‘The hypocrisy of the pious Malays’

Do state muftis give any thought to what they say? Some of them appear to excel in the art of making the Malays look more ‘stupid’. To a large extent, the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) and the other religious authorities have a role in undermining the Malays and seemingly opening them up for ridicule.

You may wonder why few Malays have dared to criticise these religious men and their statements. Their hesitancy stems from the knowledge that other Malays will accuse them of insulting Islam.

Moreover, rent-a-mob thugs may be used to target their homes, businesses and members of their family. Cast your mind back to March 2015, when Aisyah Tajuddin, the presenter of the video clip ‘Does hudud fill our rice-bowl?’, was threatened with rape and death.

The Malay is the product of his environment. Decades of abuse by his leaders and brainwashing by religious leaders have mentally crippled him.

He will not speak out against corrupt leaders for two reasons.

First. The opportunist hopes to fill in the vacuum at the top, and enjoy the riches guaranteed to the holder of the position. In the climb up the greasy pole, he dropped the values and social mores which his elders once held dear.

He may think he is working smart. In fact, he is destroying his and his children’s future. He only thinks of today, and not tomorrow.

Second. The Malay is tribal. He will not speak out against one of his own, because it is akin to a betrayal. His gut tells him that the wrongdoing perpetuated by another Malay should be stopped, but his heart tells him that kinship matters more.

On the eve of voting, someone will offer the Malay RM50, or RM500 (depending on his social standing) and warn him that a win by the opposition, which is aligned to the DAP, will lead to a Chinese PM, and a nation overrun by Singaporeans and Christians.

Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad observed the weaknesses of the Malays and despite an avowed wish to help them, the Malays became the victims of their own dilemma.

Forty-seven years after ‘The Malay Dilemma’ was written, affirmative action policies have produced a bigger Malay middle class, but ironically many Malays feel victimised. The persecution complex, which makes them think that they will be trodden on by the Chinese and the Christians, still runs deep.

The tribal Malay thinks his rulers can do no wrong. When the Sultan of Johor lashed out against the Arabisation of the Malays, he was praised for his frank views. When ordinary Malays said more or less the same thing, they were denounced for being anti-Islam.

‘Preoccupation with sex’

Despite the conservative brand of Islam forced upon Malays, with the help of the Saudi petro-dollars, the two things that these Wahhabis cannot eradicate is the Malay preoccupation with sex, and women being treated as second-class citizens.

Sex is a dominant feature in many muftis’ announcements. The Perak mufti, Harussani Zakaria, dismissed marital rape as a “European invention” and said that a wife could not refuse sex, even if she and her husband were astride a camel.

Each year, the Federal Territories mufti, Zulkifli Mohamad, warns Muslims about Saint Valentine’s Day. Last week, Zulkifli said that two Muslims of the opposite sex should not be together because they could end up committing khalwat (close proximity) be it in parks, gardens, hotel rooms, cars, taxis, Uber or Grabcars.

What about buses? A male bus driver and his woman passenger, could be the only two people on the bus. Should she leave the bus and hail a taxi? What if the taxi driver was male?

The FT mufti is probably driven around in an official car and is unaware of people’s transport woes.

Many women have to work overtime and have to take a taxi home, or be given a lift by a work colleague. After a hard day at work, most of us have only one thing on our minds - a shower, a hot meal, then sleep. Muftis with too much time on their hands tend to fantasise about sex.

When Muslims in the religious departments are bored, they fret about the presence of porcine DNA in chocolates, bottled water, butter, Tabasco and HP sauces, kek lapis, supermarket trolleys and paint brushes.

For some Muslims who have ‘done wrong’, the umrah (mini-pilgrimage) is treated like a Catholic confessional. The Muslims perform their umrah, like one former women’s minister, to cleanse their souls and re-start with a clean slate.

If Malays are not careful, they will wither away, not because of a nuclear disaster, a tsunami or Chinese/Christian domination, but because they lack motivation and aspiration. Generations of Malays have been spoon-fed the mantra of “let’s-blame-the-other-races-for-our-under-achievements”.

This attitude has already started the downfall of the Malays. The only way to reverse the process is to overthrow the oppressive Umno Baru regime.

The Malays should rise to the challenge, instead of gravitating to the stereotypical image of “laid-back civil servant Malays, corrupted by hard-working, business driven, money-worshipping Chinese”.

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.- Mkini