Mahathir is like a pimp condemning prostitution

Mahathir is teaching us about the law of haram and halal. He is telling us that what PM Najib is doing is haram whereas what he did as PM for 22 years is halal. That is like the pimp preaching about the evil of prostitution when he got rich and is still getting rich on the earnings of his whores.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Mahathir: do what I say and not do what I do

In Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest blog posting today (Manghalalkan yang haram) he said, “Demikian juga apabila kita tahu duit itu dicuri, tetapi kita terima duit itu untuk apa juga tujuan, maka perbuatan itu tentulah salah. Jika salah untuk perbuatan lain, tentulah salah juga untuk membiayai ibadat.” (READ MORE HERE).

It looks like the old man has still not stopped raving and ranting about 1MDB and BR1M extending financial help to Malaysians who require such assistance. To Mahathir, anyone who gets financial help from 1MDB and/or BR1M is eating haram money.

I suppose if you want to look at it from a halus (fine-tooth comb) perspective then Mahathir is correct. But then this would mean every single day of our life we are eating haram money right up to the day we die. And this would mean not a single one of the 20 million Muslims in Malaysia (and the millions who have since died) are going to go to heaven. Every single Muslim is going to hell.

Let us start with credit cards. You shop using credit cards and you pay interest. According to some Muslim scholars such as Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein, usury or riba carries the same sin as the sin of having sexual intercourse with your own parent. In other words, paying interest is just like sleeping with your own mother (or father).

How many Muslims own credit cards? And are you not, therefore, all destined to burn in hell?

Then many Muslims own cars and houses, which they bought on loan, and hence pay interest. Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein has advised those who have interest-bearing loans to sell off their cars and houses and buy a car or home only when you are able to do so in cash. Meanwhile you should rent a house and use buses or taxis to move around until you have saved enough money to buy a car or house in cash.

In 2000, Mahathir cancelled the 5% oil royalty that was due to Terengganu under the Petroleum Development Act (1974) and the two Agreements signed in 1974 and 1976. That was in violation of an Act of Parliament and two legally-binding agreements. In other words Mahathir did something haram by breaking the law. The RM1 billion a year was then transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department and Idris Jusoh was put in charge of spending the money.

“Tangan inilah yang membuat draf akta tersebut,” said Tun Salleh Abbas, referring to the Petroleum Development Act 1974

The RM1 billion a year, which was illegally taken or stolen from the citizens of Terengganu, was then distributed by Idris Jusoh plus spent on all sorts of ‘projects’ that was directly approved by Umno and the Prime Minister. The Terengganu State Government was by-passed and had no say in how the money was spent. In short, the Wang Ehsan, which in 2000 replaced the Oil Royalty, was money stolen from the people of Terengganu and handed over to Umno under Idris Jusoh on the instructions of Mahathir.

Well, if you want to look at it from a halus or fine-tooth comb perspective, Mahathir is an expert on haram money. When he was Prime Minister he borrowed a lot of money from Japan and Malaysia lost a lot in currency exchange and interest. Even the Bible reports that Jesus lost his temper and went berserk with the money-lenders and money-changers, what more Islam. And it was Mahathir who turned Bank Negara into a casino and gambled and lost RM30 billion on the FOREX market in the early 1990s after gambling and losing a lot of money in the tin market ten years before that.

Yes, haram is haram and halal is halal, says Islam. Haram can never become halal and vice versa, according to Islam. But when we raise what Mahathir himself did when he was Prime Minister, he insists that he did no wrong and whatever he did was ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ and not a crime.

What Mahathir should do is to admit what he did and admit that what he did was wrong (instead of denying what he did and insist that what he did was right). Then Mahathir will have earned the moral right to preach to others about haram and halal. The biggest pimp in town has not earned the right to condemn prostitution when he stuffs his face and the stomachs of his family with food bought from the earnings of his prostitutes.