A declaration of war on Sultan Selangor – PAS have
insulted Islam and committed treason over Bon Odori...
In retaliation against Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor over the issue of Bon Odori, both the PAS Ulama Council and its women’s wing issued statements on Thursday (June 9) to urge Muslims not to participate in the Japanese festival. The order from the PAS Islamist political party “clashes” with a royal decree from the Selangor Palace which ordered the festival to proceed.
PAS Islamist party, clearly unhappy with the Sultan Selangor, said – “The PAS Ulama Council is urging Muslims not to attend the Bon Odori Festival because of the religious elements in the event. Although there are ‘views’ that say the festival is only related to Japanese culture, it does not in any way dismiss concerns that the event still contains elements of Buddhist religious rituals”.
PAS Ulama chief Ahmad Yahya said – “This is in line with statements issued by the Religious Affairs Minister (Idris Ahmad), muftis and religious experts. Their positions are based on public interest so that people do not fall into traps that could lead to a violation of aqidah (faith). The reasoning that this is a Japanese cultural event is not merit enough for it to be considered together”.
It appears that Malay-Muslim radicals have declared war on the Malay Monarch. The dispute over Bon Odori started on June 6 when Idris Ahmad, Religious Affairs Minister, advised Muslims not to participate in the upcoming festival (in Selangor on July 16) as it contains elements of other religions – based on a study conducted by JAKIM (Malaysian Islamic Development Department).
PAS young women’s wing – Ameerah Malaysia – has gone to the extent of banning the dance altogether, saying it is “haram” or forbidden for Muslims to participate in a religious festival that honours the spirit of the departed. The next day (June 7), Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor told Muslims not to participate the Bon Odori festival for fear it could lead to “syirik” (polytheism).
However, the Sultan of Selangor issued a decree on June 8 to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) not to obstruct “anyone” from attending the festival. Not only Sultan Sharafuddin decreed the religious department to hand off Bon Odori, the monarch has also expressed his displeasure over the dubious study done by JAKIM to ban the Japanese traditional festival.
But the Malay Sultan was not done with the radical, extremist and narrow-minded PAS leaders, who often act as if they are the messenger of God. The religious department was shocked when Sultan Sharafuddin ordered officers from JAIS and the Shah Alam City Council to attend Bon Odori to see with their own eyes what actually happens during the dance festival.
The royal decree has caught PAS (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) radicals with their pants down. If they keep quiet, not only it will undermine Religious Affairs Minister Idris Ahmad’s power and Islamic credential, but also proves that PAS leaders are a bunch of fake holy men. But at the same time, the royal decree is seen as a humiliation that cannot be ignored by the political animals.
Bon Odori Festival - 16 July 2022
Hence, a day after what the arrogant PAS leaders saw as Sultan Sharafuddin’s interference in Islamic affairs – which PAS falsely considered as its jurisdiction – the Islamist political party decided to retaliate. The party, led by president Abdul Hadi Awang, wanted to teach the Malay Ruler a lesson so that the monarch knows his real place, and not to lecture PAS in the future.
First, the latest statement from PAS clearly indicates that “views” (from Sultan Selangor) were not only wrong, but was rubbished as nothing but an ignorant personal opinion of the Sultan because PAS insists that Bon Odori still contains elements of Buddhist religious rituals – despite the fact that the dance festival had never misled a single Muslim for the past 45 years since it was held in 1977.
Second, in urging Muslims not to attend the Bon Odori Festival, PAS is flexing its muscle to show that Sultan Sharafuddin is powerless against the Islamist party extremists. It also sends a dangerous message that Malaysian Muslims can ignore not only the Sultan Selangor’s current decree, but also any future royal decree – if PAS is unhappy and disagrees with the Malay Ruler.
Third, the statement was deliberately issued by PAS Ulama Council to send a message that the entire political party was behind Religious Affairs Minister Idris Ahmad, who is also the vice president of PAS. To further insult the Selangor Sultan, the statement specifically said the rejection of the royal decree has the approval from muftis and religious experts.
