The UMNO Information Chief, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said in an UMNO “Dialogue Perjuangan For All” in Kota Bharu on Friday night that Pakatan Harapan will not be able to uphold and defend Islam in the country because the opposition coalition has been dominated by DAP.
Annuar cannot be more wrong.
DAP will uphold and defend the real values and true teachings of Islam and those of other great religions whether Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism or Sikkhism which are to promote peace, honesty, justice, freedom and solidarity. A DAP and Pakatan Harapan Federal Government will make Malaysia a model for the world of how people of diverse races, religions, cultures and languages can unite and create a peaceful, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous nation and not to allow a Taliban state as advocated by a few.
It is an indictment of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s nation-building policies that moderation and inclusiveness are suffering attacks and setbacks with the rise of extremism, bigotry and intolerance, to the extent that the Sultan of Johore had to declare publicly that Johore is not a Taliban state.
It is a supreme irony that while Najib promotes the initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates in international forums, he has done nothing as Prime Minister inside the countryt to speak out against the voices and forces of distrust, hatred, extremism, bigotry and intolerance in our plural society.
There was great relief and national support when the Sultan of Johore spoke out against rising extremism, bigotry and intolerance when Najib as Prime Minister should have spoken up loud and clear well before the Sultan of Johor. Why did Najib abdicate from his responsibility as Prime Minister of plural Malaysia?
The “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptocrasi” rally organized by Pakatan Harapan in Petaling Jaya yesterday is a case in point – in support of Islam and other great religions, whether Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism or Sikkhism, which teach moral uprightness and honesty, avoidance of corruption and abuses of powers for personal gain, and justice for all.
However, there are some in Malaysia who want to equate support for Islam as equivalent to support for corruption and kleptocracy.
We must expose the dishonesty and chicanery of these dishonest politicians who want to distort the true teachings of Islam by equating support for Islam as support for kleptocracy.
(Speech at the DAP Kopitiam Dialogue at Taman Impian Ehsan, Balakong on Sunday, 15th October 2017 at 12 noon)