I’m excerpting below a few passages from the latest posting in Haris Ibrahim’s blog titled ‘BN’s demonizing ways‘ (29 Jan 2013). Haris is the man behind the Asal Bukan Umno (ABU) campaign.
The narrative in his blog on Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat serves as a good illustration of the New Politics that has taken hold with an almost religious fervour among opposition supporters since March 2008.
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For the same reason of providing illustration, I’ve uploaded (in the posting immediately preceding this one), two narratives from the Chinese point of view — (1) pro-DAP New Politics: Kee Thuan Chye’s open letter to Chua Soi Lek, and (2) pro-MCA Alliance-BN style politics: Shen Yee Aun’s response to Kee.
I shall give my own views later but these three – from Haris’s blog (the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) movement is another brainchild of his), from Shen’s blog and the Kee open letter – provide some backdrop so that you will get an idea of where I’m coming from when I share my own views shortly.
The extracts below are from a byline Singa Terhormat in the Haris Ibrahim blog.
“I first came across Nik Aziz in 1990.”
- “His face too reflected that of a calm, God-fearing person and there was an aura of kindness and gentleness about him.”
. - “I can still recall that moment as his persona defied and demolished all earlier perceptions I had had of him.”
. - “Looking beyond their [PAS leaders] attire, which admittedly is not common for one brought up in an urban setting along the West Coast, as I was, one could unmistakably recognize their greater sincerity, hospitality and gentleness towards others. It is often said that what the eyes reveal do not lie and indeed amongst many of them their eyes reflected those qualities.”
. - “… I could see they were kind-hearted souls.”
. - “Of course, I am sure, there must be some ‘black sheep’ amongst them too but generally there was nothing I saw even approaching Umno’s penchant for trickery, treachery and selfishness. These were men and women who were basically God-fearing and they by and large exhibited that in their daily conduct.”They may not be as worldly-wise as their brethren in the West Coast, but there is more than a thing or two that they could teach those in the West Coast about human decency.”Almost overnight then, my earlier impression of them changed.”
. - “It did not totally surprise me therefore to read about and see online how Nik Aziz had gone to visit Karpal Singh and later welcome the Bishop in his hotel room. I noticed too how both of his hands were stretched out in humility to clasp Karpal’s and how warmly and graciously they had received each other. There was so much goodwill between all of them. It so obviously came from the heart.”
The write-up reproduced above from the Haris Ibrahim blog is a paean where the writer wanted “to salute Nik Aziz for having exhibited the true qualities of a Muslim leader” and he believes that what he saw and described in his writings “is the real 1Malaysia, not Najib’s and Muhyiddin’s orchestrated public campaigns”.
To summarize:
The Haris Ibrahim blog writer experienced a born-again conversion where “almost overnight”, his earlier impression of the East Coast population changed. (The Haris Ibrahim blog writer tells us that he is someone “brought up in an urban setting along the West Coast”).
Regarding his real 1Malaysia experience, he said (in summary):
(a) He could see that Nik Aziz’s face “reflected that of a calm, God-fearing person”.
(b) He could feel that “there was an aura of kindness and gentleness” about Nik Aziz. And from looking at the Tok Guru’s face and feeling his aura, the Haris Ibrahim blog writer came to a favourable conclusion about the elderly Kelantan Menteri Besar’s fine persona.
(c) Looking beyond the serban dan jubah of the PAS leaders (i.e. ability to rise about the pettiness of Religion and Race – Pakatan’s credo), the Haris Ibrahim blog writer “unmistakably recognize their greater sincerity, hospitality and gentleness towards others”.
(d) He “could see they were kind-hearted souls” although less “worldly-wise” compared to the Umno politicians who are full of “trickery, treachery and selfishness”.
(e) Additionally, he could see that the eyes of the PAS leaders “reflected those qualities” of “sincerity, hospitality and gentleness towards others”.
