Fighting back against the weaponisation of race and religion

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Fighting back against the weaponisation of race and religion


14 hours ago
Zaharom Nain


All it takes is for laws to be swiftly and judiciously enforced, guided by a concerned government that knows what good governance is

The Malaysian flag, socks, petrol bombs, ethno-religious tensions, genocide – singularly or in combination, these symbolise a chaotic and problematic few years for national and international governance.

Domestically, “governance” is a word that’s been bandied about quite a bit by our leaders, largely under an earlier banner of “reforms” and, more recently, under the more fluid concept of “madani”.


Be that as it may, when we talk about governance, especially good governance, we talk of providing transparent and accountable leadership.

This entails practising equality, especially providing equal opportunities, equal protection and equality of justice. Plus, of course, the curtailment, if not eradication, of corrupt practices. Nothing less.


National and international events over the past year or so sadly illustrate a country that is finding it difficult to provide and sustain good governance, and a world that clearly seems to be going the other way.

Internationally, the unrelenting bombardment, and the systematic, wanton destruction and starvation of Gaza – and other less-reported regions – and its people, herald a sickening practice of “might is right”, however wrong this may be. And justice, international law and innocent human lives be damned.

It has also illustrated thus far the hopelessness of world bodies like the United Nations and, generally, the helplessness of the world community at large. It illustrates too the failure of these bodies – and mankind – to defend and sustain peace and good international governance.

Granted, some of us seem to have begun to awaken from our slumber and have started pressuring our governments to address the atrocities being committed. But the fear is that it’s all too little too late.

Nationally, it was arguably the March 2024 (Allah) socks controversy, involving a KK Mart outlet, that started the fiery ball rolling.

Malaysia, to be sure, has had its share of unsavoury ethno-religious incidences and problems. But the KK Mart incident seemed rather novel.

A KK Mart outlet was caught selling socks bearing the Arabic word for “Allah”. This saw the company being charged under Malaysia’s Penal Code for “deliberately wounding the religious feelings of others”, and fined RM60,000.

But, of course, it didn’t end there.


The incident somehow started a nasty trend where certain individuals and groups began exploiting race and religion in an environment where the authorities had earlier imposed restrictions on such actions.

Even petrol bombs were hurled at a number of KK Mart outlets, thankfully, resulting in minimal damage.

Vigilantism almost suddenly became the order of the day, led by a minor politician not worth naming who’s determined to be a major player in the country’s pathetic political game and hierarchy.

In Malaysia, these rabble-rousing actors are often inconsequential bit-part players “subsidised” by bigger political sharks.

They virtually crawl out of the woodwork in cycles, especially when there seems to be a need to distract us all from the real problems we face, like corruption, the rapidly increasing cost of living, and the shortage of affordable housing.

Their task is to weaken the ties that bind us.

Quite like Hitler’s Sturmabteilung (Brownshirts), the Nazi party’s paramilitary wing, their actions reflect a sick form of vigilantism based on weaponising race and religion, intimidating ordinary Malaysians, spreading hate, and dividing further Malaysian society.

They are seen by some observers as being part of a bigger network engaged in what sociologist Charles Tilly has called “opportunity hoarding”.

Here, groups belonging to an advantaged race and/or class create and try to maintain political, economic, cultural and social inequities under the now heavily tainted banners of, say, affirmative action and racial supremacy.

Some of those found further down the pecking order quite often suffer from foot-in-mouth disease – often pleading they were “misquoted”, “misread”, even “manipulated”, when their racism is exposed.

Like the opposition youth leader who brought a racial spin to Merdeka Day’s biggest news story – the attempted “attack” on the Sultan of Perak on a public stage and in broad daylight.

Whether or not the youth leader’s original social media post focused on the lax security for the Sultan, as he alleged, is not the point.

The point really is why did he have to bother at all with (wrongly) calling out the attacker’s ethnicity, which is of no consequence whatsoever?

The wider point, which brings us back to notions of governance, is why on earth have these small-time racist millennials been given free rein for so long to spread their messages of hate and their outright intimidation?

Granted, one thug has been brought to court, and we await the outcome. But it wouldn’t have gone this far, surely, had the authorities practiced good governance and nipped this in the bud?

Sure, he allegedly belongs to a faction in his party that is opposed to the current head. But if true, this only shows weak leadership and indiscipline within the party.

Beyond internal discipline, preventive laws – some abused for the wrong reasons in an earlier, crueller time – are already there.

Surely all it needs is for these laws to be swiftly and judiciously enforced, guided by a concerned government that knows what good governance is, the reforms this entails, and is a government genuinely committed to building a Madani Malaysia?



Zaharom Nain is adjunct professor and director of the Allianz Centre for Governance.