Pas MP plays divisive game comparing Malaysia’s minorities to Zionist oppressors

Phlip Rodrigues

True to form, a Pas politician has tried to whip up ethnic Malay sentiments with his ploy to link the dire situation in Palestine with the situation in Malaysia.

Pengkalan Chepa MP Ahmad Marzuk Shaary is pouring fuel with his contentious remarks that what is happening in Palestine could also reach Malaysia’s shores.

In a recent Facebook post, he reportedly told local Muslims “to learn from Palestine’s history”, pointing out that “signs of the same thing happening could now be seen in Malaysia”.

How on earth did he arrive at this comparison? Where is the similarity between two very different regions with completely different histories and backgrounds?

The Pas MP has the answer, and apparently it all boils down to the Malays losing their power and land if they become “complacent”.

As usual with the Islamist party, Marzuk zeroed in on the ethnic minority for allegedly depriving the Malay Muslims of their rights and, thereby, posing a grave threat to their dominant position and interests.

So, where did the Palestinian equation come into play? Based on his twisted logic, the Malays are just like the Palestinians, who lost their land to predatory outsiders.

In other words, he is indirectly tarring the ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia with the same brush: they all are behaving like the Zionist oppressors of Israel.

But Marzuk was quick to defend himself when he told Parliament that what he said in Pengkalan Chepa was apparently taken out of context.

He was not talking about war, about religion, about hatred. No, no! Essentially, he was merely telling his people that they must take a leaf from Palestine’s history and be vigilant at all times.

If they “remain asleep”, they might lose their land, rights and privileges to the ethnic and religious minorities.

Fanning the flame further, up jumped fellow Pas member Awang Hashim, the MP for Pendang, to defend Marzuk. Oh, no, Marzuk was merely sending a “friendly reminder so that we do not become like the Zionists”.

Then Awang caused more furore when he said that “selling land, buying land, in the end it will end with genocide”. 

In other words, he was issuing a dire warning: just like the Palestinians, the dominant ethnic group in Malaysia will also suffer the same fate if they are not careful.

Let us all set the record straight. In Malaysia, the Malays and other indigenous people are not oppressed like the Palestinians. Their land and political power remain intact. There is no suffering, no hardship, no famine.

Most Malays are not selling their land. The ethnic minorities are not seizing their land, and all have been living in peace and harmony.

But certain Pas politicians see things from a different angle. They like to portray their party’s political struggle as a struggle to defend race and religion against the minorities.

Going by their dark logic, there are already signs that the Palestinian scenario might shift to Malaysia, and Pas must be ready to confront the enemies from within.

What are the signs? Look around you, Marzuk tells the Malays. See all those major malls, big companies, strategic plots of lands? Many of them are now controlled by the minorities, who are “increasingly dominating the economic sector”.

Invariably, Marzuk appeared to take an indirect swipe at the DAP when he said the minorities have reached Putrajaya – “drafting laws, writing acts, and slowly redrawing the political power map of this nation”.

Was he implying that the DAP is the chief culprit because it now enjoys political power at the expense of the Malays? Was he, by extension, pinning the Zionist label on the DAP?

Since there are no bombs falling all over the place, one can only conclude that what Marzuk is actually trying to say is that there is economic warfare going on in Malaysia, and the Malays are losing out.

To him, the battle on the economic front is as bad as the battle on the military front.

No matter how much spin Pas puts on its narrative, one thing is clear: people of different ethnic backgrounds are doing business as usual without trading blows with each other.

Malaysia is not Palestine. The ethnic minorities in Malaysia are not Zionists and they are not driving out Muslims from their homes.

There are enough constitutional safeguards for all ethnic groups to coexist and work together in Malaysia, instead of being adversaries fighting without a cause.

Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.

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