Stop the raging fire

Although the court has made a verdict on the custodial right of a child in favour of his Hindu mother, the IGP has refused to execute the order.

On the seizure of Malay/Iban Bibles, the Attorney-General has decided that the Bibles should belong to the Christians but the Mais and Jais are recalcitrant and refuse to return the Bibles to the Bible Society of Malaysia.

As for the hudud law issue, while Kelantan has temporarily set aside the plan to implement hudud and Umno has withdrawn a similar motion in Selangor, the entire thing is yet to put to rest as political squabble picks up heat inside and outside the assembly halls.

In the midst of all the confusion, minister in the prime minister's department Jamil Khir Baharom suddenly declared that Malaysia is not a secular state, citing some “historical facts.”

Just when all these happened, news of abduction was heard again in the state of Sabah, the fourth in seven months, making the once serene tourist haven a veritable kidnappers' heaven.

Everything, every case, even just a criminal case, could be infinitely enlarged into sensitive political issues thanks to political intervention. The outcome of politicisation is that anything can be debated on and on.

This is what politics is all about. An uneventful issue needs to be given a little political touch in order to catch the eyeballs of the public. As a result, the issues of our concern will be plunged into the depths of endless argument and words of war.

In the midst of finger pointing and ferocious exchange of words, there is hardly any chance for the public to figure out what is right or wrong, as everything has been defined based on either side's “own interpretation” of what is righteous and infallible. Everything goes by own rules of the game.

When debates have taken the form of vicious verbal assaults and ill-intentioned slanders, solutions to these issues have either been overlooked in the middle of all the squabble, or left aside unresolved.

In the end, anyone who stands by my side is upholding righteousness and truth while anyone disagreeing with me is going against the rakyat and righteousness. Even media organisations which refuse to fall into the manipulating hands of politicians are caught off-guard, being labelled either pro-BN or pro-Pakatan.

This way of doing things not in accordance with the customary rules is totally ridiculous. Unfortunately, our society has been hijacked by such radical remarks. Indeed, the more radical and aggressive the remarks, the louder applause they are to gain.

In the end, the entire society is badly bruised as people from different ethnic backgrounds and embracing different religious faiths distrust and confront one another, leading to deep planted hatred and even conflicts in the absence of mediation.

This is absolutely what we would least want to see.

We should calm ourselves down and ask whether all the arguments arising from religious issues in recent weeks have brought us closer together or entrenched our bitter feelings.

To make things worse, those playing with fire do not show any intent of putting out the fire while the spectators standing on both sides cheer on and step up their accusations.

Written by Lim Mun Fah ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.