The Umno Youth leader’s misconception of Islam

Hence, we need to understand what we are opposing and not oppose concepts that can be considered Islamic. As a politician, especially someone of the level of an Umno Youth leader, we must not mislead and confuse the Malays. As it is, the Malays and Umno people are already terribly confused, so we must not make it worse by uttering such misleading statements.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I used to know Umno Youth leader Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki’s father, so I tegur him not out of malice but as a father would a son (after all, I am his father’s contemporary of sorts).

Considering Asyraf is a graduate of Sekolah Menengah Agama Persekutuan Labu and of the International Islamic University Malaysia, he should be lecturing me on Islam and not the other way around.

Nevertheless, today I am going to lecture Asyraf on Islam in the spirit of amar makruf, nahi munkar.

Asyraf should be careful before attacking socialism or communism (or even capitalism for that matter) because Islam possesses elements of each. The concept of socialism, communism, capitalism, democracy, etc. — what we consider ‘western’ concepts — do exist in Islam. It is the actions of socialists, communists, capitalists, democrats, republicans, monarchists, etc. that we need to condemn.

Commune living is about living as an ummah, the concept of communism

Islam propagates the concept of the community or the ummah. You gain more pahala when you travel in a group, pray in a group, eat in a group, etc. (but not if you have orgies or sex in a group). That is what we call the concept of ummah or the concept of communes (the hippie way of life). And the word ‘communism’ comes from the word ‘commune’.

Islam makes zakat and fitrah mandatory. That is so that the poor can be supported by the rich. That is socialism, where the rich support the poor through a welfare system.

In fact, if someone steals out of desperation, the Sharia court will not sentence that ‘thief’ to amputation. The court will order the government to place him of her on welfare and, if not done, the court will punish the welfare officer instead.

Islam says nine-tenths of rezeki comes from doing business. That is capitalism. Islam wants you to get rich so that you can aid the poor, what we can call ‘konsep payung’ or the umbrella concept. I suppose that is why 10% of the people on earth own 90% of the wealth (because 90% of the people on earth are wage-earners).

Of course, the communism propagated by Chin Peng and the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) is another thing altogether. That is about politics and about turning Malaysia into a vassal of China. The CPM do not only oppose Malay Malaysia but Chinese Singapore as well.

I remember after Vietnam was ‘liberated’ from America and Malaysia first established diplomatic relations with the newly ‘united’ Vietnam, Vietnam sent a diplomatic delegation to Malaysia and they held a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Vietnam supported Chin Peng and the CPM on the instructions of China

One of the reporters (I think it was from Straits Times but can’t really remember) asked the Vietnamese regarding their support for Chin Peng and his CPM. The Vietnamese admitted that they supported the CPM on the instructions of China. However, they no longer do that because China now has diplomatic relations with Malaysia and no longer regards Malaysia as an enemy.

So, by Vietnam’s admission, China was behind Chin Peng and the CPM. Basically, it was about turning Malaysia into a Chinese vassal state, that’s all. And DAP is still trying to turn Malaysia into a Chinese state, which is why they glorify Chin Peng, the CPM and communism.

Hence, we need to understand what we are opposing and not oppose concepts that can be considered Islamic. As a politician, especially someone of the level of an Umno Youth leader, we must not mislead and confuse the Malays. As it is, the Malays and Umno people are already terribly confused, so we must not make it worse by uttering such misleading statements.