KUALA LUMPUR - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad could have avoided all the brouhaha he caused over his comments made on the French had he responded in a more prudent manner, and “with love”.
PAS Supporters Wing (DHPP) information chief Dr Balachandran Gopal Krishnan said the former prime minister should have emulated the Prophet Muhammad’s approach to criticisms and tribulations, which was to forgive and to pray for the people’s wellbeing.
“I’m inspired by the prophet’s experience. He was spat on and had stones thrown at him. But what did he do? He forgave them because at the end of the day, hate cannot be responded by hate. Only love.
“As for Mahathir’s initial blog post (on Thursday), if it had been written out of love, certainly it couldn’t have been taken out of context,” he told The Vibes today.
Balachandran was referring to Mahathir’s statement yesterday that his initial comments about the French people, that “Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past”, was taken out of context.
The nonagenarian noted that many critics have ignored his second part of the paragraph which read: “But by and large the Muslims have not applied the eye for an eye law. Muslims don’t. The French shouldn’t.”
Mahathir’s hard-hitting blog post on Thursday came after French President Emmanuel Macron lambasted Islam and the Muslim community following the beheading of a teacher by a Muslim student, for showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
His harsh remarks sparked a furore in Malaysia and globally, many accusing the nonagenarian of condoning violence.
Balachandran said Mahathir should have instead issued a statement calling for all quarters to respect each other and look to resolve the manner in a more consultative manner.
“The whole uproar against Mahathir happened because he reacted. If he had kept his silence, prayed to God and embraced love, things would have subsided and whatever disputes could have been settled amicably,” he said.
ISTAC-IIUM Extremism Analytical Research Unit coordinator Assoc Prof Dr Danial Yusof said while most of Mahathir’s points in his blog post are representative of the history, he should have practised more restrain in his expression.
“As an elder and respected statesman in the global and “ummatic” context, I think his choice of words needed to have been more measured. Why use the word kill when it is more appropriate to use the terms reparation, compensation and justice?
“Isn't this more representative of Islam?” he said in a reply to The Vibes.
Danial expressed concern that Mahathir’s statement may be recontextualised to serve the interests of other radical and extremist groups.
“Such a sentence may be exploited to fuel hatred and promote violence and retaliation by both the state and radical groups.
“There is also the worry over how these kinds of sentences may be interpreted by former radical detainees and how it may even be used to justify their recidivism,” he said. - The Vibes, October 31, 2020
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