The heavy price for making Malaysia a basket case

The heavy price for making Malaysia a basket case



From Rahim Zainuddin


We hound out the ones who are different and welcome others who use trickery. Is this a true representation of the Malaysia we live in today?

I remember the fledgling years of my school life, when textbooks proudly proclaimed Malaysia the “melting pot” of races and religions. Malaysia is unique in that respect, we were taught.

I had no reason to disagree. The four people who surrounded me in my classrooms almost always looked and spoke differently and professed different faiths. We respected each other’s boundaries.

As years passed, I realised that reality was somewhat different.

The “melting pot” tag was something the Americans branded themselves. It was just another catchphrase we copied, only to apply superficially. Well, that doesn’t matter so much. These days, even Americans struggle to live up to that proud label.

What my friends and I have been more concerned about in the last 40 years has been creeping Islamisation in our country. Except that these days Islamisation can no longer be described as “creeping”. It is flagrant and unabashed.

The overall goal has been clear to all of us, and in the privacy and anonymity of mamak stall conversations, my non-Muslim friends, still trusting in my confidence, will call it for what it is: the political goal of creating a dominant Malay/Muslim majority.

But it is not enough just to create a dominant majority. For it to be a political success, it must also be a compliant majority. No deviations can be entertained.

Enter Nur Sajat. Someone who feels differently about her body than her gender status will reveal. We harassed her so much that we eventually succeeded in hounding her out of her own beloved tanahair. Exit Nur Sajat.

Now in Australia, Nur Sajat revealed earlier this week that she has successfully obtained legal recognition as a woman.

But not as far as Keluarga Malaysia is concerned, though! Here she remains a man, who else but our deputy religious affairs minister, Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, insisted on Tuesday. Stop ruining the masterplan!

Meanwhile, another very different drama with religious overtones is being played out.

A disgruntled abusive convict father, seeking to get revenge on his Hindu ex-wife, unilaterally converts his three minor children to Islam and leaves them in the care of religious authorities.

In the name of Islam, these authorities are prepared to claim ignorance of the law, even a clear Federal Court ruling on the very subject, and keep them away from their own mother.

Keluarga Malaysia must steadfastly implement the masterplan – at any cost to any individual and any family.

Those of my generation seem to think that Malaysia has become a basket case – that we are well on the path to be the next Afghanistan.

Happily, I have a different view. I think that our youth will not tolerate this very much longer. In the 21st century, personal rights are what they cherish. Every time the government takes a personal right away, it loses more young votes.

The price will be heavy. Especially for Umno who has led us to where we are.