APRIL 3 — The first casualty of truth is war. When two sides begin to lock horns, they throw away all notions of truth. In the words of former President George Bush after the attacks of September 11, “you are either with us, or, against us”. There was nothing grey or in between.

Such a strong and orthodox notion is fine in the fight against slavery, human trafficking, the exploitation of women and children, indeed the proliferation of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological weapons (NBRI).

One could even say the phrase is perfect for the War Against Terror. Better to contain any Muslim allies and coalitions who may be sympathetic to the view of the Islamic radicals than to have the groups co existing with one another.

PAS and Umno, however, have used the absolutist logic in twisted manner: If no one supports them, they are the enemies of Islam akin to the Zionists Jews. 

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At least this is the phrase that has been verbalised by Ustaz Awang Hadi, the president. 

In other words, if you are not with Umno and PAS, the rest of Malaysians are now unlike the “Jews” who had for centuries tried to topple the Muslim world harm [sic]. How can Malaysians, whom Umno and PAS, are suddenly described in enemy terms [sic]?

There are three reasons, and all of them enough to stir up a hornet’s rest. First and foremost, Umno and PAS are enemies of Malaysia cowering in their own monumental corruption. Before all their trials on criminal breach of trust can destroy then first, they have chosen to split all Malaysians into two large groups: one forming the core of their supporters, to keep them alive, the other adjudged in adversarial terms to make them afraid. 

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By invoking the J word, Umno and PAS is trying to unite the remnants of their own supporters, in order to divide others who are not of the same ilk with them.

Secondly, Umno and PAS, especially the latter, know deep down they cannot form a government anymore. By rendering members and supporters of Pakatan Harapan as “Jews”, they have resorted to the old logic of “kafir mengkafir” — to label others as non-Muslims in order to make themselves more authentically “Islamic”. 

But then how authentic can they be when their Islam is based on lumping Judaism, one of the three Abrahamaic faiths described by Ismail Raji Al Faruqi, as a hostile force, making no distinction between Judaism and Zionism? The latter is the pernicious ideology that demands the conquest of other Palestinians and Arabs.

Third, the tendency to invoke the label of Jews as an “enemy” is strictly from the playbook of Pan Arabism and anti-semitic European nationalism. 

PAS and Umno are doing what the Czar Nicholas I of Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler once did. When their elitisim, nationalism and Facism all failed in Russia and Europe, they resorted to lashing out against others.

In each of the events below, PAS and Umno have shown the zeal to “otherwise” others. This process of othering others is the beginning of deeper campaign of discrimination against the whole of Malaysia. Malaysians must not fall for this!

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.