RAFIDAH Aziz has expressed fear for the country’s future as politicians turn to using religion to win votes.

The former minister of international trade and industry told FMT she had enough experience in politics to know where the country is headed should its politicians continue down that path.

“When religion becomes politicised, you veer off from the real tenets of the religion. You interpret religion according to your own whims and fancies to suit your purpose, your goals and your objectives. I worry about that, but it’s not new,” she said in the report on the news portal

“For 55 years of my life I’ve been active in politics, since the days of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Abdul Razak, who appointed me a senator.

“In other words, I can see the flow of where we have been, where we are now and where we are going, which to me is frightening.”

She said Malaysians must learn to think objectively when it came to choosing their elected representatives and not be easily swayed by the eloquence and rhetoric of politicians.

Rafidah said politicians would say different things to different demographic groups to be popular with everyone.

“You go to a religious gathering where it’s Muslims only and you wear your serban, your sarong and you speak ‘Allah’, that kind of language.”

“Then you go to the Chinese community and you speak multiracial (rhetoric). Then you go to the Indian community … That’s not right. You should speak to them all as Malaysians,” said

Rafidah said she was not worried about the future of the Malays but of Malaysia and Malaysians.

She said she never associated the problem of poverty with ethnicity, adding that everyone should be gauged equally for an effective solution.

“I’ve always thought like that. I may be a Malay, but I’m a Malaysian first.”

“If we continue to espouse racially biased politics, you will plant the seeds of diversity in a very negative way,” she warned. – May 5, 2021.

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