“If you find it upsetting, then stop doing it so that others won’t follow. If you choose to continue, then don’t be offended (when others mock it). So, pick one.”
- Zamri Vinoth, mocking Hindus celebrating Thaipusam
When extremists talk of the destruction or relocation of “illegal temples”, what they are really doing is sanctioning the destruction of historical sites.
The older the temple, the greater the victory, because of the religious, historical, and cultural significance of these temples, which existed before contemporary municipal law and, in some cases, colonial law.
This demonstrates the superiority of the state religion. Terming these temples as “illegal” gives extremists and the state the fig leaf of legal cover and enables the victimhood mentality, which is the foundation of identity politics.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s declaration of the great victory of the construction of the Madani mosque on the site of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple is exactly the kind of hot-button issue that religious cretins use to inflame communal sentiment in this country.
Madani continues to coddle hate-mongers
The fact that controversial Muslim preacher Zamri Vinoth is Teflon when it comes to his hate speech against Hindus in this country demonstrates two things.
The first is that Madani continues to coddle hate-mongers who use the religion of the state to shield them from the various laws that non-Muslims are not exempt from, and the second is that DAP is impotent when it comes to defending the rights of the non-Muslim community, even though they are part of Madani.
I have no idea why some folks question why there has been no action taken against this hate-monger.
His latest arrest for organising a rally against “illegal” houses of worship and the prime minister’s eleventh-hour warning were merely a sandiwara (theatre) to appease not only Zamri’s detractors but to make Madani look good in the eyes of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the international press.
I have no doubt that nothing will come of this arrest, just as nothing came of the charges against him before.
You have to understand Zamri’s close connection with the religious bureaucracy. The Selangor Islamic Religious Department had hooked up with him (in 2017) to give Islamic courses in Tamil to increase productivity in proselytising in a multilingual milieu.
What this course was supposed to do was make it easier for (state-sanctioned) Muslim preachers attempting to convert Indians, using Tamil as an entry point into their lives.
Modi is the real target
While Zamri may claim that his supposed rally against illegal houses of worship and the arrival of Modi are merely coincidental, this, of course, is farcical. The fact is that Modi is a hate figure for some Muslims abroad and in India for various reasons.
Keep in mind that Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin’s “cow worshippers” poem was aimed at Modi and the extradition of another controversial Muslim preacher, Zakir Naik.
Meanwhile, Zamri, a Zakir acolyte, once said he was willing to give up his citizenship if Zakir were extradited to India. As reported in the Malay Mail, “If the government wants to send back Zakir or extradite him, I will not hesitate to hand over my IC.”
Indeed, when Zamri was detained and released by the state for insulting Hindus, Asri put forward that the former was only testifying when it came to his personal experience with the Hindu faith.
What Zamri was doing as a professional proselytiser was creating a narrative for Muslims to use to convert Hindus in the course of his professional duties. This idea of Muslim converts as the perfect vehicles to proselytise is nothing new.
Muslim convert Ridhuan Tee Abdulah, for instance, always pleaded “special knowledge” when it came to the Chinese community. Hence, his “attacks” against the community had the appearance of legitimacy to a certain section of the Muslim community.
Using converts to preach is propagated by proselytising faiths all over the world.
And while I think that Zakir is influential in the anti-Modi sentiment, what really twisted the knickers of religious extremists was the sight of Modi inaugurating the BAPS Hindu Mandir, the largest Hindu temple in the UAE.
Modi hugging Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, with honour guards in tow, inflamed the sensitivities and no doubt caused much annoyance to the bigots and extremists worldwide.
Here is a big, beautiful, sprawling Hindu temple and a prime minister who was nurturing a reputation for defending the historical and cultural contributions of Indians in the colonial and post-colonial world.
Celebrating that fact in the Middle East did not go down well with certain elements of the Muslim diaspora.
No such thing as ‘phobia’ here
So it is not a coincidence that a local preacher who has a history of using hate speech against the Hindu community and who remains immune to the laws that govern such speech decided to hold a rally which celebrates the destruction of “illegal houses of worship”.
The point is to demonstrate that in this country, temples, especially older pre-colonial temples, far from being celebrated as historical sites, are destroyed to demonstrate the victory of the religion of the state.
Unfortunately, for a simpleton like Zamri, what this does for Modi back in India is demonstrate that Hindus need a strong man to battle the extremist religious forces against the Hindu community in Asia.
Last year, Anwar raged against Islamophobia - “We must work together to counter hate and intolerance, fostering a world where humanity thrives through mutual understanding and respect.”
Here is the thing. A phobia is often described as an extreme, irrational fear or aversion of something. This does not describe the sentiment that cretins like Zamri and states that enable them in their agenda for religious superiority all over the civilised world.
An accurate description would be an extremely rational loathing. - Mkini
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.
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