The Malaysian political scene has become even more of a farce since the Sungai Besar Umno division chief and head of the infamous Red Shirts forced his way into the public eye with his ham-handed approach to race relations and national harmony.

It began a few months ago with a few public protests here and there, ostensibly in the name of defending Malay-Muslim pride and Prime Minister Najib Razak. Since then, his crusade against the parliamentary opposition and electoral watchdog Bersih has built up considerably. His inflammatory words, repeated with fervour by his legion of helmet-wielding, kapchai-straddling zealots, are shared on social media by both his supporters and detractors.

Jamal has now planted himself firmly in the political arena and he needs to be removed.

He has become a danger not only to the people and parties he threatens on a daily basis, but to the government and Umno as well.

He wield his threats like a wire-wrapped baseball bat. At the forefront of his long list of threats is his recent response to a rumour that Kapar MP G Manivannan had proposed the legalisation of prostitution in Malaysia. Despite the latter having rubbished such reports, Jamal has gone on record as saying that he had customers ready to employ Manivannan’s wife and daughter for their “services”. Of course, he quickly tempered that threat with a disclaimer that he would apologise for his words should the rumour prove false.

“But if it is true,” he told FMT, “then I have customers prepared to employ the service from his wife and daughter. But again, if it was just slander, then I am gentleman enough to apologise.”

This incident perfectly characterises Jamal. It is something that no Malaysian should countenance. Setting aside how he comes off as an attention-seeking loudmouth for his failure to clarify matters with Manivannan, Jamal sounds like a predator for his threat against Manivannan’s wife and daughter.

For one, he is keeping terrible company if he has such “customers”. Secondly, his definition of “being a gentleman” is horribly skewed, because he seems to think it means a half-hearted apology after firing off his misogynist mouth.

His threat also goes against everything he stands for as a Malay and Muslim. This is hypocrisy at its worst, the very picture of an amoral demagogue who uses religion and ideology to divide. This is something that would get any other politician crucified elsewhere. Why not here?

Let’s be clear: Jamal is a thuggish upstart attempting to beat his way to national relevance. The Inspector-General of Police needs to understand there is no way to avoid “painting the Red Shirts in a bad light”. Jamal has already done that and more. This incident, not to mention his storming of the Malaysiakini office last Thursday and numerous threats against Bersih, is reason enough.

Let us note also that this is the same person that Umno politicians to this day have refused to disown outright. We must therefore question what use Umno has for him. But perhaps we already have the answer, given that there are now people using him and his Red Shirts as an excuse to declare the coming Bersih rally unlawful.