So here we go again. More rigmarole. More spin. When the churches and gurdwara were attacked, there was a lot of hyperbole from Malaysian cabinet ministers.

 

Typical of their ‘intellect’, one could see through their insipid and often contradictory statements that appear to be condemning those who have been attacking places of worship around the country.

 

Then, when the heads of wild boars are lobbed onto two Petaling Jaya mosques’ premises, suddenly the Umno regime and the Malaysian police move with miraculous speed to not only investigate but also accord mosques everywhere protection. 

 

Yet when churches and Sikh temples were threatened by arsonists, where was this same level of protection for them? And where was the speed of police investigation of these spineless perpetrators?

 

NONE Credit where it’s due: The police did arrest eight suspects for desecrating Metro Tabernacle church ( left ). But what’s left to be seen is if they will be tried and, if found guilty, severely punished.

 

If the Umno regime purposely and routinely uses ethnic profiling, So can I.

My guess, and it has turned out true, is that the suspects who were caught were all Malay-Muslims. PKR’s Azmin Ali went further yesterday, claiming that at least four of them are Umno members.

 

No surprises

It’s hardly surprising. Except for the blind, everybody knows the craven mindset of Umno (and its Barisan Nasional members). Promoting Ketuanan Melayu and '1Malaysia' is like pitching two baseballs with both arms simultaneously. It’s a joke.

Take Rais Yatim, minister of misinformation and disinformation. He says Malays using Twitter to run down the government are going against Malay tradition. 

 

What kind of thinking is that? But it’s the norm. Look up 'YouTube' where he berates a journalist for asking him questions in English and not Malay.

Then he puts him down and does so half in Malay and half in English himself. 

Coming back to the spineless maggots-turned-arsonists. There’s every possibility they are well-coordinated and are probably getting instructions from their political masters.

 

If the police want to prove themselves as competent professionals and independent of their political masters, they would be wise to extend their investigations to that aspect as well.

 

And leave no stone unturned. Common perception is that the Malaysian police would protect their political paymasters first and citizens last.

 

So let’s see if this is true or not.

 

Anybody holding his or her breath?

MANJIT BHATIA, an academician and writer, is also research director of AsiaRisk, a political, economic and risk analysis consultancy in Australia. He specialises in international economics and politics, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific.