PAKATAN Harapan’s lack of decisiveness in its response to the Seafield Hindu temple riots and backlash from its plans to ratify the ICERD has revealed a lack of political will in dealing with Malaysia’s chronic ethnic and religious tension problems, analysts said.

Last month, Putrajaya’s announcement that it planned to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) sparked outrage from right-wing Malay groups claiming that the move would threaten the special privileges of the Bumiputera community.

As a result, Pakatan caved in to the mounting opposition and announced that it would not ratify the UN’s anti-racism convention.

Analysts said that PH’s response signalled a loss of control of the political narrative to extremists.

“PH’s response to ICERD has been weak, pathetic even,” said Zaharom Nain, media and cultural studies professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

Zaharom said the government had failed to outline its arguments for ratification in a clear manner so as to allay the fears of Malay-Muslims.

In doing so, PH lost an opportunity to set a clear stand against racism and bigotry.

“There has to be political will, but there wasn’t,” said Zaharom.

Zaharom said that when Malay rights groups called for an anti-ICERD rally, to which Umno and Islamist party PAS readily joined in, the government should have condemned the act and distanced the protest from actual efforts to protect Malay and Muslim rights.

“Racial and religious strife or tension will only increase if we allow racists and bigots to define the terms of engagement.

“We, including the government, must, instead, go on the offensive and rubbish these insects for the idiots that they are,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The anti-ICERD protest will be held at Jalan Raja, opposite the Sultan Abdul Samad building and Dataran Merdeka from 2pm to 6pm this Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple riots had culminated in millions of ringgit in damaged property and one firefighter seriously injured after being reportedly beaten up by rioters.

The firefighter is Malay and the rioters Indian, while the initial incursion of thugs into the temple compound reportedly comprised foreign nationals and Malays.

Associate Professor Awang Azman Awang Pawi, who specialises in Malay socio-cultural studies at University Malaya, believed that race and religion were still “time bombs”.

“Both issues showed that ethnic and religious issues remain sensitive in Malaysia. They are like time bombs that could go off,” he said.

Awang Azman said PAS and Umno were going all-out to ensure the rally success as they saw it as a means for their survival.

“They want to be seen by their supporters as fighters of the Malay race and of Islam. If they failed to do that, they would been seen as irrelevant. ICERD is seen as an opportunity to draw from the pool of Malay conservatives,” he said.

Awang Azman said the government’s response to the Hindu temple incident, while swift, was also lacking in a strong stand against parties intent on playing up religious and ethnic aspects of the violence.

“The temple issue could only have been resolved by abiding by the rule of law.

“The rioters did not respect the court order. They did not think of the wider implications of their actions in a multi-ethnic society,” he said.

“There are always certain groups eager to react negatively to ethnic issues, even if they do not have the full picture of what is happening.

“There needed to be a reminder to everyone that the rule of law overrides all other concerns.”

Penang Institute fellow Wong Chin Huat agreed that the rule of law should have been more strongly emphasised in the aftermath of the temple fracas, adding that PH must not be too quick to dismiss ethno-religious elements that surfaced in the incident.

“Downplaying conflicts as mere misunderstanding or mere denial of ethno-religious elements would not help as public may suspect there are cover-ups,” he said.

Wong said that the new administration had yet to find a  balance between being firm in its stand against ethnic and religious intolerance and continuing to court “median” Malay voters.

“West Malaysia is gradually evolving into a Sri Lanka-style two-party system – the ethnic majority is split between two blocs and ethnic minorities find that only one side is friendly to its cause,” he said.

“Hence, the kingmaker is no longer the ethnic minorities but median members of the ethnic majority.

“How progressive the PH government can be on issues like ICERD depends on how open-minded median Malays are.” – December 6, 2018.