Recently, speaking during a campaign trail visit to Kampung Orang Asli Bakar Batu in support of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Pulai candidate, Johari Ghani, an UMNO leader cautioned the country against the intertwining of religion and politics, which he believes hampers effective leadership in Malaysia.
He further emphasised the importance of separating religious considerations from political decisions, especially in a diverse and multicultural society.
Religion is an individual's belief whereas politics are the beliefs of large groups.
Politics should respect all religion.
Politics and religions should not mix as politics need to reflect a common opinion and have to make all decisions keeping in view the mutual benefit of all the people.
The job and responsibilities of the politicians is to identify problems the ordinary rakyat are facing and to solve them.
But in this country, politics and religion are keywords in our society.
That’s why some opportunistic politicians take the help of religion especially at the time of elections to gather the vote bank.
As people naturally tend to become more biased towards their own religion it creates a voter bank in the name of religion.
Politics is about power and a religion is about faith.
Faith can influence power but when power influences faith it can become disaster.
If true religion is followed then it can definitely result in fair politics.
The blame, however, should not be on the politicians entirely.
The ordinary rakyat are equally responsible for the same.
They also should not run after religion while selecting a good representative but look for the one who can solve their problems effectively.
In today’s world where there are a lot of fakes, it is very difficult to differentiate a genuine and a fake preacher.
There are many new fake religious leaders coming up abruptly with many followers, just to get fame and then make money by slowly moving to the political front.
Opportunistic politicians will then get the help of such religious leaders to gather votes.
Once the elections are over, you can hardly see these politicians having any religious stand in the practical world.
Rather than burying its head in the sand, politicians from the Madani government, civil society and the NGOs should give public support for the call by Johari Ghani.
Why the deafening silence?
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