“The DAP is anti-Islam.”
“Karpal Singh and PMX Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim have anti-Muslim agendas.”
These are the oft-heard and repeated propaganda among opposition politicians and their staunch supporters. After all, sling enough mud and some of it will stick and mud of this kind has been flung for decades.
Keen to dispel this notion was centrist Malaysian Firdausi Fauzi 🏴 🇲🇾 🇵🇸 #LAWAN (@Firdausi_Fauzi) who shared on X some social media posts by Adrian Lim Chee En.
Harini aku belajar benda membanggakan sebagai rakyat Malaysia
Masa pelajar Melayu Singapore kena buang sekolah tahun 2022 sebab tudung n decide nak saman govt Singapore,diorang lantik Karpal Singh,exPengerusi Kebangsaan DAP,sampai Singapore banned Karpal
PAP govt banned DAP pic.twitter.com/Y4XfufiH39
— Firdausi Fauzi 🏴 🇲🇾 🇵🇸 #LAWAN (@Firdausi_Fauzi) May 2, 2025
In the first instance, it was highlighted in a case of the Singapore government banning Muslim pupils from donning the tudung (Muslim headscarf).
Editor’s Note: Firdausi has erroneously posted that this was in 2022 when in fact it was 2002 (after all Karpal a.k.a. the Tiger of Jelutong died in a road accident in the wee hours of April 17, 2014).
Interestingly, the families of those pupils engaged none other than firebrand lawyer Karpal to fight their case.
The former national chairman of the DAP contended that if a Sikh pupil was allowed to wear a turban on religious grounds, why weren’t Muslim pupils afforded the same right when it came to wearing the tudung?
In an effort to circumvent Karpal from representing the families, the ruling PAP denied the former Jelutong MP from entering the republic on the basis of having no work permit.
It was highlighted that the supposedly anti-Islam Karpal had been chosen by the families to sue the Singaporean government.
That the lawyer attached to the DAP was prevented from entering Singapore by the PAP defied common belief that the two political entities were tight as thieves (DAP is deemed a splinter party of PAP or the People’s Action Party).
In the second instance, it was pointed out that it was current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who encouraged the wearing of headscarves while he was an educator at Yayasan Anda Akademik.
On this note, Lim postulated in the original post that the current political posturing by PAS in wanting to defend Singapore Malay rights is somehow misleading as the Islamist party had zero-track record in the past.
Instead, it was the much-demonised Karpal and PMX who were in the thick of things. Herewith, Firdausi proclaimed that these two incidents made him proud to be Malaysian.
He went on to express his dislike for the secular models as practiced in Singapore and France, arguing that it was a mere façade for racist policies to hide behind.
Many netizens also saw through the propaganda that has labelled the DAP as anti-Islam but also acknowledging that it has been effective. Many Malay folks still possess negative perception of the party, observed one commenter.
One netizen highlighted to those who idolised the Singapore-model that the PAP was an authoritarian regime. Singapore is favoured by the West simply because it practices a secular mode of governance, it was claimed.
While PAS may claim to be champions of race and religion – not just in Malaysia but also in neighbouring countries – it is worth noting that action speak louder than words.
Alas, decades of demonisation will be hard to erase. It is hoped that more Malaysians will be able to separate fact from fiction. – May 5, 2025
Main image credit: Suara Rakyat – SR
