Political apostasy is the reason for the country’s ‘moral crisis’ in governance as reports of electoral roll anomalies and threats of violence take centre stage.    

Meanwhile many letter-writers and others have said allegations of religious apostasy are a ploy to detract from the more serious problem of potential electoral fraud.

Political backsliding from the original Merdeka plan began in 1969 when Tunku Abdul Rahman was deposed in a coup, as described in Kua Kia Soong’s enlightening book, ‘May 13'.  

Political victimisation is the unmistakable sign of an apostate political culture and Anwar Ibrahim among others is the country’s longest political victim and symbolise the alleged abuse of power through selective persecution and prosecution of politicians and citizens. 

Former American ambassador John Mallot explains why: “a senior officer in the Special Branch told an Embassy officer, ‘We are going to keep filing charge after charge after Anwar so he will be in jail for the next hundred years’” as reported in Malaysia Chronicle.

Merdeka ushered in an era of national pride and development. The British had not envisaged Malaysia would desert its legacy of a constitutional democracy. The country promoted the motto ‘unity is strength’ and the Tunku was an icon of racial harmony and religious tolerance having married four wives, at different times, that represented the different races. ‘Bapa Kermedekaan’ was an apt title for a man who proved slogans are not only for show and political window-dressing but carrying and living out.   

As the one who facilitated the dakwah movement and established Perkim, he did more than any other Malay leader for his race and his religion and he was never a threat to non-Malays, while promoting religion unlike those who use Islam as a political weapon today. He never stooped to scapegoat any group be they of a different religion or race, to elevate himself.   

The sense of propriety in politics though not perfect was still an honoured tradition. Merdeka saw an era and aura of sincerity and earnestness in politicians and citizens working together to serve the nation not like today when politics has become the refuge of scoundrels who find it a route to riches.    

The Tunku was a gentleman and never expected to be betrayed but lived long enough to die disappointed and disillusioned when he saw his Merdeka dream dashed and the country become a ‘failed politically apostate state’ though unilaterally declared ‘an Islamic state’ by those who actions were anything but Islamic or even decent.    

Hail Malaysia's Caesar

The political apostasy is the result of abandoning the Merdeka principles of democracy, among others, that were meant to develop the fledgling nation. The new Merdeka nation was supposed to function like the British democracy fashioned after the Westminster parliamentary system that was strong on political accountability, as we saw their dishonest politicians exposed, charged and convicted for allowances rorts.  

Politics after Merdeka was not flawless, no system is, but took a different direction when the Tunku was politically waylaid. After May 13, 1969 it suffered a heavy blow that has left the Merdeka nation in a political coma and apostates and heretics of sorts continue to lead it astray.  

In 1988 the judiciary was assaulted and the Lord President became a victim of political bastardry. A major constitutional check on the executive was hijacked and the moral slide got worse. To his credit the eminent judge stood his moral ground and his reputation was vindicated much later under a  more benign country leader.  

Political apostasy saw a modern-day Caesar control everything - the various arms of the government meant to check one another – the executive, the judiciary, parliament - and anything else that has a voice such as the media and passionate citizens - and even had a centurion who acted like a lap dog to do his bidding when the police were supposed to be professional and impartial law enforcers, not a private security firm at the beck and call of the politicians.   

The courts could not be depended to deliver justice when it involved powerful politicians and their cronies because judge-fixing resulted in a skewed justice. The 'Lingam video' scandal examined by a royal commission proved the reality of justice tampering.

On the economic front while Dr Mahathir Mohammed defends the system including the NEP and admits “there may be corruption involved in some cases” he blithely dismisses his role in the ‘rotten administration’ that he left for his successor and did nothing about the cases of corruption despite the overwhelming reports made to the police.   

While he did stimulate the economy with bold projects the flip side under his leadership was that the country lost billions, 100 billion ringgit according to author Barry Wain in his book Malaysian Maverick, and till today the bail outs continue. Some facts stand insurmountable in the face of unconvincing rhetoric, spin and more lies. When your country owns a petroleum company  and there is plenty of money around anyone can perform an economic miracle even a disappearing act.   

But political apostasy can only accelerate during Mahathir’s tenure and the dysfunctional democracy today is the legacy for which he can take full credit. In the end Mahathir short-changed himself and succumbed to the dark side. The country had lost its constitutional checks and balances not in theory but in practice. It is truth when perception is supported by the facts.   

It remains the tragedy and huge regret in Malaysian history because those crucial years could have been the golden opportunity to transform the nation according to the Merdeka ideals if there had been 'clean, efficient and trustworthy'  governance because Mahathir as many Malaysians believe,  had the ability to lead but instead his legacy is  a nation of lost rainforests, lost freedoms and lost opportunities.

It does seem incredible when anyone can justify the NEP when those it was supposed to help still suffer in poverty and those entrusted to help them have prospered beyond imagination. Whether it is the system or those who implement it, the government is still responsible and accountable. There can be no excuse when there is brazen corruption and natives lose their traditional lands when the British gave us back ours.  

