The Malay-Muslim mind has always been harping over the fact that human life must centre on good morality, good behaviour, and good deeds. ‘Amri bil maaruf, nahi an almunkar’, they say, that is to say ‘do good and if you can’t do good , do not do bad’.

Entire other civilisations not embracing this philosophy, like the modern human civilisation, have been categorised by this mental frame as immoral, corrupt, oppressive, and suppressive.

Such civilisations are deemed more or less as useless and impure; avoid them at all costs. Good morality is all that matters to this mind frame.

Suddenly, the Bagan Pinang by-election looms in the horizon. The Barisan Nasional coalition, or at least its most influential partner, Umno, has to look for a candidate that fits in with this mental frame. It went looking for one suitable candidate, one who has good morality, good behaviour, and most of all clear of corruption.

Horror upon horror, there was none to be found!

So Umno chose Mohd Isa Samad, a political bigwig, but on clear public record to be guilty of corruption before and even punished for it.

That in itself is a let down to the great Islamic philosophy mentioned above.

But wait, for there’s more. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in his great wisdom, defended this choice whilst in Paris. He said and this has been widely quoted, that Isa’s corrupt background is a ‘technicality’, and in any case, he has paid the price for it.

In the event, corruption is now a technical, not moral, issue. From the moral angle, Isa is not guilty of any crime, and his record is otherwise as crystal clear as the murky waters of Port Dickson.

Even more perplexing is the fact that the guardians of the virtuous non-corrupt Islamic way of life, like the ulama and the muftis; and religious organisations like Jais and MACC, have been utterly silent on this big insult to Islam.

These people and institutions have been constant in their call for Malaysia to be made into an Islamic state. One would think they should prepare their groundwork now. They have been reprimanding people for 'insulting Islam' for lesser immoral actions.

Only that they don’t, but instead go chasing after helpless part-time models for drinking beer in public, cane them good and proper, and other petty inconsequential actions. They certainly do not look inward to realise they themselves are 'insulting Islam'.

How do we explain all these contradictions to our children and grandchildren? How do we explain this to the corrupt, immoral, oppressive and suppressive non-Malay-Muslims as well as the international community?