Dear Messrs Lim of DAP

Dear Mr Lim Kit Siang and Mr Lim Guan Eng,

Please allow me to congratulate you over being decisive over the PAS issue and finally putting Pakatan Rakyat to sleep. I have been an admirer of the DAP for a long time, particularly your political culture. I feel that you have developed political thinking more than Umno and PAS combined.  

I have to say though, you were incredibly late in being decisive but better late than never. PAS was the political antithesis of everything you stand for and so partnering up with them meant selling at least 60% of the electorate down the river. Let’s be honest – PAS means to subjugate the Malay-Muslims to their Islamofascist system. Malay-Muslims will never have freedom of religion under PAS rule. If PAS were to compete with Umno in the “Siapa Lebih Islam” competition, then, more and more oppressive laws will be levied against the Malay-Muslims. Already we have the Friday prayers law where Malay-Muslims cannot miss it three consecutive times. I did not see you protest against this blatant denial of human rights. This is in Kedah where the scholar Kassim Ahmad was kidnapped for allegedly committing blasphemy. That was also another incident about which I did not hear a peep from you. Forgive me if I am mistaken.

You see, even though I am a Malay-Muslim myself, I unequivocally reject the notion of “Bumiputera” and “Ketuanan Melayu”. I find these notions to be appalling and abhorrent because we are all sons and daughters of this land. To exclude anyone based on race goes against my ethos as a Muslim. I also question the official views on Islam and especially oppressive policies in the name of Islam which I term “Islamofascism”. These positions have earned me the wrath of my fellow Malay-Muslims and I expect you as the only party which has officially espoused secularism should stand up for the rights of dissenting Malay-Muslims such as myself.

In any case, I feel your dissociation from PAS is an excellent move. Next, you should consider gaining the Malay-Muslim vote. More and more of us are losing faith in our traditional political representatives, Umno and PAS. The former who claim to be defenders of Malay rights have completely failed in the business of governance. Even free stuff like spellcheckers can cost RM 6 million under their rule! The latter is concerned with creating a cult of zombies where no one is allowed to think for fear that their wayang kulit will come falling down. More and more Malay-Muslims are fed up with these shenanigans!

In order for you to truly become a Malaysian party, you need to be vocal about your intention to liberate Malay-Muslims from their shackles. Prepare a plan to completely secularise the government. Allocate nothing to the business of religious administration. Why is seven hundred million dollars allocated to these people to oppress the publict? Should they not be doing so for the sake of God and without remunerations? If they are sincere about religion, they should be more than happy to run their religious activities for themselves.

Next, issues of governance. For a long time, the Umno led government have hidden behind veils of secrecy on activities which they did not wish the public to know about. The latest debacle of governance, 1MDB was according former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, not even passed through cabinet (since there were no cabinet papers to prove it). What we need right now are assurances of transparency. How will you do things differently when you take over Putrajaya?

Education will also be a key issue. I highly suggest fully integrated schools. Far be it from me to deny my fellow Malaysians their right to their choice education but I do feel fully integrated schools are the way to go. We can offset cultural erosions by teaching in the English medium in these schools and making conversational Malay, Mandarin and Tamil compulsory. Remember that learning a language does not mean becoming a grammarian, philologist or literary scholar! All we need is the ability to communicate effectively with our fellow Malaysians. In one generation we will have Malaysians who can communicate to half the world’s population!

Next, the issue of PasMa. PasMa is said to be made progressive Islamists formerly in PAS. They were ousted due to the conservative takeover in the last muktamar. This much is true but I would urge you to consider that their “progressiveness” is relative to the conservatism for their former party members! If you want to ensure they are truly progressive, ask them to make the following declarations:

- That they reject Bumiputeraism and Ketuanan Melayu. Something the double-faced Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang would never dare to do.

- That they reject sharia law in any shape or form. At best make sharia a matter of choice for Malay-Muslims. Allow them to opt for secular law if they so wish.

- That they accept that if there is any financial allocation made for religious activities, it must be equal for all religions.

If Pasma accepts these conditions, then they are truly progressives. If not, they are just the AK Party which has ruled Turkey for 10 years. They started out as progressive but are now turning into just another Islamofascist party.

I urge you to consider my suggestions. Umno and PAS are now at their weakest and the next general election can signal a new era in Malaysian politics. – June 18, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.