Using the Era FM DJ’s kavadi fiasco as a stepping stone, Muslim preacher Zamri Vinoth has recently put the unity government in a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” predicament.
What did he do?
In response to the antics of Era FM’s DJs, which had the Hindu community in Malaysia in an uproar, Zamri would decide to aggravate the Hindu community further, by making a Facebook post that provoked their ire.
If the Era FM DJ’s offense against the Hindu’s were likely unintentional and accidental, Zamri’s was deliberately offensive.
His action would cause nearly 900 police reports to be lodged against him by the aggrieved Hindu community nationwide.
Despite that, the police have still not taken action against him, because they are waiting for a response from the government.
The reason that the government is hesitant on taking action against Zamri is likely because it is in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” position.
If it doesn’t take action against Zamri, it might lose the Hindu community’s support. For various reasons, the Hindu community in Malaysia are already feeling a grievance against the unity government. From being one of the biggest supporters of Anwar and PH, the Hindu community’s support for the unity government has been steadily eroding in the last two years.
If the government does not act against the Zamri Vinoth, it might be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back. The Hindu community will likely take the inaction of the government as an affront to their dignity and self-respect, and to the least, withdraw their support for the unity government, or worse, switch support to the opposition out of spite.
However, if the government takes action against Zamri Vinoth, it might aggravate the Malay Muslim community, who are already feeling that they are losing their potency, under Anwar’s reign.
So what can the government do to solve this unresolvable problem?
Well, I am not saying that I know what they will do, but if I was in their shoes, and I was thinking in a realpolitik manner, I might just bring up something like the relocation of the 130 year old Pathrakaliamman Temple issue that is raging in KL now, to settle my problem.
The issue of relocating the 130 year old Pathrakaliamman temple , if you notice, has been going on for decades, but for some peculiar reason, it decided to pop back into everyone’s attention right at the moment when the Zamri Vinoth issue was causing the government a lot of headache.
After the Pathrikaliamman issue popped up, if you notice, all the people that were playing up and paying attention to the Zamri Vinoth issue, have now switched their attention to the Temple relocation issue.
The two names that were commanding everyone’s attention in the Zamri Vinoth’s case, were Zamri Vinoth himself and MIC’s deputy Saravanan, with Zamri Vinoth standing on the Muslim community’s side while Saravanan was standing for the Hindu community’s side.
With the temple relocation issue now taking the center stage however, Zamri Vinoth is no longer making headlines.
On the Hindu community’s side, Saravanan, who appeared as a hero for the community in the Era FM DJ fiasco and Zamri Vinoth Facebook post uproar, might not come out looking so good, on account of the fact that the temple issue had supposedly already surfaced when he was the deputy Federal Minister in 2008. That it is surfacing again today, 17 years later after it was within the power of Saravanan to handle it, does not bode well for Saravanan.
While faced with the Zamri Vinoth issue in and off itself, the government looked like it was might lose the support of the Muslims or the Hindus or both, because of the actions of personalities like Zamri and Saravanan, who were likely not unity government friendly.
With the issue of the Pathrakaliamman temple relocation rising right after the Zamri Vinoth issue however, the government, serendipitously, might have found an issue that will be able to overturn their earlier losses and deliver a defeat to those who were intent on causing in a loss, just a few weeks earlier.
Whatever the end result of the Temple relocation issue is, my gut instinct is that it will win the appreciation of Hindu community, after nearly losing their support for good due to the Zamri Vinoth issue.
As for the Muslim community, I think how the goverment will handle the temple relocation issue will be able to win their appreciation as well.
Anyway, this line of thinking, where you solve an unresolvable problem by creating a problem that you can solve or have already solved, is an example of realpolitik, where the end justifies the means.
I am no saying that realpolitik might be the reason that the the temple relocation issue is arising - it could be arising organically - but I will say that in politics, there are many practitioners of realpolitiks, and this is how a practitioner of realpolitiks might choose to address a “damned if you do, damned if you don't” problem, in a way that not only save them from being damned, but help them coming out looking like a hero as well.
In realpolitik, what is important is that by hook or crook, you must win in the end, by making all your enemies bite the dust.
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