LETTER | Seriously, take extremists to task

LETTER | We “Malayans” must feel ashamed that we have to wait for a Sabahan to state unequivocally the toxic state of our country today.

I am referring to the article “Save Malaysia to protect Sabah and Sarawak” by Tuaran MP Wilfred Madius Tangau.

In essence, he said this country is now engulfed in extreme racism, bigotry, jingoism, and “imperialism”.

There are obvious attempts to rewrite history and recalibrate the very foundation of Malaysia as a nation.

The Federal Constitution is being deliberately and blatantly interpreted to suit their extreme and perverted views.

I have thought as this nation grows, we should become more progressive and tolerant. But no, the trajectory has become more disturbing and troubling.

Day in and day out, citizens are being reminded of their differences instead of our commonality. No day has gone by when certain communities are being branded as immoral, corrupt, and treacherous attempting to undermine and change the character of the nation.

Seriously, how do we change the character of a nation? Can we engineer and force it? I have always thought the character of the nation is the total manifestation of its people regardless of race, religion, and creed.

I believe the extremists know what they are doing is wrong and abhorrent to others. But for the sake of attaining power, they are doing it connivingly.

The strategy is quite straightforward. First, they will say whatever they want to say even though they know it is wrong or illegal. Most importantly, extreme views must be dispensed and dissimilated to the people first.

Their objective is to galvanise sectarian support and be damned with the nation. They will think of the consequences of their actions later.

Unacceptable excuses

Thus far, for whatever reasons, I think the authorities have been slow to act on those spewing nonsense day and night. Just go to Youtube to listen to some of the ceramah and you will know that there is nothing on development and well-being but all about wild accusations, bigotry, race, and supremacy.

When police reports or investigations are made against them, they will plead one of the following:

1. Denial

2. Misquote

3. Taken out of context

4. Apology

I wonder why is it so difficult to put them in the box, if they deny, we have video. If they are misquoted, we have audio. If they are taken out of context, we can listen to the whole speech to assess whether it is in context or out of context. If they apologise, we want to know the sincerity.

I have said it many times before, in Malaysia the word apology has taken a new meaning. It is saying sorry without remorse or repentance.

In the meantime, while the authorities are still in the process of opening files and doing the investigation, thousands of people are being indoctrinated with toxic ideologies.

I do not know when the tipping point will be, but if history is any lesson, Nazism and fascism took about 10 years to build up before the disaster hit.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.