Thursday, November 7, 2013

Taib: Hero or hypocrite?

 

Mariam Mokhtar | November7, 2013 | The Ant Daily

OUTSPOKEN: If Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Taib Mahmud can sound like the voice of reason, then it is clear that Umno-Baru is in terminal decline.

When the verdict on the Allah word issue was announced last month, Taib’s speech resonated with many Malaysians when he said, “To us (Sarawakians) there is no issue. We have lived with people of different races and different religions for many decades, even before Malaysia.”

Taib is a shrewd politician who has the benefit of age and experience. He appears to be more in touch with his grassroots supporters, unlike Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who panders to extremists.

Taib waxed lyrical about Sarawakians being tolerant, and he dismissed the Allah ruling when he declared that it would not be binding on Sabah and Sarawak.

In a deliberate snub to the three judges of the Court of Appeal, he said, “We cannot alter the status quo in Sarawak.” He maintained that the “spirit of tolerance” among the Sarawak people was high and that the multi-racial state represented stability and harmony.

On visits to the longhouse, Taib said he would source a Muslim cook to prepare his dishes using the ingredients which the longhouse residents had bought. His childhood at the mission school had prepared him for being with Christians and he was not perturbed when they made the sign of the cross, or prayed.

Taib may have been disloyal by having a dig at Najib, and dishing out snide, patronising comments about tolerance. Najib had just opened the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) convention when Taib made his remarks.

Sarawak is the fourth most populous state in Malaysia. The Ibans form the biggest ethnic grouping with 30% and the Chinese, Malays and Melanau represent 24%, 23% and 6% respectively.

In terms of religion, Sarawak is the only country in Malaysia with a Christian majority (44%), with the Muslims in second place (30%).

Taib is a Melanau of Muslim descent and he has performed a minor miracle keeping Umno-Baru at bay, preventing the importation into Sarawak of Umno-Baru’s religious intolerance, their bigotries and their Ketuanan superiority. Taib has seen the deleterious effects of the mass Malayanisation and Islamicisation on the peninsula.

Najib only dreams of “1Malaysia”, but Sarawak has managed to display racial unity with its unique “1Sarawak” version.

Taib is dependent on the support of the Christians of Sarawak; so is Taib a hero or just another hypocrite? Are his remarks about the Allah ruling just the means to an end, and yet another charade?

Taib implied that the West Malaysians were an intolerant lot. If tolerance is a virtue, then Sarawakians must be extremely forgiving and tolerant, as they seem able to excuse Taib’s corruption, nepotism and cronyism. Or is Taib mocking the people of Sarawak?

Taib insinuated that Muslims in Sarawak are smarter than their West Malaysian peers, because they are not easily confused or enraged by Christians using the word Allah.

This Allah debacle started in 1986, when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his Cabinet ruled that several words could not be used by Malaysian Christians.

To keep Christians in check and to whip the conservative Muslims into a frenzy to defend Islam, the word Allah is brought out every few years, either before the Umno-Baru internal elections or the Sarawak state election, when Taib would suddenly be very vocal about protecting the rights of Sarawak Christians.

If Sarawak were to declare its independence from the union of Malaysia, Taib would be able to keep all of the oil wealth. He could revoke previous agreements and nationalise the oil industry. The neglected communities could be rebuilt with the replenished coffers. Putrajaya need not be blamed for withholding payment.

So, what is stopping Taib from branching out on his own?

Is he worried about the security and defence of Sarawak? Aid should not be a worry as many foreign nations will rush to invest in Sarawak. He already enjoys many ties with Singapore and developed countries.

Taib is wary about independence because he will suddenly find that as a Muslim-Melanau he would be part of a minority group. The other ethnic communities would make heavy demands on him. Despite the lack of interference from Putrajaya, he must wonder if he could survive as easily.

The downside for Putrajaya of an independent Sarawak would be the loss of the large block of MPs which enables the federal government to retain power in perpetuity. Development in peninsular Malaysia would be curtailed if income from oil-rich Sarawak were no longer available.

By 2016, Sarawak must hold its state elections, but before that day approaches, Taib must consider his retirement plans. He would like to make his influence complete and official, perhaps by becoming the Governor of Sarawak. So, we must ask ourselves if Taib is sincere in his defence of the Christians in Sarawak, or only protecting his political interests?

Mariam Mokhtar is "a Malaysian who dares to speak the truth."

