THE voices of right-wing nationalists and their attendant
cybertroopers have grown ever more shrill, loud and downright
inflammatory.
This is obvious as the narrative surrounding local support for the
Gaza conflict has been weaponised by local politicians and right-wing
groups to create even deeper schisms in an already very fractured
Malaysian society.
Whether it is upside down Jalur Gemilang, illegal temple
structures or admission to local universities, the tone has been to
constantly portray non-Malays as unpatriotic and ungrateful pendatang who do not seem to contribute to nation building.
While these are local issues, the detractors have stepped up a notch
by leveraging the Israel-Hamas conflict in Palestine to advance such
narrative.
It started as subtle suggestion that high profile thespians Tan Sri
Michelle Yeoh and Henry Golding openly voice their support for
Palestine.
Quite a tricky proposition since the film industry is said to be
dominated by the Jewish community, many of whom do NOT stand in
solidarity with Palestine.
Turning up the heat was social media influencer Zaim Salimun who
simply labelled Malaysians who do NOT support Palestine as “Zionists”.
Hope this young man is happy to have his 15 minutes of infamy by
stirring up racial sentiments and forcing his world view onto others.
‘Non-Muslims deem unpatriotic, inhumane’
Echoing this sentiment in relation to the recent interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF)
by Israeli military forces is Facebooker Khairul Azri who used the
supposed reaction on social media as proof of Zionists in our midst!
DuckDuckGo blocked this post to prevent Facebook from tracking you
We blocked Facebook from tracking you when the page loaded. If you unblock this content, Facebook will know your activity. Learn More He singled out the social media platforms of English-language dailies in the likes of the Malay Mail, New Straits Times (NST) and Malaysiakini which apparently had ‘laughing’ emojis appended to reports of the ‘failed’ flotilla.
Alleged comments asserting that the flotilla were part of a Hamas
conspiracy was used as further proof that Zionists lurk within Malaysian
society! Incredibly, the said FB post hit the jackpot with 15K likes,
2.1K ‘hate’ comments and 22K shares.
In essence, narrative of this nature has been heating up for some
time. From merely “unpatriotic” specimens, non-Malays are now being
painted as heartless, inhumane and completely lacking in empathy to the
genocide occurring in Gaza.
I urge the authorities to act against this hijacking of an
international issue to suit local agendas, many of which seem designed
to create disharmony and racial strife.
Nothing is ever black and white.
Many Malaysians may be abhorred that anyone could turn their backs on
the plight of the Palestinians. This may be an extremely unpopular
observation but how is that any different from some locals who think
that once German dictator Adolf Hitler was justified in carrying out the
Holocaust?
Food for thought indeed.
In the meantime, it is greatly hoped that a peaceful solution can be
found to the on-going conflict in Gaza – not just to alleviate the
suffering of Palestinians in their war-torn land – but also for the
sake of Malaysians unfairly labelled as “Zionists”. – Oct 4, 2025
