COMMENT | In his Merdeka speech Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said, “We will use all of our power and strength. If insufficient, we will amend (laws), add on legal provisions, take action so that the country remains safe and can rise as a powerful nation in the region and the world”, which is vintage strongman rhetoric.

What should concern the rakyat is the agenda the Madani government has for this country when it comes to the freedoms that Anwar likes to lecture other countries about but believes that Malaysians can do without.

Maybe this has something to do with the Eastern values Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil talked about - “There is a lot that needs to be examined because not all of them match the Eastern values or manners we practise in Malaysia but we will carefully implement the improvements (press freedom) that we want to see and practise in Malaysia.”

Whenever Malaysian political operatives talk about Eastern values, what this really means is that the rights of the citizens are going to be curtailed on religious or cultural grounds. None of them has ever said or will ever say that because of Eastern values, we will expand the rights the rakyat have.

Case in point, when the prime minister said, in his zeal for safeguarding the safety and stability of this country he would amend existing laws or add legal provisions. This is deeply troubling but since I am a polemist, I would say monstrous.

Look, there are enough (many would argue) pernicious laws that Pakatan Harapan said it would reform but have chosen to keep. So in other words, what this Madani regime wants to do is amend these pernicious laws even further or add legal provisions to make freedom of speech and expression even more limited.

Vijay47 : How I wish the rising sun on Monday morning was not accompanied by a Commander Thayaparan article. More often than not, it only serves to depress me and perhaps set the pace for the rest of the week. But then again, we must acknowledge that the bitter pill if not to be taken, must at least be known by the hoi polloi, as the good Commander himself might say.

So lay on, Macduff. I suppose the theme for today’s piece could be titled “The Hypocrisy of the Man”, which might even be complimentary to him. In truth, Anwar Ibrahim reflects far worse. The disillusionment, disappointment, and disgust he evokes is monumentally evident in the direction he takes us along.

The failure to execute promised reforms may be the lesser of this fake’s sins, he seems bent on taking us into racial and religious destruction, of course all iced with pretty poems and cuter Tamil movie jigs. Naah, I will not even start to count the ways. 5,000 characters does not permit much, so I shall refer to just one recent matter which technically cannot be directly attributed to Mr. Madani’s ways.

But first let me explain why I believe this can be laid at Anwar Ibrahim’s doorstep. He seems to have created a culture where statements on Islam by Muslims, however outlandish and even offensive, are somehow permissible. Yesterday, it was reported that a university professor enlightened us on the possible origins of Prophet Mohammad’s wife.

She is supposed to be a businesslady, trading in gold, with the saving grace that she was a Malay. Yes, a Malay from 1,400 years ago. Colour me old-fashioned and traditional but my simple mind simply cannot accept a prophet’s wife, Christian or Muslim, being described in such vulgar terms. Yet there are no howls of outraged protest, no taking to the streets, no calls for boycott. Am I missing something here?

Have a non-Muslim say the very same things put forth by that professor, Solehah Yaacob, and all hell would have broken loose. But perhaps Solehah Yaacob would be applauded as it would be said that she was only spreading Anwar Ibrahim’s famous urging that respect must be shown to all religions especially Islam. Who knows, she might even make it to the next Birthday Honours list.