by Terry Yeong

In 1990, American lawyer and author Mike Godwin postulated that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazism or Hitler approaches 1.” In other words, at some point in time, Nazism or Adolf Hitler (or both) will inevitably come up in any online topic of discussion. This is known as Godwin’s Law.

It is hard not to think of Hitler every time Ridhuan Tee writes an article for his Sinar Harian column.

In his latest piece, the controversial academician warned MCA and “other ultra-kiasu parties” not to oppose the private member’s bill recently tabled by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, saying that “Malays and Islam are one, like flesh and blood. If challenged, there will be repercussions. This is the Malay heart and soul.”

This sentiment, popular among so many Malay supremacists, is problematic on so many levels. It is the main reason why Malaysia will continue to be divided for the foreseeable future, and why hudud will continue to be a tool for unscrupulous politicians to divide and conquer.

The analogy to Nazism has some justification when one considers how World War II was both ideologically and economically motivated. Hitler played on the post-World War I German dissatisfaction with the Versailles Treaty, linking that to the idea of racial supremacy. It was such racially-charged propaganda that drove the Nazi cause and rallied so many otherwise right-thinking Germans to its banner.

Nowhere else in the world is race so politically linked to ideology as it is in Malaysia.

It is the exact sentiment that we as Malaysians are trying to move beyond. We want to reach a place where religion is no longer used as a political tool to divide the races, and where the Malay community can no longer be “emotionally blackmailed,” as recently mentioned by FMT columnist Mariam Mokhtar, into believing that upholding religious and ideological agendas is the same thing as upholding racial unity.

Among the many ideas that Nazi Germany tried to sell was that in the new world, the Nazi ideology would take precedence over every other religion and school of thought. Does that sound familiar? It should, because it sounds just like what the oddly Chinese Tee and other Malay supremacists have been saying for the past few years.

“If I were the PM, I would have long ago pushed the Islamic agenda to be followed by all races, because Islam is the federal religion and a national agenda,” said Tee in his article.

This statement is similar to the one made by Perkasa head Ibrahim Ali in 2012, when he warned the late Karpal Singh to respect the Muslims’ right to have hudud laws introduced in the country. According to Ibrahim, it is the Malays’ democratic right to have whatever they want because they form the majority of the Malaysian population.

Let’s not argue about the merits of Islam and religion in general, but let us fight against the continued linkage of religion and race. We’re already divided enough by the colours of our skin without having to throw the spanner of religion into the works.