While I was waiting at the boarding gate transiting in Istanbul airport on my way back from Europe early October, I suddenly heard an announcement offering any passenger willing to spend a night in Istanbul free hotel accommodation, half-day city tour, €600 travel allowances, and guaranteed departure for Kuala Lumpur on the same flight the next day.

What a sweet offer! I almost wanted to stay back and explore this predominantly Muslim yet highly tolerant towards alcohol and incredibly secularized nation—if not because I had been away from home for some time and had to go back to office the next day.

Seeing how avidly Turkey is promoting its tourist industry while some in our country are so much engrossed in harping on alcohol—from accusations hurled at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture for the alcohol served in an official event, to PAS lawmakers pressuring Malaysia Airlines to serve chendol in the place of alcohol onboard, and controversy over the serving of alcohol at Chinese school halls—as if all of a sudden everyone is fiercely upholding the sanctity of the Islamic faith while in reality they are unknowingly throwing themselves into the trap already set up by PAS.

The mastermind behind the creation of such issues is no other than the party overflowing with confidence to recapture Putrajaya come the 16th general election!

The Islamic party will never win the trust and support of the Malaysian Chinese community if it refuses to embrace moderation and continues to cook up religious sentiment.

Many are unperturbed by the claim of a “PAS trap,” but in the prevailing political race for religious supremacy, PAS’ rivals are left with hardly any choice but to echo the “political correctness” aura, and this has directly or indirectly helped boost the green wave!

Sure enough Anwar Ibrahim is aware of this set-up, but he consciously opts to jump into it, even to bring in the non-existent “gambling” into parliamentary debates with the conspicuous motive of courting the country’s enormous Muslim electorate.

Such antics will not benefit anyone, but could potentially drain Pakatan’s otherwise solid Chinese support base, further shaking the country’s already vulnerable intercommunity harmony and mutual trust while entrenching non-Muslim Malaysians’ anxiety over their rights.

As a matter of fact, Anwar could have insistently safeguarded Pakatan’s multiculturalism advocacy, given that he already enjoys quite substantial Malay support.

Even though more and more people are convinced that a sizable chunk of Malay voters will drift towards the green wave in the next election, but as prime minister, Anwar should have full confidence in himself and his Unity Government. Dancing to the green wave’s tunes will not improve his prospects but will more likely end him up nowhere!

There are plenty of Muslims who support moderation in the Malay society, and Anwar should as such refrain from excessively engaging in PAS’ Islamization drive as this will scare off urban and semi-urban moderate supporters.

Anwar should fight off green wave the moderate way, and safeguard the country’s hope and future with the spirit of multiculturalism.

We all know that secularization began its retreat the moment Tun Mahathir proclaimed Malaysia as “Islamic state” during his first term as prime minister. What has since taken over is the growingly conservative religious overtone. And this, in a way, is heralding the strengthening advances of PAS’ green drive!

Such an intense race for religious supremacy has not only put the country’s non-Muslim population under tremendous stress, but has also subjected Muslims themselves to the stark reality of being constantly monitored and restrained. Many are now finding themselves unable to do many things they were once allowed to.

Whether you like it or not, so long as you are a Muslim—and it doesn’t even matter if you are a prime minister or a nobody in the street—you are obliged to join the race to excel in religious devoutness, and thus help pave the way for the green wave to infinitely inflate!

In recent months, people have been thinking naively that the once menacing green wave is finally ebbing. What I have seen, though, tells a very different story!

The green wave has never taken a breather in the least, and is indeed still very much charging ahead!

Whether you like it or not, so long as you are a Muslim—and it doesn’t even matter if you are a prime minister or a nobody in the street—you are obliged to join the race to excel in religious devoutness, and thus help pave the way for the green wave to infinitely inflate!

Without the faintest doubt, PAS is the primary beneficiary in this whole Islamization drive!

What other options do Chinese Malaysians, as non-Muslims, have in store? It’s impractical for us to continually concede our rights, which we must timely voice up and defend under reasonable and legalized premises.

Chinese parties in the ruling coalition must never think they can get things sorted out merely through compromise and concession.

For so many years non-Muslim communities on Peninsular Malaysia have stayed consciously hypersensitive to Muslim dietary taboos. They will never take pork or alcohol when sitting at the same table with Muslims in a show of respect.

However, we have also seen in similar occasions where beef is served that Buddhists and Hindus hardly feel offended, choosing instead to respect the dietary preferences of other guests, so long as they themselves refrain from consuming beef.

In view of this, in a multiracial, multireligious and multicultural society like ours, “respect” and “tolerance” must be reciprocal, and no party should take the respect shown by another for granted, less so to interfere with other people’s dietary choices and lifestyles.

Confucius taught us: Don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you. Perhaps Anwar, who habitually quotes great ancient teachers, should convey the wisdom of this timeless Confucian teaching to those who keep pressuring a liquor ban from him.

Anwar’s performance in the 47th ASEAN Summit—especially in bringing about the Thai-Cambodia peace deal—is nothing short of exemplary.

He reiterated during the summit the importance of understanding, dialogue, trust, unity and empathy, and stressed in the Kuala Lumpur Declaration that diversity is not the root of division.

This has not only put Malaysia back on the global stage, but also projected Anwar’s international leadership.

Having said that, the real test bed is right within our shores!

Anwar should persistently defend such convictions and firmly reject extreme religious narratives. He should guide Malaysian society back to progressiveness, and not to allow the radicals to have their way and ruin this blessed land of harmony and solidarity.

As people who hold dearly the attributes of peaceful coexistence and cultural diversity, we envy Sarawak where diners of different faiths can sit peacefully at one table and enjoy their respective favorite foods or drinks without questioning religious permissibility.

But over here in West Malaysia, if even mutual tolerance has become such an arduous tall order, I doubt whether empathy can still be that final link which bridges peoples of a culturally heterogenous nation!