SARAWAK Tribune columnist Nazmi Suhaimi lamented that there is too much politics in everything we are doing in Malaysia nowadays.He said it has become somewhat of a trend for us Malaysians to fight over matters of politics, “even more so lately”.“I am concerned about the extremism trend in the country today. One side seemingly intends to outdo the other. It has become a question of how extreme one group can get to rile up and antagonise the other.
“It is somewhat like playing with fire, just this time, we don’t even care what or who gets burned – we just want to see whose fire is bigger,” he wrote.
In his comments to the newspaper, he mentions the recent controversies in Malaysia, starting with the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (JAKIM) overturning an earlier ban on the public display of food items with festive greetings of non-Muslim faiths.He also added that Federal Territories DAP chief Tan Kok Wai’s call for local council elections to be held in Kuala Lumpur.The call was described as an “intentional provocation against the status quo” by UMNO Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh. It created an unnecessary divide in the unity government.“That is why level-headed people are needed to be the voice of reason in their capacity as lawmakers, administration members and department heads,” Nazmi argued.Moreover, he stated that the recent call by DAP stalwart Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang stirred public sentiments by calling for a non-Malay prime minister.“While it is not mentioned constitutionally that a prime minister must come from a specific ethnic group, the clear understanding by political parties vying to be federal government is that the prime minister candidate should be a Malay. That is the political reality,” he noted.Furthermore, one can wonder why politicians from the ruling coalition are making such comments while opposition supporters are praying hard for the downfall of the regime headed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.To conclude his column, the writer said: “While many would say everything is politics, I say we should not inject politics into everything. Let’s not make mountains out of a molehill and as the Malays would say, let’s not be a ‘batu api’ and stir the hornet’s nest.” – Dec 24, 2023
Main photo credit: Utusan
