Two questions asked by Malaysians: Will the Anwar Government last five years and will there be another Sheraton Move conspiracy to topple an elected government?
Two questions asked by Malaysians are:
- Will the Anwar Government last five years until the 16th General Election in 2027?
- Will there be another Sheraton Move conspiracy to topple an elected government to usher in a third backdoor government in Malaysia?
This is why I support the proposal by the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim to have a vote of confidence motion in Parliament on December 19, 2022 as the PAS President, Hadi Awang is trying to create another Sheraton Move conspiracy to topple the Anwar Ibrahim premiership.
Hadi, who claimed he masterminded the Sheraton Move conspiracy which toppled the Pakatan Harapan government in Feb. 2020 after 22 months, is spreading new lies and falsehoods about the DAP in his diatribes accusing the DAP of promoting Islamophobia.
There is no need to over-react to Hadi’s new lies and falsehoods about the DAP but his lies and falsehoods about the DAP spreading Islamophobia cannot be ignored and be allowed to stand uncontested.
Islamophobia is a serious charge especially in the plural society like Malaysia and that is why I have challenged Hadi to substantiate or retract his allegation that DAP is promoting Islamophobia.
A bid by PAS Youth to substantiate the allegation that DAP is promoting Islamophobia is so ridiculous and laughable that it only highlights its ignorance of the meaning of Islamophobia.
What is Islamophobia? Wikipedia defines it as the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
DAP leaders do not fear or hate or have any prejudice against Islam or Muslims in general.
In fact, in the first general election that DAP contested in 1969, DAP had Malay candidates, and two Malay State Assemblymen were elected — one in Perak and one in Negeri Sembilan.
Now, in the 15th General Election, we have three Malay Members of Parliament — Syahredzan Johan (Bangi), Young Syefura Othman (Bentong), and Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Bukit Bendera).
We had previously three Malay MPs — Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji (Raub), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera), and Ahmad Nor (Bayan Baru).
We have had Malay State Assemblymen in Johore, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Pahang, Perak, and Penang.
How can Hadi allege that DAP is promoting Islamophobia?
DAP National Chairman, Lim Guan Eng is the only political leader in Malaysia who had crossed ethnic and religious lines to sacrifice his political future and position as Member of Parliament, and even went to jail, in the defence of honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl, when he was a MP for Kota Melaka in the nineties.
Is this Islamophobia?
When I was a Member of Parliament, I visited Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Indonesia, met Muslim leaders like Rached Ghannouchi, President of Ennahdha Party, Tunisia to learn about Islam which I regard as one of the great religions of the world.
Is this Islamophobia?
I know that in the 15th General Election, there are Malay voters who did not vote for DAP because they believed that I was the cause of May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur, although I was in Kota Kinabalu on that day and was never in Kuala Lumpur after the May 10, 1969 General Election.
This is why after the 15th General Election on Nov. 19, 2022, I proposed that all political coalitions and parties agree that Malaysia should be the first nation in the world to deal with the bane of the information era — the toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race, and religion?
This proposal is now even valid and urgent.
Will PAS under Hadi’s leadership make a commitment to distance itself from the divisive and toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race, and religion?
We must not allow the divisive and toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race, and religion to distract Malaysians from the greatest issue before them — how to regain Malaysia’s original dream to be a “beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” as Malaysia has fallen to a second-rate mediocre nation after six decades, and we do not want to be a third-rate failed, divided, and kleptocratic state by Malaysia’s Centennial.
But we must first acknowledge that Malaysia had failed in nation-building after six decades and resolve that we do not want to end up as a third-rate failed, divided, and kleptocratic state after 100 years of Malaysian nation-building.
I was not a candidate in the 15th General Election, but I have been to eight states and clocked some 15,000 kilometres in the two weeks of the election campaign, and everywhere I went, I did not come across any anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Dayak, anti-Kadazan or anti-Muslim, anti-Buddhist, anti-Hindu, anti-Christianity sentiment on the ground, confirming that Malaysians are the most tolerant and sensitive of people.
But during elections, there are political parties and personalities who want Malaysians to believe that the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks, Kadazans, or Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity are under threat and face extinction.
Why is this so? Who want to threaten the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks, Kadazans, or wipe out Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity in Malaysia?
I always believe that Malaysia can be a great plural nation because Malaysia stand at the confluence of four great civilisations — Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian, and Western — and if we can leverage on the values and virtues of these four great civilisations, Malaysia can be a great nation, better than the countries in the Middle East, China, India, and Indonesia.
What is stopping Malaysia from benefiting from our strategic position as the confluence of four great civilisations?
Let Malaysia be the first nation in the world to deal with the bane of the information era — the divisive and toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race, and religion.