The Malays Divided?

The Malays are divided. All that unite them, religion, language and race are powerless against that which divides them: POLITICS. In the past the division between PAS and UMNO confronted the Malays. Father against son, brothers against brothers and even husbands against spouse were pulled apart by their support of one party against the other. Prayers were said in PAS and UMNO mosques led by politically inclined Imams. Friday prayers when all Muslims gathered together to say their prayers were occasion for political theatre. It was not Allah that wished them to do so – it was the leaders of PAS and UMNO - mere humans who manipulated the Malay population to further their own political agenda. These politicians were oblivious to the harm they were doing to their own race. Politics overcame all other sensibilities.

And now this is happening not only in Kelantan and Trengganu or just in the rural areas –but more worrying all over Malaysia. And it is now BN and PR. It is one thing to use race and religion for political expedience, another to deliberately use it to cause the division of the Malays amongst themselve.

We now see Malays bent on intimidating not the other races but other Malays. We see Malays assembled within meters of each other hurling insults and threats of bodily harm at each other in the name of Politics. We see anger and hate in their eyes as the faced other Malays - each so sure that their cause is the right cause.

At times we see Malay youths harassing the old, the strong harassing the weak. The men insulting the women and always it is the politicians who are there to maximize their gains from these confrontations of Malays against Malays. Nobody says anymore that this is not the way of the Malays. Nobody say anymore that there must be a better way for the Malays to settle their differences. Increasingly we accept that this is where politics have taken the Malays to.

It does not have to be this way. Yes in my writing I have been scathing in my comments on Malay leaders on both side of the divide – more so on UMNO side simply because there are more Malay Leaders within UMNO then in anywhere else. But these Malay leaders are fair game because they put themselves in the front line by their choice to be in public office just as I am fair game because of what I write in my blog.

But the Malays that are now used to confront each other. It signals a shift in the way things were. The politicians are desperate. They can no longer garner support by pitting the Malays against the other races. Now they throw the Malays against each other to gather votes for themselves. But at what costs to the Malays?

We are beginning to see the breakdown of the cohesiveness that use to bind the Malays. Now it is them or us. BN or PR. Malays are being used to harm other Malays. The predominantly Malay PDRM are used indiscriminately by UMNO to move physically against other Malays who are aligned with the opposition. When will the predominantly Malay Army be called upon to do their worse on their own kind when push comes to shove. Memali will be a drop in the ocean when this time comes and May 13th purely a foot note in our history.

In all this I hold Malay politicians accountable. Malay politicians who are desperate enough to use race and religion just so they will hold on to power and all that power means to them. Not to serve the people but to serve themself.

We now talk about UMNO Warlords!

Warlords: A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil[1] control over a subnational area due to armed forcesloyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war. Today, the word has a strong connotation that the person exercises far more power than his official title or rank (if any) legitimately permits

What does that say of us? We talk about the Tentera Jihad, Storm Trooper of Pemuda UMNO. Has the militarization of the Malays to serve political interest started? Or did it begin from the My 13^thRiots of 1969 and have since been quietly developed by UMNO in readiness to serve its own purpose as and when required? And that need will most probably be in the aftermath of any UMNO loss in the 13^th GE! These are worrying thoughts for all of us – Malays and the non-Malays.

And here is the chilling reality. UMNO loss in the 13^th GE will be caused by the Malays themselves because only the Malays have the numbers to make that happens. So will the Malays be used against the Malays just so that UMNO will stay in power? Are we to see a cleansing of the Malays to leave only those Malays who are with UMNO?

These thoughts angers me. It should anger any Malays that believe that race and religion does have a part in our life – but not in politics and certainly not to be used to divide father and son, husband and wives and certainly not family against family just so that corrupt self-serving politicians can have their own way with us.

We Malays do not need to be united to fight the other races. We Malays do not need to be united for Ketuanan Melayu. And the Malays certainly do not need to be united to have a Malay dominated government in Malaysia. These days the Malays need to be united if we are to be a force for change for ourselves and more critically for our country. The Malays are numerically the dominant race in Malaysia and in being so we owe a responsibility to ourselves and to the others that live here to bring into the government some decency and accountability. We have a responsibility to keep those bastards in government honest. Only by doing so can the Malays ensure that our country be better not only for themselves but for all who chose to call this home.

So for those Malays who are with BN or PR you must think. Political division does not require you to intimidate, harass or threaten another Malay. It does not require you to abandon friendship or families. Like all things in life, take politics in moderation and take politics for what it is – a part of life. Leave it at the doorstep when you come home or to be with friend. Leave politics alone when others who are with you wants to converse about life, family and the weather. Until our politicians lift their game leave politics where it deserves to be…in the gutter!