“When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”

- Euripides, Orestes

People who do not think that Islam has been weaponised in this country (and every state that is supported by a Muslim majority polity) only have to look at how Act 355 has been used by Umno and PAS to play their sordid political games in the run-up to possible elections.

DAP's Lim Kit Siang is absolutely correct when he says this U-turn by Umno shows that criticism against this bill was not anti-Islam. However, what this should demonstrate to Muslims - but probably won’t - is that Muslim politicians have no problem treating their religion as just another tool to further their political ambitions instead of any real faith in their dogma.

Another example of this type of craven abuse of religion is in the Ahok case. Here is a brief reminder in my piece about how Islam is weaponised - “As reported in the Jakarta Post, Ahok repeated ‘a verse from the Quran that is used by some Muslim groups to oppose his election as governor. The governor said he meant to criticise the use of religion in politics, but some Muslims took his words as an insult to their holy book.’

“You read that right - Ahok cavalierly mocked a verse from the Quran that some Muslims had used to attack him on the campaign trail.”

Therefore, the next time someone accuses non-Muslim Malaysian politicians of being Islamophobic or anti-Malay/Muslim, we should always remember that the people who most often abuse their religion are the politicians who use their religion to threaten, intimidate and harass people - including their brethren - and not the politicians who are standing up against such tactics.

While Umno has the fig leaf of consensus spirit to mask their craven abuse of Islam in the name of politics, I still want to see how Malay/Muslim politicians will vote if this bill is introduced in Parliament. After all, there has been no clear answer from oppositional Muslim MPs, only the verbal gymnastic of pointing to a political ‘sandiwara’ and bromides to political and social inclusivity.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s bill has been a boon for Umno. Not only did it distract from the corruption scandals of this regime, it made Umno’s dalliance with PAS look like a sure thing. By withholding support for this bill, it makes PAS look like the political opportunists they are and Umno still the better bet for this charade of consensus that establishment partisans like to squeal about when confronted with the reality of Malay supremacy and systemic inequality.

It was a missed opportunity for bi-partisanship though amongst non-Muslim political parties. I was disappointed to say the least that DAP did not seek to find common ground with the establishment MCA on this issue. I wrote in an article supportive of MCA’s stand - “This need not be a hug fest but when a BN component party takes a position that aligns with the opposition, the discourse should be moved in the direction of commonality instead of wallowing in the clichés of ‘running dogs’ and dredging up the numerous scandals of the Najib regime that frankly has not gained traction where it counts.”

The fact that Malaysian opposition politicians, who should set the tone for bipartisanship, decide to attack instead of finding common ground on certain issues points to the political immaturity of the opposition and is something that the Umno state relies on when causing racial or religious issues to divide the rakyat and poison the discourse.

However, the MCA contention that its hard work paid off and Umno was made to see sense in the spirit of consensus, is rather suspect. As late as last week, Transport Minister and MCA chief Liow Tiong Lai claimed that there was no movement in the cabinet with regards to Hadi’s bill.

If anything, Umno’s move to ratchet up the tabling of this bill despite the MCA vowing to quit the cabinet is just further evidence that non-Muslim component parties in the BN government are merely...