UMNO is a racist party, says PKR’s Azmin Ali
May 30, 2009
UMNO is a racist party, PKR leader tells Malays
Athi Veeranggan @www.malaysiakini.com
UMNO is a racist party that had divided and ruled Malaysia for more than 50 years by playing, albeit dangerously, the communal cards, accused a leading PKR leader.
Azmin Ali, a former UMNO leader who is now PKR Vice-President, said the ruling party had exploited the issue of income disparity for its
own ends and generated a fear syndrome among Malaysians.
“This has split Malaysians and the country along communal lines, which Pakatan Rakyat is now trying to mend. All Malaysians should reject UMNO’s racism and move ahead as one community, one nation,” the Gombak parliamentarian told a by-election rally in Kubang Semang, Penanti last night.
Describing the New Economy Policy (NEP) as a noble idea conceived to improve the standard of living of all poor Malaysians, he accused UMNO of abusing the policy to the extent that it had even marginalised the key target group, the Malays.
“The racist implementation of NEP has not only marginalised Indian and Chinese communities, but also the majority of the Malays,” he said, accusing UMNO of advocating patronage politics through NEP. “In then name of the Malays, UMNO has politicised the policy to benefit a handful few who have strong links to the ruling elites. UMNO’s racist policy has forsaken the majority of Malaysians, especially those from the lower-income group,” he told some 3,000-odd largely Malay crowd.
The by-election for the state seat of Penanti sees a four-cornered fight between PKR’s Mansor Othman and three independents – Aminah Abdullah, Kamarul Ramizu Idris and Nai Khan Ari.
Campaigning will end at midnight tonight and polling is tomorrow.
Back clean leaders, even if they’re non-Malay
Instead of helping poor Malays, Azmin alleged UMNO had preferred to keep squatter colonies for its political gains.He said UMNO had used the poor living condition of Malay squatters as bait to fish votes during elections by making “empty promises of aid and development”.
“Don’t ever think that all Malays benefited from NEP. The majority of them were sidelined and neglected while only a selected few gained from it,” accused Azmin, who is also the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyperson.
Calling for the dismantling of the NEP, he said Pakatan would replace it with a new national economic agenda that would “manage, distribute and share the country’s wealth equally among all Malaysians”. Azmin called on the Malays to reject Malay leaders who are corrupt, such as former Selangor menteri besar Mohd Khir Toyo, and put their trust on clean and trustworthy leaders, even if they are non-Malay.
He cited the example of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“The state government under Guan Eng did not steal any Malay land or money under the pretext of development. But corrupt UMNO governments in other states have committed all these wrongdoings against Malays over the years,” he said.
Azmin also called on the Penang Pakatan government to carry out a thorough study to explore ways to uplift the standards of living of all marginalised segments of the populace, especially the Malays and Indians. “This would help address the disparity in wealth among Penang people,” he said.
I beg to differ, UMNO when it comes to discrimination, does not look at race. UMNO discriminate every race..malay, chinese and indian etc. UMNO is not a racist party but an elite party. UMNO is only for UMNO and UMNOputras only ( which includes malays, chinese and indian and others too). UMNO don’t care about the rakyat ( malay, chinese, indians etc), they only care for their cronies and UMNOputras… UMNOputras are 1st class citizen and everybody else is just lint to them. Ever heard of an ultra nationalist party who adores their foreign language name? Only in Malaysia and only UMNO! Fortunately, the 50 years old lies just doesn’t work anymore…. Rakyat sees them for what they are…. leeches, vultures, ring worm and virulent organism…. Time to rid of these vermin once and for all..!
Hamba - May 30, 2009 at 8:26 pm
“UMNO is a racist party that had divided and ruled Malaysia for more than 50 years by playing, albeit dangerously, the communal cards, accused a leading PKR leader”
He should have differentiated the UMNO under Tunku who led the country out of its colonial past contesting the general elections using a hitherto untried formula put together in haste rather than by design. Perhaps we should have waited until we were ready. The country could have taken a different path after Tunku but he was made to step down by rightist elements of his own party before his work was finished.
It wasn’t UMNO that won the general elections but the Alliance formed to contest the elections. The party was an inter-communal alliance formed out of political parties which worked separately but together. The down side of this formula is that it tends to strengthen racial barriers rather than break them as supporters are made to see themselves first as Malays, Chinese and Indians. The upside is that it worked for a good part of the fifty years – but not without its share of the problems.
Those problems have been augmented by corruption and abuse of power.
Whatever may have triggered the first major racial riots mostly confined to Kuala Lumpur in 1969, the nation took a deep breath that year and asked if the direction where it was going was where it wanted to go. Strong vested interests in UMNO won the day. Nation building took on a more racial overtones and social engineering became the tool.
In 1997 had not the Thai Baht taken a beating and had not it been for the Asian financial crisis that followed, had Anwar Ibrahim anointed by his mentor to succeed him, been more patient where would PKR be today? Where would PKR leaders be today if not members of the “racist party” referred to?
Mr Bean - May 30, 2009 at 8:47 pm