The rise of racism and the fall of Malay leadership

Ever since the unprecedented win of Pakatan Rakyat’s parties in the 2008 general election, the racists in DAP and PKR had relentlessly bombarded our minds with their own brand of racism.

What they were actually scheming was, is to incite more hatred towards the government. After winning 4 more states, they had up the ante in order to capture more would-be supporters.

They had just dented the two thirds majority of BN with the help of Pak Lah’s inadequacy in managing and providing pragmatic leadership to the country. Hence, these racists’ thirst for power had necessitate them to move towards the usual tactics of the opposition in pre May 1969. Accuse the coalition that had held in power of racist policy. The very policy that had worked well in Malaysia ever since the late Tunku shouted ‘Merdeka!’ in Stadium Merdeka.

Naturally, the half past six cabinet members were unable to defend these racists from damaging their policy further. What’s worse, the non Malay members of the cabinet and the coalition chose to wash their hands and blame the malay leaders for the racist policy!

Now, we have a handful number of hypocrites within both coalitions – the Pakatan Rakyat, and the BN. What do they have in common? Plainly speaking, they are selfish!

The original reason why the racists non Malays within the BN plunged a knife on the back of every Malay leader in the government is because they do not want to be associated with the highly inefficient and ineffective government of 2004 onwards.

They do not want to be held responsible for the loss of the two thirds majority. They were part of the government back then. Ong Tee Kiat, Chua Soi Lek, Samy Vellu, Liow Tiong Lai and the rest. They were all part of that government. They were all guilty. Guilty for being half past six. Along with other Malay leaders, they were all guilty for not castigating Pak Lah and his cronies. Guilty for not speaking up. Guilty for not correcting the wrongs. Guilty for being part of the massive and unprecedented corruption. Guilty for condoning blatant cronyism and nepotism. Guilty by association.

Guilty for being weak. What more, for being weak and corrupt.

And now, in order to wash their hands and hoping the people will forget their performance from 2004 onwards, they had jumped in the bandwagon and accuse their own coalition partners of racism. That was the original reason for this apparent insolence. These non Malay leaders within the government should be ashamed of themselves.

Subsequently, seeing this approach of accusing the government of racism (albeit by being racist bigots themselves) actually worked, all these non Malay leaders (the racist ones – from both opposition and BN), decided to question all the sensitive areas of our social existence. Nothing escapes them. The social contract, the Bahasa Melayu, our monarchy, the special position of the Malays and even the status of our nation’s official religion. All these areas are being questioned incessantly by these insensitive agents of disunity.

Yes, they wish we forget about history. And they had hoped we all will be sidetracked from seeing their ultimate goal – the systematic dismantling of Malay leadership.

It is not easy to forget history. Especially if we love this country.

From it, we can learn the intricacies and the delicate thing on how to be a Malaysian. Which incidentally, is the very fact that all those racist bigots failed to understand (eventhough after been living in Malaysia all their lives).

I cannot stress this more. History must be a compulsory subject for all students in Malaysia from the moment they learn how to read. Currently, there seems to be an effort by certain parties which do not favour Malaysians to learn from history. Apparently, this people want our children just to look forward instead of learning something about the country’s past.

Wong Chun Wai wrote in his weekly column;

“Drumming up racial fears from the perceived or make-believe threat of losing one’s identity, economic position, race and language has been used before but it looks very much out of sync today. It cannot be more of the same.

Young voters and the shifting middle ground are just not interested in squabbles of the past and cultural wars, which never seem to be resolved or are resurrected endlessly by our politicians.

Worse, some younger politicians are echoing the elders, presumably to be in line, and are still telling us to read our history books. The only problem is that some of these history lessons are not even in the textbooks.

More importantly, if some of our politicians do not change, if they continue to use the political formula of the past, they could end up as history.”

For what is worth, the history of our nation, for good or for worse is ours to keep. Our own to cherish and to belong to. Our rich history of the past is our most prized possession.

