Hisham's big switch: From probing Utusan, bloggers to DAP, pastors

Written by Melissa Lee, Malaysia Chronicle

In what is seen as another move to throw a smokescreen over the arrogant way that Prime Minister Najib Razak handled the Christian-state issue, his cousin Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced on Friday that police were investigating Utusan and the two bloggers involved.

"Put it this way. Hisham's own ministry refused to issue a warning letter, it only gave Utusan a reprimand. If Hisham is now suddenly asking Malaysians to believe that police will really act against Utusan which is Umno owned and the two bloggers who are Umno bloggers, he must really be thinking we are fools," PKR MP for Gopeng Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Hisham's main purpose seems to be to try and salvage some of the bad publicity for Najib. But Najib and the Umno political bureau have already been exposed to be the ones who directed Utusan's editorial policy. There is no passing the buck here."

Meanwhile, according to Hisham, the police were investigating the "whole" incident. According to him, there was new 'evidence' that Utusan might have grounds for its inflammatory news report.

It is believed that Hisham was referring to a police report made this morning by Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman, a DAP member, who attended the function mentioned in the Utusan article.

"It is not just about Utusan. It is about whether it happened on the issue of reporting, issue on the role of the bloggers, issue of people that were at the function. It cuts across all. We’re not pointing fingers at anybody," Hisham told reporters.

“I understand that there is police report saying that what was reported by Utusan did happen so this is what I'm stressing on, let's not be emotional on issues that touch on religion and race, let the authorities handle, the police specifically, to investigate. The truth takes time. There are two sides to the coin, DAP can say one thing but the police report says otherwise."

Investigation might U-turn onto Christian pastors and DAP

Last Saturday, Utusan had frontpaged a report based on unsubstantiated postings by the two Umno bloggers. They accused DAP and a group of Christian pastors of trying to replace Islam with Christianity as the country's official religion for the purpose of installing a Christian prime minister.

Their aim was to create fear amongst the Malays and rally the community behind Umno ahead of general elections that are widely expected to be held before the end of this year.

But the Utusan report, while startling, failed to trigger Malay anger despite the entry of ultra Malay-rights groups such as Perkasa to try and further inflame the situation. Instead, the Christian community, which forms 10 per cent of Malaysia's population was enraged.

Many Christians got even more angry after an obvious ploy by Najib on Thursday to further show off himself as a Malay and Muslim leader at their expense.

After a luncheon meeting that did not delve into issues close to the Christian community's heart, Najib announced that they had pledged to accept Islam as an official religion and respect the Federal Constitution.

Najib snubbed all attempt to punish or even mention Utusan and the bloggers' role.

Given Hisham's vague comments, speculation is now rife that a desperate Najib administration might investigate DAP and the Christian pastors in a bid to prolong the issue and frame it on them.

Pundits believe they might use repetition to force through the perception that Utusan and the bloggers had valid grounds, and the Christian pastors and DAP deserving of suspicion.

A similar tactic is being used in the sex video allegation implicating Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, where the Attorney General is seen colluding with the police to delay the case in order to create maximum embarrassment for Anwar.

Although there is clear-cut evidence, the police have not arrested the culprits who made the accusations, instead choosing to focus on points that gave political advantage to Umno. - Malaysia Chronicle

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