Man's passion for making mischief By Tunku Abdul Aziz

HUMAN beings are, by and large, naturally given to mischief-making and politicians, by profession, or perhaps trade is a better word to describe what they do, have proven all through the years since Merdeka to be extremely adept at this particular art form. So, I was not in the least bit surprised when my erstwhile colleague, the Right Honourable Lim Guan Eng, as he used to be addressed during the earlier years of his administration, decided that to exact maximum benefit, his Chief Ministerial Christmas Message was the most appropriate means of hitting at his enemies of whom he now seems to have more than he can cope with. The traditional spirit of Christmas that all of us have come to cherish -- that of hope, good cheer, charity, goodwill, love and peace to all mankind -- was on this occasion unceremoniously consigned to the backburner of the DAP rocket. The genteel burghers and other worthy citizens of Penang are still in a daze, wondering what had really hit them. They probably have not fully grasped the seriously disturbing implications of that mindless and sinister plea, for which, read demand, to the Federal Government to allow the word "Allah" to be used in a Malay version of the Christian Holy Bible. The word "Allah", taken on its own, in isolation, is innocent enough, but used in the context of a Christian Bible, connotes a totally different idea, and this is where Muslims in Malaysia have drawn the line. The threat of a serious rift between Muslims and Christians is real and the reality consequent upon Lim's proposal is too terrible to contemplate. There is, in my view, nothing more vicious and cruel than a religious conflict. India, at the time of partition, saw thousands upon thousands of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims caught up in an unparalleled spate of orgies of murder, rape and pillage. We have read of similar incidents on a smaller, but no less horrific scale, on one of the Indonesian islands between Muslims and Christians. I am a Malay and the Malay psyche would wonder whether this is what Lim was hoping to achieve. The Malay psyche would also wonder why Lim thought it prudent to cavil at something as sacrosanct as the religion of Islam around which Malays down the centuries have ordered their lives and found spiritual contentment. Is it too much to ask Lim to leave the Malays and their religion well alone? What precisely is to be gained by Christians in Malaysia using the word "Allah" in the Malay

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version of their scriptures? It seems so totally pointless to risk life and limb for a piddling moral victory. Malays are a tolerant people, but when they begin to harbour an exaggerated sense of utter despair and injustice and begin to articulate what, until now, has remained in the realm of the unspoken, then we, who value peace and harmony among our diverse ethnic and religious groups, should pause to reflect on the error of our ways. The sentiments of the Malays cannot be ignored and I hope Lim will learn some humility and not continue to harbour the unrealistic belief that he can indulge his propensity for irresponsible public behaviour with impunity. In public life, if you make a serious error of judgment impacting negatively on society whom you have sworn to protect, you must expect to be called to account. However, knowing him as I do, I should be surprised if he would admit that he had been both rash and careless in his judgment over the "Allah" issue. The question in the minds of many Malays would be whether this was done with the sole purpose of demolishing Malay unity. They see it as Lim's plan to spoil the coming together of the Malays, whose support for Barisan Nasional is clearly on the ascendency. It is a dangerous game to play, even without the religious factor in the equation. Lim may, outwardly, seem astute enough to realise that politics and religion are a potent mix, but is he really? Lim now lives on an island and it is worth reminding him, with apologies to the great English poet, John Donne (1572-1631), of the saying: "No man is an island, entire of itself... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." Malaysian politics must be inclusive, and given the complex nature of our society, there is no place for the likes of Lim and the rest of his Pakatan Rakyat cohorts whose philosophy of nation-building may be fairly described as political philistinism at best. Try to be a statesman; we don't need another street fighter. Man's passion for making mischief - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/man-s-passion-for-making-mischief-1.203832#ixzz2wNAidi00

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