AALTHOUGH I am not a United States citizen, I do want to say that I hope Donald Trump will not succeed in his bid to become the Republican nominee for 2016 presidential election.
He is leading in opinion polls, which is worrying.
It would be worse still if he does become the next president of the US.
As we all know from TV news, Trump has been making outrageous statements about women and race, and this has upset Americans.
Mexicans are angry because he called the illegal immigrants
from there drug smugglers and rapists.
Women are disgusted that he made fun of one female reporter whom he disliked because of her tough questions, saying that women who are having their period tend to have blood burning in them, insinuating that the female reporter was angry because she was menstruating.
A Trump victory will be taken by our politicians and religious officials as a victory for them too, vindicating their rude remarks about women and their place in society, and supporting their
view that women are not fit to become leaders because they are not clean when they are menstruating.
Women members of parliament and social activists like Sisters
in Islam or Bersih leaders will be reminded of what Trump said of women being on fire when
they are menstruating and, therefore, are not to be taken
seriously.
Racists will quote Trump to justify all that they have been
saying about pendatang who rape our economy and steal from Malays.
They will say if it is respectable for “President Trump” to have said what he feels about immigrants and women during the heat of the election campaign, why should we treat our own politicians differently when they make outrageous statements to win an argument or get more votes?
Trump denies that he is insulting women and other races and says that he will take better care of women and all Americans when he is president.
It’s unlikely that a leopard can change its spots.
In Malaysia, our politicians and religious officials, too, are fond of backtracking when they face angry reactions from the public, often claiming they have been wrongly quoted.
The rogues among them will be quick to refer to religious texts to proclaim the dignity of women or the good side of democracy.
However, when cornered on the specifics, they will revert to dirty language again whenever they cannot win an intellectual argument on free and fair elections, freedom of expression and assembly, human rights and protection of women.
That’s exactly what Trump is. When he is cornered with a question and does not know the answer, he resorts to insults and foul language.
Sadly, there are many like him in our country.
TAN SRI MOHD SHERIFF MOHD KASSIM, KUALA LUMPUR