What has the opposition done for the Malays and Islam?

Hey, we can list example upon example of how Umno defends Islam, compared to PAS. And don’t think that Umno is just like the Taliban, mind you. In fact, Umno is very liberal, more liberal than PAS. Yet they are better than PAS at defending Islam.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“What has the opposition done for the Malays and Islam?” screamed the Umno vice-president, Mohd Shafie Apdal. Yes, in light of the recent developments, I too would like the answer to this question. And the recent developments I am talking about concerns Nik Aziz’s statement defending DAP who Umno says had insulted Islam.

Can you just imagine this? Did you ever think you would live to see this day? Not very long ago Umno was calling PAS an extremist party. They equated PAS to Malaysia’s version of the Taliban. And today, Umno chides PAS for being too soft on the enemies of Islam -- in this case DAP.

Umno had to ask the police to haul in the DAP Penang man for interrogation. It was Umno, not PAS, who launched an Inquisition against those enemies of Islam who insulted Islam. Last year it was Teresa Kok. This year it is Jeff Ooi. No one escapes Umno. Those who insult Islam will fall at the hands of Umno.

And this is more than what I can say for PAS. PAS still sits down with DAP and calls them buddies. Is it because PAS wants DAP’s support in the ongoing by-election in Penang? Is this why PAS ‘sacrifices’ Islam and allows DAP to insult Islam?

Yes, I agree with what Umno says. What has the opposition done for the Malays and Islam?

Okay, maybe Jeff Ooi called JIM an extremist Islamic organisation. Even the Malaysian government did the same. Back in 2001, the Malaysian government detained the one-time President of JIM, Saari Sungib, and sent him to Kamunting for two years under the Internal Security Act. The government alleged that Saari Sungib is an extremist who was involved in a plot to start a bloody revolution a la the Iranian Islamic Revolution. In fact, in total, ten of us were detained at that time and we were all accused of a conspiracy to bring in guns, bombs, Molotov Cocktails and grenade launchers.

Actually, the only cocktails I ever laid my hands on are Margaritas.

Maybe the government was angry that JIM, ABIM, and many other ‘extremist’ Islamic organisations, were the founders of Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN) that later changed to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) when it merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). Today, PKR is a source of headache for the government, especially when it wishes to abolish Ketuanan Melayu and replace it with Ketuanan Rakyat.

A JIM man is also heading the Anti-ISA Movement (AIM) -- or Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) in Malay. In fact, many JIM and ABIM people are involved in the Anti-ISA Movement, which was started by the one-time head of ABIM when it was first launched in 2001 -- the late Ustaz Fadzil Noor. Can you see JIM and ABIM all over the place fighting for justice, equality, good governance, transparency, and opposing police brutality, abuse of power, corruption, and whatnot? This certainly makes them extremists just like the Taliban.

And Jeff Ooi did call them extremists, as they should rightly so be called. And what did PAS do? PAS just brushed it all off as a non-issue. PAS did not threaten to leave the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. PAS did not tell DAP to stay the fuck out of Pengkalan Pasir when DAP announced they are going to help PAS in the by-election due in the next few days. It was Umno who sent the police to hassle Jeff Ooi and to ‘take his statement’. Expect Jeff Ooi to soon be charged for the crime of insulting Islam, if he does not get detained under the ISA first.

Never mind whether Jeff Ooi really did insult Islam. All it needs is one allegation from an Umno-controlled newspaper and that is enough for Umno to spring into action in the defence of Islam. Whack first. True or not, we talk later. That is how dedicated to Islam Umno is compared to PAS.

The same goes for the Teresa Kok case. There was a rumour that there is some very remote possibility Teresa may have requested a certain mosque to reduce the volume of its PA system at 5.30am. Why people should still be sleeping at 5.30am is beyond me. By 5.30am they should all already be awake. So I can understand why this made Umno very upset.

Okay, the allegation was proven not true in the end. The mosque committee members themselves said this was not true. Teresa did no such thing. She never asked the mosque to lower the volume of the PA system. (Actually, come to think of it, even if she did, so what? How does that tantamount to insulting Islam?) Nevertheless, Umno got the police to detain Teresa; detention without trial under the ISA; and later, only after they had detained her, did they conduct an investigation as to whether the allegation is true or not.

If the mosque committee had kept quiet then Teresa would have been sent to Kamunting for at least two years, maybe longer, for the crime of insulting Islam. Unfortunately, the mosque committee went and opened their stupid mouth and said no such thing ever happened so the government had no choice but to release Teresa.

Hey, we can list example upon example of how Umno defends Islam, compared to PAS. And don’t think that Umno is just like the Taliban, mind you. In fact, Umno is very liberal, more liberal than PAS. Yet they are better than PAS at defending Islam.

It is the Umno government that issued licences for lotteries and casinos in Malaysia. Even China, which not only has the largest population but the largest Chinese population in the world, refuses to issue casino licences. Even Singapore, until very recently, refused to issue casino licences. But a long time ago the Umno government issued a casino licence.

Sports TOTO is another gambling outfit that is owned by Umno. Of course, they can’t put it under Umno’s name lest it attract controversy. So they used a Chinaman as Umno’s nominee to hold the shares of Sports TOTO. So Umno is not like the Taliban at all even though they are more enthusiastic about defending Islam compared to PAS.

When the Faber Merlin group got into trouble, Umno brought over the company, which owns many hotels. Later it bought over a few other hotels that were in trouble. Today, Umno owns many hotels that have pubs, bars, discos, massage parlours (which are actually ‘fuck shops’), and whatnot. PAS would never do this. PAS would rather call for the banning of beer. Umno will not only not ban beer, but will in fact invest in businesses that have pubs, bars, discos, massage parlours, etc.

So perish the thought if you are thinking that Umno is extremist or like the Taliban. They are not. They are very liberal. Yet, they defend the Malays and Islam while what has PAS done for the Malays and Islam? This is a very relevant and pertinent question that the Umno vice-president, Mohd Shafie Apdal, has asked: “What has the opposition done for the Malays and Islam?”

PS. Actually, just between you and me, if Islam is really the religion of God as Muslims say it is, then God does not need man’s help in defending His religion. After all, God created man. So certainly this makes God more powerful than man. Therefore, does God need man’s help in defending His religion? God is capable of doing that Himself. If God is upset, all He needs to do is, poof, and He can exterminate an entire community. So you insult His religion at your own peril -- if you really are insulting His religion in the first place. God does not need the help of His creations to do His work for Him. And if God is really that Superior Being that we all say He is, then He is not capable of getting upset. Getting upset is a human emotion that only man possesses. God is free of human-like emotions like getting upset.