Bye-Bye to Politics of Ethnicity and “Divide and Rule” Mindset
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‘Why fear snap polls, Najib?’
May 14, 2009
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today challenged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to hold a snap elections in Perak to solve the political crisis in the state.
“I want to ask why he is afraid of holding an elections?” he told the some 3,000 people who packed the Civic Centre Hall in Petaling Jaya tonight (May 13). Anwar’s question riled up the supporters, who responded with a deafening ‘Najib salah’ (Najib is wrong). The premier is credited with masterminding the political coup in Perak.
The Opposition Leader also stressed that it is the right of the people to decide on who should rule their state. “It has been three months (since the Barisan Nasional takeover), but we still do not know who is the Perak leader. “We endorsed (Mohammad) Nizar (Jamaluddin as MB) and UMNO endorsed Zambry (Abd Kadir).
“It is not for the court of law or the palace to decide who should be MB, this should be decided by the people’s court,” he said to resounding cheers. Anwar also described Nizar as the new ‘Bendahara Tun Perak’.
Anwar had arrived together with Nizar and DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang at about 8.30pm for the forum on the May 13, 1969 racial riots. The trio were greeted by a thunderous applause from the crowd, which spilled over onto the road below while others were contented with even sitting on the floor.
Anwar said the government had coined numerous slogans such as ‘Islam Hadhari’ and ’1Malaysia’ but there were no policy changes. “Malaysia does not need new slogans but rather new policies and programmes for all its people,” he said.
He added that these policies must consider the interest of all races including the poor and marginalised.
‘Bye-bye racism’
Meanwhile, Nizar said the BN conspiracy – which saw ‘millions being offered’ to opposition assemblypersons – began immediately after Pakatan won the state in the last elections. “There were two men and one woman who jumped (to BN),” he said, to a loud ‘boo’ from the crowd, in reference to the three Pakatan representatives whose defection caused the downfall of the state government.
On the May 13 racial riots, which is the topic of tonight’s event, the PAS leader said communal politics was a legacy of the colonial masters, which is now continued by UMNO. Nizar ended his speech with the words “bye-bye perkauman (racism)”.
Lim Kit Siang, on the other hand, described May 7 (the chaotic Perak state assembly sitting) as a ‘day of infamy’ and described it the new May 13. He said that day saw Pakatan’s ousted speaker V Sivakumar dragged out of the assembly and TV stations barred from airing the footage. “There is no May 13, but there is the embarrassing May 7,” he said.
Lim was also puzzled over the expeditious manner in which the Court of Appeal had granted a stay of execution order with regards to the High Court’s decision to declare Nizar as the rightful menteri besar. The veteran politician took a swipe at Zambry, calling him “3 in 1 – Mandela, Gandhi and Zambry.”(Laughter)
The forum called ‘From May 13 to 1Malaysia: The Future of Nation Building’ was organised by the office of the Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lau Weng San.
End of racial politics in Malaysia??
Ask me again once PKR, DAP and PAS merge to form one political party. As it is there is no change from the old formula to the new. It is but a variation of the old formula. Same wine in a new bottle.
Mr Bean - May 14, 2009 at 7:24 am
My wife, Dr. Kamsiah and I attended the forum at the PJ Civic Center titled “From May 13 to 1Malaysia” which featured some very interesting speakers with Opposition Leader and PKR’s Ketua Umum Anwar Ibrahim leading the pack. They included:
* YB Lim Kit Siang
* YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin
* Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim
* YB Khalid Abd. Samad
* K. Ragunath, New President of the Malaysian Bar Council
* Justice (rtd) N.H.Chan
* Universiti Malaya Law Prof. Azmi bin Sharom
* Tricia Yeoh
Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad who served under the Late Tun Razak at the time of May 13, 1969 and was supposed to be one of the speakers did not turn up. That was unfortunate as this shifty former politician turned political analyst and commentator could have given us his insider view of what actually happened on that fateful day when lives of innocent Malaysians were lost in what is now accepted as an UMNO staged racial riots which also triggered Tunku Abdul Rahman’s resignation and the political ascendency of Tun Abdul Razak and the Malay Ultras which included Dr. Mahathir..
The message from this successful formum was very clear. All the speakers agreed that the ghost of May 13, 1969 has been expunged. It saw its last days at Bukit Gantang when Nizar Jamaluddin won the recent Parliamentary by-election with a convincing margin. The era of ethnic politics too is over because Malaysians reject it. As a result, the days of UMNO-BN rule are numbered. The way forward is, therefore, the politics of national unity in diversity (Tunku Aziz). Multiracial political parties are in, so UMNO, MCA and MIC are out and Najib will be the last UMNO-BN Prime Minister (Nizar Jamaluddin).
All the speakers ended their 10 minute presentation on a very optimistic note that 1-Malaysia is a Malaysian Malaysia with Opportunities and Justice for All. Jibes at Najib and the UMNO-BN he leads drew lots of laughter and boos. The loudest boos were for the illegitimate Menteri Besar of Perak, Zambry Abdul Kadir, who described himself as Malaysia’s Gandhi and Mendala.–Din Merican
dinobeano - May 14, 2009 at 7:30 am
True, but there’re some Malays who would always utter the phrase, “stupid malays, they quarrel among themselves and the chinese clap their hands”..this is a very annoying phrase because it shows how they perceive the “other side’. As if all Chinese love to see Malays disintegrate so that they would take advantage of it. Isn’t that racial? Do you still think that all Chinese come with bad intentions? Would you dare perceive your Chinese friends at work that they are about to colonize you? I think some Malays are still living in illusion..the one created by UMNO to divide and rule us, the rakyat.
