If I were in charge of Black Ops

Don’t think that just because some people do not access the Internet or own a computer this means they are ignorant. The news does reach them, although it takes slightly longer than those who click their mouse button to receive the latest information.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Have you ever heard of Black Ops? Even the largest democracy in the world, America, uses Black Ops. (Actually India and not America is the largest democracy in the world if you go by population).

Take the latest controversy involving PKR leader Chua Jui Meng as an example. Umno put up a banner proclaiming that Chua is going to be the next Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor in the event Pakatan Rakyat takes over that state. On that same banner they also inserted the portrait of the Sultan of Johor.

Then Umno whacked Chua and the opposition for ‘dragging the Sultan’ into politics and demanded that Chua apologise to the Sultan. Various Umno people also made statements accusing Chua of showing disrespect to the Sultan.

And what is Umno’s motive? To make the Malays hate the Chinese, of course.

That is what I call Black Ops, although this would be considered a mild form of Black Ops.

Umno has been using Black Ops for decades. Back in the 1980s they used it in Terengganu to defeat PAS. They sent Wanita Umno members dressed as PAS supporters into the kampongs with Korans. These ‘PAS women’ then asked the kampong folks to swear on the Koran that they will be voting for PAS in the next general election. They also distributed these Korans to the kampong folks with PAS flags pasted on them.

This of course upset the kampong folks who felt that PAS was abusing the Koran and Islam for political purposes. And the Koran with PAS flags pasted on them was considered extremely bad taste and an act of vandalism.

Umno then got hundreds of young Malay men and boys dressed up as PAS supporters, complete with turbans and PAS flags, to convoy all over town on motorcycles to create a ruckus. They caused traffic jams all over town and these ‘PAS’ thugs kicked and damaged cars that were ‘blocking their path’.

Unfortunately, there was no Internet or Malaysia Today that could counter this back in the 1980s so even PAS supporters and sympathisers voted for Umno that election because of this arrogance demonstrated by ‘PAS’.

In the 1999 general election, Umno printed posters of the new ‘opposition Cabinet’. The ‘opposition Cabinet’ that would become the ruling government if the opposition were to win the 1999 general election of course favoured the non-Malays. Lim Kit Siang would be the Deputy Prime Minister and non-Malays like Karpal Singh and so on would hold key positions in the Cabinet.

Basically, the poster ‘revealed’ that the non-Malays would practically control the government while the Malays would lose political power. This was meant to frighten the Malays into voting for Umno for the sake of the ‘survival of the Malays’ but it turned out the other way around when the Malays still voted opposition -- mainly because the opposition made full use of the Internet to counter this Black Ops exercise.

There are many examples of Black Ops, which Umno and Barisan Nasional embarked upon through the decades. Actually, if the opposition also had a Black Ops unit and if I were put in charge of that unit I could do a better job than the ruling party.

For example, in one Black Ops exercise, I would dress up Malays in Umno and Perkasa T-shirts and get them to beat up defenceless people at random. Never mind if these victims of violence were pro-government or anti-government. The ‘Umno-Perkasa’ thugs would break their heads.

Malaysians would become outraged at the ‘Umno-sponsored’ violence.

In another Black Ops exercise we would send bullets to the judges in the Anwar Ibrahim trial and warn them that if Anwar was acquitted or found not guilty then the next bullet will be aimed at their heads.

That would really upset everyone.

We can also organise anti-MCA demonstrations by ‘Umno people’ and demand that Umno sack MCA from Barisan Nasional and take action against the MCA President for insulting Islam. If not then expect a race riot that would make May 13 look like a Sunday picnic by comparison.

Can you see how there is no limit to what we can do with a Black Ops unit? And each exercise would increase the peoples’ hatred towards Umno and Barisan Nasional.

But that is not how we do things. If we do what Umno does then we are no better than Umno. And how can the ends justify the means? Black Ops exercises such as those would just destabilise the nation and push the country to the brink of a civil war or race riot. And in spite of the allegation that we are terrorists, in truth we are not or else we could have done all those things I mentioned a long time ago.

Malaysia Today’s job is to expose the Black Ops campaigns of the ruling party (such as the Chua Jui Meng-Johor Sultan banner), not to also play the Black Ops game. And we expose the hidden secrets of the government and of those who walk in the corridors of power. We tell the untold stories that the ruling party and government would rather it remain untold.

Some Malays may have been fooled by the banner of Chua Jui Meng with the Johor Sultan’s portrait proclaiming him as the next Menteri Besar if the opposition wins Johor. They may believe that Chua insulted the Sultan by dragging His Highness into politics. But then there is always a sucker born every minute, as they say. The majority of the Malays, however, are no longer taken in by such Black Ops exercises. And we have the Internet to thank for that.

And don’t think that just because some people do not access the Internet or own a computer this means they are ignorant. The news does reach them, although it takes slightly longer than those who click their mouse button to receive the latest information.