HOLDING a top position in Malaysia is no guarantee of having common sense or intelligence. The Muslim-only laundrette issue in Johor is a perfect example of this.

When Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar intervened in the Muslim-only laundrette issue, he didn’t do so because it was illegal.

The ruler did so because he understood the danger of polarisation and division that would rise from the “them” versus “us” environment.

He understood that a business entity for only one category of individuals would be a slippery slope with far-reaching consequences of how we view each other.

Just listen to what he told students in Johor about stopping the laundrette from operating in the state as it represented an extreme way of Islamic life.

“Such narrow thinking is not the way of Muslims in Johor.

“For example, all of us carry currency notes that change hands all the time. The same money could have been handled by pork butchers, alcohol sellers, and may have come into contact with a lot of filth.

“Will the government now come up with Muslim-friendly notes? Think for yourselves, ladies and gentlemen,” said the sultan in a video of his speech on his Facebook page.

“This never ends. If everything is to be prohibited, we might as well live alone in the cave and not live in society,” he said, adding that it was his responsibility as the state’s religious head to ensure peace and unity among the various races of different faiths in Johor.

“Therefore, I will take immediate action against any (practice) that may lead to division,” he said.

And now we have a former chief justice wading into the issue and offering his two sen worth of legalese in the PAS online organ Harakahdaily, saying the owner of the laundrette had not broken any law by setting up a Muslim-only business.

The laundrette owner probably didn’t break any law but like Abdul Hamid Mohamad, the former CJ, he seemed to have forgotten the concept of common sense and intelligence.

From day one, the issue has never been about what is legal. It has been about what is right in multiracial and multi-religious Malaysia, about fostering unity instead of creating more division.

If a former chief justice cannot understand a concept as simple as that, what hope do Malaysians have for the rest of those still serving in government. Do we all have to rely only on the wisdom and sense of fair play of the Malay rulers?

If that is the case, what use are the politicians who go on the stump talking about unity and muhibah but fail to ensure such concepts actually take off rather than remain a pipe dream?

There are a number of people still spinning the laundrette issue away from what it is actually – racial and religious bigotry that should never happen in Malaysia.

It would seem that the Malay rulers and the people know this common sense but not most of those who occupy top government posts. – October 16, 2017.