To the MP from Parit Sulong

who says “Times have changed and I think that we cannot allow Malays to look at the crosses and statues without any explanation.”

Times may have changed according to you but our Federal Constitution of 1957 Article 11 has not. Did you explain this to your constituents?

The issue involving the many Hindu temples scattered all over the rubber estates and private land represents a serious problem to both – the devotees who regard any demolition of the temples as desecration, and to the owners of such lands who rightly believe that they have rights, that there are laws which have to be complied with.

Unfortunately for those who had been allowed to set up shrines during colonial times because it suited the interest of the plantation owners then, ownership of many of these estates has passed hands to government-linked organizations if not the government itself – through the process of land acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act so that roads and other public amenities could be built. As is always the case in such cases whenever there is a conflict between private and public interest, it has to weigh in favor of public interest. There can be no dispute to that.

What is disputed however is the government’s handling of issues involving houses of worship of non-Muslims generally – and, specifically those facing dislocation because the structures were illegal to begin with and had been built on land which today would also have to be gazetted for it to be legal. It need not be overemphasized that the practice of having it gazetted is for planning purposes and not for the purpose of restricting the right of non-Muslims to practice their religion – a right guaranteed by our Federal Constitution of 1957 under Article 11.

The growing Islamization of a country long regarded exemplary among Muslin countries, and the world because of the brand of moderate Islam it practices, should have put the non-Muslim and non-Malay minorities on notice that the UMNO dominated government no longer regards the ‘soft’ approach as being tenable because as one MP from Parit Sulong puts it, “We cannot allow Malays to look at the crosses and statues without any explanation,” that many of them are demanding to know why they need to put up with the un-Islamic presence of structures in a country two of their Prime Ministers have repeatedly told them is an Islamic country.

I do not believe this time though that it is politically motivated. PAS is not about to take over the country and the Opposition cannot agree on key issues. Their ability to form a working coalition and then run a government is still very much untried and untested. I believe there is a real change in attitudes – though not the law.

It is not altogether irrelevant to ask whether events of September 11 have something to do with it, and whether the law is not being used to legitimize ad hoc demolition of temples and houses of worship which are non-Muslim seemingly to accommodate the wider public interest.

Or simply because it is the inevitable consequence of the failure of leadership.

One could only hope or even pray that it is the latter.

“What kind of psychology game play the government is doing on us. This is herd mentality. Social psychology at play.” Jonny

I cannot say I disagree with Petra’s post-mortem analysis of the situation. I think the HINDRAF demonstration is what the fractured UMNO leadership needed to unite the factions – the ‘pro-Abdullah’ faction and the ‘pro-Najib’ faction and, of course, the fence sitters waiting in the wings to find which way the wind blows before they commit ink to paper. If ever the Opposition had a single political strategy, letting the HINDRAF organizers go it alone, is a colossal mistake which probably cost the Opposition the elections and frustrate voters who now think voting would be an exercise in futility and may take time off to go fishing come elections.

Politics is all about perception and the perception among the Malays, right or wrong, post-HINDRAF is that it was an anti-Malay rally meant to send a message not just to the UMNO leadership but the Malay community be they supporters of PKR, Parti Socialis Rakyat or PAS. Anybody watching the demonstration on TV see men in blue being almost exclusively Malays and those ‘rioting’ being Indians. The Hang Tuah in the average Malay ever the loyal follower rather than the Hang Jebat, the rebel without a cause emerges and guess what? Hang Tuah wins.

The Anwar factor? Anwar is long DOA (dead on arrival) and as a factor could be discounted. He is a veteran politician and a charismatic leader – no doubt about it. He also suffers from a split personality – ever ready to take the left turn as much as the right whenever it suits him rather than drive the straight road. He is the Hillary Clinton of Malaysia flip-flopping in his Made-in-Malaysia Japanese slippers.

Like Raja Petra said UMNO now does not need to do a May !3th but just the thought of it rather than the threat, would be enough to send Malays deserting their opposition bases and making a bee line back to UMNO.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS.

Any Muslims around who could explain what ‘kissing’ the Black Stone in Mecca is all about? Some say it is remnant of a meteorite.