Zaid Ibrahim: Pilgrimage towards peace and justice

Having read this speech, and if he walks his talk, I would gladly support him as PM of Malaysia.

Excerpt:

If this country truly wants to be fair and just to all its people, regardless of their religion, then we must first agree that we need to have a common understanding of what constitutes fairness and justice. If we were to ask any man or woman in the street anywhere in the world, they would probably say that it means treating others the way one would want to be treated. If this simple test were applied in our daily lives, then we could have peace without much difficulty.

Unfortunately, we neither subscribe to nor believe in that ethical proposition any more. The Muslim leaders who run this country, whether they are political or religious, have disregarded this notion of equality of treatment and reciprocity of good behaviour for some time now. Their absolute control of political power enables them to distort the ordinary meaning of “fair and just”. To them, it is no longer an ethical principle that stands on its own. It is only relevant and applicable only if they decide it is. When they disagree with what you say or do, they cry foul and say these acts or statements are against Islam and are therefore prohibited or unlawful.

These leaders play God every day in their speeches and statements. They make hate speeches with impunity and they are untouchable. They seem to know everything there is to know about sin and punishment, and about how God will judge our actions and behavior. They—and only they—know everything that is good, fair and just.

I call this religious bigotry, which unfortunately has become our national ideology. We cannot even suggest that the simple ideas of the Rukun Negara can be used as guiding principles to govern this country, for even these ideas have suddenly become subversive and a threat to Islam.

It’s not enough for them that Muslims make up the majority of the population and are still growing in number. It’s not enough for them that Islam already has a special place in the country. It’s not enough for them that the Malays Rulers are custodians of Islam. It’s not enough for them that billions of ringgit are spent every year on the promotion and propagation of Islam and the welfare of Muslims. It’s not even enough that they pay less income tax to the extent of the amount of zakat they pay.

Like Mick Jagger, they can’t seem to find any satisfaction. Every day they talk about threats to Islam and how the enemies of Islam are everywhere. They think the war against Jews and the Crusades is still not over. What good does it do for Muslims? None, except give them a false sense of superiority which ultimately does nothing to make their lives better.

These leaders completely ignore the positive side of humanity and the values that bring progress to all of us. They only emphasise sin and punishment, as if they are perfect Muslims. They don’t seem to care if Muslims in this country are still poor or are lagging far behind the others in education, the economy and in areas of skill development. They just want to dominate, control and disseminate fear in people’s lives, including Muslims who disagree with them. They represent medieval values of morality that are inimical to human progress.

This is the reality we now live in. Fair-minded Muslims who still subscribe to the old-fashioned values  I alluded to above,  peace-loving Malaysians and the believers  and practitioners of other faiths must today sit up and decide what they want to do about it. If they think—as I do—that religious bigotry and extremism will imperil peace and stability in this country and ultimately destroy it, then they have to act now.

Rest of his Speech at Ecumenical House, Petaling Jaya: http://www.zaid.my/current/pilgrimage-towards-peace-justice/

9 April 2017 Link