Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Mariam Mokhtar| January 9, 2015
Free Malaysia Today

The greatest threat to the Malays comes from bigots like Abdul Hamid Mohamad, Umno Baru and extremist Muslim NGOs.

COMMENT

Former Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad has dishonoured his profession. He is a disappointing role model to Malaysians and a disgrace to his Muslim brethren. Whilst many Malaysians are trying to rebuild their lives after the devastating floods, it appears that Hamid is keen to sow seeds of hatred and create racial disharmony. There must be a reason for Hamid’s racial attack. His reappearance comes just as the nation is questioning the lack of preparedness of the government and the attitude of the ministers in dealing with the flood crisis in Kelantan.

It is perplexing that Hamid’s inflammatory remarks on race and religion continue to escape censure by the authorities. His comments have come at a time when the rakyat is demanding answers to many problems besetting the government.

Is Abdul Hamid colluding with the government to distract the Malaysian public from issues like 1MDB, the Kassim Ahmad trial and the appeal against the acquittal of the two men implicated in Altantuya’s murder? Or is he acting to divert attention away from the negative publicity generated by the flooding?

According to news reports on January 3, Hamid wrote a letter to Utusan Malaysia to voice his support for a PAS-Umno unity government. The greater strength would enable Malays to stem the rise of Chinese political power, he reportedly said. He said Malay loyalties were divided between PAS and Umno Baru, thus giving the Chinese ample opportunity to exploit the political situation.

He said that after the tsunami in Aceh, the provincial government worked together with the central government in Jakarta to rebuild the county. He strongly hinted that Kelantan should emulate Aceh to form the unity government of PAS and Umno-Baru. He said, “Isn’t there a lesson to be learnt from Aceh? Hasn’t the disaster taught them to repent and start prioritising something bigger like religion and race instead of party interests?”

Hamid is no stranger to controversy. During the fasting month last July he warned that Islam in Penang was under threat and that if the problem continued, the religion would lose its “special position as the religion of the Federation”. He claimed that a Penang mufti had described the difficulties of securing allocations for Islamic activities in Penang.

He said he understood PAS’ reluctance to form a unity government because it had been previously betrayed by Umno-Baru. Nevertheless, he criticised PAS for ignoring the needs of Islam and the Malays, both of which formed the basic foundations of both parties. He said PAS “did not think about Islam and the Malays” and that PAS’ resentment of Umno-Baru made it neglect both the Malays and Islam.

The former CJ made another incendiary allegation when he said that the PAS members who were aligned with the “pro-Christian” DAP created difficulties for the formation of a unity government. He said, “There are the non-ulama faction in PAS now. This faction idolises communists, supports the Catholic church in the Allah issue and appears to be more keen on supporting any DAP agenda just to get votes and become MPs or state assemblymen.”

Bogeymen

This former judge continually harps on the bogeymen of Malays under attack and Islam being threatened. In his former profession, he would have had to uphold justice and to dispense it without fear or favour to all Malaysians. Why is he now trying to disunite Malaysians?

Last July, retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram described a case in 1996, which gives us an insight into Hamid’s character. The civil case involved a bank suing two business partners, a Malay and an Indian, both of whom were the guarantors for a loan. These men claimed that their signatures had been forged by a third party.

Sri Ram said that Hamid’s written judgement, in Malay, accepted the Malay defendant’s claim that “a Muslim does not tell lies”; however, Hamid had rejected the Indian’s allegation, which then prompted both the bank and the Indian businessmen to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Sri Ram said, “The Court of Appeal dismissed the bank’s appeal, set aside Hamid’s judgment and ordered a retrial.”

It appears that Hamid showed racial and religious bias even as a practising judge. Is it any wonder that people like Hamid disgrace the judiciary and make us lose confidence in this institution? The recent floods brought the community together. Unlike Hamid, Malaysians ignored the race and religion of the people whom they were helping.

As a former judge, Hamid should know that Islam is protected under the terms of the constitution and the Malays have no one to fear but themselves.

Ironically, the greatest threat to the Malays comes from bigots like Abdul Hamid, Umno Baru and various extremist Muslim NGOs.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.