Yoursay: Many Malaysians ‘infected’ by Hadi’s religious bigotry

YOURSAY | ‘We must quickly find a vaccine to stop his viral capability.’

Let's turn coronavirus outbreak into a blessing, says Kit Siang

Clever Voter: To save the nation from the brink of deep racial polarisation, one does not need the outbreak of any flu epidemic.

Fake news used to be known as rumours, and it is hard to prevent its spread, which is today made much easier through social media. Getting rid of racial prejudice and stereotyping is impossible but these can be mitigated through the enforcement of laws.

Even then, it is better to start with those politicians who are using race and religion to earn their fortunes. Across institutions, these have become acceptable and it is unrealistic to expect change overnight.

It is not difficult for DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang to advocate for the adoption of right values. Perhaps, he could start with his party leadership and show the world what he meant by actions rather than words.

Anonymous_1560865429524: Lim, not everything has to be about politics. Shame on you for using this global tragedy with more than 200 people dead so far to make political statements and to attack political opponents.

Anon 93751028: On the contrary, Lim is clearly well aware of the many Malaysians who are using this outbreak to spread hatred against people of Chinese origin, regardless of where they are in the world.

You have obviously not read or seen any of the vitriol being spread across social media by people you may have thought were your friends.

MeeHoonKuay: I am puzzled as to why so much publicity is given to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. Without the oxygen of publicity, he will have no platform to air his nonsensical views and will just fade away.

Lim should know better than to dignify Hadi with a comment.

Kawak: Like it or not, Hadi represents a contagion in Malaysia. A majority of people can be easily infected by his religious bigotry.

His hate speeches against non-Muslims have also infected many. Malaysians must quickly find a vaccine to stop his viral capability.

The Wakandan: To the PAS president, the world is divided into two spheres – them and others. Those who are not them are considered the enemies or if they are on their side, they will be like second-class citizens who should be subjugated and humiliated.

To him, when he mentioned about cow and pig herders, they are merely symbolic - the cow herders are ‘halal’ and the pig herders are ‘haram’.

Lim is obviously one of those haram people on his radar. If you are in the ‘pigs’ group, even if you are with him, you are still pigs - haram and to be treated with contempt.

As for fake news, Lim is right. Lies are the common denominator for PAS and Bossku. They lie through their teeth and do not feel any guilt about it. In fact, they can make lies halal as long as it serves their purpose and deceive their enemies.

Malaysia is a multicultural, multiracial and multireligious nation. There is no place in this beautiful country for people who advocate racial discrimination and see themselves as superior to those who are not the same with them.

Anonymous 770241447347646: Besides the unfulfilled promises by Pakatan Harapan and the race and religious card, PAS and Umno have no other issues to raise. The race and religious card can only be confronted by Bersatu, Amanah and Malay politicians in PKR.

About Harapan’s unfulfilled promises, it up to the Harapan presidential council to work on it. Those promises that can be fulfilled without a two-thirds vote in Parliament should be done as quickly as possible. No excuses should be given.

As far as the goat, chicken, cattle or pig herder analogy, it shows the mentality of the PAS politicians. Their minds are still stuck in the kampung mindset.

Perhaps, this could have been a strategy for PAS to divert the attention from their blunder of allegedly enriching themselves and buying luxury cars for Kelantan state leaders. The huge backlash over the Kelantan issue could be one of the reasons for that cow-pig herder analogy by Hadi.

PAS knows very well that this blunder has not gone down well with their supporters. Harapan, therefore, must be ready to face more racial and religious rhetoric, especially from PAS.

Anonymous_1371547149: The best that Hadi can do for the nation is to ask our next generation to be cow or pig herders. And this is the man who wants to helm the nation?

I think, at best, he can only be a cow herder. Probably using his Mercedes Benz from the rakyat's money to herd the cows. But I believe if the cows can speak, they will say “Noo, Noo”.

The Analyser: Personally, I have never had an issue with fake news. Much of it is so ridiculous that it would never be considered newsworthy.

The fact that Malaysians get so confused can be traced back to the notion that regardless of race, we have all been discouraged from asking questions while, at the same time, blindly doing what we are told.

Lim’s obsession with fake news is not because people make up fake news, but Malaysians, including himself, cannot tell the difference. Who was it who actively embraced the fake news that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was going to change his spots?

Right and Wrong: Fake news can never be stopped as long as we continue to have fake leaders. These so-call leaders are chosen or elected by the people.

In other words, there a lot of fake people, or ignorant people, choosing fake leaders. So just leave the fake people alone. You can never change them.

Just focus on guiding our young to be on the right path. They should be made to realise that if they are influenced by fake people, they may end up having a bleak future.

Yoursay: Enough of lip service to curbing fake news and hate speech

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