Can Malaysia rise up again to become a great world-class nation and reverse the national decline of the last few decades losing out to one nation after another?
I am confident that Malaysia can do so provided there is no second Malaysian diaspora with another million or two million Malaysians emigrating all over the world to make other nations great instead of making Malaysia great.
But one thing is certain – Malaysia cannot rise up again to become a great world-class nation if Malaysians cannot distinguish between right from wrong and are influenced by lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech.
Yesterday, Kelantan Amanah challenged the Kelantan Mentri Bear, Nassuruddin Dauto to prove his claims that the party’s newly elected state assemblypersons were involved in actions against Islam.
Amanah legal bureau (Kanun) director Hisham Fauzi said the move was necessary as Nassuruddin had openly made the allegations in his lecture in Kota Bharu that PAS’ victories in the recent six state elections as a victory for Islam.
He also claimed the two seats won in Kelantan by Pakatan Harapan-BN, namely Amanah’s Hafidzah Mustakim in Kota Lama and Umno’s Mohd Syahbudin Hashim in Galas, were now held by those “against the Islamic struggle”.
Hisham said Nassuruddin’s claims would create a wrong public perception of the individuals when all Muslims have a right to carry out their struggles based on Islam, as taught by Prophet Muhammad SAW, and the right should not be “monopolised” by PAS.
Hisham said: “The Islamic struggle is not 100 percent owned by PAS. It is one as taught by the Prophet, for all Muslims.”
It is not surprising that the new Kelantan Mentri Besar is unable to prove that Amanah is anti-Islam, when the PAS President, Hadi Awang is himself guilty of making unsubstantiated allegations and is unable to produce an iota of evidence to substantiate his preposterous allegations that DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, communist, and promoting Islamopobia.
Hadi is the supreme example of Islamic leaders in Malaysia making wild, preposterous, and completely baseless allegations of political opponents, a practice which must be stopped in an era where the toxic and divisive politics of lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech had polarised race and religious relations in a plural society like Malaysia.
Is Hadi suggesting that Malaysians who do not vote for PAS candidates in elections were promoting Islamophobia?
Hadi got away in 2018 when he made the preposterous allegations against the DAP for being the mastermind to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) when the DAP knew nothing about the issue.
The ICERD issue in 2018 allowed Hadi to spread lies and falsehoods that DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, and anti-Royalty.
Did Hadi seek clarification from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who was Prime Minster at the time, whether DAP was the “mastermind” of Mahathir’s speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2018 as Mahathir and Hadi have become such close political allies.
Hadi had denounced Malaysian Constitution as an “infidel Constitution” in the eighties? Has Hadi changed his mind?
I cannot see Malaysia rising up again to become a great world-class power to avoid the fate of a divided, failed and corrupt state if Malaysians can be influenced by lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech.
Can Malaysians show the world how in the era of social media we can free ourselves from the tyranny and peril of lies, falsehoods, fake new and hate speech?