I noted with some bemusement and was admittedly a bit mystified at the gathering of 150 Umno Youth members and supporters outside DAP national headquarters last week.

A great example of “takda kerja, cari kerja”.

This rowdy and belligerent crowd demonstrated against DAP’s Nga Kor Ming whom they accused of insulting Muslims through two alleged Facebook posts, one of which featured a cartoon making fun of the cultural practice of giving out cash during the Hari Raya celebration, where instead of receiving “duit raya”, “donations” and “dedak” were requested.

There are two things I want to point out regarding this issue, regardless of whether or not Nga actually posted these FB posts.

Giving out cash and gifts during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri period in the manner and practice as it is done today, best represented through the giving out of “sampul duit raya”, is not a Muslim religious practice.

It is a cultural tradition whose original spirit and intention are to help the poor through alms and charity donations. It is intended to remind us not to forget the less fortunate while we go about celebrating the end of Ramadan and the start of Aidilfitri. It is a common tradition of many of the world’s great religions.

Children, orphans, and poor families living in hardship are usually the beneficiaries of such festive giving which usually takes the form of cash donations.

Today, in some parts of the world, it has evolved into something less noble and more mercenary in nature. Sports cars, contracts and epic shopping sprees for some of those fortunate to be living among the moneyed in the Middle East. Thousands queue up at the Sultan of Brunei’s palace to receive B$1,000 cash as visitors to His Majesty’s Raya open house.

So it is not inconceivable for “duit raya” in Malaysia to evolve into something else, especially for those who look to the Middle East for inspiration and role models.

My second point is that neither Nga (who supposedly posted the cartoon) nor the cartoonist (who actually drew it, for the benefit of Umno Youth people) did anything wrong. There is no need for Nga to apologise unless those demonstrating last week have such thin skin and fragile ego.

Raw nerve

Perhaps the reason why the Umno Youth guys were so upset with the cartoon is because it touches a raw nerve with them. After all, I don’t see anyone else getting upset with it despite their claims that it insults Muslims. There is a Malay saying “siapa yang makan cili, dial lah yang terasa pedas”.

There is a need to self-reflect and be honest about the problem which is depicted in the cartoon.

The cartoon is a social commentary on how bad corruption plagues our society today to the point that many of us are blind to its evils, feel that there is nothing wrong with it, or worse, feel entitled to be beneficiaries of it.

I look at it and I see it as a commentary on rent-seeking behaviour and crony capitalism. Nothing at all to do with religion. The problem of perceived entitlement to receive cash, donations, assistance and jobs, without the need to work for it, is merely due to the advantage of one’s ethnicity and religion (okay, got a bit of a link to religion).

Should criticising rent-seeking behaviour be an affront to the Malay Muslim community?

Allow me to answer my own question as to whether Malay dignity is so fragile. The answer is no. It is not and should not be as fragile and easy to bruise as these Umno Youth members make it out to be.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, Hussein Onn and Abdul Razak Hussein and all the earlier statesmen who came from this party would have laughed this whole thing off. After all, they faced real problems back in their day, and fought against real injury to the dignity of not only the Malays but the people of this country.

Malaysia is made up of the sum of its people and I would like to think that we can take a bit of satire and good humour in stride without resorting to bullying and violence.

To those who protested last week, I say to you: get a grip and go find some real issue to address like the fact that thousands of urban poor in Kuala Lumpur live in destitute and impoverished conditions. Join one of the many soup kitchens that are now operating in Malaysia. One hundred and fifty volunteers can go a long way towards helping these organisations feed and give assistance to the poor.

Nga should not need to apologise or be investigated. There is a need for some self-reflection and soul-searching, especially those who claim to speak or fight for the interests of the Malay community. The latter are not best served through demonstrations against an imagined slight or tactics of bullying and intimidation.

AZRUL MOHD KHALIB is a social activist who works on HIV/AIDS, sexual reproductive health and human rights issues.