Time to rein in the hysteria

 

Malaysia is on the verge of a descent into mob rule, and all that over a few pairs of offensive socks that had been put on display at a convenience store by mistake.

On Tuesday, what seemed to be a petrol bomb was hurled in the direction of an outlet of the KK Mart chain of stores in Bidor, Perak.

It is fortunate that the explosive device failed to detonate. Otherwise we could still be counting the cost to life and limb.

And behind this impending downward spiral into lawlessness is a man who aspires to be the leader of this country sometime in the future.

Dr Akmal Saleh thinks that stoking the fire will deliver a groundswell of support for him, making it easier for him to reach his goal.

Or he may just be misguided by the assumption that being head of Umno Youth, he has to be the most gung ho in pursuing what he deems as justice for Islam and the Malays.

He should learn that leadership is not about making a bad situation worse, about provoking people into such a frenzy that they start acting irrationally.

Akmal will likely win more brownie points and appeal to a wider audience — voters or not — by calling for calm while the relevant parties work to resolve the matter.

This is not, in any way, an attempt to diminish the issue at hand, nor belittle any community.

As a fellow FMT columnist has pointed out, the presence of socks that bear the word “Allah” is a serious matter.

Along that line, every step should be taken to bring the guilty party to book.

But justice must also be tempered with mercy. A human error should not be misconstrued as an act of criminal intent.

Outside the courtroom, causing mass hysteria is certainly not the way. People lose their livelihoods or get hurt.

If Akmal was a leader worth his weight in salt, he would have looked at the incident rationally.

He should have known that calling for a boycott and continuously yelling about the rights of Muslims and Malays is only going to send some into a rampage even if that was not his intention in the first place.

But once the fire has been lit, there is little he can do to keep it from spreading.

Let us hope that there will be no more attempts to throw petrol bombs or other explosive devices at another KK Mart outlet or worse, at people who choose to ignore the call for boycott and continue to shop there.

Akmal has single-handedly started the frenzy. Whether or not it is already out of his hands, we do not know.

But he can at least try to take another look at the issue with a cool head and make an attempt to restrain the mob.

He does not have to backtrack lest he “loses face”. He can still pursue his objective of righting the wrongs he perceives as having been committed against Islam.

To do that, he just has to start acting like a leader. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.