(f) He is sure that they possess much more “human decency” than those in the West Coast states [which are the Umno fortresses harbouring a “penchant for trickery, treachery and selfishness”].
So there you have it.
The New Righteous
Adherents of Malaysian New Politics are the West Coast urbanites who
(i) can see rays of graciousness and goodwill emanating from the Tok Guru’s heart, and warmth and humility oozing from his hands
(ii) can see how in the eyes of East Coast people are reflections of fine qualities such as greater “sincerity, hospitality and gentleness” (but pity squinters and the cross-eyed people too, who must give a poorer impression)
(iii) can see in other peoples’ faces whether the individual is god-fearing or not (“god-fearing” is an important word; it appears twice in the Haris blog article)
(iv) can see the souls of the kind-hearted
(iv) can feel auras of kindness and gentleness as well as sense personas
(v) can read what comes from the heart
In short, while it is undoubtedly true that East Coast people are kind, hospitable and sincere, nonetheless practitioners of New Politics are proving themselves to be exceptionally sensitive people who have shown how fully in touch they are with the inner core of their neighbours on the other side of the peninsula.
The New Politics practitioners are able to see and learn so much just from looking at faces, eyes and hands (apart from reading hearts, sensing auras and feeling personas).
Congrats to the Malaysian opposition for bringing to flesh the spirit of Love Thy Neighbour.
It is a most necessary and timely Ubah from the old politics of Trickery, Treachery and Selfishness, and a Change which will surely take our country to a higher spiritual plane.
Helen Ang 
the act of calmness is hipocrite- his face has no sinar Iman for he is a Wahhabi -many Alims have visited him and asked him to return to the right path-to no avail-those who follow him will definately taken the wrong path-mujassimah is wrong and those who adhere to this deviant teaching has deviated from Islam.
Nik Aziz is one of the ulama jahat as warned by Prophet Muhammad, pbuh.
Those values mentioned in HI web site are actually meant for a preacher or a politician?
If it is for a preacher, what that has had to do with a political web site?
If it is for a politician, there is other aspect – intellectual, speech and administrative ability – which is more important but why it is not included is beyond belief.
Whether a person is a good person with ‘sinar iman’ as Haris Ibrahim pointed out is based on each person’s view of a person. Haris is obviously biased, so he sees Nik Aziz as a God fearing person is because he wanted to.
From my own experience, I lost respect to this man a long time ago.
PAS turning point is in 1982, when PAS changed from a good opposition to ‘Iran Revolution’ copycat party. This is my opinion based on memoir and books I read about PAS.
To clarify, the article is supposed to have been written by Singa Terhormat who is the blogger byline in the Haris Ibrahim blog.
Thank you Helen for the clarification. Now it makes “sense”. :)
Helen,
Sebelum Nik Aziz (MA) mengubah pendirian dalam isu nama Tuhan, Singa inilah paling banyak memberikan komen yang berpihak kepada pihak (LGE) yang menuntut perkongsian nama Tuhan.
Cumanya, setelah MA mengubah pendirian dalam isu berkenaan dan susulan itu mendapat kritikan pedas, carutan dan maki-makian dari ABU apakah Singa telah tampil ke depan mempertahankan MA yang kini dianggapnya sebagai idolanya?
Kalau ada baguslah. Kalau tidak ada, masakan idola sendiri dibiarkan lembik dibelasah kiri dan kanan, atas dan bawah, baru nak bertindak menjernihkan keadaan? Apakah jenis peminat kalau mengambil tindakan sesudah nasi idola jadi bubur?
Justeru apabila Singa melontarkan puji-pujian menjulang ke langit terhadap MA di depan ABU dan dibuat selepas sesi pembelasahan ABU tamat (yakni bukan semasa pembelasahan berlangsung), timbullah berbagai keraguan. Apakah ianya ikhlas? Tidak adakah udang di sebalik batu? Tidakkah semua ini semata-mata Psywar? Bla, bla.
