Chua ignores Umno, Perkasa attacks, focuses on PAS, DAP

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

As expected, MCA president Chua Soi Lek rushed to blame DAP and PAS for taking his recent comments on Islam out of context, but closed an eye to the outrageously insulting remarks flung at him and his party by Umno and Perkasa.

“He is beyond redemption. Not only Muslims but the Chinese community itself should boycott him and MCA,” Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

Among the first Umno leaders to whack Chua down were former Selangor chief minister Khir Toyo, who warned him not to insult Islam or suggest that corruption in Malaysia was rampant because of the religion.

Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali, whom many perceive as being a stooge of Umno’s just like Chua himself, even called the MCA president a “sex video actor”.

But their harsh words drew no response from Chua, who only dared to hit out at PAS and DAP.

“Please tell PAS and DAP leaders to read my statement in the context of what is stated. There is no attempt by any MCA leader to belittle Muslims and all their contributions,” the Star reported him as saying.

“I have not been ignorant, I have not been arrogant. I am just quoting from the book and giving the facts from the book.”

Chua responsible for his comments, not book

Chua had quoted from the book Malaysia and the Club of Doom authored by Syed AkbarAli, which argued that Muslim nations tended to be backward economically and socially because of their focus on religion.

However, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim rejected Chua's explanation, saying that just because Chua quoted from a book, it did not absolve him from responsibility.

Why quote only the negative information, why quote the book at all if Chua did not have a hidden motive for suggesting that Islamic practices could bring down a country, asked Anwar.

"There is a hidden motive for him to suddenly refer to the book and to use only the passages that support his motive," Anwar said.

Chua accused of hypocrisy

Indeed, in his controversial speech last week, Chua had accused both Umno and PAS of using religion to win votes and their race for the hearts and minds of the Malays had hurt the country’s economic potential.

But fearful of the backlash from Umno, he has since confined himself to attacking PAS and DAP.

“The problem with Chua is a lack of consistency. He would have been applauded if he had chosen to stick to his position on politicizing religion. He should have put it in clearest terms that his party will not have anything to do with both Umno or PAS should the practice persists," said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.

“The MCA president, despite his stinging criticism of PAS and Muslim-majority countries, was quick to point out that Malaysia is 'lucky' and different under the leadership of Umno-BN. How lucky or different are we compared to the others? Corruption, cronism, nepotism, racism and abuse of power are rampant in Malaysia. His party just did a flip-flop on the 'Allah' ban issue."

Meanwhile, PAS president Hadi Awang has called on Malaysians to leave Umno-BN and reject its corrupt, scare-mongering ways.

"To all Malaysians, leave Umno-BN now and join us at PAS and Pakatan to effect together a transformation. Let us leave behind the politics of fear and work together to revamp our judiciary, install freedom of the media, a fair elections system, safety and security for the nation, restore justice and peace to Malaysia," Hadi said in a press statement.