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'Umno is the problem, not Muslims or Islam'
Published:  Aug 8, 2010 7:43 AM
Updated: 11:46 PM

your say 'If you export Umno to any country on this planet, it will be just as corrupt and narrow-minded as Malaysia.’

 

 

DAP chides Chua's negative portrayal of Muslim nations

Tkc: Some of us are getting unnecessarily sucked into Chua Soi Lek’s bigoted views about Muslim countries because there are as many Muslim as well as non-Muslim nations that are poor – e.g. Somalia and Sierra Leone are Muslim, Zimbabwe and Congo are Christian, and Laos and Burma are Buddhist.

The biggest single reason why these countries are poor is not due to their religious beliefs but corruption. Therefore, we can dismiss Chua’s views as shallow, ill-informed and presumptuous. I got a feeling that he has stopped educating himself after he got his medical degree. He probably watches more pornographic movies than read books or magazines.

    

Cala: The score is Lim Guan Eng, 1, Chua Soi Lek, 0. Well done, LGE. You have argued well. What matters is the role model one chooses, probably it has little to do with whether it is Muslim- majority nation or not.

But I advise caution. To achieve economic growth, two things must be put in place (Olson, 1996; Henisz, 2000; Feld and Voigt, 2003): i) good economic policies; ii) good institutional arrangements (judicial independence is one of them).

My humble opinion is for a Muslim- majority nation to embrace fully the recipe of the developed nations as in the West is not going to be easy. The West has discarded all notions about power from traditional sources (the churches and the monarchs) because they have gone through the ‘enlightenment movement’ at great societal costs.

In this respect, Malaysia has not. Frankly, to my mind, most Muslim- majority countries are not quite there yet.

Atheist: It's amazing that someone of CSL's supposed ‘education’ is so ignorant and bigoted. Islam/Muslims are not the problem; it is Umno that is the problem. If you export Umno to any country on this planet, it will be just as corrupt and narrow-minded as Malaysia.

Helen Ang: It's no wonder LGE's one upmanship makes the Umno blogs caricature him as an exaggerated cartoon in turban, jubah and goatee. Which Islamic country does he want to serve as model - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, Saudi Arabia?

Myrights: Well, for once, I find myself agreeing with CSL, and suddenly, I find LGE too quick to play politics on this topic. CSL's main point is that when Umno and PAS use religion to upstage each other, the end result will be backward and regressive policies, and this is exactly what is happening to Malaysia today, no thanks to Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

What is there to disagree about, Mr LGE? Why is LGE talking about India and China and compare them to Islamic countries? How can one compare India and China to an Islamic country? It's comparing apples and oranges. India and China are countries governed by civil laws, while Muslim countries, as the name suggests, are governed based on Islamic laws.

Nik V: When I read some of the statements here, I see that Umno-Perkasa-MCA-MIC-BN have succeeded in making some Malaysians believe that it is because of Islam that there is poverty.

Look at these nations here - all of which have something in common: Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Congo, Burma, Iran, Bangladesh, Chad, Somalia, Cambodia, Sudan, Nepal, Uganda, Mali, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Niger, Congo, Zimbabwe, etc. They are all the poorest nations because they are run by corrupt and  tyrannical groups from all sorts of backgrounds and religions.

If we are so superficial to think that it is Islam that is the root of their suffering, then why don't we zero in on the fact that most of these nations are mostly African nations, and therefore Africans are bad?

Know that this has nothing to do with colour or religion but corrupt and greedy people who use anything, including religion and race, to stay in power. Lim Guan Eng is right and farsighted. Chua Soi Lek is wrong and backward.

Sentinel: MCA has lost its bearings and is desperate to get back some votes in the coming GE13. It is not consistent in its policies nor stances and is just grappling in the dark. It will forever be walking in the shadows of its big brother Umno and will speak up only when allowed to. The party is getting more irrelevant by the day, if it has not already lost its total relevance.

Kgen: Chua Soi Lek is still deeply ensconced in the old politics of using race and religion as bogeymen to frighten the Chinese to vote for BN. Such disreputable tactics do not work now but it is difficult to teach an old dog new tricks.

Criticising Umno now is an attempt to do damage control after the political damage from his shameful backdown from a rap by Muhyiddin Yassin.

Habib RAK: Chua Soi Lek (CSL) is right to point out that many Islamic countries are backwards. But by equating PAS to these countries, CSL shows his total ignorance.

CSL is a fear monger and is using deception to mislead the non-Muslims into hating the Muslims. He is opening up a dangerous approach. The significant strides that PAS has made to be progressive, understanding, respecting others, being rationale and many other positive attributes are being ignored by CSL.

Leaders like Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin of Perak and Khalid Samad of Selangor are examples of PAS leadership that is winning hearts and minds of all communities in Malaysia. The collective working together of PAS, DAP and PKR is bringing about a better Malaysia, and CSL wishes to destroy it for his personal gains.

He is being very irresponsible and negative in his approach. All and sundry should rebuke him.

Lonestar: One has to fully agree with this statement by Chua SL: "Some of the most corrupt countries are Muslim majority,” he told 300 participants at MCA's 33rd annual convention in Kedah.

Is Chua fully aware that Malaysia is one such country?

Harris Ali: I was expecting keris-wielding Perkasa to defend Islam, but instead it was DAP.

 


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