COMMENT | Do non-Muslims participate in the cabinet? By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy

Malaysiakini : “Islam meletakkan mestilah ketua negara dan anggota kabinetnya yang berakidah Islam daripada bangsa yang paling berpengaruh. (Islam requires the head of the country and cabinet members to be Muslims from the most influential ethnic group).”

- PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, circa 2017

COMMENT | PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s winding-up speech at the recent PAS muktamar was a knicker-twisting statement for some people. Hadi said the same thing nearly a decade ago, as evidenced by the quote that opens this piece.

The PAS information chief at the time, Nasrudin Hassan, said this in defence of his boss’ speech. “He was stressing the importance and need for Malay-Muslims to be the core of Malaysia’s political system and administration.”

It would be extremely easy to write a piece condemning such statements and Hadi (above), but this would ignore the underlying reality faced by non-Muslim Malaysians when it comes to participation in the political process and policymaking. The reality is that from post-69, all cabinet decisions are defined by not spooking the Malays.

And since the non-Muslim power brokers have been handmaidens to the Malay political establishment, the argument could be made that there is already an unofficial “Malay/Muslim-only” cabinet in substance if not in form.

Multi Racial : The two countries that progress the most in the last 4 decades are the two that segregate religions and race from.politic. the two countries are China and Singapore. This tells us a lot. 

So if political parties continue to use religion and race to rise to power, they will only slow down the progress of the country or worse still bring down the country. Hope Malaysians will learn from this and never vote such parties to power.

FitnessPro : Sometimes I am confused. While Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, does this mean that the so-called defenders of Islam can go around on a rampage to bully others? 

I am referring to the demolishing of century old Hindi temples, restricting the usage of certain words in Christian worship, and now an Islamic-proselyte started attacking the Chinese by questioning why aren't the Chinese using Bahasa Malaysia to celebrate the Hungry Ghost festival, aka, Pesta Hantu Lapar? 

Now, after the UMNO and PAS general assembly, they are firing up the youths to gather for a mega-assembly for the sake of the Malay-Muslim community. If I were to organise a mega-assembly only for the Chinese youth, would the Malays feel threatened? 

Without organising, I know the answer would be a resounding YES!! And then, the lies and accusations would flood the social media atmosphere baselessly. What is the purpose of the mega Malay youth gathering? What is the purpose of re-writing history and to hide certain profound truths about our national identity? 

Are the future generation of Malaysia building their foundation based on lies, half-truths and exaggerated truths? Yes, Hadi spoke the quiet truth loudly, without fear for any repercussion. It is sad, but true. It is depressing, but we need boldness to face the truth. I pray for a peaceful, harmonious and a united Malaysia one day. 

As we celebrate Malaysia Day this Wednesday, may we truly understand what it means to be a Malaysian in the first place. May God put all these politicians who strive for division in cold storage and may God raises up a generation of politicians who are selfless, brave and bold with wisdom and fear of God in their hearts.

BlueCondor7717 : So much honest truth but absolutely bitter to swallow

Read it all here........