Brace Yourselves For More Outbursts From Zealots On Both Sides

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Last week, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh and Selangor PAS chief Mohamed Sukri Omar were seen to be complementing each other to determine who made the loudest noise and attracted the most attention to become the champions of race and religion.
Amanah Women leader and Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu's hollow yet needless apology added credence to their clatter.
It was a non-starter because no laws or rules had been broken, but as usual, in Malaysia, a tinge of race and religion must be included to spice up any issue.
It started with Sukri taking offence, turning to social media to criticise Aiman, who appeared in a photograph holding a mock cheque with a beer brand logo on it.
Calling the matter an embarrassment, Sukri wrote on Facebook: “If this is how an Amanah leader is going to behave, Islam’s sanctity will be under threat by liberalisation masked as Islam,” he wrote on Facebook.
Selangor PAS chief Mohamed Sukri OmarThis prompted the Education Ministry to investigate allegations that a Chinese vernacular school in Sepang, Selangor, had received donations from a company producing alcoholic beverages.
According to guidelines issued in 2018, schools are prohibited from receiving donations from gains made through gambling activities, cigarette manufacturers, alcoholic beverage makers, and others.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke joined in, seeking to revise Education Ministry guidelines on schools receiving funds from the sale of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages.
It was much ado over nothing, as the brewery has since clarified that it merely sponsored a musical event and dealt with the Parent-Teacher association and the board of governors, not the school.
But Akmal had to have the last word, which was when the issue took a different dimension.
‘Melayu mudah lupa’
However, both Shukri and Akmal fell into the category of the theory espoused by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad – Melayu muda lupa (Malays forget easily).
They conveniently ignored the fact that both their respective parties were components of Muhyiddin Yassin's backdoor government from 2020 to 2021.
During this period, both the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry gave the green light for another brewery to donate directly to schools.
Over three years, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, the brewery provided schools with millions worth of scanners, thermometers, and other equipment. It also paid for the disinfection of school buildings.
“Parents and teachers of more than one million schoolchildren can breathe easily under Carlsberg Malaysia’s Safer campaign which has concluded its contribution of handheld thermometers and disinfection services to more than 1,400 Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools nationwide,” it said in a media statement in 2020.
The following year, it said: “Our Safer Schools campaign aims to alleviate these fears and mitigate infection risks with our contribution that complements strict health and safety procedures in our joint efforts with educators, parents, and the education and health ministries against Covid-19 for safer learning environments.”
Who was the education minister then? It was Bersatu’s Mohd Radzi Md Jidin. Who was the health minister? Dr Adham Baba, who famously “spoke to leaders of 500 countries” and advocated drinking warm water to fight Covid-19.
Is this the end of the matter?
Another Malaysian malaise is that when it suits the party in government, they are willing to bend the rules for its benefit.
The moment it is relegated to the other side, it becomes a mortal sin, even holding a piece of cardboard with a beer logo.
Is the Education Ministry's clarification that the government had agreed to consider allowing vernacular schools to continue accepting donations through the schools’ administrative board, as has been practised in the past, enough to put an end to the issue?
Up jumped former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, who, among other things, told Fadhlina Sidek not to align herself with PAS and Umno Youth and that she is not “PAS’ education minister”.
How much time, effort, and money have we wasted on this issue? Couldn’t we use all these on a productive task like creating a better quality of life for all Malaysians?
Is this the end of the matter? Not likely. Next month, breweries will prepare for the annual Oktoberfest, which PAS has branded a “pesta arak” (booze festival).
More statements, some bordering on absurdity, will be made, but the saving grace is that Malaysians are generally used to taking them with more than a pinch of salt. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: [email protected].
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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