When politicians ham it up, and make a meal of it

 

The first time I was in Dubai decades ago, my employer who sent me there put me up in a fancy hotel. At the buffet line, I was surprised to see a dish clearly marked “ham” among all the other dishes.

You couldn’t miss it, unless you were illiterate (and I didn’t see any Malaysian cabinet minister around).

If ham is not your thing, it wouldn’t have been a problem at all to just move on past. Ham wasn’t (and isn’t, just to be clear) my thing, and I moved on to load my plate full with other dishes the same way as would any self-respecting Singaporean tourist.

But I was still amazed to see there was no bulletproof enclosures, no armed guards, no remote corner that required an ID check, and no flashing red lights at this non-halal dish served in that Muslim country.

In other words, there was no drama, no hysteria.

The Quran is very clear that Muslims are not to eat pork, among a few other food prohibitions. It’s also equally clear that in emergencies, anything goes. Part of being a good Muslim is to not eat pork, although you may, if it’s an emergency, meaning life or death.

No hysteria in modern Middle East

Middle Eastern countries, led by younger princes and kings, are modernising and progressing in many areas. The Gulf states have eased prohibitions on alcohol, reining in the power of their morality police. They haven’t breached any of Islam’s commandments at all, but are just starting to look at them the way they were intended – without drama or hysteria.

And then there’s Malaysia.

The Green Tsunami has landed us with many new Malay leaders, all elected through the democratic process, and all quite giddy about their current political prospects. And understandably so, given their showing at the recent parliamentary elections.

The elections clearly showed a strong reaction by many Malays against corruption and secularisation of the country. Perikatan Nasional’s component parties had successfully ran on these platforms, and are now seeking to repeat that success in the coming state assembly elections in a number of states.

What are their chances? Only God knows, though we shall find out soon enough.

PN’s continuing focus on corruption issues is smart, as the current governing coalition includes Umno which stinks to high heavens with corruption. PN went to town with the issues, even if PAS, its component party, held its fire for a long time while hoping to partner with Umno. It only let loose when Umno spurned their advances.

Riding on anti-Chinese rhetoric

Hell hath no fury like a (political party) scorned. This anti-corruption conversion is at most transactional and convenient, but as their political foes bring up their own less-than-pristine records, that may soon become an inconvenient topic and one best left alone.

However, they’ve profited immensely from another topic, one that they’re willing to play in a more overt way. And that is race, or more specifically, anti-Chinese rhetoric.

When PAS recently called for the banning of tourists from China because of Covid concerns, did anyone miss the message? Certainly not the many people in the Malay heartlands, and not many of the rest of us either.

When a PAS leader “bravely” caused a ruckus at a shopping mall regarding the display of Chinese New Year alcohol sales that supposedly hurt the sensitivities of Muslims, well, everybody got the message too, even if many just nodded and winked about it.

(I said “bravely” with my tongue firmly in my cheek – it’s not that difficult to be brave when you know nobody can touch you: the task of “defending” Islam and the sensitivities of the Malays often comes with some form of invincibility. The other way? Maybe not).

Oh ye of little faith

Here’s how I see this matter, and how the lessons from the Middle East apply. It’s a clear case of our religious leaders admitting their utter failure in educating and strengthening the iman, or faith, of the Malay-Muslims, such that even the sight of cans of beer in a public place is enough to shake it.

These religious leaders, who have been grabbing power, resources and wealth for decades in the name of educating and defending Malay-Muslims, have chosen to trumpet their failures as a sign of success instead .

My parents taught me a lot of things about morality, ethics, care and consideration and right and wrong, and were confident enough when I reached adulthood to actually tell me to my face they’ve done everything they could to prepare me for life, and now it’s my turn to go out there and face the challenges.

They didn’t get into a panic mode about wanting to ban everything bad so that I can be good. It’s like banning food during fasting instead of teaching Muslims the blessings and courage of fighting temptations. Going hungry because there’s no food is not fasting – it’s starving. God didn’t command us to starve.

Feeding off our insecurities

So, if you’re a leader and your flock can’t handle the challenges, you’ve failed. Where’s the merit in not drinking alcohol when there isn’t any in the world? The whole point in obeying God’s command is to show strength and resolve, which must come from your upbringing and education. It’s about being good by doing good, not by being prevented from doing bad.

The ultra-religious have been successful politically as they’ve taken advantage of the insecurity of the Malays, while increasing it enormously along the way. This insecurity, always part of our feudal makeup and amplified by being colonised multiple times, should have disappeared by now as we became independent and prosperous.

But our earlier insecurity had never been directed against the colonialists, who seemed too powerful, but against what they did – bringing in migrants which over the centuries came to share our country.

It’s such that even with a clear (and growing) demographic majority over everybody else, and while holding all the reins of power (although perhaps not the economy), we still feel threatened and vulnerable.

The great Malay paradox

It’s very convenient, and profitable, for bigots and zealots to harp on this. They’ve excelled in sending two seemingly conflicting messages – that the Malays are a great race who’ve accomplished as much as any of the world’s major races, if not more; but that we’re also weak and could easily disappear from the face of the earth!

They keep pushing this button to condition the Malays into being always scared and fearful. The drama, if not the comedy, of a religious leader prancing around gaining attention as a saviour and a protector is also a message to the Malays, reminding them of how precarious our existence is, how devious our “enemies” are and how much we need strong people like them to protect us.

And of course, to all our detriment, it works. The saddest part is, for this to continue working, these leaders will work even harder to make Malays even more weak and more fearful and insecure through inventing hidden enemies and conspiracies.

These are the new colonisers of the Malay minds. - FMT

Editor’s note: The expression “ham it up” means to deliberately exaggerate one’s emotions or movements, or to overact; it has no animal, vegetable or mineral content.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.