Ismail Sabri, please get your bearings right

By TK Chua

Umno Supreme Council member Ismail Sabri Yaakob has accepted Lim Kit Siang’s challenge to prove that the DAP leader is anti-Malay and anti-Islam. According to the minister, he could compile a book on the subject. Ismail Sabri added that “not a single person can say that Lim is not racist, at least in parts.”

It is bold and adventurous for Ismail Sabri to say that not a single person can say that Lim is not a racist. Since that challenge includes me, I wish to state that I am one such “single person” who believes Lim is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. I therefore look forward to the minister’s compilation to prove what he has alleged. To prove his worth, Ismail Sabri must now give a specific timeframe to compile and publish his book on Lim.

Lim has spent more than half a century in politics. His stand on Malaysia is well known. I wish to remind Ismail Sabri that when doing a dossier on Lim, he must bear in mind the following:

(i) Labelling someone a racist does not make him or her one. I therefore urge the minister to refrain from committing a Joseph Goebbels act here. We can all fall victim to indoctrination and propaganda, can’t we?

(ii) Fighting for a rightful place under the Malaysian sun based on needs and dignity is not racism. Questioning the essence of the NEP is against the Constitution and probably anti-Malay, but questioning the shortcomings and abuses in the implementation of the NEP is not.

(iii) Criticising the performance of the government is the democratic right of all Malaysians. It does not matter whether the government is led by Muslims, Malays, Christians or non-Malays. Criticism is directed at the Malaysian government by the Malaysian people, got it?

(iv) When corruption becomes rampant, when government resources are pilfered and when tax revenue is squandered, it affects everyone in the country – Malays, Muslims, non-Malays and non-Muslims. Again asking for better governance and accountability is not racism or anti-Islam, unless Ismail Sabri has his own ideas on what being racist or anti-Islam is.

(v) Asking for respect and adherence to the spirit of the 1957 Federal Constitution is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. The Constitution is a sacred document that is supposed to protect the minority, not enhance the power and expand the dominance of the majority. It is not right to amend it formally based on the wishes of the majority or to interpret it based on parochial whims and fancies.

I have given the guidelines. It is now for Ismail Sabri to compile his book on Lim and I urge him to do so quickly.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

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