Mahathir S Crass Remarks Not Helping Multi Religious Malaysia

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Malaysia has taken the right and proper stance on the recent killings in Nice, France. The statement by Wisma Putra was well-crafted, advocating a stance that redeems Malaysia and consonant with global outrage.
The same can't be said of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's ill-conceived comments that have tarnished Malaysia's "moderate" image abroad. As usual, he claims his remarks were read out of context. It is always other people's fault.
It was the same old story in 1979 when he suggested a "shoot on sight" strategy to stop the Vietnamese boat people. Then, he claimed he meant "shoo", not "shoot".
That is classic Mahathir who can't avoid conflict, controversy, and confusion because he once claimed to be "the devil you know", and we know what the devil is like.
The Memali incident, codenamed "Operasi Hapus" on Nov 19, 1985, when 18 individuals, including a PAS leader, were killed, exposed the underbelly of Mahathir's politics of expediency and selective memory.
After Anwar Ibrahim was assaulted by the country's top cop (who was subsequently charged in court) Mahathir cynically suggested that Anwar had "hit himself". Talk about adding insult to injury and clinical heartlessness. He has not recanted his thoughtless and hurtful words.
His latest comments, tantamount to advocating an open season to kill French citizens, were slammed by world leaders.
It exposed Mahathir as a compulsive sufferer of self-contradiction when in his Mahathir Award for Global Peace, he had denounced violence as a solution. Now he thinks terrorists can kill as a "right".
His remarks were interspersed with contradictions. In contrast, Wisma Putra's statement was comprehensible and not controversial. Mahathir may want to try straight-talking.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison censured Mahathir and criticised the nonagenarian's tweets as "absurd and abhorrent".


"The only thing that should be said today is to completely condemn those attacks. The only response is to be utterly, utterly devastated," Morrison said on Sydney's 2GB radio station on last Friday (Oct 30) morning. And that was how world leaders felt.
Condemnation of the Nice killings from world leaders was swift. The European Union joined Australia and many other nations, including Islamic nations, to stand behind France.




What prompted the Nice suspect, a 21-year-old man from Tunisia, to murder strangers? How could someone, on the cusp of adulthood, take it upon himself to travel overseas and kill people he hadn't met? What poisoned his young mind? 


Mahathir may want to withdraw his offensive remarks in case some impressionable young adult on edge follows his remarks to kill French citizens.
"If it is my son, let him be judged," remarked the man's distraught father to a TV news reporter, with his weeping mother in the background.
And in its media statement, Wisma Putra said it is committed to "Opposing persecution, provocation, prejudices, as well as religious or racial hatred."


Let's hope the government will walk the talk in its own backyard. Non-Muslims in Malaysia have been treated unfairly where freedom of religion is concerned.
It has resulted in the abduction of several Malaysians, all involved in religion. These are heinous crimes which the government has failed to solve because of a lack of resolve and the possible involvement of government assets.
Speaking platitudes to an angry global community is not the same as cleaning up your own backyard and practising the good that is preached.
Pastor Raymond Koh's 2017 kidnapping in broad daylight, which a Suhakam inquiry said was perpetrated by elements within the police, sees no government urgency to nab the real culprits.
The root cause of religious killings is indoctrination. Impressionable people are brainwashed by those who tell them lies to commit murder in the name of their religion.
Blind hatred led the Christchurch shooter to slaughter mosque-goers in New Zealand last March. Evil ideology makes the impressionable psychopaths commit mass murder.
That is why leaders have to avoid careless talk that the impressionable may impetuously act on. Evil begets evil. That is why words of comfort after a massacre matter more than words that add fuel to the fire.


New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
The outpouring of grief by New Zealanders, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern donning a headscarf to console Muslims in a mosque, is reflective of the fair go that Muslims receive in Western countries.
My white Kiwi friend, a committed Christian, told me he went to a mosque to show his solidarity with Muslims against the barbaric butcher.
Preachers of hate who, under the veil of Islam, spew lies about Westerners and more lies about other religions to incite violence are as culpable as hate-spewing white supremacists. They should all be stopped.
France is the country that gave the world the ideal of liberty. President Emmanuel Macron, as the leader of France, is committed to upholding liberty, a treasured core value of the country.
Macron is steadfast despite protests against him. A major cause of violence is the lack of tolerance in coping with religious dissent and insults. And Muslim leaders like Mahathir who make reckless remarks do not help anyone.
This is an opportune time for the world to listen to decent Muslim leaders who preach about not resorting to violence and back the religion's claim as a religion of peace. Muslims need to renounce violence as a means of protest against perceived insults.


We know that Christians all over the world are also undergoing discrimination, provocation, insults, and persecution. Christ, whom they worship as God, and Muslims, who revere him as a prophet of God, is blasphemed as a swear word in daily conversation, in Hollywood movies and talk shows.
God cannot be insulted because he is above human conduct and will punish wrongdoers. He does not need men to protect him. The path of peace is not getting upset when others offend our beliefs. Forbearance is a virtue.
You can call my God anything you want because he has not asked me to harm you. Instead, he commands me to bless those who persecute me. God commands us to pray for and love our enemies.


Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir once wrote, "Muslim-majority Malaysia is peaceful and stable because the citizens, who belong to different races and religions, were conscious of the need to be sensitive to the sensitivities of others."
How sensitive was the recalcitrant Pasir Puteh MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, who not long ago offended Christians by saying the Bible was "distorted" and refused to apologise?
I don't recall Mahathir reminding the offender of the Penal Code he enacted against offending the religious sensitivities of others.


All the protests against Macron are simply barking up the wrong tree. It will not stop fanatics from killing frenzies in mosques or churches. But speaking out with one voice against violence may work.
I doubt the Mahathir Global Award for Peace means anything now to Mahathir, who advocates violence couched in words of his trademark "doublespeak".

STEVE OH is an author and composer of the novel and musical 'Tiger King of the Golden Jungle'. He believes good governance and an engaging civil society are paramount to Malaysia being a unique and successful nation. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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