JAIS, the monster Dr M created

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad allowed the formation of Jais and now it is evolving into a religious mafia.

COMMENT

By Stephen Ng

Dr Mahathir Mohamad is one controversial politician who survived by making statements that continuously irked the people.

In his latest reprimand against the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS), responsible this time around for raiding a Hindu wedding, I wonder if the former prime minister has forgotten who it was that gave the go-ahead to the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

And who it was that created the concept of “Ketuanan Melayu” (Malay Supremacy) that rears its ugly head every now and again. Rather than advocate that Malaysians show more respect to each other, this Malaysian maverick destroyed the social fabric of our country that was based on the five pillars of Rukunegara.

Instead of Belief in God, it has become nothing but fanaticism, based on how things are interpreted these days.

Instead of loyalty to King and Country, it is loyalty to Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Instead of Supremacy of the Constitution, it is supremacy of the Malay race.

Instead of Rule of Law, it is which political master you serve.

Instead of Good Behavior and Morality, it is Crudeness and Mischief.

As long as one is on Umno’s side, one gets away with any form of rudeness and disobedience. It does not matter how crude your words (such as burning down the DAP headquarters or running down another’s religion), the forces that be are there to protect you.

As a result of this enactment and others that were allowed to go through the State Assemblies around the same time when Dr Mahathir had just recovered from an onslaught by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, it is not difficult to understand how an Indian Muslim could continue to survive in a political organisation like Umno.

Thereafter with Umno Baru, we witnessed others rising to the top, especially those who shared Dr Mahathir’s sentiments. It is no wonder Abdullah Badawi, even as a prime minister, could not stand being attacked by Dr Mahathir.

JAIS’ raid on both the Hindu wedding and the BSM is nothing but an expression of ‘ketuanan Melayu jenis Mahathir’ (Mahathir’s brand of Malay supremacy). Mahathir is a spoiler and so is the monster he created as evidenced over the past three decades.

In my opinion, instead of reprimanding JAIS, now, Dr Mahathir should be reprimanding himself. If he wants to die a honourable statesman, he should stop talking nonsense. Instead, he should get things back in order for the sake of the country’s future generations.

Otherwise, he will die and leave behind a legacy of curses on this nation.