'Azan' mystery deepens: Tsu Koon too doesn't know

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon is the latest to disclaim knowledge about what sparked the fiery protest at a mosque that saw effigies of an MCA man burned, racial taunts hurled and threats even made to drag out and beat the man for allegedly asking mosque officials to reduce the sound of its azan or call-to-prayer loudspeakers.

“Of course there are emotions but I am sure that after the initial emotions, people will settle down and both sides will accept. This is the 1Malaysia spirit — to accept differences and to be united. The issue should not be flared up,” Koh told reporters on Saturday.

"I have not seen this (complaint) letter. Let me look at it and then I’ll comment."

But it was obvious that Koh, who has been accused of burying his head in the sand, was trying to gloss over the latest unpleasant incident. However, he is unlikely to be allowed to do so.

The protest has already aroused the attention of the more extreme Muslim groups, who are now threatening to hold further demonstrations if the Prime Minister’s Department does not revoke the order to lower the azan volume. "Don't you dare challenge our religion," yelled one of the organizers of Friday’s protest outside Masjid al-Ikhlasiah in Kampung Kerinchi.

It was a clear sign of the racial hostility on the ground thanks to decades of the BN's racial and religious politicking as well as its anti-unity propaganda, well spread and disseminated by its army of media vehicles.

Unsurprisingly, Nurul Izzah, the MP for the Lembah Pantai constituency in which the mosque is located, has urged the authorities not to hide any information but to tell the truth so that all parties could find middle ground.

"Let us seek transparency in this matter and execrcise calm and collected reasoning in dealing with this matter," she said.

Political agenda by unseen hands

Indeed the entire incident reeks of unseen hands trying to rake up racial feelings for ulterior motives. Some say it was to make Izzah look bad in her constituency, while some believe it was to galvanize Malay support for Umno and Chinese sympathy for the MCA ahead of the Tenang by-election.

Yet others speculate the leak came from top MCA leaders out to backstab a former president. There are also rumours that the FT Islamic Department or JAWI had offended mosque officials during discussions.

In Malaysia, all mosques are able to amplify the azan or call to prayer. However, there are also by-laws that allow for the volume to be controlled.

Nonetheless, the storm blew in after SMS messages were circulated around town, asking Muslims to gather after Friday prayers at the mosque. Some officials of the mosque had revealed that a lawyer who was an MCA member had written directly to Prime Minister Najib Razak to request for the azan to be lowered.

His letter was reportedly referred to Jamil Baharom, the minister in charge of religious affairs. Jamil then allegedly passed the matter to JAWI to handle.

But JAWI was the first to deny involvement, saying it had no knowledge of such a complaint letter. “I do not know about the directive to lower the volume when reciting the azan. We also did not issue the directive,” Malaysian Insider reported JAWI director Che Mat Che Ali as saying.

MCA too denied any knowlede of the matter, although it added that its members have the right to make personal complaints.“It is obviously his personal view made in his personal capacity. It is not MCA’s view or one of our party agenda,” said secretary-general Kong Cho Ha, referring to the complainant.

Apartheid and anti-unity propaganda

Pundits believe there was a political motive behind the sudden playing up of theazan complaint. Whichever the instigators - Umno or MCA – and whoever their target – Izzah or the Tenang by-election – the game plan was simple, even classic.

“At the end of the day, the issues that were highlighted and which will stick in peoples' minds is that, firstly to the Malays - the Chinese cannot be trusted. And the same to the Chinese – the Malays cannot be trusted. If Izzah gets shot in the racial cross fire, that’s a bonus for them. Meantime, the message that they want to send keeps getting drummed into the peoples' head – racial unity is hopeless, forget it. Pakatan is wasting time, stick with BN,” PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

“But we believe that Malaysians have become much more sophisticated in the way they think. They are no longer so simplistic and should realize the incident whether spontaneous or manipulated only goes to shows that the situation is now dire. And the only to stop apartheid from taking root in Malaysia is to kick out the BN once and for all.” - Malaysia Chronicle