“When I was a student in the UK, we were always harassed by the British National Party supporters, which changed my perspective on racism. Being part of the majority in Malaysia, feeling what it was like being a minority in a different country was a big change for me.”
- Amir Syafiq Ameer Soekre (PSM candidate for Skudai)
There is a moment in “The Gut Shot” producer Shamsul Saad’s description of Bryan Kong and his arrest and detention on his podcast, where you can see he’s about to lose it.
That moment of righteous indignation on the failure of reform and the hypocrisy of the so-called reform movement is quickly overcome by Shamsul’s measured response to this farce. Minorities in this country live in that moment.
If you view that now infamous interview with another podcaster, “Let's Get It” producer Bryan Kong, you would understand why the fascistic forces in this country would be perturbed.
Shamsul (above, right), after all, was going over his familiar stomping grounds of the demonisation of liberalism, the systematic failure of the bureaucracy and the embedded racialisation of our political system.
I don’t want to talk about free speech or the inequalities of treatment between Malays and non-Malays when it comes to these kinds of issues. Lawyer Siti Kasim, fabulous in her outspokenness, rightly points out the disparity of treatment between Shamsul and Kong.
Shamsul, the perfect old-school gentleman who talked about this on his podcast, described how he rushed to the scene of this “young man” who was having trouble getting assistance from his lawyer Siti in what they knew was an unequal playing field. This is what it means to be Malaysian, or rather, a specific kind of Malaysian.
This fascist farce is about narratives the establishment wants to keep hidden, or rather threatens citizens to keep hidden. Shamsul was describing his perspective of what it means to be Malay in this country.
The irony here is that for Malays like Shamsul, there are no political parties that represent them. There are political bromides and political personalities who pay lip service to the principles and views expressed by Shamsul and others, but their narratives are banished to the political wilderness.
Demonising act
This is what the extreme right-wing forces all over the world do. Donald Trump supporters, for instance, demonise liberals; Zionists demonise Jews who do not support a theocratic or genocidal state, and here in Malaysia, Malays who do not conform to the first principles of religious superiority are demonised.
All this is done to keep elites in power and the masses continuously fighting each other for overlords who detested them.
The state wants to demonise folks like Shamsul but has never had a problem with someone like author and history activist Helmi Effendy, who advocated for the killing of Malay traitors back in the day.
What Helmi said, when you really think about it, is not something which is anathema when it comes to the mainstream political discourse in this country.
Malay political operatives are always accusing each other of being race traitors. Malay political operatives are always claiming that the Malay polity will lose its power to non-Malays. What Helmi wrote is merely taking this position to its logical extreme. Honestly, people have either overtly or subtly implied what Helmi said in social media outlets.
Worse of all, political operatives who claim to champion “universal religious values” of inclusivity throw those ideas under the bus when in power.
This is what the Selangor state administration said last year as reported in the press: “The Selangor government will continue its efforts to monitor, detect, and enforce laws against any individual involved in promoting religious liberalism and pluralism, to safeguard the sanctity of Islam in the state.”
This is what Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in 2022: “In my speech (in Jakarta), I said there are certain issues that I might not necessarily share, but on core issues of Islam, modernity, inclusivity, we are on the same page.
“How do you compare this to Malaysia? I think Malaysia lacks that sort of tolerance. Here, they just say ‘we disagree with you because you are a liberal’, ‘you are a plural’… I don’t think they have a clear understanding of what they are talking about.”
Connective tissues
First off, we were a progressive secular democracy before the ethno-nationalists used race and religion to turn this country into a “moderate” Islamic state.
Those nascent values of secularism and egalitarianism, which meant something to nation-building, were ditched by the ethno-nationalists to create political and religious hegemony. Shamsul and Malays like him detract from hegemonic narratives of Malay unity.
What these race and religion-based parties have done over the years is chip away at the secular foundations of this country, enabled by non-Malay power brokers for self-serving interests.
By their very definition, race and religion-based parties are anathemas to the Constitution, which is broadly progressive, secular and democratic. This is what Malays like Shamsul are fighting against.
Indeed, just look at the Rukun Negara to understand why race and religion-based parties are anathemas to every point in the Rukun Negara. Shamsul rightly points out that the Rukun Negara seems to have been kicked to the curb by the religious and racial supremacists but also by so-called reformers.
The connective tissues between the racial and religious agendas of successive Malaysian governments that desire a narcotised majority and a disenchanted, aggrieved minority have everything to do with the gerrymandering and unequal weighting of votes.
How can we have a progressive majority when every institution and every political operative confirms that the majority in this country have to subscribe to a certain mode of thinking and support a certain kind of Muslim leader?
Now you understand why Malays like Shamsul or those advocating any kind of deviation from fascistic group are demonised.
More’s the pity that a young man whose quote opens this piece finds no traction with the aggrieved polity in this country. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT
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