The Malaysian Insight

P. WAYTHA Moorthy is aggressive, confrontational and suffers from tunnel vision of seeing everything through the lens of race and religion.

He was supremely stupid for some incendiary statements hours after the incident at the Hindu temple at Seafield.

Instead of playing the role of peacemaker and applying balm to a percolating racial situation, the minister of national unity seemed to be wearing his hat as leader of Hindraf.

But there is an ocean of difference between being stupid and rash and being responsible for the death of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, the fireman who succumbed to injuries after being assaulted by rioters outside the temple.

The crowd outside the temple were agitated long before Waytha Moorthy issued his first statement. Fed on drips of information about the temple being attacked, they were keen to exact some form of revenge.

Among the crowd were Indian gangsters and criminal elements – the likes of whom have been causing havoc in the community and driving up crime statistics all over the country. 

Just a few days ago, an Indian mother had to cremate her 28-year-old son. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was slashed to death by parang-wielding Indian gangsters. 

Edward Rishal S. Reggie did not have a chance in the attack outside a pub in Petaling Jaya.

Indian gangsters are a big problem. They live and breathe violence ‎and spread fear in their community.  They believe they are untouchable.

They need to be wiped out. If the cops go after Adib’s killers and in the process, tame the gangs, they would have done a great service to peace-loving Malaysians.

But it would appear that Bersatu politicians want Waytha Moorthy’s job. They want Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to sack him or force him to resign.

They believe only these courses of action will assuage the anger and hurt being felt by Malays over Adib’s death. Perhaps it will. But it will also reinforce the narrative that race, not the rule of law, defines pretty much everything in this country.

The likes of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman are not too different from Waytha Moorthy. They, too, are playing to the gallery.

Post-ICERD, Malay politicians in Pakatan Harapan feel pressure to display their racial credentials to their bank of voters.

In their minds, getting Waytha Moorthy sacked or forcing him out will boost their standing with their own community. They believe they will be able to feast on this victory for some time.

Waytha Moorthy may well be unsuited to be the unity minister. He may not even be qualified to hold any portfolio in the cabinet. 

But that assessment must be made by Dr Mahathir, taking into consideration a range of factors, ‎including Waytha Moorthy’s temperament and track record over a period of time.

If he has to go because of his propensity to make rash and damaging statements, then a few others from this cabinet should also be shown the door‎. 

Chief among them has to be Education Minister Maszlee Malik. It does seem that not a week goes by without him saying something that gets under the skin of many Malaysians.

Some of his ideas are farcical and a couple of them are downright dangerous. 

His ‎recent statement that teachers from the peninsula teaching in Sabah and Sarawak should make the two states the front line for propagating Islam is divisive, given the religious mix and historical facts of both states.

Like Waytha Moorthy, he, too, seems to have a tunnel vision of seeing things through the lens of race and religion. – December 22, 2018.