Desperate Umno hijacks Friday sermon to pronounce Najib's 'greatness'

The 13th general election is imminent, that's for sure. Even without the alarm bells shrilling every day from the UMNO-BN politicians that they are the ideal choice of the people, there is less than a year to go before the 5-year mandate granted to them on March 8, 2008 expires.

The most surprising thing is that the great UMNO election machinery is not the juggernaut it used to be. Maybe it is because the playing field is more level now with Malaysians enjoying greater exposure to the Opposition's more persuasive and two-way talk. Umno's pitch now comes across as contrived and forced. Close your eyes and you will think that you are being compelled to stay awake and listen while Ibrahim Ali or Hasan Ali share their dreary 'intellectualism' with the rest of the nation.

Whatever it is, the Umno juggernaut is not as supremely confident as before. Panic has gripped it, and it is now doing something that is frowned on by Muslims  - giving political ceramahor lectures disguised as sermons in mosques. Of course, this is not new and Umno has done it for decades. But never so blatantly or so crudely as now as to make its listeners fed up and rebellious.

Imamns forced to read out Umno's political ceramah

In conjunction with last week's Perhimpunan Perdana Warga Agama Wilayah Persekutuan organized by the FT ministry headed by Raja Nong Chik, the Imams of all the mosques in Kuala Lumpur were given the official version of a sermon prepared by the Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan to preach to their Friday congregations.

The sermon was basically a repetition of what Najib had told Malaysians live on the RTM1 TV channel about his three years' of 'achievements' since taking office in April, 2009. Perhaps Najib knew what the rest of the country was thinking about him - that he had actually grossly underperformed. And because the chances were high he would not get any independent praise at all, he had no choice but to unabashedly boast that he had 'achieved' much in the 3 years.

The Friday sermon highlighted several issues such as there are now more Syariah Court Judges in the country than before, and that there were even a few female judges. The sermon also mentioned how diligent the UMNO-BN government has been in upholding Islam, giving more funds to the mosques and other Islamic religious institutions in Malaysia.

But what was most irritating was the way the sermon specifically highlighted the “wassatiyyah” or 'moderation' way of Najib in managing the country.

Moderation or extravagance

It is hard to believe that Najib really practices what he preaches when one considers his extravagant lifestyle and the free-spending habits of his family, especially wife Rosmah Mansor, all at the expense of the national coffers too.

Of course the sermon did not call on Najib to be more prudent with his monthly electricity and water bills, amounting to a staggering RM160, 000 and RM66, 000 respectively. There was also no mention of him using money from the national purse to finance his daughter’s engagement ceremonies amounting to RM409, 767 which had been quietly billed to the Prime Minister’s Office as claimed by opposition PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

It would also have been too much expect the sermon to chastise or at the very least query Rosmah's RM150, 000-Birkin handbags, the alleged RM24 million diamond ring and the international shopping sprees with her 'kakis' or friends.

Neither did the sermon mention another UMNO minister who is now very hot in the news - Shahrizat Jalil. There was complete silence on Shahrizat's family being given a RM250 million government meant to be spent on developing a national cattle breeding project, but which they were allowed to abuse to their advantage, and in the end plundered so as to buy several luxury condominiums in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Kazakhstan.

Instead what the sermon harped on was how genuinely concerned UMNO was about the people, unlike what some 'proponents' were in proposing a Welfare State - an obvious swipe at PAS and Pakatan Rakyat. According to the sermon, it was UMNO-BN that has always been taking care of the people, never anybody else 'welfare state' promises or not.

Unconvincing and clear signs of rebellion

Based on the writer’s own observation in the prayer hall, the devotees were not really paying much attention. Many were sleepy and quite oblivious to what was being presented.

When I made some random inquiries as to how they felt about the sermon, many said they realized that it was ian UMNO ceramah and not a religious sermon. They weren't very happy at all and some even rolled their eyes upwards as if to say, what is the world coming to these days when a mosque is used so blatantly to sell a political personality even if he is the PM!

Feedback received from others who attended different mosques throughout KL also reflected gross irritation at having their time "used by politicians".

Some also said that the Imams at some of the mosques realized they had been duped and were obviously reluctant to read from the prepared text. But they had 'no choice' so strong are the tentacles of Umno government in the world of the Muslim clergy here. So, as a result, many Imams read the text but without zeal, without commitment and with bent posture and soft voice. It was degrading and humiliating.

Some mosques even experienced 'sudden' trouble with the sound system, indicating that the more feisty mosque officials simply refused to be used at all. Good for them, I say!

Insulting Islam

UMNO must realize and accept that Muslims cannot be taken for granted anymore, especially the ones in KL. It is an insult to their intelligence and to their worship of the Almighty. They are not UMNO zombies who can be brainwashed as and when the UMNO leaders feel insecure about themselves..

UMNO is desperate and trolling really low but by showing such blatant disrespect to Islam and the Muslim community, it is asking for trouble with a capital T. If the gathering was really successful as Raja Nong Chik boasted on Twitter, he is only deceiving himself.

No one else is fooled, least of all the Muslims who were duped into listening to the political ceramah disguised as a Friday sermon. Many of these are voters and they are sure to show UMNO what they think about people who dare to insult Islam in the very mosques built to worship their Almighty.

Malaysia Chronicle