DAP has never been a threat to Islam but to secularism

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do.”

- British philosopher Bertrand Russell

Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the recent allocation of RM1.9 billion to Islamic affairs is proof that the allegations that DAP is a threat against the Malays and Islam are slander.

For decades, the Islamic bureaucracy through its various tributaries has moulded a young now voting polity to despise democratic traditions and norms - believing that doing so makes you a better Muslim.

In fact, the demonisation of Muslims who do not follow this groupthink is the underlying cause of tension within the Malay community, even more so than the cultural war with the non-Muslim communities.

If DAP were really anti-Malay and anti-Islam, this would mean that Penang is governed by a political party which is a threat to the Malay community and Islam but they do so without any sanction from the state - which is supposed to safeguard both.

This would also mean that the royal houses in states where DAP enjoys support are complicit in supporting the anti-Malay and anti-Islam agenda of DAP.

Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki

Considering how Umno, for years, had demonised DAP as a threat against the Malay community and Islam, Umno's turnaround is transparently hypocritical.

Of course, Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son already confessed that he felt guilty when in Umno, he played the race and religion card against the DAP in an interview in 2018. Here is an excerpt of it:

“Looking at Umno, when there were big issues which we could not address, we would talk about DAP, Chinese chauvinism and how Lim Kit Siang becoming prime minister would destroy Malaysia, that the Malays would disappear, and the mosques can no longer air the azan.

“I admit that I too have said such things, in front of a 100 percent Malay audience. Thinking back, I feel guilty and a sense of regret.”

Hence, this idea that DAP is an existential threat to the Malay polity and Islam is complete horse manure.

However, what the DAP is, is a threat to secularism. Think about this for a moment. Jelutong MP RSN Rayer, who dons his religious affiliations on his sleeve recently took issue with a PAS religious operative for labelling the party as “kafir”.

Mind you, Rayer’s logic is a little wonky because he claimed how could DAP be “kafir” when they had Malay-Muslim MPs and not because the term “kafir” is dehumanising to any Malaysian.

Jelutong MP RSN Rayer

He said, ”If I don't stand up to defend Bentong, Bangi, Bukit Bendera who are Muslims, who will?”. Indeed.

This is the problem right here. Anthony Loke has already said that DAP is secular and that every party in the unity government understands this. PAS and the unity government are against secularism.

So what we have here is a party which gaslights the base into thinking that the secular agenda is on the table, when the reality is that coalitions that DAP have been involved in have strengthened the religious state of this country.

Far from being a moderating or civilising force for religious extremism in this country (which is what secularism is), DAP has colluded with and enabled various Malay power brokers in an attempt to sustain power in state and federal legislatures.

What do Malay DAP political operatives and members think of the party’s secular agenda? The only people who talk about this agenda are non-Malay political operatives and these days, they do not bring it up at all.

Indeed, Malay political operatives in the DAP would never defend such an agenda in public, which points to the agenda as merely a propaganda tool for non-Malays.

Popular political operatives from DAP have provided plenty of ammunition to the religious extremists in this country by wilfully wandering into religious provinces which they have no business being, considering the religious climate of this country.

Why blame Malay political establishment?

Donning religious drag, funding state religious bodies, quoting from holy scriptures, and parroting extremist narratives in an attempt to appeal to the majority polity.

DAP has never made an attempt to even give the appearance of secular values. Take donning the hijab, for instance. Isn't it strange that non-Muslim political operatives decide to use it for political gain but when it comes to Muslim women deciding not to wear it, they suddenly clam up?

It is easy to lay the blame on the Malay political establishment for the extreme religious and racial politics of this country, but this would be disingenuous.

For years, the majority of the voting public voted for BN and endorsed all sorts of religious and racial policies.

All sorts of excuses were made for not voting “opposition” and the DAP, in particular, was dismissed by the average voter as not having anything to offer to mainstream Malaysians, when in fact the DAP’s commitment to those principles which would save Malaysia, was probably firmer during their “extremist” days than it is now.

When questioned on the abandonment of progressive policies and ideas, they blame the system, the deep state, and even those questioning them, always backed by online mobs more interested in sustaining power than progressing reforms.

The Malay political establishment did not do this, the non-Malays did.

The reality is that DAP has bent over backwards to support pro-Islamic and pro-Malay policies, not to mention pro-Malay political operatives, all while being subject to the anti-Islam and anti-Malay propaganda that they should have tackled decades ago, instead of playing the victim card while engaging in the same behaviour they accuse the MCA of.

Here, I will end with the words of a DAP political operative Chow Yu Hui - who defended the action in 2020 to take the Pahang government to court for a directive that made it mandatory to include Jawi script on all signboards.

Keep in mind that former DAP youth chief Howard Lee chided the Tras assemblyperson who brought this challenge and Malay political operatives of the party in Pahang were also against this move as reported in the press.

And I quote Johor DAP committee member Mahdzir Ibrahim - "Saya menggesa agar rakan saya Chow Yu Hui untuk menarik semula permohonan mahkamah beliau sebaliknya membantu wakil-wakil pertubuhan/persatuan rumah atau kedai ibadat bukan Islam untuk berdialog dan mencari penyelesaian diplomasi dengan kerajaan negeri dengan cara yang penuh muhibbah dan saling menghormati.”

And Chow said - “We should oppose any cultural hegemony instead of surrendering to it, and I think Lee (who criticised Chow) has forgotten this.” - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.