Does Muhyiddin Yassin practice what he preaches?

Created a bigoted and buffoonish image for himself

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told delegates during the winding-up of the BN convention that ‘the time had come for BN to take the courageous step to move further forward in dealing with sensitive issues related to race and religion’.

Muhyiddin said that these sensitive issues were considered taboo in Malaysia's plural society but that Umno would always be fair to the other races and consult the other component parties to reach consensus on matters that involved the interest of all races.

Having told others what to do, the public is left wondering what the minister’s definition of ‘courage’ and ‘’fair’ are, when tackling matters of race and religion.

Is Muhyiddin someone who simply lacks the confidence to act in accordance with his own beliefs? Or is he someone indulging in complete fantasy?

Last September, Muhyiddin who is also the Education Minister, said that he was “powerless” to take action against two school principals who allegedly uttered racist remarks.

Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, had allegedly told students during an assembly that the Chinese could return to China and that the Indians resembled “dogs” with their prayer strings.

The second case involved Ungku Aznan Ungku Ismail, the school principal for SMK Bukit Selambau, who allegedly publicly told a few Chinese students to return to China for behaving disrespectfully during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Muhyiddin ducked his responsibilities and displayed none of the ‘courageous’ element he wanted BN to exhibit.

He justified his lack of action with: “The minister cannot make any decision on government officers with the pay grade of 48 and above, ……… only the disciplinary board of the Public Services Department (PSD) headed by the director-general can take action.”

Perhaps, Muhyiddin is not quite ready to ‘move forward’ in dealing with sensitive issues, as he publicly suggested. He was content to pass the buck to a civil-servant.

“It's their jurisdiction. I have already announced this so just wait for whatever decisions they want to make,” said Muhyiddin.

So, instead of acting decisively to quell the hurt and to halt the deepening rift in society, Muhyiddin simply avoided dealing with the issue.

Muhyiddin is the Education Minister. He is also the Deputy Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister is incapacitated in any way, it is he who will take over the running of the country. In matters of state, he is second in command to the Prime Minister.

When Muhyiddin failed to censure the school principals, he was being irresponsible. More importantly, he lacked the moral courage to deal with the matter.

Perhaps he should have stepped down if he is unable to perform. Perhaps Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak should have called for his resignation. It looks bad because Najib had just announced, that people who make racist remarks will be punished and that his government had a zero tolerance towards racism.

Last week, in his closing speech at the BN convention, Muhyiddin said that the real challenge was yet to come. He declared that BN’s performance at the election would show if the electorate thought BN had political legitimacy and was qualified to rule.

He said, “This is where the real challenge lies for us, that is, to maintain our political legitimacy and to be judged positively by the people who are also experiencing changes in their thinking, attitude, lifestyle and political views.”

Muhyiddin talked about “courageous steps” and of being “fair”. He is also reknowned for his “I am Malay first, Malaysian second” statement, despite Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’.