The recent arguments about the existence of vernacular schools, had caused much furore and anxiety among these racists. They had realised that hammering the calls of unity and equality eventually ring hollow in the ears of their supporters when they were put to task by the suggestion of streamlining the education system into national schools.

Suddenly they backtracked their calls and wanted things to be as it is. Status quo. After months of being selfish and thick skinned when demanding for the abolishment of Malay special privileges, they now sensed that their hypocritical approach is being laid bare by a simple suggestion of integration.

We can see further how desperate these people are when they even accuse this call for closer integration and unity among races is actually a call for further disunity! They had even wanted certain Malay leaders to be arrested under the Sedition Act! They think we are that stupid.

Since we have established that status quo was also what these opposition members are defending, then we must ask ourselves, are their slogans and chants for freedom, equality, meritocracy, unity and Bangsa Malaysia are sincere?

Or was it just a fake effort to gain political prominence and power?

Let us analyse the modus operandi of this clustered group of people in dismantling and usurping political power from the historical point of view. And let us draw parallel with the current situation we are experiencing now.

Let us look at Singapore.

The other day, in a dialog with Singaporean Malays, the Prime Minister of Singapore (Lee Hsien Loong) told them that Singapore is not yet ready to choose a non Chinese prime minister.

In other words, the majority people of the republic will be at the apex of political power for a very long time indeed. Needless to say, Lee Hsien Loong is confident that Singapore will always be in the controlling hands of the Chinese there.

Even though the composition of the populace differs greatly between Singapore and Malaysia, there are several links between the two. Historically and also in the context of its future political direction.

Many Malaysians especially the non Malays admire the leadership of Singaporean leaders although the PAP led government there are more intolerant to dissent and practices nepotism.

Hence, we come back to the issue of ‘racism’ within the current government. The manifestation of this misplaced diagnosis by the opposition has got nothing to do with the reality of the situation.

The question now is not about racism. That was just bait offered by the opposition. The real question now is about leadership.

Back in 1999 elections, Umno lost a lot of popular votes that it should have not been in power back then. The Malays left Umno due to the Anwar Ibrahim factor. What saved it was the non Malay votes. Through them, Umno and BN maintained two thirds majority and helped Malaysia to brave through the Currency Crisis successfully.

The non Malays did not see Umno as racist or practising racial based politics then. Even Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh lost their parliamentary seats back then. Remember?

The bare fact is, they trusted Tun Dr Mahathir. They trusted him to bring Malaysia back to its feet successfully. That was a fact. It was all about leadership. Or else, how could the non Malays voted in a ‘dictator’ who was both ‘racist’ and ‘corrupt’ like him since 1981?

Same goes to Lee Kuan Yew and to a lesser extent, Lee Hsien Loong. The non Malays especially the chinese here in Malaysia have this illogical reverence and respect towards them. But the fact is, Singapore is the exact opposite of what the opposition is preaching to us. It is autocratic and has even more punishing laws that curb freedom of speech.

But they still revere Lee Kuan Yew as if he is the best leader in the world. Why? Simply because of his leadership quality. Lee Kuan Yew can keep them in cages and they would still kiss his boots.

It all boils down to leadership. All the mumbo jumbo about racism and fight for more freedom are side issues. A red herring.

Pak Lah and his band of merry men did not offer any kind of leadership since Tun Dr Mahathir left. And this is what Malaysia is getting itself into since the last general election.

Today, there are even some Malays who are influenced by these subversive elements that hail the virtues of ‘fair and meritocratic’ Singapore.

These subversive elements kept harping on the fact that Singapore’s 1st President was Yusof Ishak without even analysing why and how he became the President and why there are no more Malays appointed to that ceremonial role anymore.

They also did not emphasise on how the Malays there are marginalised economically and politically.

