Muhyiddin's shrill moralism unbecoming

 

“Our fight is to uphold the truth and oppose evil,” declared former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin after performing solat hajat at the PAS Tarbiyah Centre in Gombak, Selangor.

Muhyiddin (above) had rushed to the PAS centre after being arrested by MACC and was released on police bail following nine hours of questioning.

By framing his battle against corruption charges levied at him as a fight against evil, Muhyiddin is conjuring up a shrill moralism inappropriate to his straits.

True, he is the third official of his party in three weeks to be charged with corruption, but there has been a national campaign against graft since Nov 24 when Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister.

What’s more, the push against corruption is not a new newfangled development; on the hustings before he took office, Anwar was breathing fire and brimstone against the malady.

So, Muhyiddin cannot say that the Anwar government has targeted Bersatu for special attention, though it is true that it is only now that the party is in the MACC’s crosshairs.

But the attempt by Muhyiddin and his cohort to conflate a general campaign against corruption into a specific targeting of Bersatu as the locus of a national malaise won’t hold water.

Assertion is not proof

Corruption has long been a virus that has been eating into the innards of this society. It has to be rooted out, considering that the country is RM1.2 trillion in debt and annual interest payments alone total RM45 billion.

No leader of the country can be indifferent to the implications of these figures and no leader needs to fear the people’s disapproval if the MACC is seen to be taking action against leaders and individuals who were complicit in defrauding our finances.

Hence, the attempt to wield a moral sceptre by leaders who are indicted for corruption and who cloak themselves in the garb of victims of persecution is tawdry.

Muhyiddin said he expects to be exonerated in a court of law, which is where he should leave things.

He cannot claim that the forces in the MACC, judiciary, and police that stand arrayed before him were appointees of the government and have an interest in doing him in.

As such, his attempt to conjure an aura of persecution about his travails is a play for public sympathy.

Adding a public veneer of religion to that aura makes that play suspect. He may think Bersatu’s association with PAS in the Perikatan Nasional coalition confers ready access to a domain where profession is performance, assertion is proof.

In a court of civil law, things are the other way round: assertion is not proof, and profession has to be validated by witness testimony.

Muhyiddin’s attempt to dress in moral raiment in advance of his appearance in court can be attributed to the political company he keeps.

PAS uses religion to further its political objectives and justifies it by holding that Islam does not recognise a division between the religious and political spheres.

Is it so difficult to recognise that a consequence of this non-recognition is the shrill moralism that characterises the pronouncements of PAS leaders like Abdul Hadi Awang?

He holds himself above reason and doesn’t feel obliged to corroborate his arguments. It’s a short step from this stance to non-attendance at parliamentary proceedings.

Muhyiddin should be mindful of the company he keeps and its deleterious effects on him. - Mkini

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TERENCE NETTO is a journalist with half a century’s experience.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.