You can run but you cannot hide

Why does it feel like Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) spells like a bad mutation on the DNA of the country?

Make no mistake, Malaysians are shell-shocked. The ones who fought for and still want Reformasi were shocked the most.

For 25 long years, whether fighting on the political frontlines or supporting the cause, we refused to give up on Anwar Ibrahim - now the prime minister - because his black eye was ours too.

His bullying by a ruthless strongman bode ill for all of us. We saw his trial as a travesty of justice. It was in so many ways a “show trial”, orchestrated to punish the accused and to also cow others into submission.

Who can forget the senseless and repeated cries of “irrelevant” by the presiding judge?

But we fought on, year after year, each in his own way and with whatever means at our disposal until Anwar became prime minister 10 months ago.

Only the crooked call it ‘selective prosecution’

There were twists and turns and fallouts and breakups, culminating in a most foul betrayal by the very man who wanted him removed from our political stage, but Anwar persevered and so did we.

His victory was ours too. His ugly black eye had become the beautiful bright sun of our future. We looked forward to the vast clean-up exercise he promised us. We needed this cleanup like the desert needs rain.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang can spin all he wants but who doesn’t know rasuah is haram. And rasuah was choking the life out of this country.

And who among the truly learned can deny this simple fact: the bigger the rasuah, the bigger the dosa.

And since a fish rots from the head, we had to first clean up our politics and our politicians. Only crooked politicians will call it selective prosecution. It’s their way of protecting their own so that they can operate with impunity.

Something is terribly rotten now in the state of Madani. Politicians like Anwar and Zahid must be given a taste of their own medicine by reminding them that DNAA used this way is haram spelt with a capital H; that haram is haram whether you are weak, powerful, or a warlord.

Surely, haram is public enemy number 1 in “Madani Malaysia”.

And all our politicians need reminding that the country is not the debating podium of their youthful years or a kitty to dip their hands into.

They must surely know the internet has helped us know many things, from banking to finance to religion and race. They must know that we know that they are mere servants of the Almighty. Like you and me.

Holding on to ideals

The famed Islamic theologian, Ibn Farabi (870 - 951) aka The Second Sheikh in deference to Aristotle who for centuries was referred to as the First Master by the leading luminaries of Islamic theology, wrote his classic, Madinat al Fadila, The Virtuous City to serve as a guide to those who rule over us.

And you don’t need to know Arabic to read and understand this book. Or think like an extremist preacher to know where Ibn Farabi is coming from. It’s all there on YouTube and in translations and excerpts of the book.

And there are still other books. Politicians who use religion beware. You can run but you cannot hide!

Ibn Farabi believed in a separate body and soul and in his imagined virtuous city, Madinat - from which we get the word Madani - the ruler and the statesperson must ensure the wellbeing of both the body and soul of its citizens.

He acknowledged that a virtuous society is a near impossible thing but it must remain an ideal for obvious reasons.

He drives home his point with this brilliant but simple analogy: when the body is unwell, the physician must attend to it but the ruler/statesperson must ensure the happiness and wellbeing of the souls of citizens by interpreting the law in a manner that resonates with ethical and moral ideas held dear by a society. 

Only then will fairness and virtue flourish, giving rise to a civil society, the Madani society. Only then will the evil and the wicked be banished from our midst. Only then will the weak and the poor find refuge from the powerful. Only then will black-eyed citizens get due justice in our courts. Only then can we dare to even think of threatening others with fire and brimstone.

Ibn Farabi and others who walked in his steps like Ibn Sina believed logic and reason can coexist with faith; that all three have a place in our heads and our hearts.

He believed that the ideas and views arrived at by philosophers were perfectly compatible with revelation vouchsafed to prophets and sages.

In a land teeming with crooked politicians, religious extremists, and robber barons, who can heal us, body and soul after witnessing Zahid’s DNAA? - Mkini

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MURALE PILLAI is a former planter who now runs a logistics business. He loves to read.

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