Utusan's Selangor colony remarks: A slap in the face for Najib, Umno

Civil society and political leaders slammed Umno-owned newspaper Utusan for resorting to racism to rally support for controversial Selangor secretary, Khusrin Munawi, and also for striking at the heart of the nation’s sovereignty when it suggested that any one of Malaysia's 13 states could be colonised by a foreign power such as China or India.

“Ridiculous. Utusan thinks it is being smart to use emotionalism on the Malays but this is actually a slap in the face for Prime Minister Najib Razak and his gang. They must be sleeping or so busy with their personal agenda that China and India can easily colonize one of our states. Utusan has always been racist, now it has become anti-national,” PAS treasurer-general Hatta Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.

An acid test for Najib

Utusan had in weighed on the Khusrin row insisting that a vote against him was a vote against the Malay community. It was responding to the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor state government 's resistance to Khusrin, a member of Najib’s Umno party who in his previous role as the state religious director had often bent the rules to help his party - even at the expense of fair play.

But perhaps, the broadsheet may have run out of fresh ideas and ammunition. Its latest editorial has now put the spotlight on the Najib administration.

“The statements are illogical, incredulous and far-fetched. No one in their right minds could imagine any one of the states in our sovereign country becoming a colony of any other country,” Ramon Navaratnam, past president of Transparency National, told Malaysia Chronicle.

“These are dangerous anti-national sentiments and the people as well as investors will want to see how the federal government responds to this challenge from Utusan. Will the newspaper and its editors be allowed to continue to disrupt national peace and stability?”

Caught in a double game

Utusan was enraged by Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s decision to call a state assembly sitting to amend key laws that could invalidate Khusrin’s appointment.

The daily called on Malays to “defend their sovereignty in governing the country”, raising fears that Selangor was poised to become the next Singapore as another “country belonging to China outside mainland China”. Singapore had joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963 but left in 1965 after a bitter squabble with Umno.

“Do we Malays (already so few in the world) want to allow another country belonging to China or India outside their own lands? It should be enough with Singapore (a country belonging to China outside mainland China). Do we also want to give away this homeland?” the Utusan editorial said.

Hebatnya Khusrin

Since assuming power in April 2009, Najib has put in place his hand-picked editors at Utusan. His minders have tried to distance him from the often ultra-racist sentiments expressed in Utusan articles, but after repeated occurrences, few Malaysians have any doubt that the green light for Utusan's highly inflammatory editorial stance actually comes directly from him.

Many pundits have accused the Prime Minister of playing a “double game” and saying different things to different ethnic groups rather than work on a cohesive and much-needed national unity policy.

“Hebatnya Khusrin (Khusrin must be great). Imagine, he can single-handedly stop Malaysia from losing Selangor to Singapore or China or India,” PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Utusan’s use of the racial card is shameless. Umno wants to appoint someone who is not competent, and when it cannot defend its bad practice, it straightaway flashes the race card. - Malaysia Chronicle