‘Islamic racism’ shows how shallow Malaysian politics is, says Negri prince
Claiming that an acceptable form of racism exists in Islam shows how Malaysian politics lack ideological conviction, Negri Sembilan prince Tunku Zain Al-Abidin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz said today. Although he mentioned no names, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) president said such rhetoric was just another one of the government’s attempts to justify dividing the people. “Liberal ideas are branded as alien and heretical concepts and new justifications are dreamt up to consolidate state-sponsored division,” Tunku Zain said in his keynote address at the Malaysia Freedom Summit 2015 in Petaling Jaya. “Indeed, in the aftermath of the Malaysia Day ‘red shirt’ rally, there was one politician who tried to argue that there is such a thing as an acceptable, ‘Islamic’ form of racism. “The adoption of such rhetoric coupled with the vilification of liberal ideas highlights how malleable our political landscape is; how bereft it is of ideological conviction.” On Wednesday, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, an Umno Supreme Council member, justified the racial overtone of the ‘red shirt’ rally by declaring himself a racist. He said his racism was based on Islam and that the religion allowed it as long as it did not involve oppressing others. Annuar was one of the speakers at the September 16 rally, which saw thousands of Malays wearing red T-shirts take to the streets to defend their dignity. Other speakers at the rally, many of whom were from ruling party Umno, blamed the Bersih 4 protest and Chinese-majority party DAP for “insulting” the Malays. But Tunku Zain, who is the great-grandson of Malaysia’s first Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman, said today so-called enemies such as “the Jews” or “the Chinese” were merely constructed by authorities to justify policies catered to protect certain groups. “This enables the state to offer ‘protection’ (for) these groups, leading to paternalism, authoritarianism and the politics of patronage that inevitably spiral into corruption.” – September 20, 2015.
