‘Tis good enough for the gander
IT seems that some of those who had been supporting, or at least showed some affinity for the present Government and Prime Minister are showing signs of losing patience or faith or both.
Case in point is the recent announcement by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the federal government wanted the role of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department, or popularly known by its Malay acronym Jakim, expanded. The expanded role according to the PM was for Jakim to have a role in efforts to enhance the country’s dignity and status.
He further said he had met with Jakim’s leadership recently and wanted them to help draft a national development policy framework based on Malaysia Madani.
Actually, it sounds good and it probably should be taken in good faith. After all, it concerns the faith and faith should not be a political commodity as those across the divide are being accused off.
But the move did not go down well with some opinion makers and those from the civil societies, which by and large are more sympathetic to the current government than the opposition.
There are however, some arguments put forth to justify the PM’s move.
But first, points from the ones who are opposed and upset.
Jakim has had its coterie of critics over the years, accused of being dogmatic and excessive in its actions and that it is irrelevant.
As far as this group is concerned, Jakim should be disbanded and the management of Islam is left to the state and left as strictly a state list. To them, Jakim had gained a notoriety that places Islam in bad light.
But every time such opinions are put forth, it draws an equally, if not stronger reaction in defence of Jakim and they usually spiral into an inter-faith polemic if the critics are non-Muslims.
Simply put, it is never easy to dealing with any entities associated with race and religion and this is not confined to the Malays and Islam but applies to that of the other races and faiths.
Nevertheless, given Jakim’s association with what is perceived as conservatism and to their worst critics, as extreme, the liberal forces are uncomfortable with Jakim and want it disbanded.
As such it didn’t come as a surprise that when Anwar spoke about expanding Jakim’s role, these group got their knickers in a twist or almost bursting a blood vessel.
Enters Anwar defenders and apologists.
To them, Anwar didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted to win and secure the Malay votes which shied away from his coalition – an academic’s analysis stated that only 11 percent of the total Malay votes went to the Pakatan Harapan.
Further to that, given that the six impending state elections have five which are Malay majority, Anwar have to shore up his Malay and Islamic credentials.
In other words, regularly wearing the Malay baju Melayu outfit and the Malay capal footwear to all functions is not going to sway it.
So only a substantive and substantial show of commitment to most things Malay and Islam can be of essence in winning the Malay belt.
Whether these apologists deemed such moves as using Islam and Malay, is anybody’s guess, but the bottom-line is that the majority race needs to be appeased, if not pandered to.
Given Anwar’s and PH’s dismal share of the Malay votes in the recent federal polls, they truly have their work cut out.
What more when their partner Umno too seems to be losing ground with the Malays after moving in to live with PH and Anwar, or more particular, with the DAP.
All these are occurring while the PH et al are trying to build their case of the threat of the green wave, a bogeyman they discovered post polling.
If the recent history of the current government is to be analysed, every act committed which went against the essence of PH pre-polling, such as marrying Umno and appointing its president as the Deputy Prime Minister were all justified as to ensure that PH secure the power to rule.
And their supporters were taken up by the justification that better to work with the corrupt than the extremists, which in the past they were more that comfortable to cosy up for political expediency as well.
But these justifications are definitely wearing thin even within.
If in the past, the DAP was ready to stomach the demand for an apology from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and swallowed their pride to do it, it is not so “magnanimous” now to do likewise to Umno’s demand for such an apology.
The circumstances behind Umno’s apology demand of the DAP is actually not much different from that of GPS.
GPS needed it to assuage itself and its supporters for all the acrimonious sentiments that had been felt towards the DAP.
Only then could the GPS agree to work with PH to for the post-electoral pact and take over the nation’s rule.
In the case of Umno, it is actually even more intense as it lost more of its supporters immediately after agreeing to work with Anwar and the DAP, which were core in their campaign against the PH before the polls.
And that erosion of support has not diminished and if Umno were to be an effective partner to the PH, it needs to also assuage its supporters and it was hoping that an apology from the DAP will contribute to that.
But for some in the DAP, Umno is obviously not worthy of their apology and in fact, demanded it is Umno that should apologise, not only to the DAP but to the rest of the nation for all the “sins” it had committed.
With that one stroke, Umno’s hope of some redemption in the eyes of its supporters for working with the DAP, fell. If anything, it made Umno look desperate, trivial and lost.
It however, does not make the DAP look any better.
Shamsul Akmar is an editor at The Malaysian Reserve.
Friday, June 16th, 2023
