We on the left must no more be trapped into supporting abuses of human rights by Islamic leaders; just in order to prevent another war such as towards Iran (this does not diminish my struggle or conviction as an anti-war/peace activist especially against unjust capitalist imperialism as led by the US-UK regimes).

Many Islamic leaders, including in Malaysia, to my great dismay have taken the opportunity to aggressively mobilise and brainwash further the ‘Muslim’ (ie, Islamic followers) masses especially from the dominant ethnic group in Malaysia, the Malays, in order to sustain their brutal, absolute, elitist and capitalist power using Islam.

And that is what the brutal elite and capitalist classes including the male-dominated Islamic priestly hierarchy in Iran are doing, just as in many nations with Islamic leaders such as in Saudi Arabia and Sudan (see here ).

Thus, we socialists and other social justice activists especially, need to wake up from our blinded anger and fight rationally on behalf of social justice, above racial, religious and ultra-nationalist politics. I myself fell into the trap of defending indiscriminately Islamic leaders, the ‘Muslim race’ and the ‘Muslim nationhood’ including in Malaysia, especially due to injustices of the Iraq War.

The most efficient (psychological) weapon of the capitalist and elite classes in their divide and rule strategy in the current historical context, is to constructed an absolute racial identity totally based on religion.

Whereas race is originally and flexibly defined based on many other factors from both physical and diverse cultural traits but not religion. And identity is based on many intertwined factors. Race and religion are only parts of the diverse factors that determine the dynamic, ever-changing construction of our whole identity.

The hypocrisy and brutality that I saw when coming back to Malaysia from the Malay-Islamic leaders - especially from the dominant ruling party Umno and the elite-capitalist classes and authority including the police force - who simultaneously use indigenous/Malay/Muslim race ultra-nationalism and Islam extremely unjustly, opened my eyes and shook me up.

That is, to never again support such false struggles based on religious, racial or ultra-nationalist sentiments but on social justice politics, especially on true Marxist-Socialist politics (not pseudo or barbaric ones like Maoism, Pol Pot-ism, Stalinism, Milosevic-ism etc).

Politics that fundamentally fights for true equality and freedom for all human beings and between men and women. And that also fights for socio-environmental justice for the natural world. Thus the end of the unjust and primitive privileges, status and abuses of power - by both the elite and capitalist classes - towards humanity and the natural world.

Besides ending simultaneously the primitive and unjust dominance and sustenance of male supremacy's ideology and practises, especially in Islam.