Dong Zong case - PM responsible for police action

LETTER | The police have come under fire from various parties for getting a court order to stop Dong Jiao Zong's congress on the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools.

Over the years the authorities have been selectively enforcing the rules. For example, no action was taken against the rowdies who barged into a convenience store in Manjung and threatened to break all the beer bottles if they were not removed. No action was taken by any authority against the school that made non-Muslim students have their meals in the washrooms during Ramadan. 

 No action was taken against preachers and writers who insulted the "sensitivities" of the non-Muslims. But action was quick when Muslims were "insulted".

This race/religion-based enforcement kept on emboldening the racists and bigots. For this, the police have to take some blame as they allowed some people to use race and religion as their armour.

In the Dong Jiao Zong's congress case, let's look at it critically. The police might have reacted differently. They were under some sort of unwritten order of the prime minister to not allow the congress to go on. Remember what the PM said? He had at an earlier occasion labelled Dong Jiao Zong as "racist". And on this congress occasion, he had in his own way implied that if the congress went ahead, there would be chaos because the Malays would be angry and they would react in "a very Malay way". What is that "very Malay way"? Was he issuing a threat?

To the police, the PM's message was that the congress should not be allowed to go on so that the Malays would not be angry and chaos would be avoided. So they went and got a court order. They did the PM's bidding, conveyed in a cynical, subtle way. This shows they are not independent.

The religious bigots and racists then took advantage of the PM's statement to follow-up with threats, feeling secure that they would be exonerated from creating chaos, even before chaos was created, by justifying it as a "very Malay way" of reacting.

The blame should, therefore, be squarely on the prime minister for his reckless statement about a "very Malay way" of reacting.

The police force should take this as a lesson and not allow itself to be swayed by reckless statements of politicians, however high their pedestal. Politicians have their own agenda and the police are not obliged to assist them to achieve their own selfish objectives.

The police are the guardian of all and not just of any section of society identified by race and religion. It has been heard that there is a reluctance to take action against some quarters. The IGP must put a stop to this so that all Malaysians are equal before the law. He should reflect very seriously on what has brought us to this state of race relations which is a far cry from the brotherliness that prevailed among the various races in the 1950s and '60s.

The police should not spare the top politicians. The law does not give them immunity. The police are the one giving them immunity. This must stop. And, of course, when is Zakir Naik going to be charged? Or will he never be charged?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.