Time to incarcerate the racist criminals

Time for Najib to haul up Ibrahim Ali for inciting racial tensions

Najib and his prized slogan

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Pakatan Rakyat leaders say it is time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to haul in Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for escalating racial tensions with his latest demands to bar non-Muslims from Islamic places of worship. Otherwise the PM should stop wasting the citizenry’s time with his talk of “zero-tolerance” for racism.

“Ibrahim is trying to fan the fire of hatred. Each time Najib has allowed him to get away with it when he should order the police to arrest him for sedition. This shows Najib is also part of the Umno political game – to create Malay hatred for the non-Malays,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

A laughing stock in the international Muslim community

Nizar Jamaluddin

But Ibrahim and Umno have also upset their own community, many of whom are aghast at their ignorance of their own religion and their crude response to a member of the political opposition, Teo Nie Ching, after she visited a Muslim prayer hall last week.

Leaders of the Islamist PAS have pointed out that a National Fatwa Council decision in March 2010 confirmed that Muslim suraus and mosques were to be kept open to all people as part of efforts to propagate the religion.

They are worried that if Ibrahim and the other ultra-Malays from Umno were to get their way, Malaysia would become a laughing stock in the international Islamic community.

“This a very glaring manifestation of the complete state of confusion and mix-up of Islam and Malay racism by Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa patron Mahathir Mohamad,” PAS central committee member Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

“It is also a very sobering reflection of how badly Umno has mismanaged and neglected the development of Islam despite being in power for 53 years. In their haste to accuse PAS of betraying and compromising Islam because of its committment to Pakatan Rakyat, Umno has ended up showing how ignorant it is of the religion it claims to defend."

Tian Chua

Twisting Islam

Muslim scholars like former Perlis mufti Dr Asri Zainul Abidin and PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat have condemned Umno and Perkasa for stirring up the latest brouhaha. In separate statements released on Sunday, they pointed out that even Prophet Muhamad had specifically invited non-believers to meet him at mosques so that they could get to know the religion up close.

However, that has not stopped Perkasa and Umno Youth from insisting that mosques and suraus be restricted to Muslims. Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who shot off an early warning to Nie Ching, has not called any ceasefire despite the latest revelations that visits by non-believers were sanctioned by the National Fatwa Council.

Meanwhile, Nie Ching has continued visiting another surau, this time to present a donation to the Al-Muhajirin prayer hall in Bangi.

Khalid Samad

“There is no easy solution because we are not talking logic or religion any more. This is about politics, political mileage and racism. For us in PAS, we want Malay unity based on Islam but Umno only wants Malay unity based on Malayness," PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.

"The Umno concept is a hollow one because there are no underlying principles. It is just about race – their race and nobody else’s. So how can Najib talk about zero tolerance for racism when race is Umno’s raison d'etre. It is just another huge lie and the silence is also deafening from MCA, MIC and Gerakan. They are being accessories to racism by not speaking up.”

Sowing what they reap

On Sunday, Ibrahim unleashed a torrent of violent words. He condemned Nie Ching, insisted that the religious authorities charge her, warned her DAP party, accused PAS of abandoning Islam, and questioned if Najib’s 1Malaysia meant equality for all the races.

Ibrahim Ali