YOURSAY | ‘Anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country did not happen overnight.’

Trump travel ban and our manufactured outrage

ABC123: Commander S Thayaparan, I would also add that you are right when you wrote about "the real visages of anti-Muslim sentiment in the various readers’ comments section of Malaysiakini”.

Although I personally disagree with such anti-Muslim sentiments, I would say that there are reasons for this anti-Muslim sentiment.

Alleged racial and religious discrimination have made the Chinese and Indian minorities unsympathetic/cynical to Muslim plights. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

The challenge that the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia face when presented with Muslim suffering in any part of the world is to rise above it and to be the "bigger" person.

This is not always easy, and I personally would not blame the non-Muslims in Malaysia for failing this challenge. Perhaps that is for a different article.

Why are many non-Muslim Malaysians unsympathetic to the Muslim ban? Because they have seemingly been subjected to discrimination by Muslims all their lives. I don't agree with them but I don't blame them for thinking that way.

You see, the majority of Malays are against US President Donald Trump's Muslim ban. But they also believe in ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and they view Chinese and Indians as ‘pendatang’ who should ‘balik’ to Cina or India.

Malays will rush to defend Palestinians and Rohingyas, while discriminating against the Orang Asli/Asal and non-Muslims in their own backyard.

Ask yourself, if non-Muslims are likewise temporarily banned from Saudi Arabia for 90 days, will the Malays here condemn such a ban or rationalise it? I think we all know the answer.

Anonymous_1371547149: Anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country did not happen overnight.

We don't need to be a bigger person because it means we need to accept and understand the perspective of their extreme and discriminatory policies.

Good on America for putting the shoe on the other foot.

Ex-Wfw: The writer has rightly concluded that the ‘weaponising’ ideology will cut both sides. It is for all rational people, no matter what belief they hold, to condemn any attempt to divide the world according to their own beliefs.

I am afraid Trump is reacting to what he deems as a clear danger to his nation, notwithstanding the liberals among his voters.

The reality is that most, if not all, Muslim nations especially in the Arab world depend on either the West or Russia for their weapons to wage their wars; without which they are in no position to fight any war.

So, to encourage those poor Africans/Arabs to wage such wars against IS (Islamic State) is self-perpetuating.

Should there be anyone thinking that this is just the beginning of a new scenario, they are really stupid. They are just falling into a trap set by the war machinery operators.

In a real scorched-earth war, such a war would not last even one week.

Hplooi: Back from the mid-1990s up to late 1990, where we use to 'lurk', 'troll', 'flame bait' or 'comment' on Usenet in bulletin board format, the late MGG Pillai, a respectable journalist, was a much followed social-political commentator.

But sometimes his comments shocked quite a few people. Pillai’s views, in my opinion, could well be an accurate commentary on our political malaise.

The context behind his view is the ‘ghettoisation of Malaysian politics’, a result of Umno hegemony and I would argue a direct result of the "norm" promoted by the National Consultative Council or NCC (circa 1970).

The Malays naturally gravitated towards Umno whilst the Chinese gravitated towards DAP. Because of this ghettoisation, parties spend an inordinate amount of time catering to the insecurities of each community it claims to champion.

As the Umno hegemon has completely abandon any pretence of Malaysian unity but a xenophobic Malay-only narrative, this promoted an 'exceptionalist' attitude within some in the opposition camps.

This attitude was in some instance so swamped by racial rhetoric that even the global view of social justice, Malaysian Malaysia and socialism (ostensibly the bedrock of DAP ideology) seems to be forgotten (forgive me if I am wrong - any DAP ideologues lurking around care to comment?).

The Indians - because of their numbers and utter failure of their leaders (MIC), etc - were the main victims of this political ghettoisation.

And this, in my opinion, was what (the late) Pillai was referring to. Incidentally, while I would not like to paint all opposition members (as arrogant race-bias), some particularly in the DAP still have this attitude.

And the chicken is coming back to roost. So, dear Muslim readers, some of the most 'radicalised' Malaysians (radicalised against Islam, that is) are actually non-Muslim citizens of Malaysia.

If Malaysia is such a 'moderate-Muslim' state or 'moderate-majority Muslim' state this should not be the case, right? So radicalisation works both ways, and the Muslim majority should really reflect on my dissertation.

Tony Soprano: As is well-known, all kinds of religions including the various Christian sects - especially Catholicism - are regularly excoriated in the West.

It's called freedom of speech and it's called freedom of and from religion. There, Islam has no special privileges in this regard.

Anticonmen: Why criticise the US on freedom and human rights because of a ban on allegedly a few fanatics?

We ourselves are denied equality, freedom and rule of law by kleptocrats at home. And these kleptocrats run to the US to park their ill-gotten gains and enjoy the equality and freedom there.

Responsible Malaysian: Everyone falls into the trap of a few devils who purposely stir up the issues of races and religions. We should keep our minds as clear as crystal if we want to fight these devils for the betterment of tomorrow.

Unfortunately, emotion overtakes intelligence when making remarks and decisions on those issues. The devils started the game but we all follow suit and play the same game by condemning other races and religions.

Fair Play: Commander, the truth is that Malaysia is much more messed up than the US, with or without Trump.

What is the difference between the opposition and the powers-that-be? Answer. One is in power and the other is in waiting. Change the equation and perhaps the nation will move to the next level of mess-up.

Retnam: No need to get excited. Trump is just making a show of fulfilling his election promises. Soon he will say this is not working and he has to go back to the old order.

That is what Thayaparan means when he says "historically the American polity have been able to work out their issues".

Meanwhile, for those who believe that we need to have a perfect opposition team before taking on the ruling party, just get a life.

The Analyser: It would appear that Malaysians of all races hate reality. As in this case they will manufacture outrage, they will pursue trivia the end until the next item of trivia arises to distract their minds.

They are so divorced from reality that they don’t even want to experience it. They allow themselves to be distracted from the real issues underlying Malaysia's problems to pursue the trumped-up 'latest topic' for outrage.

They will make their political decisions on personalities, race and religion. In fact, they will make their decisions on anything but the relevant facts. They avoid reality, they avoid reason, and they avoid pragmatism.

But their strongest barrier against reality is their unmatchable ability to blame someone else for everything that goes wrong. The end result, no Malaysian has ever done anything wrong while at the same time there is very little in this country which has ever been done well, or correctly.

David Dass: Indeed, what Trump has done should make us reflect on ourselves. It is good to see so many Christians fight against the Muslim ban.

As the writer observes, many Muslims seek refuge in Western or Christian countries. They flee the oppressive policies of the countries they come from.

I am against the ban because it is discriminatory and places a group defined by their religion under suspicion. We should also not tolerate policies and practices at home which excludes and discriminates.

It is painful to be on the wrong side of such policies and practices, as we observe in Trump's America.

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