Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: Malay DAP leaders in no-win scenario with rightist faction

 

BETWEEN a rock and a hard place. Between the devil and the deep blue sea. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Malay DAP leaders have their choice of idioms to describe the current predicament over their official stance of yet another 3R (race, religion and royalty) provocation.

This time around, it is regarding an incident in Sabah where the holy Quran was stepped on and had lewd images scribbled on it.

The quartet – National DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Sheikh Omar Ali, Bentong MP Young Syefura Othman, Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan and Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid – have made it clear in no uncertain terms that such incidences were not to be tolerated and that the perpetrator(s) face the full brunt of the law.

Their joint stance on the Democratic Action Party’s Facebook page has generated 8K likes, 4.3K comments and 256 shares at time of publication with detractors swamping the comment section to undermine them.

The narrative being peddled by rightist keyboard warriors is that DAP has been slow to voice out its disapproval of a previous similar incident where a tertiary student in Pahang also desecrated the Islamic holy book.

It is claimed their recent statement condemning the latest heinous act only comes after they had apologised to the Hindu community for an alleged desecration of a Trisula by anti-kuil haram vigilante Tamim Dahri.

Editor’s Note: The Malay DAP leaders, namely Syahredzan, had indeed gone on record to condemn the Pahang Quran trampling which ironically was committed by a ‘mualaf’ who was personally converted by controversial Multiracial Revert Muslims (MRM) founder Firdaus Wong Wai Hung.

At a glance, the comment section was flooded with plenty of invective though it is hard to tell if the comments are genuine or the handiwork of paid cybertroopers.

The latest statement by the DAP was also labelled as a vote-fishing ploy done on the instructions of higher-ups.

There was also widespread perception that DAP has been slow in condemning such acts. One commenter opined that the four Malay DAP leaders only awoke from their slumber after being criticised on social media.

However, the absurdity of these rightist keyboard warriors was underlined by some commenters who asked just what exactly are these Malay DAP leaders supposed to say? Stay silent, they get bashed. Condemn the act and it’s a vote fishing exercise.

The same sentiments were echoed in a post on X by pro-Madani digital entrepreneur Joker (@tjerealjoker) who noted that such despicable incidents seem to be on the rise and spreading via viralled content.

It was noted that the religious authorities have released a statement and the law is hot on the heels of the perpetrator.

The message here was “don’t claim that the authorities are lax in taking action against individuals who insult Islam”.

It was felt by some that such perpetrators were daring in carrying out such acts simply because the punishment isn’t stiff. It was claimed that his, of course, was the curse of having DAP in the Madani administration.

However, one commenter sought to reduce the temperature from reaching boiling point when he rightly pointed out as despicable an incident as it was, why are people getting upset by acts committed by a “low life nobody”?

The current heated scenario has led to this juncture where Malay DAP leaders are shamed, slammed and slandered for voicing their disapproval of the latest desecration of a holy book.

The advent of social media also means that the actions of “low life nobodies” have the ability to dictate the national mood.

It is scary, shameful and disconcerting all at the same time. –  Focus Malaysia