Irony of Ironies – Wasatiyyah for the world but no wasatiyyah at home. Instead, there is growing tataruf.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been promoting the Wasatiyyah (moderation) principles of justice, balance and excellence in the past few years in his international campaign for the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) embracing all nations, religions and communities, but at home, there is the growing phenomenon of tataruf, which has been described by the former CEO of GMM as the opposite of wasatiyyah and denotes inclination towards the peripheries, extremism (including violent extremism), radicalism and excess.

The assault of film director David Teoh in front of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Najib during a Transformation Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue session at the Prime Minister’s residence on Wednesday night is a slap on the Prime Minister’s Wasatiyyah campaign of the past few years – an incident which would not have happened in the past 60 years under six Prime Ministers of Malaysia!

Another instance of the absence of wasatiyyah is the false and malicious police report lodged by University Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusof against Selangor Speaker and DAP Selangor State Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh, accusing her of proselytization of Muslims with the publication of her autobiography “Being Hannah” three years ago. Read the rest of this entry »