COMMENT Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low was absolutely correct when he lashed out against the decision to cancel a forum on moderation at the eleventh hour by Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA).

UIA had no qualms hosting an event that allowed groups such as Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) to bash Christianity, but would not allow a forum on moderation to proceed despite the country’s attempt to take the middle path.

Low has been going on his preaching circuit to churches in the Klang Valley and telling congregations that he, like biblical characters Daniel and his friends, or even Nehemiah, has been elevated to his current position by divine appointment. If this were the case, he should realise that we have reached a level of politics that is unhealthy in the country.

All walls of decency and tolerance have been broken down, and there is no longer the respect for each other or what is right and wrong. The leaders of this country have lost the sense of ‘goodwill’ and good sense, and although their role is to safeguard the democracy of this nation, they have sadly failed the people.

Blame not the management of UIA alone, but the entire blame should fall on the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his entire cabinet, where Low himself is also a member. They are the ones who beat the drum and others follow.

On hindsight, being a former chief executive officer in the corporate sector would have given Low insights into how a corporation operates. On the same note, the person to be blamed when the country is in such a bad shape, is none other than Najib himself.

If UIA had cancelled the meeting, why did the minister in charge of education not intervene so that the forum can proceed as planned? Why did the prime minister himself not put his foot down and told UIA to proceed with the forum? Does Najib not care about the consequences of UIA’s decision?

What is wrong after all to have Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad ( right ), who is the Selangor state assembly deputy speaker and a member of the Selangor state government, to be on the panel? Is he not a bumiputra, a Muslim and a Malay?

Why does UIA, being an international Islamic university, view Nik Nazmi with such fear as if Nik Nazmi would outshine the other speakers in the panel, or that Nik Nazmi would mesmerise the students (as if they had not brains themselves to think) that UIA should decide to cancel the forum altogether at the eleventh hour!

Why we are rudderless

A lot of things that we see in the news daily simply do not make sense any more. This is because we have a prime minister who is never a leader in the first place.

He was brought home before completing his studies in the United Kingdom to become the youngest Member of Parliament in his father’s constituency.

But, most of us saw him rising through the rank and file, not because of the quality of leadership that he demonstrated, but because he was being handpicked by former prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Hussein Onn ( right ).

After helming the country for the past six years, finally the octogenarian former Umno president could see through his “blue-eyed boy” but it is too late. Najib’s lack of leadership in curtailing the right wing in Umno has made many of us, who are civilians, look at Umno with disdain.

Even Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem has outrightly condemned “Umno from West Malaysia” during a public speech in Sarawak recently. The video clip has indeed gone viral in the social media.

Sarawakians should realise that the state election is drawing near, but it is one thing to hear it from Adenan, and another thing for him to manoeuvre his party out of the Umno-led coalition.

From Pak Lah to Anwar

I am very much of an Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) man because I saw in him the ability to address everyone with respect, compared to his nemesis, Dr Mahathir.

Back then, I was defending Pak Lah, and writing to tell Dr Mahathir for goodness sake to mind his own business. To date, Dr Mahathir has trained his guns on Najib. I fully support Dr Mahathir, but my anger burned towards Umno because it was back then when I became “politically aware” that I started seeing the gutter politics that Umno had played against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

From Sodomy I to Sodomy II, and from sex with a China doll to accusing him of being a spy for the Jews, I cannot understand why Umno cannot discard its old politics of sex, race and religion, and start debating current issues with a certain level of intelligence. Najib did not even respond to Anwar’s challenge to a debate.

Now that Anwar is in prison, who is to blame but Najib himself for all the problems that we are seeing? Najib is not putting a stop to all the nonsense that we see on Friday night, and on Saturday, immediately after the anti-Goods and Services Tax (GST) rally.

As someone so-called “divinely lifted” to his cabinet position, Low should immediately advise Najib from pushing the people too hard. History should teach us all a big lesson. Najib should prove Zaid Ibrahim’s label of him as Louis XIV is incorrect, by not further crushing the people to such an extent that the people may end up rebelling.

With the GST, even I have to start tightening the belt. And, if people like me did not go down to the street on May 1, yet there were more than 20,000 demonstrators, and this is really something to wake Najib up from his slumber.

People like Low, who are within Najib’s close circle, should stop him from going on a spate of arrests; and instead keep to his promise to repeal the draconian laws that have basically destroyed Umno and BN’s credibility as the government of the day.

Most of us are angry with what we see happening to this country. As a minister who is pushing for integrity, Low should push for more integrity at all levels to stop the corruption that continues to plunder the nation’s wealth, as if there is no tomorrow; otherwise, he simply does not enjoy any credibility when he goes on his preaching circuit.

No offence intended but I slept through his message, and my wife walked out, because she, too, complained about listening to a long-winded person, myself included!

Anti-GST rally was peaceful

I do not believe the people who were at the anti-GST rally were revolutionaries. They were ordinary and peaceful people who simply wanted to express their frustrations towards the government of the day.

After all, who would not be angry if we have to tighten our belts, while Najib and the government can continue to spend millions on a new executive jet?

And, not forgetting that Najib has not fully explained what happened to the missing billions of Ringgit through the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) project, of which he is fully responsible as both Finance Minister and chairperson of the 1MDB.

What angers me the most is that Najib (and Low and other cabinet ministers) can allow the present inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar’s brother to go scot-free, while former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan was told to present herself on Friday night after the anti-GST rally in order for her to be detained , and brought before a magistrate the next morning.

Where is the logic? As far as I understand it, from talking to Ambiga, she was merely urging the government to cancel the GST, whereas Abdullah Abu Bakar was with a group of demonstrators who were both aggressive and intimidating towards a small church congregation of less than 30 people in Taman Medan, yet none of the Umno-linked demonstrators were detained.

Abdullah and the for Umno candidate for Taman Medan, Munaliza Hamzah, claimed that they were representing the majority of the people in the constituency, yet the majority votes of 4,433 went to Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Haniza Mohamad Talha and this constituency had apparently given Hoy Lee Sian a boost in votes during the last general election. What does that tell you?

Low should remind Najib that he is being perceived as having merely given lip service, because he did nothing to ensure that a standard measure is meted out against the 50 demonstrators whereas Ambiga, and several others were detained, and another 29 young people were arrested as though they were criminals.

On social media, the IGP posted pictures of vandalism and orange smoke, despite this being clearly the work of provocateurs who were chased away by the protesters themselves.

If Najib continues to lean towards the right wing of Umno and give in to the demands of the people who use both religion and race to pit Malaysians against one another, he should bear the brunt for what is happening to this nation.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein pointed out that things can go awry when we change leaders . The truth is that these leaders that he mentioned - in the likes of Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Hosni Mubarak - had been in power for too long.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.