“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”

- British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell

COMMENT | Officiating the First Year of the 15th Perak state legislative assembly at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan, Sultan Nazrin Shah said, “Firm and immediate action must be taken to stop activities of any party whether through speech or actions, that poison minds and fan negative emotions of people by exploiting differences in ethnicity and religion.”

Two questions should be considered. The first, who are these people who fan racial and religious animus and the second, what exactly does firm and immediate action mean?

This is the problem when the establishment demands swift action against those who incite racial and religious animus, the establishment never specifically identifies the perpetrators and they never define the action needed to be taken.

“Immediate” implies there is a clear and present danger and it would mean national security is at stake. Yet everyone skirts around the issue or does not offer clear definitions because nobody wants to be responsible for the eventual political blowback from reining in extremism in this country.

Sultan Nazrin (above) is right to worry about political instability. Sooner or later...