Some Things Better Left Unsaid

Just today, I came across a month-old blog post here. In it the famous blogger turned MP, YB Jeff Ooi, wrote of his 'shock' that a hotel in Abu Dhabi served pork. With characteristic hyperbole that would have put the writers of the recent Hollywood racial satire "White Chicks" to shame, the author described how the mere sight of pork served openly in Abu Dhabi awoke him from the slumber of Malaysia's political Islam "brainwashing".

It immediately got me thinking. In recent years, figures from UMNO and occasionally PAS, have been singled out as parties who stoke racial and religious sentiments to score political points within the Malay community. Commentators armed with labels have observed how 'Malay ultra-ism' (or is it the other way round) and 'political Islam' have increasingly populated the public domain and found legitimation within the civil consciousness of Malays. These developments, they implied, were responsible for the worsening race relations as non-Malays become compelled to launch a counter-narrative - manifested by HINDRAF and other expressions of an elevated sense of racial belonging. READ MORE>>