I do not wish to detail out the aspects of their economy here. Suffice to say that business wise, any enterprise needs to have the right opportunity and massive networking in order to be successful. How many Malays, as the minority people, had received and acquired those two factors when doing business there? Are they been given ample space and opportunity to embark on a business venture there?

If in the area of economy the Malays need to have those two elements, then in the area of politics, the Malays there would have to rely on the voice of majority.

In this context, the demography of the populace is as follows; 75% Chinese, 14% Malays and 9% Indians.

Consequently, what Hsien Loong had stated is quite appropriate vis-a-vis the huge chinese population. Therefore, the Singaporean premiership will always be in the hands of the chinese.

But, the Malays are the 2nd biggest majority in the country. However, they are largely being marginalised by their very own government which I suspect, is much more comfortable with the indian community than the malay community.

My suspicion is further accentuated by the fact that the Malays there hold only ONE cabinet portfolio eventhough they are 14% of the population. The Indians there meanwhile holds the Deputy Prime Minister post, and 3 other ministerial portfolios.

Thus, even when the indians are only 9% of the population, they receive higher representation within the republic. In other words, Singapore do not practise the concept of fairness at all!

Since Hsien Loong thinks that the chinese will always be the prime minister of Singapore because they are the majority people, then the Malays there should be given more ministerial posts as they have a bigger number of people than the indians.

My conjecture about Singapore political affairs here is important for the Malays in Malaysia to ponder.

This is because the DAP, in collaboration with PKR and PAS, will be part of the government IF Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim becomes the prime minister.

For the uninitiated, DAP was established in 1965 after Singapore seceded from Malaysia. The PAP MP in the peninsular was left without any platform after the PAP was barred from entering Malaysia as the result of the secession. Thus DAP was born and the Malaysian Malaysia slogan was continued as their party struggle. The same slogan which is being pounded to our ears till this very day.

Hence, it is safe to say that DAP and PAP are from the same mould. Their political beliefs, party machinery and election mechanism are very much similar to each other. Even their logos are quite similar. More importantly, DAP’s vision of Malaysia would be the same like PAP’s vision of Singapore.

But how would this affect the Malays here in Malaysia?

This is where Malaysians need to be cognisant of history. The PAP was formed back in 1954 by a group of people including the late Tan Sri Samad Ismail. In fact the late Tan Sri was one of the original sponsor / backer of the newly established party.

When Pak Samad became increasingly popular and were seen as challenging Lee Kuan Yew’s position, the latter ensured that the former got arrested for charges relating to communism.

Lee Kuan Yew had accused Pak Samad as a communist sympathiser and it became a big issue in Singapore at that time. As the result, Malay political hegemony was ‘ruined’ though an organised public defamation exercise by Lee Kuan Yew.

Ironically, Lee Kuan Yew himself was not anti communist in his early political days. He was very friendly with the communists elements on the island in order to gain political mileage.

To fill the vacuum, Lee Kuan Yew had appointed several Malay politicians which did not have a huge Malay powerbase and support. These ‘token’ politicians were integrated within the PAP to fight for its vision for Singapore. In the end, these toothless Malay politicians had no choice but to follow the PAP leadership. What we see now today, is the culmination of a systematic marginalisation of Malays in Singapore. Being the 2nd biggest race there does not mean anything for it does not grant them any power as compared to the indian community.

The same tactic is being played out by the DAP in Malaysia just like how the PAP had done more than 50 years ago. Recently, DAP had exploited the stupidity of some Malaysians by appointing Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim as one of its vice presidents. The appointment was even hailed by Malay apologists such as Haris Ibrahim, Farish Noor and Din Merican as the dawn of non racial era.

Tunku Aziz’s presence in the DAP was exploited by the DAP leadership just to show that they are all for the multiracial and multiculturism concept and how the DAP is attracting Malays too.

Any astute observer can see that DAP was very happy in accepting Tunku Aziz as their vice president since he hold no influence over the Malay grassroot level here. With limited rapport with Malay grassroots, it is a suspect that he could even emphatise with the issues affecting the Malays such as poverty, the Malays’ special position, etc.

