Its not dotard but Mahathir’s classic perverse illogic believing the end justifies the means – whether lies, sedition or even treason – causing him to defend Ibrahim’s Bible-burning threat

Tun Dr. Mahathir is at it again – thumbing his nose at civil and rational society, declaring that he sees no harm in Perkasa President, Ibrahim Ali’s Bible-burning call.

Mahathir said it was not a problem calling for the Bible to be burned as long as there were good intentions.

He said Islam allowed for the Quran to be burned and not discarded all over the place, or to be stepped on, if it was no longer used.

“So, burning the Quran with good intention is not a problem”, he said.

This is not dotard but Mahathir’s classic perverse illogic believing the end justifies the means – whether lies, sedition or even treason.

Firstly, did Ibrahim Ali act with “good intentions” when he made the threat in Penang in January last year to burn the Bible – in Mahathir’s context of the Quran “no longer used”?

A check of the news archives in January last year provides proof that Ibrahim was exhorting Muslims to “unite to protect their religion” and to “seize and burn” Bibles, “including the Malay editions, which contained the term Allah and other Arabic religious terms”.

Secondly, it is most unbecoming of the longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia who should be acting as an elder statesman to counsel the country to keep to the road of national peace, unity and harmony instead of defending, aiding and abetting irresponsible, extremist and incendiary misdeeds like Ibrahim’s threat to burn the Bible.

Couldn’t Mahathir see the great difference between a Muslim advocating the burning of Quran because it is no longer used and the inflammatory calling for the burning of the sacred books of another religion, whether by a Muslim or non-Muslim?

Does Mahathir want Malaysia to be plunged into chaos or go up in flames with Muslims freely calling for the burning of the Bible or holy books of other religions whether Tripitaka for Buddhism, Vedas for Hinduism or Guru Granth Sahib for Sikhism or non-Muslims calling for the burning of the Quran?

I have yesterday called on the Primer Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to announce a “zero tolerance” policy for any Malaysian to threaten the burning of the holy books of another religion so as to be a role model of moderation and inter-religious tolerance, goodwill and harmony for other countries as part of Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates campaign.

Will Mahathir support such a call or is he insisting that Malaysians have a right to call for the burning of the holy book of another religion, defending to the last Ibrahim’s threat to burn the Bible in Penang in January last year?

I have said that in Mahathir’s classic perverse illogic, believing the end justifies the means, he is capable of telling lies and defending sedition and even treason.

Mahathir for instance told a pack of lies in the campaign for the 13th General Elections in May 2013 when he said that I was contesting in Gelang Patah to cause a racial confrontation between the Chinese and Malays and that I wanted the Chinese to hate the Malays and reject working with the Malays.

Didn’t Mahathir commit treason when he was Prime Minister and approved the Project IC or Project M to swamp Sabah with illegal immigrants with “citizenship-for-votes” scams to subvert the electoral process and undermine the sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia?

May be Malaysians should not be surprised or shocked that Mahathir could see no harm in Ibrahim Ali’s Bible-burning call, when the former Prime Minister could see nothing wrong that his 22-year premiership have caused the following banes to Malaysia:

• The infamy of the Operation Lalang mass arrests under the Internal Security Act in 1987;
• Subversion of a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law;
• Lack of national and international confidence in the efficiency, quality, professionalism and integrity of key national institutions, whether the Police, Elections Commission or the anti-corruption agency;
• Degradation of a world-quality educational system – primary, secondary and tertiary; and
• Rampant corruption, cronyism and abuses of power in high political places.

So is anyone surprised that Mahathir is not surprised and is not conducting himself as a responsible elder statesman of the country?