“Sometimes, in a place with a lot of gangsters, the leader needs to be one of the gangsters as well.”

- Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin on why Malaysia needs a Saddam Hussien

COMMENT | It does not surprise me one bit that Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin is part of the forces intent on keeping kidnapped children who were unilaterally converted from their birth mother. It should not surprise anyone that the Perlis Welfare Department, which is holding the kidnapped children, decided to use Covid as an excuse for not allowing Loh Siew Hong (the mother) to see her children but allowed Asri to have a meal with them.

What we are witnessing is kidnapping in broad daylight and the power of the state religious authority to circumvent civil laws. What we are witnessing is the last vestiges of moderate Malaysia ripped away over a satay meal with two kidnapped children and a religious operative who is enabling the criminality, not to mention immorality, of the perpetrators of this crime.

Imagine, the mother of these kidnapped children finally gets an hour with her kids with strict conditions including no photos, while Asri gets to have a meal with them and broadcast everything on his social media account. This is the kind of pettiness that only conniving bureaucrats display, not caring about how their behaviour is perceived because their behaviour is sanctioned by the state. This is the kind of blatant disregard of the laws of the land by religious operatives and state bureaucracies when it comes to the issue of unilateral conversion.

Asri apparently asked the underaged children if they were