PAC Chairman’s ‘cari makan’ faux pas

I do not care what you meant when you say certain things. I will interpret it the way I want to just like how people interpret what Hasan said the way they want to. And if I say your comment is anti-Malay and/or anti-Islam then it is anti-Malay and/or anti-Islam. That is the long and short of it all.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It looks like this is a week of a number of high profile faux pas. Anyway, never mind, even Mariah Carey and Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s sister, Ummi Hafilda Ali, have had their share of foot in mouth disease.

When the King of Jordan, King Hussein bin Talal, died in 1999, Mariah Carey was asked to comment on the matter and she replied that it was such a shame because he was one of the greatest basketball players. She was probably thinking of Michael Jordan, the ‘King’ of basketball.

And when it was revealed that Ummi Hafilda Ali had made a trip to London with disgraced Melaka Chief Minister Rahim Thamby Chik, she said that there was nothing amorous or sexual about her relationship with Rahim. “I dare say I am still a virgin,” she replied.

I mean has any woman who has come within ten feet of Rahim ever gone away still a virgin, if you know what I mean? That is like believing that the fox will never touch a chicken with a ten-foot pole. God made foxes so that they can sai lang chickens.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, the Puteri Reformasi (Reformasi Princes) too, made a faux pas by allowing her photograph with Princes Jacel Kiram to go viral on the Internet just two days after the Filipino separatists beheaded Sarawakian Bernard Then. That may have been a Princes-to-Princes tête-à-tête but that did not stop the shit from hitting the fan.

Actually, her father, too, did a faux pas about ten years ago when he sat down with the architects of the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. When he realised his error he explained that these people may be his close friends but he told them that while they may be friends it does not mean he supports the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm.

Then we had the PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin’s ‘cari makan’ faux pas. No doubt the term ‘cari makan’ can mean different things, both good and bad, depending on its usage, but surely Hasan would have known that the opposition, which is almost bankrupt of issues, would grab this faux pas and go to town with it.

I know Hasan personally and he is actually a very friendly and helpful person. He tries not to be too serious and always takes things lightly to put you at ease. But that was one joke that his critics refused to take as a joke and twisted it to mean that he is admitting he is corrupt.

Anyway, as a politician Hasan should have known that what he meant does not really matter. He could have meant something totally different but it is how people want to interpret what you say is what matters in the end.

I mean, how many times have you read non-Malays or non-Muslims posting comments in the social media, which they backtracked later and said that that was not exactly what they meant?

What they meant does not matter. It is how I interpret that comment is what matters and if I say it is an insult, a racist statement, an anti-Islam statement, or whatever, then that is what it is. I decide and I interpret it the way I wish to interpret it.

For example, there are so many comments about the NEP and the non-Malays say that the Malays have a crutch and rent-seeking mentality. That means the Malays are useless. That is how I interpret it. And if the Malays are useless then by comparison the non-Malays are God’s gift to Malaysia.

Then there are comments about why non-Muslims cannot accept Qur’anic laws such as the Sharia or Hudud because those laws are brutal and unjust. That means the Qur’an is stupid and Muslims are equally stupid for accepting the Qur’an. That is how I interpret it.

There are many such examples and I can go on and on if I wish. Nevertheless, I am sure you catch my drift and understand what I am driving at. I do not care what you meant when you say certain things. I will interpret it the way I want to just like how people interpret what Hasan said the way they want to. And if I say your comment is anti-Malay and/or anti-Islam then it is anti-Malay and/or anti-Islam. That is the long and short of it all.