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Najib should be a voice of moderation to fulfil the aspiration of our 1957 Merdeka Proclamation to make Malaysia “a beacon of light in disturbed and distracted world”

The call by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in Shah Alam yesterday for unity between followers of Islam’s two biggest schools, Sunni and Shia, is probably the first good news not only for Muslims but also for Malaysians in this year’s Ramadan as the past 12 days of the holy month in the Muslim calender have been dominated by negative voices of unreason – raucous, divisive and extremist – threatening the very fabric of Malaysia’s multi-racial and multi-religious nationhood.

Najib’s message to the Muslim world to learn to set aside whatever differences among the different denominations and coexist peacefully if it intends to guarantee its own future applies equally true and pertinent to the diverse races, religions and cultures in Malaysia if the Malaysian nation is to fulfil its Merdeka promise in 1957 to be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” and not to become a basket case instead in the international arena.

Najib ‘s call for the unity of Sunni and Shia is particularly welcome as Middle and Moderate Malaysia, both Muslim and non-Muslim, had been most upset by a campaign of persecution and vilification of Shia Muslims, with calls at the UMNO General Assembly last December to spell out the definition of Islam as “Sunna waL Jamaah” in the Federal Constitution as well as recent developments in Syria and Iraq. Continue reading “Najib should be a voice of moderation to fulfil the aspiration of our 1957 Merdeka Proclamation to make Malaysia “a beacon of light in disturbed and distracted world””

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Muhyiddin’s clarification most welcome although taken with a big pinch of salt – calls for BN-PR National Reconciliation Roundtable to check racial and religious polarisation and reach national consensus to end May 13 threats

I welcome the clarification by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claiming that his May 13 remark at a Ramadan event in Pagoh last Friday was “manipulated”, denying that he was making any May 13 threat to non-Malays and non-Muslims as he had merely expressed fear that such clashes could happen if Malaysians do not preserve harmony.

Speaking in Kedah last night, Muhyiddin said it is not wrong to issue such reminders, which applies to both Malays and non-Malays.

I have said publicly that I would be the first to applaud Muhyiddin if he had spoken as Deputy Prime Minister of all Malaysians to all Malaysians on the imperative need to prevent a recurrence of May 13 racial riots and safeguard national unity in a multi-racial and multi-religious society so as to be a model of harmony and solidarity of a plural nation for the world, but this was not what he did.

If Muhyiddin’s Pagoh speech had been “”manipulated,” then the culprit is none other than Utusan Malaysia, the mouthpiece of Umno. Continue reading “Muhyiddin’s clarification most welcome although taken with a big pinch of salt – calls for BN-PR National Reconciliation Roundtable to check racial and religious polarisation and reach national consensus to end May 13 threats”