BN IS WALKING ON A SELF-IMPOSED RELIGIOUS TIGHTROPE IN ORDER TO PRACTISE ITS DELICATE HYPOCRISY

Umar Mukhtar

What the PKR vice-president Shamsul Iskandar said in his statement yesterday hit the nail right on the head. The PAS TG Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill manoeuvred hurriedly by BN for tabling on the last day of the parliamentary session but to be debated only at the next session months away, was obviously just a ploy with the coming two by-elections in mind.

After the Sarawak PRN what is left to be discussed, digested and jeered at is the 1MDB controversy and Prime Minister Najib Razak’s alleged role both in its happening and in its alleged cover-up.

It was disappointing to the opposition when Sarawakians did not seem to be too interested in 1MDB compared to the five-yearly replacement of their long-house zinc roofing plus associated repairs. The peninsular Malaysians, on the other hand, just can’t wait to dissect the whole drama with glee.

It does not take a rocket scientist to be aware that the attempted explanations and denials by the federal government about the alleged scandal at 1MDB are unsatisfactory to the thinking man, in its deliberate incompleteness, the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, the dragging of feet, the ostrich attitude to international investigative developments and its cowardly ignoring of taunts by the international press.

Enough holes have been dug, a by-election campaign will make it worse.

If the Dayaks of Sarawak were interested only in their long-house roofs, the Malays of the peninsular are most interested, above others, in the plight of their race and religion. Make these the issues of the day and the rest would just be cast aside by them

After all, these are Malay by-elections with the other races being only about 30 percent of the voters there. Barisan National can forget about getting non-Malay votes. The Chinese voters had thumbed their noses to BN in the last two PRUs in spite of BN’s embarrassing courting.

So the race is principally to get Malay votes. The Malay votes are badly split and with the addition of the non-Malay votes going to the opposition, BN is in a precarious position.

Apart from being a Malay-based party, UMNO of BN needs to appeal to the religious sense of the Malays now more than ever. Split the opposition Malay votes religion-wise, between the seculars and the non-seculars.

But the thing is that it is not an issue Muslims talk truthfully and publicly about.

Then came along the Hudud thingy, peddled by PAS, UMNO’s newly found non-enemy. So it was decided that PAS is to get the non-secular votes by UMNO helping Hadi to table the Bill in time for the by-election campaigns.

Where are the secular votes going to then? This is the tricky thing. Only UMNO can pull a hypocritical thing like this! See, UMNO is both secular and non-secular friendly. It is fundamentally secular, and yet by rushing through and defending Hadi’s initiative, it does seem sympathetic to non-secularism, if that is what the people want.

If that is what the people want, I repeat the operative term in case you think UMNO has suddenly changed its stripes. UMNO is more tricky than that. It will try its damndest to remain secular, come rain or high water. Cutting off limbs for stealing? That’s too close for comfort, man!

Knowing that by keeping its component parties out of the loop in its manoeuvring about helping Hadi to table the Bill will make these component parties foam in their mouth, what is the chance that the said Bill will pass through parliament?

Now that the various heads of non-Muslim component parties of Peninsular Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and even the head of PBB have voiced their rejection of the bill, will UMNO and PAS MPs make up for the 112-MP majority needed to pass the bill? Do your maths!

Somebody is being taken for a ride. Hudud will be as far away as it ever was in UMNO’s Malaysia. Which is not that disappointing really considering that a just Islamic society prevailing in Malaysia, which is a prerequisite to the imposition of Sharia law, seems eons away under UMNO rule with the 1MDB shit and tons others and all. Some non-Malays may even take notice.

But how to prevent the secular Malay votes from going to Amanah? Now this is when the race card comes into play.

First, Amanah is seen to be coy about its stand on when to implement Hudud for fear of Muslim backlash, and second, mostly because its benefactor, DAP, will not take too kindly to any show of enthusiasm for Hudud, Amanah prefers to shut up about it.

Amanah is vulnerable to accusations of being neither here nor there, and most importantly of being in cahoots with the supposedly anti-Malay DAP.

Like animals in a corral, the Malays of the BR1M persuasion will be persuaded into voting for UMNO. But after the by-elections, Hadi’s bill will be defeated and UMNO will just shrug its shoulders as if surprised that BN is not ready for it yet; blah, blah, blah.

PAS will be disappointed but proud of its courageous moral duty of having pushed for the bill and will then proceed to continue hitting out at Amanah as if that preoccupation brings them the most satisfaction to them.

Some people will then be amply rewarded with more ‘dedak’ than their children and grandchildren can eat and they will all live happily ever after, 1MDB or no 1MDB. If BN wins, that is.

What if BN loses, in spite of having the inherent advantages of operating among the misguided?

Well, if PAS wins, things would still be under control. Better PAS in charge of a restive Malay population than other unfriendly parties. All it confirms is that the racial and religious polarisation in the country is kind of set, through the fault of all concerned.

But if Pakatan Harapan wins, somebody is going to lose his job. Jeng! Jeng! Jeng! One thing is sure, though. That will have little to do with Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, though his megalomaniac self will dispute that.

It is one of the few elections in my lifetime, that I am actually quite ambivalent about whoever won.

One thing for sure, if BN won because of split opposition votes, I will roll on the floor laughing at the ‘kiasu’ opposition. And when either PAS or Amanah is proven to have the bigger dick, let’s see if that dick can represent them in parliament. ‘Menang sorak. Ayam menang kampung tergadai’. Pak Kadok, Pak Kadok!