Open letter to Hadi Awang: “Are you implying that my Christian faith isn’t at par with your religion?”

 

DEAR Tan Sri: You are living in a dreamland if you think you can save the world and restore Islamic sovereignty.

You are harking back to the “Golden Era” when Islamic civilisation, according to you, was at its peak across three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe.

But today the world has changed dramatically and what you see is the rise of other powers that have eclipsed your Muslim world.

Sadly, in this new era, you see nothing good is happening around the world and you want to rectify all the perceived wrongs with your ambitious mission to save the world.

Perhaps, you are dismayed when you surveyed the international scene and saw so much disunity and suffering in the Muslim world. Or is it the Malay world?

According to your history, the “Malay world has the largest Muslim population globally” and therefore you imply that the Malays are well-qualified to lead the mission of saving humanity.

PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang

Are you suggesting that the Malays in Malaysia must lead the charge to save humanity – presumably non-Muslims the world over – from descending into the abyss of immorality? Or are you re-writing history to give Malays a prominent place in world history.

Perhaps, you are confusing the Arab world with the Malay world, portraying the latter as the intellectual light of the world.

Don’t undermine my faith

If I am not mistaken, it was the Arabs who were largely responsible for ushering in the “Golden Age” of science, mathematics and medicine, among other achievements.

Maybe, what you meant is you are making a clarion call to the estimated 30 million Malays in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand to rise up and bring back the heyday of Islamic civilisation.

You could be right, though, if you had pointed out that there are more than two billion Muslims globally whose talents could be harnessed to re-build an Islamic world that would reclaim its preeminent place.

But, Tan Sri, you are starting on a wrong footing when you use religion as a tool to achieve your parochial agenda. You only emphasise Islamic brotherhood and not the broader brotherhood of mankind.

In your recent Minda Presiden post, you also reportedly stated that “Islam must remain at the top of all other religions to save humanity”. This is outrageous!

Tan Sri, are you claiming that all other religions are of lesser importance than Islam? Are you implying that my religion, Christianity, does not occupy the same eminent position as your religion? Do you mean to say that people of other faiths must bow down to you?

Listen, Tan Sri. We all respect your religion. Islam is a great religion. But so are the other religions of the world. All religions are equally hallowed and no one faith can claim exclusive right to save humanity.

All religions teach us to be good and upright. And if people do wicked things, all religions will go to great lengths to save their souls.

Tan Sri, all these great religions – Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism – are pure and flawless but the trouble is when these clear streams of faiths pass through the foul mouths of forked-tongue politicians, they become sullied.

False hope

You are behaving like a warrior now with your strident call to Muslims to unite and save the world. Are you suggesting that the Malay Muslims must take up arms and go out and rescue the human race in distress?

Who are your enemies? Infidels? DAP? Donald Trump – that “Great Devil” in the White House? The whole western Christian world? Anybody who disagrees with you?

Perhaps, you might want to initiate a conference of Muslim nations to raise an international army to confront your adversaries whoever they are.

You gave reassurances that the non-Muslims would be treated fairly when Malay Muslims unite to save the world. But this is disingenuous of you to claim such a society will exist.

I am more inclined to believe that in time to come, the other ethnic communities will be treated like second-class citizens whose customs and cultural values will be ignored or buried.

Let’s go domestic. In Malaysia, Tan Sri, you and the party you helm, PAS, have made many controversial remarks about the other ethnic groups.

For example, you blamed corruption on the non-Malays and lately your party linked criminal activities to one specific racial group, presumably the Chinese.

Your party likes to showcase Kelantan as a shining example of a state that practises equality for all when, in fact, nothing much has changed in your state for the past 30 years. Maybe, Kelantan is your Malay world with its “untapped wealth from gold to gas, timber to fertile lands”.

Look after your backyard first

But isn’t your state still trapped in the poverty bubble and its youths went elsewhere to seek greener pastures over the decades?

You scorn modernity because you smell nothing but evil in anything that smacks of liberal and secular tendencies that you believe is associated with the modern world.

Tan Sri, why do you want to save the world when you should be looking at your own backyard Malaysia? Just look over your shoulders and see how our beautiful country today is divided by the toxic politics of race and religion.

Your party is paying only lip service to unity in diversity. You don’t really believe in upholding the values, practices and customs of the sizeable proportion of the other ethnic communities.

In fact, I doubt you even believe in parliamentary democracy given that your party’s long-term objective is to establish an Islamic state where only God’s commands matter the most.

Tan Sri, being the politician that you are, it is high time you put all your mind and heart in saving Malaysia from the scourge of politics gone astray.

Why do you want to save the whole world when you know that it will be an exercise in futility? The Golden Era is gone for good.

As we live in a multi-racial society, politicians like you must emphasise the pressing need to unite all races for the good of the country.

Tan Sri, save Malaysia first. The world can take care of itself.

Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.

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

- Focus Malaysia.