The Fall of the Dark Empire

A long time ago, the overriding ‘ideology ‘ to which UMNO committed itself to was Alif Ba Ta- Agama , Bangsa dan Tanah Air. Let us examine what are these and what they should mean.

Agama of course refers to Islam. If Islam is already complete, it requires no further gloss. It needs guardians to ensure it remains pure. We accept this role. We also accept their prescriptive role- suggesting to us, how we should behave and act.

The truer role of the guardians of Islam in Malaysia should be directed at making what kind of Muslims we want to be. Are we going to be the claustrophobic Muslims who rejected the presence of Erikah Badu because, once upon a time she acted in a film which demanded that her body be temporarily tattooed with the names of the Gods worshiped by people of various practices? Her recent photo didn’t show any of those markings.

Yet the rich and the powerful, their sons and daughters and their kept women in tow, crossed over to Jakarta to watch Erkah Badu sing there. So the pristine morality to which they claimed guardianship is for the hoi poloi, the lumpen-proletariat, the underclass- while they, the rich and powerful and the refines, practise and adopt less strict morality demands. 

The poor want bread, so we give them bread. We treat ourselves to scones, cheese and fruit preserves.

If every religious denominations start to impose their sectarian moral values onto a national scale, what results from that behavior, can only be a divisive state.

Where was the PM during this time? Busy asking Poad Jelani to erase evidence that it was the PMO which arranged the payment for the engagement do of their daughter? I am inclined to believe that it wasn’t the PMO that actually paid for the expenses. Poad Jelani can easily summon some of his benefactors to pay and the money went through him. Maybe the contractor of the aborted crooked bridge? His stupidity was to make it out as though it was the PMO which paid for it. Or perhaps as is the common practice, the PM’s boys, demanded a certain payment and after the usual deductions, paid the required amount. There must be a fee for people who serve as mules, right?

The PM as leader of this country is doing a big disservice to the country by stepping aside and allowing divisive sectarian and religious values undo harmony. In the case of Erikah Badu, the people who wanted to watch her sing here, wasn’t made entirely of Muslims. The Muslims who did not want to watch should have chosen the more pragmatic step of just staying away. It’s no skin off our noses really if people, including some Muslims want to watch and enjoy Erikah Badu sing. But they should not impose their religious morality onto others by demanding the concert be banned entirely.

But then, stepping aside and doing nothing has always been the personal credo of the PM. I have already said he is a schemer by nature- aligning him with sectarian groups and working to ensure his groups triumph. He knows sectarian and religious clashes will only produce fissures in our society and yet chose to step aside because, divisions and disunity actually serve the purpose of ensuring he stays in power. That is the measure of the man. He is running the country just as he running UMNO Pekan. Those below him can slug it out; he watches idly by and aligns with winning groups.