NST Leader: Sanusi lesson

But Sanusi should have seen it coming, if not before, at least after the government put a ban on politicisation of 3Rs — race, religion and royalty. We grant that it is in the nature of most politicians to be eristic, but the caretaker Kedah menteri besar appears to want to win every argument by courting controversy. As the nation recovers from his advancement of Kedah’s claim over Penang in May this year, here are two more controversial remarks by Sanusi that this newspaper published yesterday. They should have not been made by a state leader because they are divisive in nature. Not long after Sanusi took office as menteri besar, he allegedly labelled the leaders of MIC and DAP, two political parties, as being “drunk on toddy” when they protested against the demolition of a temple in Kedah. What could have been handled in a calm manner became an invitation to do battle with racial slurs in newspapers, news portals and social media. In that year in December, it appeared as if every race in this country hated each other. We thought Sanusi would have learned from this ugly episode, but sadly he didn’t. On July 12, when the scourge of corruption was making headlines, he claimed that non-Muslims were the ones who were mostly giving bribes. As expected, there was a fiery response of “show proof or apologise” from non-Muslim politicians. Once more, an unnecessary and even dangerous pursuit. Fortunately, this sensational episode didn’t descend into a racial sling match as the temple demolition case did.