The trouble with political apostates is their ruthlessness and hypocrisy.  They care not for the plight of the poor only themselves. They must think Malaysians are daft like the policeman who made a police report because his colleagues cheated him out of his share of the loot.    

You help me, I help you era

The political apostasy has become more brazen.  “I help you, you help me,” the solicitous mantra was evident when a former chief minister facing corruption charges  unashamedly offered to help the government if three ministers got off his back, metaphorically speaking.

But no one helped Mongolian Altantuya Shaaribuu who was shot mercilessly despite her pleas because she was pregnant, and blown apart by tax-payer paid C4 explosives by two policemen.

No Malaysian who read the account of how this innocent woman pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child but was callously shot to death and then blown to bits can face God without asking him to vindicate her because vengeance is God’s but we are the ones who can vote out an evil system.    

And the killers instead of being shamed in public were allowed to cover their faces and the unusual act has come to symbolise the government’s way of covering up its mistakes instead of facing up to them. Some day the truth will be uncovered because no nation will prosper that is sown in acts of evil. What dark deed is done in secret will be exposed in broad daylight.

The late A Kugan, Teoh Beng Hock, Altantuya and more have become the sad symbols of evil and  injustice in  the apostate state.   

By now the political apostasy has plumbed new depths because never in the history of the Merdeka nation has so many of its leaders been tainted with criminal conduct, either convicted, or facing charges. In contrast the guiding principle of the Merdeka era for politicians was to ‘lead by example.’ It does seem like a joke to send young Malaysians to a national camp to teach them discipline and patriotism today. In our time we only  listened to the Tunku talk and watch him walk out the sermon in his life.   

Thousands of Tamil youths and illegal immigrants have died in custody of the police or other authorities, their mysterious deaths still remain unexplained, uninvestigated and unjustified. A Malay boy out at night never made it home, shot dead by policemen. A customs officer died at the MACC premises so soon after Teoh Beng Hock's death. It is not race or religion, but apostate and depraved politics that result in the pervasive dysfunctions in the administration that see the innocent die in tragic circumstances.   

Politicians of the Merdeka era were not all paragons of virtue, but their inappropriate conduct was nothing compared to what goes on today.

The government must awake to the awful truth that the country has lost its way when it seems no one is in control even though two are at the controls.

If American John Mallot and Englishwoman Clare Rewcastle Brown can take the trouble to help Malaysia become a better nation by exposing corruption and political tyranny it is time for every Malaysian to do something for the sake of their lost nation.

Those who sit on fences end up being sat and spat upon like pariahs.   

A school friend now retired is busy telling others to do their bit for the country and clean up the electoral system. Claiming political allegiance to no party she wants to save her country so ‘I can go to my grave in peace.’ What altruism and the Tunku would have been proud of her.    

Moral crisis

We saw the former President Hosni Mubarak win a landslide election with more than 90 percent of votes in his favour. His opponents were astounded. But we have seen the truth instead in the Arab Spring. It is easy to rig the votes when you control almost everything and put up the pretence of democracy.

Corrupt leaders who play ‘let’s pretend’ are biding their time everywhere. Their game is up. Colonel Gadaffi pretended to live a simple life but media reports showing his captured luxurious private jet with a jacuzzi and the trappings of a billionaire lifestyle are a warning that the same hypocrisy happens elsewhere even in Malaysia.

Gadaffi vowed to fight with his bevy of female fatale bodyguards but they are nowhere to be seen and what is seen are the corpses of his blind and misguided followers. Pied Piper leaders are dangerous and only lead their followers along a way that seems right but leads only to death.

On Merdeka day when Malaysians proudly fly their Jalur Gemilang it may help them to add a moment of sober reflection on what they are flying and if it meets the standard of its proud “stripes of excellence” that the flag symbolizes.   

What is excellent about the government today?

I am sure many writers are eager to write something on it. But lamenting on its sorry state has become more common and sounding like a broken record crying out to be fixed. A chameleon may change its appearance but not its nature. 1Malaysia, Bangsa Malaysia – nice ideas but what happened to Merdeka and the nation for all?

Why victimise Muslims who get practical help from Christians because they were let down by their own and then falsely get accused for religious apostasy? And those who help them get blamed for proselytising? Why attack Malaysians who are proving that action speaks louder than words by being good neighbours to one another and living in the spirit of Merdeka?

Henry Ward Beecher, the American clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist and speaker, said, “A thoughtful mind, when it sees the nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself: and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.”

Whatever Malaysians think about their country they can’t deny it is not what it should be and could be because it has strayed from the altruistic agenda of genuine national development and being a nation of the people, by the people and for the people, and the ideas and values enshrined in the Merdeka nation.  

The country has become a haven for foreign and local criminals, racketeers, corrupt polticians and looters and like the British nation, it now faces its ‘moral crisis’ except the British Prime Minister David Cameron has owned up to theirs but his Malaysian counterparts are still relying on spin and have been exposed by the recent ‘pay for publicity’ scandals that have embarrassed them and the BBC and CNN.

The real problem is political apostasy underpinned by a moral crisis.  

More critical is, what is the solution?