Between Mahathir's Islam and Nik Aziz's Islam

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been locked in a war of words with Singapore's minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, has now turned his attention to PAS Murshidul Am Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat for refusing to condemn Lee's remarks.

Mahathir had lashed out at Lee, whose latest book tells Muslim to be "less strict on Islamic observences" in order to speed up "nation-building" of the tiny state, as well as criticising Mahathir's treatment of his successors.

Nik Aziz however refused to be drawn in to the debate, saying there were Muslim Malays who rejected religious obligations.

“Kuan Yew only asked Malays to be less strict on Islam compared to certain Malays in the country who discard Islam completely and take the nationalist route,” Nik Aziz was reported to have said.

Saying Nik Aziz was not supportive of Islam, Mahathir said he was more interested in discrediting his political enemies rather than to defend Islam and Muslims from Lee Kuan Yew.

Mahathir’s statement smacks of hypocrisy as most often than not, especially when viewed against the backdrop of recent incidents to show UMNO's selective "defence of Islam" for political mileage.

The most recent example of such a hypocrisy was seen during the run-up to the Tenang by-election recently, when UMNO failed to even mildly reprimand MCA leaders' for their open attacks on Islamic norms, all for the sake of driving away Chinese voters from PAS - a mission, which by the way, failed miserably as the results have shown.

Not one UMNO leader had then come out to condemn the MCA president Chua Soi Lek over his insults on Muslim women who prefer not to shake hands with the opposite sex.

Buoyed by the silence and instead of apologizing, Chua, the man who was caught with his pants down in a sex video scandal, and literally at that, had arrogantly stood his ground, and when criticised for his ignorance of other cultures, even said there was "nothing great" about knowing the Islamic religious values.

"So what is so great about that? That is your religious values which I don't know. How am I to know when I'm not practising that religion?”

"I have the right to say that it's basic manners to shake hands with people. That's my values. Understand?

You also must value my value, which is good manners, which includes shaking hands," said Chua.

Yet again, Mahathir has failed to look into the mirror when he blamed PAS and Nik Aziz for dividing the Malays into three groups and for becoming a hindrance to 'Malay unity', when history shows who the real culprit was during the split in Malay politics in 1988 and 1998.

In 1988, his tussle against the then finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for UMNO presidency divided UMNO's Malays into two groups, culminating in the formation of Semangat 46 which led to the establishment of the first opposition coalition, Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah between PAS and Semangat 46.

A decade later, the Malays, and Malaysians at large, were again thrown in chaos due to Mahathir’s decision to oust his deputy Anwar Ibrahim from his cabinet, throwing some of the vilest allegations that Malay politics had ever seen.

This later shaped the political landscape, as well as the formation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, now one of the three major component parties in Pakatan Rakyat together with DAP and PAS.

Continuing his argument, Mahathir questioned how bad could the Malay-nationalists be when they ensured the country is governed by Malay-Muslims leaders and instil Islamic practices in the government administration.

Mahathir, of course, refuses to recognise the obvious problems that are currently plaguing the "Malay-nationalist" leaders, namely corruption and power abuse.

“It is because of Malay nationalists our country is now governed by Malay-Muslim leaders. These leaders instil Islamic practices in the government administration and build mosques and banned the national lottery...

how bad can these nationalists be?” said Dr Mahathir, again displaying his ignorance of Islamic politics.

Mahathir would be the last person to explain whether rampant corruption, massive leakages, power abuses and discrimination of other races through the hotchpotch Malay Supremacy slogan were also part of "Islamic practices".

In contrast, Nik Aziz appears to be more consistent with his message that Islam is the saviour to the country’s problems, and to him there is no reason Malay-Muslim leaders reject Islamic values in its administration. To prove their Islamicity, they only need to stop corruption, power abuse, financial leakages, unfairness and discrimination of other races.

Although many see it as an attempt to divert the Malays' attention to a 'common enemy', distracting them from real problems plaguing the country, Mahathir’s latest jibe may have a bigger agenda – namely to help UMNO get rid of its most feared enemy, Nik Aziz.

After all, Nik Aziz has been a stumbling block to Mahathir and his Perkasa cousins' idea of 'unity', and curbing him will put a stop to any efforts to make the Islamic party a replacement of UMNO in the next general election. Malaysia Chronicle