Deftly, the DAP had successfully pull the wool over the unsuspecting Malay eyes through their readiness in appointing a Malay as one of its vice presidents. It is no different with what the PAP had done in Singapore.

By appointing a ‘powerless’ Malay leader with no influence whatsoever over the Malay mass, the DAP somehow is trying to convince the majority Malays that they have the malay interest at heart.

But in reality, as what had happened in Singapore, the Malays will get more marginalised. Early signs had materialised in Pulau Pinang where the DAP is the current Chief Minister.

The first thing Lim Guan Eng had done is to appoint two deputy chief ministers (an Indian and a Malay). Inadvertently, the political hegemony of the minority Indians had been raised to the same level as the malay political hegemony in the island.

Another way to look at it, although Pulau Pinang has 41% malays there, Lim Guan Eng had diminished the political powers of the Malays there to the same level as the 10% minority indians of the island (chinese is at 42% of the population).

To add salt to the wound, the Malay deputy chief minister from PKR is now being portrayed as highly inefficient and not intelligent enough to be part of the island’s administration. He is shown as someone that pales in comparison with the other deputy chief minister (Prof. Dr. P. Ramasamy from DAP).

If the DAP tries to further impose meritocracy (and I think they will, just to justify their following actions), they will without a doubt remove the Malay deputy chief minister when the position of DAP is strengthened in years to come.

That way, what happened in Singapore will recur in Pulau Pinang and the Malays there will be marginalised politically after decades being marginalised economically. The Malays that are supporting Anwar and the PKR may not realise this current development. Even Anwar himself cannot contain the tide of the DAP because his hands are tied after selling his soul to these extremists. He is after all is being used as a ‘borrowed knife to kill’ off Malay leadership.

He is trapped with his own calls and promises of Ketuanan Rakyat and ‘multi racial politics’ of the DAP. These promises seem more fair and cut across a wide spectrum of audience. That is why, it is easy to penetrate the minds of young Malays who are very idealistic but sadly, lacking in their knowledge of history.

Unfortunately, these silly Malays do not realise how selfish these racist bigots are. Post PRU12 is an opportune time for them to takeover Malay leadership and they will not waste this advantage for their own self interests.

To digress a bit, it is just mind boggling to see a minority of a country, fights for segregation.

Everywhere else in the world, the minority actually fought and begged to be integrated with the majority. The Blacks in America fought over 200 years to finally be accepted by the majority. Previously, they were segregated – go to different schools, cannot board the same bus as the Whites, cannot vote, etc.

But here in Malaysia, the minority actually are fighting tooth and nail to be segregated! Not only that, they are fighting to undermine the Constitution by blackmailing the majority government to reverse its education policy.

Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks would have turned in their graves should Obama tried to segregate the African Americans from the whites.

Here we are the Malays since time immemorial had accepted other races into our fold. Take our sons, take our daughters. Marry them. We are happy to accept anyone as our own.

As compared to the Whites in America of the past who were very hostile towards any attempt of the Blacks to be integrated into their society, the Malays in Malaya and Malaysia are very accommodating to the non Malays.

Marry our kids. Set up your schools. Set up shops on our lands. Do not worry, we will be good customers for you. Be our representative in our constituencies. We will support you nevertheless.

In the end, all this deeds means nothing to these chauvinistic people. To them, they should strike when the Malay leaders are weak. They do not care about the sensitivities of the Malays. What the Malays think do not matter to them.

This is the mindset of the Malays when the irresponsible racists are taunting the Malay’s sensitivities.

Now, I may have stuck my neck out by this analysis. But I am certain any Malay leader worth his salt can extrapolate the situation in Pulau Pinang and in Malaysia for the next 20 to 50 years down the road if the Malays leaders kept on being weak and accomodating to these selfish, arrogant and insensitive racist bigots.

Thank you.