What precisely is Anwar trying to say?
For sure Anwar Ibrahim likes the sound of his own voice. But then what precisely is he trying to say? Anwar has the bad habit of trying to sound good while delivering cryptic or vague messages that mean very little to his audience. Take his speech below as an example (with my response in bold/brackets).
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Anwar wants youths to rise as the new force of Malaysia Madani
(Bernama) – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants youths to rise as the new force of Madani Malaysia by rejecting stagnant and old-fashioned ideas which are detrimental to the nation.
(What exactly does ‘rejecting stagnant and old-fashioned ideas which are detrimental to the nation’ mean? He is talking to a bunch of university students. Hence, he needs to clarify and give details of what this means. Since his talk is about Islam and Madani, is he suggesting conservative Islam is ‘stagnant, old-fashioned, and detrimental’ to Malaysia? If so, which aspect of Islam fits this bill? The Sharia? Hudud? Or something else?)
He said this was his challenge to young people in whom he has placed great confidence.
(What is the challenge to the young people? To make Muslims abandon conservative Islam? What is the alternative to conservative Islam? Liberal Islam? What entails liberal Islam?)
“Smart Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan children rise as the force of the nation to defend our rights, our values, moral options, truth and justice, stand up as the new strength of Madani society,“ he said when giving a lecture on Educational Reform for Malaysia’s Future Wellbeing at UNISEL’s Kursi Siddiq Fadzil Distinguished Lecture programme at its Bestari Jaya campus here today.
(Defend our rights, our values, moral options, truth and justice, against what? Against conservative Islam? Against the enemies of Islam? Who, or what, are these enemies? The non-Muslims? Fellow Muslims? And what precisely are these ‘rights, values, and moral options’ that need defending?)
The Madani concept which was officially introduced by Anwar on Jan 19 is based on six pillars, namely sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust and compassion.
(Anwar states the six pillars of Madani as sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust, and compassion. You do not need Madani for this. You just need common sense. Even those who have no religion or who do not believe in God would subscribe to these universal values. It is like saying that water is wet. Everyone knows this. Anwar just needs to say “be a decent human being.”)
Meanwhile, Anwar said in efforts to spread the message of Islam, the Muslim community should be preaching instead of punishing others especially those who do not share the same beliefs and views.
(Punishing others in what way? Banning beer festivals?)
“We are the callers, the preachers… let’s not take over the duties of the kadi or judge by punishing others just because they do not agree with us or because they are from another group or party as how we see on social media like TikTok,” he said.
(Punishing others in what way? Details please!)
Anwar said that the late Siddiq, who was his friend was very much affected by situations like this, especially among young people who are so easily influenced by hard-line beliefs.
(What precisely are these ‘hard-line beliefs’? The Hadith? The Sunnah? Details please!)
