Something odd is going on in Malaysia. It seems like we are increasingly become "one country with two laws. What else is there to explain why what is good for the gander is often not good for the goose.
Former Economic Minister Rafizi Ramli once noted this when he spoke about class divisions in the country recently.
The Pandan MP said if an ordinary person steals milk, the sentence is six months in prison.
"But if a VIP's relatives are accused of corruption or theft, as long as they pay back, they can be released. After this, if there are ordinary citizens who are accused of stealing milk or ordinary food, please let me know. I want to find a lawyer to make a similar application to return the stolen milk and ask for release. We'll see if the prosecutor and the court agree or not," he said — referring to how Segambut Bersatu Deputy Division Chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad was cleared of 12 corruption and money laundering charges simply by paying a compound.
But this division that Rafizi spoke of might not just be about class. It now seems to extend to symbols — foreign symbols, flags, and languages.
Take for example how the display of symbols associated with Israel was treated in Melaka and Kelantan recently.
The Melaka Sticker Incident
Police in Melaka opened an investigation after a viral video showed a silver pickup truck bearing a sticker with Hebrew writing.
According to Melaka police chief Dzulkhairi Mukhtar, a special officer to the chief minister lodged a report after seeing the 14-second clip on Threads.
The message on the Hebrew sticker reportedly said ‘Malaysia is our home’ or ‘Malaysia is in our hands’, and this was seen as a problem, to the extent that the police had to get involved.
A case file was opened under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code — for causing fear or public alarm — and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for misuse of network facilities - to investigate on the owner of the vehicle, who was disclosed to be a man from Gemencheh, Negeri Sembilan.
The owner, a 59-year-old retired civil servant, later explained that he had ordered the sticker 13 years ago from a shop in Selangor.
He said he had come across the Hebrew phrase “Israel Betainu” (meaning “Israel is our home”) and simply replaced “Israel” with “Malaysia” because he was fascinated by foreign scripts such as Hebrew, Greek, and Russian.
He even lodged a police report himself after his truck went viral. Police said they were still consulting language experts.
So far, no indication of malicious intent has been found — yet a full criminal investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile in Kelantan…
While a retired man in Melaka faces police probes for using Hebrew letters, something quite different took place in Kelantan.
During an 8km “flotilla convoy” along the Kelantan River meant to show solidarity with Palestine, several participants flew Israeli flags as part of what organisers called a “simulation” of a raid on a humanitarian convoy.
Over 1,000 boats took part, with at least one vessel displaying Israeli flags and passengers dressed as “Israeli soldiers” detaining “Palestinian activists”.
The organisers defended the act as a realistic re-enactment of the Global Sumud Flotilla incident. Event director Khairul Hafiz Hassan said there was no intention of glorifying Israel, and that attendees understood the symbolism.
He urged critics not to sensationalise the matter.
Yet the reactions from political figures were swift.
UMNO Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh condemned the act, saying the Israeli flag “is only fit to be stomped on or burned in Malaysia” and that flying it — even as a gimmick — was unacceptable.
“I urge the organisers who are said to have flown the Israeli flag as an event gimmick to immediately apologise for their oversight,” he said in a Facebook post.
DAP’s RSN Rayer on the other hand, questioned the double standards, asking why no action was taken.
“There is a deafening silence from the opposition. Where is PAS? Where is Bersatu? Why the silence? Is it because it took place in Kelantan? Why has no action been taken against those who flew the Israeli flags at Sungai Kelantan until now? The authorities must act fast, no double standards,” Rayer said.
Selective Outrage and Double Standards
So, pasting a Hebrew sticker that says “Malaysia is our home” leads to a criminal probe under national security laws.
But flying the Israeli flag — a symbol officially banned from being displayed in Malaysia — during a public event in Kelantan is treated as a “misunderstanding” or “gimmick”.
This contrast is not just ironic. It is symptomatic of a deeper inconsistency in how law, outrage, and morality operate in Malaysia.
If you are an ordinary retiree in Melaka curious about foreign scripts, your curiosity becomes a police case.
But if you are part of a mass convoy in Kelantan re-enacting scenes of war — even while flying the very flag that represents what many Malaysians consider an enemy state — you get the benefit of “context”.
It seems that what you do, and how you are treated, depends less on what you actually did — and more on who you are, where you are, and who is watching.
But a nation cannot survive on selective outrage and political convenience. The law cannot bend one way in Melaka and another in Kelantan.
A country, at its very core, is defined by the universality of its law — by the idea that there is one set of rules that applies to everyone, regardless of class, race, religion, or geography. When that principle breaks down, so does the moral authority of the state itself.
The moment we start having two laws — one for the rich and powerful, another for the ordinary citizen; one for those who paste Hebrew stickers in Melaka, and another for those who fly Israeli flags in Kelantan — we begin to erode the foundation that holds the nation together.
Because when the law no longer protects everyone equally, it stops being the law. It becomes a weapon, wielded selectively to reward some and punish others. And that is how nations weaken — not from external threats, but from the quiet decay of fairness within.
One country cannot have two laws — not if it still wants to call itself a country.
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