Not many will know Anzor Maskhadov, who was in Malaysia in the early 2000s ostensibly to study, but it was also widely believed at the time that he was using the opportunity to be involved in networking. The only thing was his agenda was never entirely clear.

His father Aslan Maskhadov  was a Chechen militant leader fighting for the independence of Chechnya from Russia. After Maskhadov Sr was killed by Russian special forces in March 2005, the son issued a statement from abroad indicating his wish to carry his father’s torch.

Now, one would wonder why the Malaysian government then led by Mahathir Mohamad would have permitted the son of a notorious insurgent with dodgy links to move freely within our borders in the first place. Mahathir had told the press that it was a “humanitarian move”, but using Malaysia’s sanctuary for the family of a Chechen leader would no doubt help enhance Mahathir’s image as a patron of a ‘Muslim’ cause.

Although Maskhadov eventually left the country, allegedly due to pressures from Moscow and at a time when Mahathir was also eyeing lucrative arms deals with the Russians, the fact remains that Malaysia became a conduit for terrorist activities all in the name of Islam.

Lest we forget, two terrorists involved in the Sept 11 attacks in New York, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, had used Kuala Lumpur as a meeting point for their plots.

Under Mahathir’s administration, Malaysia became more Islamic-centric. To portray himself as a prominent leader of the Islamic world, Mahathir never hesitated to champion the Palestinian cause and to play host to major Muslim events.

This and of itself is not wrong. After all, the way the Israelis oppress the Palestinians and the senseless wars pursued by the United States and its allies on Afghanistan and Iraq, killing millions of innocent lives, are indeed appalling and outrageous.

However, Mahathir’s obsession with the ‘Muslim victimhood’, readily carried on by his successors, has resulted in Malaysia’s discomforting ambivalence towards atrocities committed by other Muslim leaders, from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan to Egypt, you name it.

Many a time, Malaysia is conspicuous by its silence when it comes to terrorist attacks in the name of jihad, as compared to the strong condemnations issued whenever attacks against Palestinians or other Muslim communities happen.

Take Russia again for example. Doku Umarov is another Chechen warlord who styles himself as the leader of the Caucasus Emirate.
For years, Umarov has been instrumental in a series of bombings across Russia and is responsible for the deaths of many, including the Nord-Ost theater crisis in 2002, the Beslan school tragedy in 2004, as well as the terrorist attacks on the Moscow metro in 2010 and airport in 2011. He proudly states he is doing all this to “liberate” his Muslim brethren from the Russian yoke.

Muted response

In all these heinous crimes, the response of the Malaysian government has been muted. Things would obviously be very different it is the trigger-happy Israeli soldiers who shoot at Palestinian civilians, which occurs every now and then and never fails to arouse the ‘righteous wrath’ of Putrajaya.

Early this week, two consecutive suicide blasts rocked Russia’s southern city of Volgograd, just hundreds of kilometres from Sochi where the Winter Olympics will be held next month, claiming at least 30 lives and injuring many others. Given Sochi’s proximity to the restive North Caucasus, the possibilities of the atrocities being perpetrated by Muslim militants cannot be ruled out.

Again, Malaysia’s silence in this regard is worrying. Or perhaps Wisma Putra under Anifah Aman has been sleeping on the job.
Another side effect of this ‘Muslim victimhood’ is that even if Muslims had committed crimes against others, they can be forgiven in death. Not so for others.

Just witness how the remains of Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top were allowed a burial in their hometowns in Malaysia despite that the two terrorists were responsible for a string of bombings in Indonesia between 2002 and 2005, while Chin Peng’s ashes remain controversially prohibited and Malaysians emphatic for the Tamils in Sri Lanka are not allowed to commemorate the life of Velupillai Prabhakaran.

This is not to say the Muslim plight is a fiction or a myth. Still, Umno has been making it seem as if only the fate of the Muslims/Malays is worth defending, which is why those like Mahathir are only interested in highlighting the Palestinian issue but indifferent to the suffering of others that equally deserve the world’s attention.

Worse, this infatuation with the ‘Muslim victimhood’ has blinded them to the similarly horrendous, if not more, injustice on the part of Muslim leaders against their own people or others, precisely a reason why I have never taken Mahathir’s peace initiative seriously.

It is nothing but a vehicle for the megalomaniac man to feel good about himself, and cannot be counted on when the country faces a real constitutional, social or political crisis.

So, if you think the blatant intrusion on non-Muslim premises in recent days is bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet, for the worst is yet to come while we are barely a week into 2014, supposedly Visit Malaysia Year.


JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.