Kamarul Zaman becoming Hannah Yeoh?

Writing an article on Malaysiakini to defend Hannah Yeoh against the accusations of Kamarul Zaman Yusoff seems almost... redundant.

I’m sure the vast majority of readers here feel as I do that Kamarul Zaman’s accusations are, at best, extremely misguided and rather nonsensical.

That said, perhaps there are still a few things worth commenting on with regard to this fiasco, especially on the concept of politics as a vocation and the role of religion in politics.

Beforehand, however, while all of us love to hate people like Kamarul Zaman, who we ourselves perceive as haters, it may be worth briefly noting and addressing the actual point he was trying to make, before reacting too virulently.

Hypocritical?

It would appear that one of Kamarul Zaman’s main accusations is that Hannah (through an autobiographical book titled ‘Becoming Hannah’, published way back in 2014) is hypocritically advocating a greater role of religion (or specifically, Christianity) in politics, while being part of a party that strongly advocates secularism throughout the government.

I will concede that, over time, DAP has not been the most sensitive party with regard to the feelings many have about the role Islam should play in the government of Malaysia. The fact that such individuals will almost never vote for DAP should not dissuade the DAP from trying to build meaningful bridges with them.

That said, I don’t believe that Kamarul Zaman’s accusation of hypocrisy holds. I’ve never been their number one fan, but I will say without hesitation that DAP has never been stupid enough to try and openly advocate anything even vaguely resembling a “Christianisation” (or any other religion-isation) of Malaysian government.

I think that it is fair to accept as consistent the position that one can advocate a separation of church and state, while maintaining that religious convictions can play a very positive role in one’s personal career as a politician.

Kamarul Zaman, sounding a little flustered at the backlash he has received, thereafter saw fit to publicly recall his academic performance from 21 years ago, in what I suppose is an attempt to justify his intelligence.

Make no mistake, I vigorously believe that Kamarul Zaman has every right to express his opinion as he sees fit.

Perhaps, however, he could keep in mind that this right coincides with the right of anyone who opines that his opinion is ridiculous to ridicule him as they see fit as well.

Religious conviction in politics

I am not what most would consider a religious man. I do, however, see the value of political leaders having religious convictions - whether those convictions are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or so on.

I believe so primarily for the simple reason that politics is enough of a rough, dirty business as it is. Morality has always been in short supply in this industry.

This isn’t to say that an outwardly religious person can be guaranteed to be a moral political leader. In fact, an outwardly religious person can hardly be guaranteed to be anything except a regular attendee at public religious functions.

We have seen plenty of individuals who profess deep religious convictions, while engaged in the most heinous immoral activities, both inside and outside politics.

In general, however, most people who are filled with genuine, abiding and sincere religious convictions are probably less likely to abuse positions of power.

Fearing the fires of eternal damnation

I’m sure in our current political landscape, many of us would like to believe the worst about PAS and their supporters.

Over the years, however, I might go so far that PAS as a party has the highest proportion of members who believe that their political activism is part of something larger - something we might call the sphere of first principles.

By this I mean that an individual - be it your PAS grassroots activist whose main job is to put up flags, or Hannah Yeoh, Speaker of the Selangor State Assembly - who genuinely prioritises true religious principles above all else, believes that their actions must be consistent with their religion.

Those with true religious convictions worry not only about whether they will be caught by the police for doing anything legally wrong, but whether their actions will condemn them to the fires of eternal damnation.

I suppose that will sound overdramatic, but by most religious doctrines, it may not be technically inaccurate. It is, by and large, a significant distinction that can have a very real influence over the choices one makes.

The call of duty

I think one of the main points that Yeoh was trying to make, largely to a Christian audience, was that truly living one’s religion often means working to be more engaged in public service.

On this, I could not more heartily agree.

Malaysians, like everyone else, love to complain about the quality of our political leaders.

If you turn around and ask these complainers whether they would be willing to run for public office, or devote their time and energy in a political movement, most would say “No lah, no lah”, and laugh uncomfortably.

Fair enough, as it’s not our place to tell people what to do with their lives. But, does it then surprise us that the less sincere people, often motivated by greed, are the ones who rise to the top of the political pyramid?

Thus, I believe that Yeoh’s exhortation for more Christians (or anyone’s exhortation to any religious community) to step forward and fight the good fight is a laudable one. How else will we get good people to lead us?

I certainly do not worry that this would create a “Christianisation” of our government, any more than I worry that an influx of good Muslims in government will cause negative “Islamisation” of our government.

Ultimately, the question is not whether there are more Muslims or Christians (or any other religious adherent) in power, but whether those in power are truly good Muslims, good Christians, or good whatevers.

Biography or proselytisation?

I believe, as I’m sure most do, that Kamarul Zaman’s claim that Yeoh’s book can influence him to leave his God and worship the same God as hers - making him ‘become’ Hannah Yeoh as it were - is mischevious and facetious (but also funny).

In the most unlikely event that Kamarul Zaman is telling the truth, then he should worry about the state of his own religious conviction and education, rather than blame Yeoh’s book. By this stage, this point is a dead horse, barely worth the beating.

Many books written by religious people about their lives praise and glorify their deities - that is after all the point, is it not?

There are millions of these books from all major religions in print, and if that is all that takes to weaken one’s original faith, then again, I don’t think the problem lies with those books.

Recategorise any biography with a spiritual element?

I also do not believe that Hannah’s story of her journey into politics places this book in some sort of special category.

Kamarul Zaman implies that because this book is written by a politician, gullible Malaysians throughout the country will be tearing them off the bookshelves.

It is my regret to inform both Kamarul Zaman and Hannah’s publisher that this is unlikely to be the case - certainly not among the target population Kamarul Zaman seems to be worried about. Politics simply isn’t a glamorous vocation.

Kamarul also said that his objection is that Yeoh’s book is touted as a biography, while it in fact contains Christian teachings.

By this rather laughable logic, we should remove from the Biography section of all bookstores any book in which the subject expresses religious conviction as a motivation for his or her trajectory through life.

Perhaps grasping at straws, as his argument falls to pieces around him, Kamarul Zaman now wants to change the subject and shift the goalpost - making a far fetched attempt to call for the deregistration of DAP.

A good heart

It is difficult for me to finish this article without a few words about Hannah Yeoh herself, whom I’ve had the fortune of knowing from back in the day.

I’ve watched a number of contemporaries enter full time politics. Some have fared well, some less so; but all of them are braver than me and the rest of us for having taking the plunge.

I daresay Yeoh is one of those who has fared slightly better, and who has kept her head a little higher above water than most.

There isn’t a single politician I can claim to know inside out as being completely clean (or completely dirty for that matter) - we simply don’t have enough information to be writing those kinds of judgments about anyone.

What I can say is that over all these years, I have always appreciated Yeoh’s warmth, sincerity, devotion to family, and overall kindness.

I recently visited an elderly couple (celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend!), and in the course of conversation they very excitedly showed me a little polaroid photo magnet with Yeoh and them, at some public function in Subang Jaya.

This little memento gave the couple so much excitement and joy, and I couldn’t imagine a better testament to Yeoh’s very real commitment to her community.

If that type of commitment stems from religious conviction, then by all means let’s have more of it.

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NATHANIEL TAN thinks it’s a good time to pick up a copy of 'Becoming Hannah', no? He would also like to give a grateful shoutout to Dr P in Kota Damansara! - Mkini