_________
Zane, we must start thinking as Malaysians. The question before us is: do we want UMNO to continue to divide and rule us? After 51 years, we have had enough of UMNO’s games, say Perak MB Nizar at yesterday’s forum in Petaling Jaya. I think so too, and we must move forward. We are Malaysians.
A Malaysian Malaysia is what we must work towards, where there is opportunity and justice for all. As Anwar also said at the forum and during his ceramahs throughout the length and breadth of our country, “Anak Melayu anak saya, Anak Cina anak saya, Anak India anak saya, Anak Kadasan dan Iban anak saya, semua tanggungjawab saya.” Najib’s 1Malaysia like Islam Hadhari is a slogan, pure and simple.—Din Merican
Zane - May 14, 2009 at 8:14 am
Don’t blame it all on UMNO. Even UMNO would need something to work on. Work on that which parties like UMNO needs. Work on whatever they need so as to make it politically irrelevant.
For as long as leaders of the three parties talk to the base of their parties in terms of what they could do and what the other two could not be relied to do for them and so long as ‘progress’ is seen in terms of a zero sum game, racial politics will continue and race will continue to be a factor. What keeps the three parties together at present is their distaste for the UMNO brand of abuse of power and corruption. If UMNO were to implode under its own weight so to speak, there would be nothing to hold the tripartite alliance together. What then??
For as long as progress is seen in terms of a zero sum game, Malays divided will be seen as a weakness to be exploited and Malays united will mean a source of strength to be used to their advantage and to the detriment of the other races. To deny the fact that many Malays today think united they stand and divided they will fall would be to deny the truth. – and you cannot hope to solve anything by denying the truth and its premise. You do it by first accepting the truth however painful it may be and then you take it from there.
Mr Bean - May 14, 2009 at 10:31 am
Dear all, If you you really want change, the single most important thing you can do is to get all Malysians to register as voters. There are millions (especially younger malaysians) who have not registered. It takes less than 5 mins at any post office to do it. Get your children, cousins, gf,bf, parents, friends etc to go and register. The in GE13, we will get the change we want!
Subramaniam Pillay - May 14, 2009 at 10:59 am
I don’t know about you. But everytime I want change I’d go to the woman selling kacang puteh at the corner and she never fails to give me change.
Mr Bean - May 14, 2009 at 5:56 pm
PR needs to take a bold move to change itself to align with the aspiration of Malaysian Malaysia. One of the areas I can think of is to hold primary election before the general election among the 3 PR’s parties. For a starter, we could limit the primary election to those seats that are having somewhat equal number of supporters of the respective parties. The candidates will learn in practice how to earn the support not only its own parties members, but also the members of other parties in the PR. Once a pattern of how to play this game is clear, we could expand the primary election to other areas including the president of PR eventually. At some point, dissolving the parties in the PR is just a natural occurance rather than a herculeus task. BN, expected to be slower learner, might also catch on.
Shiou - May 15, 2009 at 3:03 am
Real change will only come when race is no longer a word used to define Malaysians of different genetic makeup. We need to change the mindset that there is a difference in being Malay or Chinese or Indian or other ethnic origins when it comes to education, jobs and any reference in our birth certificates, passports and any documents that reflects a racial definition. It is just not NEP, DEP or whatever dog eat dog programs that will evolve out of economic necessity in fostering more equitable wealth distribution. The entire system of classifying our people must be changed if we truly want to be united, and truly be Malaysians.
james chua - May 15, 2009 at 11:48 am
It is sad when Malaysians abroad say they are Malaysians, NOT Indian or Chinese or Malay. But when we come back to our country, we are a different race that can’t unite with each other. Government and Oppositions are looking out for their own self interests not for the people regardless what they say. so i say screw both TEAMS and stop watching the stupid politicians blaming each other and making a fool out of themselves.
We cant live without each other. BBC made a case study as to why Malaysia is so maju compared to an African country, where we both got the independence at the same time from British. Chinese and Indians run the private sector while the Malays run the government. We cant live Without the government nor the private sector.Its a symbiosis relationship. ALL races contribute to their own race AND to the country, Malaysia and there is nothing wrong with that.
The current politicians forget how much our grandparents/ parents struggle to get our independence from the British. We had to unite because we focused on wanting the Independence and wanting OUR country to ourselves. and now when Malaysia is very developed, all they care about is money and power which leads to corruption.
As a Malay, I don’t see the advantages of Hak Melayu because from my own personal experience, UMNO did not help malays whos in need, but only care about their own agendas. Hak Melayu/Bumiputra helped the Malays in the 60s, 70s and 80s but not now. So, I am in the same boat as other non-malays. There is no such thing as hak melayu for the malays. As for the opposition party, they are united because they desperately need to topple the government, BUT they cant even get along because each of the opposition party has their own ideology on running the country. So now what??
The question is, its not even about the race anymore but it is how corrupted our politics are. The politicians are using racial issues to get more votes so they can win and get in power and have more money. So, no..I am not voting until those idiotic politicians fight for Malaysia like how our Grandparents fight for our Independence from the British.
The End..:)
Maya Ashikin - June 16, 2009 at 2:09 am
Hmm.. another thing..why dont all of us rakyat biasa go underground and boycott the voting system? Basically not one of us vote and both the current government and the opposition parties will be like…oh crap what the hell? we only have 20 votes out of the whole population?
They wont be in power if its not for the rakyat’s votes AND they forget how significant we are in determining their positions. Maybe then they will hear us out???
just a wishful thinking..what say u?
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Change involves commitment, sacrifice and guts. When you boycott or quit, the battle is lost. Cynicism does not help. That is what I think.—Din Merican
Maya Ashikin - June 16, 2009 at 2:37 am