In the final part of the interview, Global Human Rights president S Shashi Kumar speaks about the damage hate preachers are causing to non-Muslims and how its after-effects will spread to the Muslims populace in due course of time.
FocusM: How are the hate preachers affecting the moral on non-Muslims in Malaysia?
SK: Hate preachers are indulging in what we call as “narrative building”. Basically, they repeatedly insult other religions with falsehoods so as the make non-Muslims to feel ashamed of their own religion.
Do you notice that these hate preachers constantly pick India as their favourite target? They keep repeating lies saying Muslim minorities in the sub-continent are persecuted and non-Malays should be grateful for the lives they enjoy here and never challenge their authority.
I wish to clearly say that their arguments are totally wrong, During the Partition of India in 1947, India’s Muslim population was at 9.8 million. Now, it has grown to over 200 million.
And that imbecile Zamri, an Indian descent himself, keeps saying that India is committing genocide against their Muslims population but he forgets to mention that India has had three Muslims presidents in the past and the Hindus there do not enjoy any special privileges.
In fact, after the US left Afghanistan last year, India has provided aid worth US$4 bil to the country. Plus, about 40,000 Afghans had applied for asylum in India.
So what Zamri is doing is basically “narrative building” based on lies and falsehood.
FocusM: With all that is said, what do you think non-Muslims can do to stem the rise of hate preachers in the country?
SK: Many non-Muslims have accepted the fact that nothing will change and have decided to move on but that is a wrong way to go about this.
We must understand that our children and grandchildren’s future are at stake here. As a whole, these negative trends will affect our country economically and socially as well.
Indonesia and Vietnam have surpassed us in terms of economic development. Instead of being focused on developing Malaysia, we are being divided based on race and religion.
Compel your leaders to act against hate preachers if police reports go nowhere. Take them to court and let the whole world see what is happening. If we do not act now, our future will be in jeopardy.
As for the Malays, I wish to ask them a question. Despite having your special privileges enshrined in the Federal Constitution, are you really having good lives?
The truth is, while your leaders are getting extremely wealthy using the race and religion rhetoric, most Malays still come under the B40 category. We all still pay high toll rates and have to face ever rising monthly bills.
My message to my Muslim friends is that, stop believing in your political leaders and preachers. As for us non-Malays, we just want to earn our keep, provide good education to our children and live in peace with each other.
While your leaders keep accusing us non-Muslims of undermining Islam, believe me when I say we really have no time to do such things given the social and economic situation!
As for the derogatory messages you see online against Muslims, trust me when I say that those messages came after non-Muslims got their beliefs constantly berated by these hate preachers and I can prove this. Most of them are low-skilled labourers and retirees who act out of emotional outburst after having to suffer constant insults.
If the Malays keep believing these lying politicians and preachers, their children’s future are stake too. Please speak out against your leaders and preachers whenever they play the race and religion card. – April 11, 2022.
