Vandalising churches, temples – and our politics
If we take Nazri’s argument to its logical extreme, we would not need courts at all. It is truly astonishing that Nazri is considered the Minister for Law; he should be dubbed the Minister for Unintended Irony.
By Pak Bui
The crimes of vandalism against twelve churches and a Sikh temple and now, possibly, a mosque in Samarahan, have been a sad reflection of the ongoing cynical vandalism of our political system and national institutions.
UMNO spokesmen have hurled verbal stones and rhetorical firebombs at the judicial system. They have trampled over the High Court judgment that allowed the word “Allah” to be used by all, as long as it is not used to convert Muslims.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, UMNO’s Nazri Aziz, has been quoted by Malaysiakini as saying the issue of printing “Allah” in Christian publications cannot be solved by taking it to court. He was echoing the inanities of his “racist” sparring partner, Mahathir Mohamad.
Vandalism of the judiciary
If we take Nazri’s argument to its logical extreme, we would not need courts at all. It is truly astonishing that Nazri is considered the Minister for Law; he should be dubbed the Minister for Unintended Irony.
If we accept this premise, we would not need the separation of powers. We would not miss the time-honoured checks and balances the Judiciary provides. We would not require judicial curbs on the excesses of the Executive arm, the Cabinet (dominated by Nazri’s power-hungry “band of brothers” from UMNO) and the Legislative arm, Parliament (which was also recently attacked by UMNO yobs).
We could leave everything up to the Cabinet. They could hand down edicts like thunderbolts from Olympus. They could dictate every aspect of our lives, like our second PM Abdul Razak’s emergency regime did in 1969, or like Nicolae Ceausescu or Kim Il Sung used to do in their (transiently) stable totalitarian states.
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