“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”

- Robert F Kennedy

COMMENT | In a recent piece attempting to explain the continued coddling of Abdul Hadi Awang by the state, P Ramasamy, one of the few truth-tellers in Pakatan Harapan, wrote: “It is the political system in the country premised on racism and religious bigotry that enabled a person like Hadi to make nonsensical remarks and get away with them.”

While rational people would not find anything objectionable about that statement, the reality is that the political system is made up of the establishment and the opposition and tragically for decent Malaysians, the system is based on using an interpretation of religion to narcotise the majority in this country.

Any attempt by anyone to question this status quo is immediately sanctioned by the state and people will retreat to made-up terms like Islamophobia to stomp out rational discussion.

Demagogues, the world over, of course, target minorities