YOURSAY | Those who exploit race and religion must be identified

YOURSAY | ‘Does the PM have it in him to slay the monster he fed and nourished in the eighties?’

COMMENT | Will govt act on Perak Sultan’s rejoinder?

MS: Was Perak ruler Sultan Nazrin Shah articulating the thoughts of his brother rulers? If so, it could be taken as a warning shot across the bow - that enough is enough and that the royals will force the hands of cowardly politicians.

If not, it could mean that he alone feels the line has been crossed, which could amount to nothing in the end. Does Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have it in him to slay the “monster” he fed and nourished in the eighties until the time he lost his perch?

The man, by necessity, cannot alienate any segment of Malay society, or as he is wont to say, cannot spook those whose loyalties are as fickle as Melbourne’s weather.

And do members of his unity thingamajig share Sultan Nazrin’s (above) concerns? Have they discussed them among themselves? And to what end? We don’t know.

So, while the royal call does offer a glimmer of hope that all is not lost, we need to wait and see. There is the government which appears united, there is the deep state which even now could be subverting Anwar, and there are voters who will vote for whoever pays them.

Hrrmph: As the writer unerringly points out, the persons who “poison minds and fan negative emotions of people by exploiting differences in ethnicity and religion” are not identified.

The real perpetrators will conveniently say the sultan is not referring to them but is instead referring to whoever dares to point out the unfairness of the system.

Those in power need to do more, they need to openly rebuke such incidents so that there is no room for prevarication or excuses of having been taken “out of context”.

Though I doubt that even a sultan’s rebuke would do much nowadays. The royal admonishment by the Selangor ruler during the last Bon Odori fest was just rudely ignored with something akin to a “we know better”.

Darma: Religion has become systematised and organised, so what should have been a beautiful process has become fanaticism.

The moment you identify yourself with a doctrine whose fundamental ambition is to conquer the whole world someday, or you assume that your way is the only way, then you are a fanatic.

You may act in civilised ways, but if you nurture this thought, you are a fanatic.

We have a situation where politicians are openly and proudly calling themselves religious leaders. Religion is becoming a numbers game and another disguise for politics. If this is encouraged or even allowed, there will be organised and unnatural attempts to change the demographic of the nation.

Whenever there are such attempts to change the dynamics of the nation’s demographics – religious or otherwise – large-scale violence will erupt. This is threatening our very nationhood.

Fernzthegreat: The Anwar government, for starters, should take the bull by the horns and ban TikTok. It was done in India and by half the states in the United States.

PAS will collapse and implode if TikTok is banned. Bersatu won’t know what hit them.

It’s about the rule of law, the basis of the Constitution. In the rule of law, no one is above the law, all are equal before the law, there can be no discrimination, and where there are rights, there must be remedies.

The letter of the law, by itself, isn’t law at all. In the rule of law, there's a greater emphasis on the spirit of the law, albeit read with the letter of the law.

BrownCheetah9736: I would go one step further and request the royals to reclaim their role as the collective head of Islam in this country. It is currently being usurped and undermined by political parties to make it into a race-related issue for political gains.

These parties have systematically seized the narrative and pushed the country to a dangerous path that Sultan Nazrin had spoken about.

I don’t think there should even be a federal religious minister. These functions plus that of religious bodies should be placed under the king so that all edicts are consistent and don’t contradict one another.

In this way, the role of Islam in our society will be taken away from politicians and no longer politicised.

Clever Voter: Sultan Nazrin is not alone in this. We have heard the rulers in Johor, Negeri Sembilan, and Selangor echoing the same sentiments.

Indeed, if the opposition continues to harp on racial matters, they risk crossing the line. Tolerance is one thing, also accepting diverse views but one must relook at the motivations, especially words spewed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

It would not be a surprise if he ends up as the first to be warned or risk heavier penalties. Hadi sees himself as above establishment, it won’t be long before he faces consequences.

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