Kalau diperhatikan dari sudut yang neutral, usaha Singa berkenaan adalah seumpama beliau membiarkan seorang yang disyaki peragut di belasah kaw-kaw oleh ABU dan sesudah peragut itu tinggal separuh nyawa barulah Singa buka mulut untuk memberitahu ABU bahawa mereka tersalah orang kerana orang yang dipukul tadi adalah orang yang baik-baik yakni bukanlah peragut!
Soalan saya untuk anda ialah: Kalau anda di tempat MA, setelah nasi jadi bubur, apakah anda rasa bodekan Singa berkenaan ikhlas atau apa? Dan kalau anda di tempat ABU apakah kesimpulan anda terhadap usaha Singa?
Saya pun pelik si Singa ini beberapa kali mengaku diri Muslim.
Saya pun pelik si Singa ini beberapa kali mengaku diri Muslim.
Beliefs = Perceptions
‘Our beliefs are formed by the way we perceive and interpret the world’ – Damien Hughes; How To Change Absolutely Anything.
Haris Ibrahim perceives bad (trickery, treachery and selfishness) in everything UMNO’s representatives do; and by extension, everyone in BN. Therefore he beliefs that Tok Guru (and all in PAS) must be the epitome of good. From his post, you might think that Tok Guru is the second coming of the great one such is his effusiveness in describing the bearded one.
The opposition is disingenuous in accusing BN of using religion to scare the people, when in fact they use it willy-nilly to convince people to support them. In making the bearded one out to be saint – like (aura of kindness and gentleness), Haris’ post is clearly trying to impress upon voters that here is a man who will lead you onto the golden path. Hannah’s posts and twits are also premised upon a similar vein, when calling upon her Christian brethren to vote BN out.
What I can’t understand is this: Christian fundamentalists (the Hannahs and all) hold onto the belief that no one will share their heaven unless you’ve been baptised. Why can’t the Muslims see that these Christian zealots are just using them? Unless these Muslim supporters are looking to convert so that they can share in the Christian heaven, I can’t see the logic of DAP being supported by their Muslim brothers. Do I hear someone say it’s because of the new policies that they will be bringing in when in power? Right. That’s like telling me that Barack Obama will make the changes he promised.
EK
Thanks Eugene.
Again to clarify, the article is bylined to a pseudonym Singa Terhormat who appears to write a part of the Haris Ibrahim blog.
However what you say about Haris’ disdain for Umno cannot be disputed.
this is my personal experience of in early PAS-S46 days. Nik Aziz told a crowd that his personal preference for MB official car was an ordinary proton saga. Due to reasons he agreed to use the former MB official car, a Merc. Nowadays, his rides are S-class, high end japs SUV, Vellfire, ……………
Hahaha…begitulah agaknya pengertian zuhud bagi Nik Aziz ;)
Haris is rubbish. He now censors all of my comments. He is intolerant of dissenting and contrarian views. He either protects fraudster or himself a fraudster.
I think in modern leadership the main criteria of a leader must be the ability to improve the rakyats quality of life. In this tGNA fails big time. Like Pak lah, being kind nice and straight is not enough. We want leaders with capability to bring improvement to us.
Ps. I have major issue with TGNA who puts votes above religion and blatantly misuse religion. He has lost all credibility of a true Islamic cleric. He now makes PAS reject those who sincerely believe and fight for Islam. This is just crazy.
He is loco.
Singa has been caught to perpetuate lies and misleads with false facts. Once he used unsupportable fraudulent statistics to support his argument. The other he misleads with basic Islamic precepts. He quotes Quran but did not read the whole surah including the cause of revelation and misinterpreted it. He then claimed he is right coz he follows the misinterpreted provisions and claim all our ulama including harun din nik aziz majlis syura as not following Quran. But truth of the matter he has superficial knowledge in Islamic epystymology ie usul fiqh. He interprets ikut suka hati Mak Datuk dia. I’ve responded to this and have been censored so many times. Crazy haris for suppressing contrarian views and not allowing his favorites opinions to be challenged.
