The news of Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee’s fate circulated the net as they were charged under the Sedition act for their “Halal Bak Kut Teh” picture and under the Film Censorship act for their Sex Blog. Both can face up to 10 years in jail and up to RM 60,000 in total.
But aside from them, another prominent figure in the Malaysia was raised in Alvin’s lime light.
Dato Ibrahim Ali is a Malaysian politician and a former member of Malaysia’s parliament. He is a rather infamous figure in Malaysia’s politics and has made SEVERAL racist comments and acts during his career. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Ali_(Malaysia)
Some of the most infamous acts are:
(1) In April 2011, he made perceived sexist remarks in Parliament, blaming
"wives who neglect their responsibilities" for Malaysian men having extramarital sex.
(2) In May 2011, following the controversy over an alleged plot by Christians
in Malaysia to supplant Islam as the official religion in Malaysia which was
reported by Utusan Malaysia, Ibrahim threatened to wage "holy war" against
Christians.
(3) In June 2011, he allegedly warned the Chinese community not to turn up in
support of the 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally, saying that "untoward incidents" may occur.
(4) In January 2012 during an event celebrating the Chinese New Year, in an
incident which has come to be known as "white ang pow", he distributed small
monetary gifts that were contained within white envelopes instead of red
ones. White ang pows are customarily handed out only at funerals.
(5) In January 2013 Ibrahim Ali again courted intense public outrage when he
called on Muslims to burn Malay-language bibles containing the term "Allah"
in their texts. (Allah is not the name of the muslim faith’s god but rather
the Arabic language for god. Arabic Christians and Jews also used the word
Allah in their Holy text)
Till today, there has been no criminal prosecution made against him and authorities are reluctant to press any charges against him despite numerous police report made against him.
Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) parliamentarian members are questioning the ruling party’s swift and harsh action against Alvin Tan but neglect to do the same against Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali and his deputy Zulkifli Nordin.
“To maintain religion harmony, Muslims must respect the non-Muslims and vice-versa,” Mahfuz told a press conference in Parliament House today. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/07/17/pas-take-action-against-ibrahim-too/
Dato Ibrahim Ali made a statement in light of the recent case stating that his case is different from Alvivi’s case. In his statement, he defended that he is simply correcting an error in the Malay version of the Bible and burning it is the proper way to do so, just as one would do with the Quran, while Alvin has attacked another religion and threatened the interfaith harmony in Malaysia. He also added that his true intention was misinterpreted by the many internet news portals. http://my.news.yahoo.com/cant-compare-ibrahim-ali-alvivi-says-minister-104544748.html
I guess this just goes to show that your riches and status plays more key role in the justice system than the actual act itself. I would say that Malaysia’s politics are really corrupt if a bad dark humor gets severe punishment while REAL hate speech goes unpunished.
Mike
TRS Contributor