Neutralise the roots of ‘cross-gate’ affair
Could any criminologist and/or psychologist please tell Malaysians that the hate speeches made over the past several years and which were tacitly approved by the authorities not taking any action could not have had any influence on the 50 mobsters who got the cross on the church removed by threatening violence, believing that they were doing a service to God?
Ravinder Singh, TMI
The Taman Medan church “cross-gate” affair did not happen out of spontaneity. It was the fruitiion of seeds planted by racist ideas rooted in statements, calls and questions asked in the past by certain parties. These seeds of racism and hatred had been taking root for some time. The cross-gate affair was the fruit of those seeds as were others earlier, eg. the throwing of animal heads and parts into the compounds of prayer houses. This time, perhaps due to the presence of a “VIP”, the mob felt braver and openly carried out their “flash mob”, as labelled by the inspector-general of police, threatening violence if the cross was not taken down.
The IGP on his part did a great disservice to the nation by almost immediately pronouncing that the mob’s action was not seditious. Now, after the prime minister said that action will be taken, he says action will be taken. Whether this promise of action is just to placate the people or for real will be known soon.
As an observer, I’m wondering whether the investigations by the juniors of the IGP will prove the IGP was right or wrong. If investigations show he was wrong, wouldn’t that be a big slap on his face? Would that be acceptable?
Let us go back a little in history. After the loss of BN’s two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time in history in 2008, the historic event was called a “Chinese tsunami”. A question was splashed on the front page of a newspaper: “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” Soon after that, a high-ranking retired judge in a speech spoke of “dendam kesumat” of the Malays which knows no bounds when the Malays are betrayed.
Then, around election time, the voice of the PM himself was heard saying that his party would defend Putrajaya even with crushed bodies and broken bones. These are not poetic words, but incendiary ones. It was irresponsible to speak in such tones.
Now, what seeds were all these statements sowing in the minds of those people described by Jakim director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha as being “without a good religious foundation, no matter how successful they become in life, it will be futile as their contribution to society will only bring more harm than good”. Events show that there definitely are some “without a good religious foundation”.
Then come Perkasa, Isma and similar bodies onto the stage, not leaving out a professor who has no other word for the Chinese than “ultra kiasu”, as if his own blood and bone were not Chinese. The vitriol that he spews is defended as “academic freedom of expression” when other academics are not given the same academic freedom of expression.
Giving support and tacit approval to racist remarks and statements were the authorities who said statements like “burn the Bibles” were not only not in violation of the law but legitimate under the banner of “freedom of speech”. Moreover, there was no evidence the words had incited anyone to really burn the Bibles. This was taken another step further when it was said that holy books, including the Quran, that were not usable any longer were disposed of by burning. So whoever said Bibles should be burnt had not said anything wrong or offensive that could cause disharmony.
The law enforcers’ reaction to such incendiary statements was that no offence was committed as there was no evidence that the person(s) saying such things had intended that the things they said (eg. burn the Bibles) must be carried out. Without the element of intention, they could not press charges although under the Penal Code, there is no need for intention.
In the cross-gate too, why investigate under the Sedition Act when the act falls clearly within the Penal Code? If the charge under the Sedition Act does not stick for whatever reason, there will be no second investigation or charge under the Penal Code as it will amount to double jeopardy. Is the ground being set to set the 50 free?