Bolehkah kita percaya kepada seorang Pak Lebai yg sanggup memusuhi mereka yg sebangsa dan se ugama dgnnya ,hanya dengan melihat wajah dan air mukanya?. Berhati muliakah seseorang itu,bila sanggup mengeluarkan ungakapan kafir dan sesat kepada muslim yg lain hanya kerana tidak sealiran politk dengan dirinya?. Pandang HI bukan dari kacamata Islam,tapi semata-mata kerana berada dalam kumpulan politik yg sama.
Sman,
There is no black or white here. Meaning there re good, decent people both in PAS and UMNO.
UMNO may not all angels . But surely despite its warts and all, it does have values that are of beauty and inspiration. UMNO leaders may not dress with turban and “jubah”, but many are good heated too.
I often repeat saying that at height of its power where it then controlled almost 70% of Parliamentary seats , it still think for other races. It stands for cooperation with non Muslims, earning unpleasant comments in the very mosques UMNO bulit.
Where separate bus or tiolet are phenomenon so common in Western world back in 1960s, UMNO a decade earlier had granted more than 1 million citizenships on termed so liberal that until today is still unmatched and may not be repeated again in world history.
At times where the paramount leader of any countries will only despatch troops to “teach” rebellious local leaders, resulting in carnage like what we saw in Acheh, Mindanao, South Thailand, Bosnia, South sudan, Biafra, UMNO leaders just let Singapore to secede. although it has power just to let Kuan Yew rot behind jail.
Of course, there are mistakes too. But what set apart PAS from UMNO is that the latter is not a hypocrite. UMNO all along reminds Malaysia that it is ruling a multiracial country.
where as PAS says it want no less than total Islamic state. But it only stop there without any suggestion on how to implement it.
And it uses Islam to silent people. woe betide people who dare to cross PAS as doing so to PAS is tantamount to rejecting Islam. And they say that while “kowtowing” to DAP.
Muka Nik Aziz keruh dan bengis dan langsung tidak menampakkan ‘cahaya’ kebersihan wajah seperti yang sepatutnya ada pada wajah seorang alim.
If there was a LIKE button, I’d give it to shamshul anuar’s comment above :)
Man for man, woman for woman, PR is head and shoulders above UMNO/BN.
That much every sane, logical Malaysian will adhere to.
The reason why UMNO/BN is in such a frenzy is that all Malaysians have awakened to their corruption, scams and scandals.
And it is apparent that the more baggage one hefts, the higher one goes is the mantra of this party.
On the other hand, the PR leadership is completely devoid of any baggages.
That in a nutshell is the reason for all the lies, deceits and fabrications created by the soon to be defunct government to sully them.
But the more they do such things, the more it reflected back on the evildoers.
So much so that all Malaysians are now determined than ever before to end BN for good.
This party is not even wanted as an opposition in Parliament because they sully the august house!!!
Dear cyberstupid,
“On the other hand, the PR leadership is completely devoid of any baggages.”
Yeap, Anwar Ibrahim is a saint! Dia fly pun tak ada hand-carry.
Anwar Ibrahim is the biggest scoundrel ever born in Malaysia.
About 90 percent of the Pakatan leadership is scum. All of them have the faces of crooks, like in the Hindustani movies.
Some says that, “One cannot see the truth because of the lack of God’s guidance due to darkened heart/soul!”. Finding truth is about being honest in delivering opinion… not slamming others with full of anger.
London,
Agreed 100%. I think this is due to their sembahyang hajat where they request for the truth to be reveal. And God willing what happen after that is like looking at domino falling to places one at a time. I think AI aware about this and that’s why he didn’t even want to do Sumpah Laknat or swear in the court.