Ex-Perlis mufti slams apple-polishing in Umno

The outspoken former Perlis mufti, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, has slammed what he called a deep-rooted feudalistic culture of apple polishing in Umno.

In dialogue session in Kuala Lumpur last night, Asri (left) also criticised the lack of tolerance for dissent or an alternative view within Umno.

“Nowadays, it looks like the most important thing is to show to everyone that he is loyal to the leaders.

"It doesn't even matter if they make foolish statements, but so long as they know that the prime minister is aware of it.

"Everyone just wants to suck up to the ministers, or the prime minister's children. The more they come up with foolish statements, the more they hope for the PM to like it.

"So when someone gives a different opinion, they are seen as the enemy although it is a good idea that they put forward.

"It is looked up upon as dangerous because of the feudalistic element that just can't be shaken off.

"It is not easy to discard this. A lot of people seem to be hell-bent on pleasing the leaders," he said.

He was speaking at the dialogue session, simply themed 'Post July 9', organised by Umno supreme council member and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah (right).

In a close group of 50 comprising other young politicians, student leaders, political analysts and media practitioners, Saifuddin admitted that his views - often progressive and against the Umno grain - have led to him coming under attack by his own Umno peers.

'No more logic for the police'

Then, commenting on the police and government crackdown leading up to the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday, Asri said that it was because of this culture of apple polishing that logic has gone out of the window for the police.

"This is why the police are no longer using logic. They want to place parangs, but yet they want to put the yellow T-shirts there," he said referring to the scores of weapons and molotov cocktails seized by the police around parts of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

"If the prime minister were to ask the police to allow the demonstration, secure the protesters' safety, allow them a proper route and later maybe give each of them a bottle of water then let the news cameras roll, more Malaysians would even be impressed with the government and completely forget about (Bersih 2.0's) eight demands.

As the former mufti for Perlis from 2006 to 2008, he also condemned the usage of mosques to spread anti-demonstration messages.

"Many want to join politics so that they can suck up to the leaders, but what really happens is that it slowly destroys the present institutions.

"For example, the Friday sermons in mosques. What kind of religious institution uses religious dalil (reasoning) to ban demonstrations, or religious dalil to demonise someone else?" he asked.

"Using religion like that, and for the Fatwa Council to simply issue edicts, will destroy our religious institutions,” he said.

Malaysiakini