The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went out of his way during his visit to Indonesia to “shoot down” a move by the Terengganu state government to set up a “snoop squad” or “informers” who would be rewarded for reporting “immoral activities”.
Stating his disapproval of such moves by religious authorities, Abdullah told them to stop policing the morals of Muslims and concentrate on tacking various urgent issues facing them.
The issue at stake is not so much about Terengganu state government attempting to set up a moral “snoop squad” or “informers”, but the credibility and legitimacy of the Prime Minister’s authority.
Why there is yet another attempt at moral policing, and this time under the auspices of the Terengganu Islam Hadhari Committee, despite the previous attempts in Malacca and Selangor to have either volunteer “snoop squads” or Mat Skodeng which were disbanded after the federal government had made known its disapproval as well as the international furore following the scandalous khalwat raid of an elderly American couple in Langkawi in Kedah?
From the statements given by the Terengganu Islam Hadhari Committee chairman, Datuk Rosol Wahid in the past two days, it is clear that the Terengganu state government or at least Rosol is not very convinced by Abdullah’s directive or reasons.
This is because despite Rosol’s denial about a Mat Skodeng squad, he maintained that “We only have informants who are volunteers to provide information to enforcement officers of the state Religious Affairs Department”.
Abdullah rightly rebutted this, pointing out that there was not much difference between spies and informers.
Abdullah should find out why after more than three years of his introduction of the concept of Islam Hadhari, it is still equated by the various religious authorities whether at national or state level with moral policing as to justify the repeated attempts to set up “snoop squads” or encourage “moral spies”.
Abdullah must remove Rosol Wahid as Teregganu State Exco and Islam Hadhari Committee Chairman to restore his credibility, authority and even legitimacy because of Rosol’s defiance or just lack of understanding of his directive to end all “snoop squads” or “moral informers”.
The Mat Rempits, despite or because of the support of Umno Youth leaders Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin, have grown to be an even worse national menace, not only to the Muslim community but to all Malaysians. What are the various religious authorities doing before the Mat Rempit menace careens out of all control?
Corruption has worsened during the past three years despite the pledge that anti-corruption would be the centerpiece of the Abdullah administration, as reflected in the seven-point plunge in Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 44 in 2006.
Are the various religious authorities prepared to give top priority to fight corruption and abuses of power in their programmes in response to the Prime Minister’s advice that they should be tackling more urgent issues?