Idris Ahmad - Religious Affairs Minister
Fourth, by creating a perspective as if PAS has the full support of all the so-called muftis and religious experts in the country against the royal decree to allow Bon Odori to proceed, PAS is trying to usurp the powers of the Sultan Selangor. PAS is trying to ridicule Sultan Sharafuddin as someone not qualified and gullible in matters of Islam, even though he is the head of Islam in his own state.
Fifth, by challenging the sultan, PAS effectively says JAKIM should obey and report directly to it. This screams treason and treachery because Sultan Sharafuddin was appointed by the Conference of Rulers in March 2020 as chairman of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI), where the prime minister was demoted as deputy and JAKIM is under the sultan’s jurisdiction.
Sixth, not only Sultan Selangor is being attacked by the extremists, PAS has actually attacked all the nine Malay Rulers, including the Agong (King). This can be seen after PAS Ulama chief Ahmad Yahya said besides Selangor, other states should emulate the Kelantan government’s decision to ban the Bon Odori dance as a cultural performance event.
Malaysia Monarchies - Sultans
Crucially, an attack on Sultan Selangor is also an attack on all the Malay Rulers due to the position of Sultan Sharafuddin as the chairman of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI). Essentially, PAS leaders have not only insulted Malay Rulers, but also insults Islam – breaching the Constitution that says Sultan is the Head of the Islamic religion.
One of the reasons why PAS Islamist party has been so daring in attacking the Sultanate of Selangor is because all the nine Malay Rulers mind their own business. For instance, in the case of Bon Odori festival, neither Sultan of Johor nor Sultan of Perak, two of the most outspoken sultans, have defended multiculturalism, let alone defending their fellow royal brother Sultan Selangor.
To make matters worse, Raja Perlis has chosen to keep quiet despite the spread of extremism and radicalization in the monarch’s own state. That emboldened Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin to join the Bon Odori bandwagon for some 5-minute fame. The infamous racist and radical mufti has a laughable suggestion – the Japanese festival changes its name to “avoid confusion”.
Mufti Asri argued that the name change – such as Japanese Festival instead of Bon Odori – will avoid confusing the event with the original Japanese celebration that has “elements of syirik (idolatry) and khurafat (superstition)”. Based on his logic, if pork changes its name to special potato, it would automatically become halal (permissible) and safe to be consumed by Muslims.
But the burning question is this – where are all the defenders of Muslims, Islam and Malay Rulers? If it was the DAP (Democratic Action Party) who had challenged the Sultan Selangor, all hell will break loose and Malay extremists would stir up racial and religion sentiments among the Malays that the Muslims and Malay Rulers have been insulted by the “Chinese, Christians and Communists”.
Hilariously, when it was the PAS Islamist party that has insulted, disrespected, defied and attacked a Malay Sultan, not a single leader from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) or Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) has stepped forward to condemn the rude PAS-Muslim leaders. Every UMNO-Malay and Bersatu-Malay leader has gone underground, pretending that nothing had happened.
Where is “Bossku” Najib Razak or UMNO president Zahid Hamidi? Not even “Malay first” Muhyiddin Yassin (president of Bersatu) or Prime Minister Ismail Sabri wishes to defend the Malay Ruler, let alone Mahathir Mohamad, chairman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Homeland Fighters’ Party). Likewise, Anwar Ibrahim – opposition leader and PKR president – prefers to zip his mouth.
And where is the corrupt and double-standard Royal Malaysia Police who would not think twice about arresting DAP, non-Malay or opposition leaders at lightning speed without the need to be told so whenever the subject of Malay Rulers is involved? Ahh, that’s because PAS is part of the government today and therefore, the Islamist political party is untouchable.
Sultan Sharafuddin, who supported the Perikatan Nasional backdoor government formed by Muhyiddin Yassin in March 2020 despite the dubious majority support commanded by the traitor, should realize by now the consequences of installing power-crazy leaders like Muhyiddin Yassin, Hadi Awang and UMNO-Malays. They had never been loyal to the Malay Monarch in the first place.
Like it or not, the Malay Rulers should also realize that if the extremists and radicals are not stopped, they would be emboldened to snatch more power. The Bon Odori episode could be the first step towards the “Iranian Revolution” in Malaysia – the 1979 revolution in Iran that saw how the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. - FT
