March proved to be a tumultuous month for religious relations in Malaysia, as irresponsible parties attempted to rile up the Malay Muslim base over the "Jom Ziarah" scandal - an effort ostensibly led by Badrul Hisham Shaharin, or better known by Chegubard, and his benefactors. 
The conspiracy theorist claimed that current Youth and Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh was a "Christian evangelist" and that there was a wider "DAP plot" to Christianize the country. He even claimed that there is an attempt to cover up Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh's wrongdoings in its probe into the "Jom Ziarah Gereja" programme.
Let's ignore that a planned visit to a church was part of a broader programme where youths would be brought to different houses of worship to foster better understanding, a familiar gesture made by all faiths, including Muslims. Let's also ignore that Yeoh clarified that no Muslim youths had been involved in the programme, also stressing that the programme is not meant to equalize the positions of any religions and is merely intended to enable learning about the differences between the various religions to help multiracial and multireligious Malaysians to live more harmoniously together.
I say ignore the facts, but only because irresponsible parties such as Chegubard willingly do so - all for political power and, more cynically, more excellent justification for him to claim that he's met his KPI under his political master.
But the fact of the matter is, this dangerous turn of events bodes ill for the racial and religious harmony of the country. Choosing to pander to the fears of the Malays, who are led to believe that someone like Yeoh and DAP are n existential threat to their racial and religious way of life has become an increasingly sad fixture in our social media.
The efforts by the government to handle this issue have also been less than stellar, choosing to selectively pander to the Malay base in what is seen as incomprehensible decisions such as the "Pulau" incident or ignore the narrative entirely.
The "Jom Ziarah" issue is an issue that should have never entered the public conversation and is a failure on the part of our political class to preserve the multiracial society we have here in Malaysia.
Instead, they should take the example of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Sultan Ibrahim, who have respectively called for calm and warned others not to play up religious sentiment. The latter played it reasonably well, choosing not to criticize his fellow Muslims but rather remind them to "have complete trust in Muslims because their faith is strong and unshakable. I do not wish to dwell at length here", adding that "there is no need for any kind of polemic over this".
This kind of strength is needed from our elected leaders, as, after all, we are the ones we choose for the next four years - and it is their responsibility to ensure that this place we call home remains peaceful and in harmony.
Let's ignore that a planned visit to a church was part of a broader programme where youths would be brought to different houses of worship to foster better understanding, a familiar gesture made by all faiths, including Muslims. Let's also ignore that Yeoh clarified that no Muslim youths had been involved in the programme, also stressing that the programme is not meant to equalize the positions of any religions and is merely intended to enable learning about the differences between the various religions to help multiracial and multireligious Malaysians to live more harmoniously together.
I say ignore the facts, but only because irresponsible parties such as Chegubard willingly do so - all for political power and, more cynically, more excellent justification for him to claim that he's met his KPI under his political master.
But the fact of the matter is, this dangerous turn of events bodes ill for the racial and religious harmony of the country. Choosing to pander to the fears of the Malays, who are led to believe that someone like Yeoh and DAP are n existential threat to their racial and religious way of life has become an increasingly sad fixture in our social media.
The efforts by the government to handle this issue have also been less than stellar, choosing to selectively pander to the Malay base in what is seen as incomprehensible decisions such as the "Pulau" incident or ignore the narrative entirely.
The "Jom Ziarah" issue is an issue that should have never entered the public conversation and is a failure on the part of our political class to preserve the multiracial society we have here in Malaysia.
This kind of strength is needed from our elected leaders, as, after all, we are the ones we choose for the next four years - and it is their responsibility to ensure that this place we call home remains peaceful and in harmony.
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