The hudud hysteria

By The Malaysian Insider

It is a no-brainer why Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dredged up the issue of PAS’s pursuit of hudud law in Kelantan.

In sports parlance, this has been the “go to” issue for Barisan Nasional (BN) since it lost control of the state in 1990, whipping up hate and fear among non-Muslims towards the Islamist party and creating anxiety about the green tide and the chopping off hands.

In the 1999 elections, he used it to save his government after the Malay vote deserted Umno following the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim a year earlier. Then, the non-Muslims, worried about Malaysia falling into the hands of “religious extremists” and concerned that Umno’s poor standing could let PAS in through the backdoor, voted in large numbers for BN.

And making PAS the extremists by misrepresenting what hudud is has been Dr Mahathir’s favourite tactic, aided by the mainstream media.

So with the Chinese not enamoured by the Najib administration and Umno, or particularly impressed with the mediocrity of the MCA leadership, Dr Mahathir went to his favourite topic: PAS and hudud.

This move would receive blanket coverage in the Chinese press and is aimed at scaring the Chinese back into supporting the BN.

The shortcoming of this strategy these days is that a growing number of Malaysians, especially urban folk, believe that Umno is more radical and extreme than PAS. With the breakdown of the system, the corruption and decaying institutions, just what is there to trumpet about the present system?

The idea of tarring PAS as an extremist party worked when BN had a monopoly of the airwaves. It no longer does.

Now a significant number of non-Muslims know that people like Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Dr Dzulkelfy Ahmad, Khalid Samad, Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, Mohamad Sabu and others are not the ogres painted by the mainstream media.

They are reasonable people, Malaysians like you and me. In fact, in the last 24 months their politicians have stood up for Christians and other non-Muslims more than any Umno leader.

So demonising them as extremists may not be as successful as in times past. But be assured that the likes of the mainstream media will not be daunted.