists amongst non-Muslims a hatred (or at least dislike) of all things Islamic in Malaysia because of the history of local Muslims behaving badly and arrogantly towards, as well as bullying and browbeating local non-Muslims, thus engendering in the nons an anti-Islamic and pro-Israeli mentality a la 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

I also recall an old but erstwhile matey's saying that non-Malaysians should really examine-compare the racist mentality of Israelis with that of UMNO, wakakaka, for they are both the very same, ethnic ketuanan racism (thanks Helen for that memory).

To wit, the Malaysian nons are like the Palestinians, whilst the Ketuanan people are both from the 'Chosen Ones'. Think about that when you railed against Palestinians and bodek the Israelis.

So for my visitors, especially TS (wakakaka), if you have any self respect for honesty and integrity, please ask: Why must Samuel Paty picked obscene disrespectful caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (swt) to teach 'Freedom of Expression' when he had several dozens alternatives, eg. the unjust sacking of cartoonist Siné (Maurice Sinet) and journalist Mona Chollet by the very hypocritical Charlie Hebdo, self-claimed paragon of 'Freedom of Expression' when its management couldn't even practise what it atrociously and brazenly claims to preach.