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Sun, sex and Muslim tourism

Mariam Mokhtar | November 1, 201 | Free Malaysia Today

The president of the extremist NGO Ikatan Musliman Malaysia (ISMA), Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman said that Muslim tourists from the Middle East would “cringe” at the manner in which the government promotes “infidel religions”, like Hinduism.

Zaik claimed that Muslim tourists “looked up to Malaysia as a modern Islamic country” and he issued a thinly veiled warning that Umno Baru president, Najib Tun Razak should maintain religious harmony.

ISMA objected to the Sri Sundaraja Perumal Hindu temple renovation in Klang, because the effort involved in the upgrade would imperil Malaysia’s image as a “model Islamic country”.

If anyone is wrong, it is ISMA. Multi-cultural Malaysia, and its present liberal stance, attracts Muslims from the Middle East; but once we become as extremist and intolerant as ISMA, or some middle-eastern nations, we might as well wave goodbye to all those middle-eastern petro-dollars which the nation currently enjoys.

Zaik and other members of ISMA should travel to Bangkok, Phuket, Jakarta, Manila or London, to witness the major attractions for Muslims tourists.

Zaik may be delightfully surprised to find that many “unhealthy, infidel practises” are a magnet for the Muslim tourist who finds that being in these countries is liberating, unlike the repressive and stifling atmosphere which he faces in his own country.

London’s Hyde Park and the banks of the Serpentine in summer are bathed in a sea of black robed middle-eastern women walking hand in hand with their husbands. Young middle-eastern women, in western clothing, drive or are seen clinging to young men, safe in the knowledge that they will not be accosted by their religious police.

Zaik will find many similarities between the Malaysian Muslims and the middle-eastern Muslims who choose to go to places which are free of people, who share the views of ISMA.

Many of the Londoners are angry that their city is hijacked for three months of the year, every summer, by the middle-easterners who take over the centre of their city and treat their roads as racing tracks. These rich playboys are like the infamous Umno-Baruputra children who run riot in Kuala Lumpur.

The rich middle-easterners think they own the city, they park indiscriminately, they drive recklessly, they do not pay their parking fines and they drive without insurance. Their cars are often impounded.

Total disgrace

The night clubs are full of young middle-eastern men and women enjoying themselves, whilst the casinos are full of middle-eastern men, spending their money on a past-time which they cannot enjoy in their own homelands.

Zaik must know that Thailand, a Buddhist nation, attracts large numbers of tourists from the Middle East. By day, the temples have not proved a deterrent to these tourists; nor have the nightspots in Patpong, been off-limits to any of their men-folk.

Last September, ISMA declared that syariah law should be the only law that is practiced in Malaysia and last week, continued their uncompromising stand, saying that the ban on the word ‘Allah’ should be applied to all Christians throughout Malaysia. ISMA alleges that the ‘Allah’ debacle is an attempt to convert Malays to Christianity.

ISMA demanded to know why the Bible should be translated into Malay and said that Chinese and Indian Christians read Bibles in English. He then said that Christians in East Malaysia did not necessarily read Malay Bibles and said, “Malay bibles are published in a larger number than the Christians themselves. Which means, to whom are they meant to be distributed?” (sic)

Zaik is wrong, again. He claims that our moderate Muslim image is at risk, but Malaysia’s moderate credentials were destroyed by the extremists like Hasan Ali, Ibrahim Ali and organisations like Perkasa.

Najib delights in telling the world that Malaysia is a “moderate Muslim nation”, but his failure to make his country practise what he preaches, is a total disgrace.

Keen to cultivate the friendship of foreign heads of state and mindful of their investments, Najib thrives on the false image that he has presented to them.

These leaders either do not know, or have chosen to ignore, that Malaysians back home are subjected to one of the most intolerant societies and unjust rules ever imposed on a modern quasi-democratic state.

He has not accepted that he is responsible for the deep divisions in society, nor has he shown remorse for encouraging the attacks, both verbal and physical, on the non-Muslims and non-Malays.

Najib’s inability to censure the extremists and advise them that non-Muslims have a right to practice their religion freely, have shown us precisely why he is not fit to lead Malaysia.

The irony is that a conservative Malaysia has no appeal to the tourists from the Middle East. Zaik has a difficult choice.

Would he prefer a multi-cultural moderate Malaysia which attracts an influx of middle-eastern wealth and all the benefits or drawbacks which this brings? Or would he prefer the purity of a truly religious and conservative Muslim nation, like Iran or the Yemen?

p/s: Happy Deepavali to everyone

Mariam Mokhtar is a FMT columnist.