IN Becoming Hannah, Selangor State Assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh wrote about her personal journey, politics and her Christian faith. Nothing unusual except she’s a government lawmaker in Selangor and an opposition politician nationally.

Nothing unusual for Malaysians too as many have their personal journeys, hold their own political views and keep their own faith. But she’s a politician and apparently influential enough and a threat that Utusan Malaysia’s editorial collective named Awang Selamat had to mention it.

Using that pseudonym, the paper’s op-ed team said Yeoh’s book had become a hot topic on social media and her admission of her faith was considered serious as it touched on religious sensitivities because Islam was the official religion of the country.

“Her call for Christian followers and the members abroad specifically is very clear. She asked them to follow her footsteps in politics to rebuild Malaysia based on Christianity,” Awang said in the weekly commentary.

Awang said there were comments on social media questioning DAP’s secularism principle that religion and politics should not be mixed.

Really? No one should talk about their faith in politics? Perhaps Awang Selamat can give the same advice to other politicians who consort with the controversial Indian Muslim preacher, Dr Zakir Naik.

The fact is all the major religions urge their followers to stand up for what is right, to choose good over evil, to be compassionate, fight corruption and stand up for the truth.

Which of these are optional for Awang Selamat?

Or is this only the provenance of one faith and not the others?

If Awang Selamat was to really follow the social media conversation, they would realise the issue was brought by pro-government websites quoting an academic analysing Yeoh’s book and coming to the conclusion that the newspaper now agrees with.

An issue brought within a circle and now seen as a bigger issue for the nation, perhaps because it did not catch fire in social media and is now ventilated in the print media. In other words, a manufactured issue.

It is really sad that just a day after Malaysians remembered the darkest day in the country’s history, some newspaper is trying to stir religious hatred.

Perhaps these hacks need a reminder that one can’t preach unity and sow seeds of hatred at the same time as the vast majority of Malaysians can see through it after all these years. – May 15, 2017.