Non-Malays must be careful with what they post

Zaid Ibrahim says Malaysia is not the democracy as promised to be and leaders cannot be criticised or disagreed with publicly unless you want to go to jail.

KUALA LUMPUR: If you are a non-Malay or non-Muslim, be very careful with what you tweet and post on Facebook – you may end up spending time in jail, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Zaid Ibrahim said today.

Zaid said parents should take some interest in what their children were saying on social media.

“I have heard many things Muslims have said publicly about Christians, Christianity, Hindus, Hinduism and the Chinese that are insulting and derogatory, but the chances of them being charged are less likely. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in this country,” he said in his blog Zaidgeist.

He added that non-Malays and non-Muslims also need to take extra care in what they say or write about the Malay rulers.

“Although constitutional monarchs in democracies everywhere else in the world are not spared from public criticism and unsavoury comments, the situation here is different.

“Clearly, we are not the democracy we say we are and we are not the free country we were promised we would be on Malaysia Day in 1963.

He said the loyalty of non-Muslims were questioned all the time as well as those in Sabah and Sarawak who are unhappy with the treatment they have received since the formation of Malaysia.

“So do not say or write what you feel, unless you are prepared to spend time in Kajang,” he said

Zaid said for the first time in history, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had publicly declared many times that the Malays and Islam were under threat.

He said the PM and the Home Minister were referring to non-Malays and non-Muslims as enemies of Islam and the Malays.

“It would be better to focus on intercommunal relationships at the grassroots level and show our leaders that we do not subscribe to their story.

“Show them that we are prepared to determine our future as a nation and who we are as a people. Let us craft an identity as Malaysians that is totally different from what they want to manufacture,” he said.