Speakers' Corner: Occasional contributions from readers, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Sarawak Report but may be published at the discretion of the site.

Moderate Muslim Champion

When he was desperately seeking some cover explanation for his theft of $680 million from 1MDB, arch thief Najib invented a Saudi donor, who he alleged had given this huge sum to him in recognition of his stand against Muslim extremism!

This had its comic side since the only Muslim extremists in Malaysia are his new friends from PAS!

Now the bill has come in and PAS are demanding much stiffer penalties for Muslims who offend aganst Shariah law. They, probably to their astonishment, were offered a fast track private members bill in the Malaysian parliament to give effect to that.

Caution, it seems, made the PAS leader draw back from enactment of this pernicious legislation and ask for time to consider it.  However other Malays, bolder and more stupid than he, rushed to demand immedate action. Notable among them the deranged lap dog who passes as Attorney General.

Part of the blame for this revival of medieval extremism lies with the British who, having exploited Malaya’s resources for over a century wanted to go on doing so after being obliged to grant political independence. The Malaya business lobby in London sought to achieve this by enshrining in the new Malaysian Constitution the equally medieval notion that one of the constituent races in Malaya, the Malays, should have a privileged position in all areas of life; including religion.

One can imagine the derision that would have overtaken any of these tycoons if they had proposed in the British Parliament that Protestants should enjoy superior civil and political rights over all other Britsh citizens. THAT issue had been settled centuries ago.  But no matter. It was only one of those pesky colonies they were dealing with and anything that could go, went.

There was of course a quid pro quo. Political dominance and the reservation of the Civil Service for Malay Malaysians would be offset by continued exploitation of Malaysia’s resources and business structure from London.

So how will these business tycoons in London react to Malaysia sliding towards Islamic extremism?  They look at what is happening in the Middle East and the expense of Bush/Blair/Cameron type wars.  At the flood of mainly Muslims invading  Western Europe. At the increased threat of terrorism on their own doorstep and think what?   The level of profit this year from their Malaysian business interests? Or did they maybe make a mistake after all by backing the Malay horse.

It does not seem so.  Arch thief Najib was welcomed in London very recently (on a visit hastily declared by the Britsh government as “private”) and only days after PM Cameron had chaired an anti corruption conference!  The outstanding feature of all this grubby business is the blind stupidity of these British interests, both business and political, in failing to deal with one of the most blatant crooks in recent history. It is one thing to ignore Mugabe; no remaining British interests there!  But to continue friendly relations with a blatant mega thief can only have the end result that the next Malaysian government will ignore London and look elsewhere for business partnerships!

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