Empowering the already powerful majority

Helen Ang argues that Pakatan's non-Malay representatives have a willingness to do anything to get the Malay vote.

COMMENT

By Helen Ang
DAP chairman Karpal Singh wants Mohamad Sabu to immediately retract his comments on the Bukit Kepong incident, and why?

Because – as FMT and other news outlets have reported – he is minded that the general election is just around the corner and the PAS deputy president’s remarks could well be “very damaging” to Pakatan prospects.

Karpal wants Mohamad Sabu – popularly known as Mat Sabu – to withdraw his observation in order to staunch any possible backlash against Pakatan Rakyat stemming from the attempt by the pro-Umno media and bloggers to whip up frenzy among the Malays.

The only concern of the DAP chairman in his press conference yesterday seems to be Malay votes.

He appears to show little concern for historical scholarship and the intellectual honesty which we should apply to critical interpretation of that particular bloody episode alluded to by Mat Sabu.

It was another case of ‘politics as usual’ evidently trumping the greater need for truth and accuracy in shaping our national narrative pertaining to independence, and understanding the roles played by the various contributors towards Malayan self-determination.

Karpal’s attitude is hardly surprising given the ‘Hasnah Yeop Syndrome’ afflicting the Pakatan non-Malay representatives who rode on the tsunami to their fortuitous seats in parliament and the state assemblies.

Bending over backwards
If you’re wondering who ‘Hasnah Yeop’ is, she/it is a fictional name that blogger Rockybru bestowed on Subang Jaya Adun Hannah Yeoh. One key symptom of the Hasnah Yeop condition is a willingness to do anything to get the Malay vote.

This wanting to win over the Malay electorate at all cost is again recently illustrated by the assiduous activities of the Pakatan Chinese Aduns worming their way into Malay areas during the run-up to Raya.

Like chameleons changing their colour, these politicians metaphorically don a Malay skin – as Net photos of the Selendang Squad attending various functions will attest. (They are not similarly enamoured with trying to look Indian though.)

DAP’s Teo Nie Ching was once even banned by the Selangor religious authorities from further shenanigans in the surau despite her subsequent tutup aurat (covering up). Non-Malays wearing baju kurung and baju Melayu is nothing contentious as these have already come to be adopted as our national costume of sorts.

The tudung however is another kettle of fish and has religious connotations. There is no reason for non-Muslims to use it in situations that do not warrant veiling, i.e. these women are not within the confines of the mosque.

Recently photographs of a Chinese-looking man clad in baju Melayu and songkok, engaged in what has been described as ‘takbir’ were uploaded in Malay-language blogosphere. The Umno blogs identified the man in question as Chan Ming Kai, PKR Adun for Simpang Pulai (main photo).

Waiting for their conversions
Dr Novandri Hasan, an Umno leader in Bukit Gelugor (Karpal’s parliamentary constituency) commented that Chan participating in the Muslim practice is welcome if he genuinely desires to embrace Islam but deplorable if it were only a piece of play-acting to fish Malay votes.

The blogger Sungai Rapat Online (of the blog almost indistinguishable from the interests of Hamidah Osman, an Umno Adun and Perak senior exco) commented: “Saya kenal benar dengan perangai Chang Meng Kai [sic] ini dia ni hanya berlakon sahaja untuk mendapatkan undi Melayu.”

Sungai Rapat Online also accused Chan of being two-faced, saying one thing to his Malay listeners and another to the Chinese.

This same accusation of tailoring the message to suit different audiences had been made earlier by Wanita MCA Penang chief Tan Cheng Liang regarding the DAP. Tan noted too that her political rivals said one thing in the Malay language and another in the Chinese tongue.

As with the inherent nature of contagions, the Hasnah Yeop Syndrome is not limited to post-March 8 politicians but its other symptoms extended to political commentators as well.

Siding solely with the strong
In an Aug 23 piece by FMT columnist Jeswan Kaur, it was revealed that her good friend, a Muslim woman, had wanted to rename her [Jeswan] with a Malay name – with the friend even going to the extent of repeatedly urging her to say ‘bismillah’.

To recap Jeswan’s experience, she wrote about the said friend who “would tease [her] for not returning to the ‘true path’, that is, to Islam” as well as “point-blank asked [Jeswan] to convert”.

Another matter which Jeswan prided herself was in electing to fast throughout Ramadan.

(For comparison, India which is predominantly Hindu puts the shoe on the other foot. There, in keeping with the dietary wishes of the dominant faith community, McDonald’s outlets do not sell beef burgers.)

The sheer force of the majority usually prevails but isn’t it the conscientious duty of those elected to public office to ensure that minorities are protected? Pakatan operates quite the opposite.

Under Penang’s DAP-led administration these past three years, 100 percent of drainage and irrigation contracts and 98 percent of tenders approved between January 2008 and November 2010 went to bumiputera contractors.

This sudden turnabout comes on the heels of decades where DAP (before the party’s first taste of power) was unhappy with even the 30 percent NEP quota.

From the state statistics boasted by DAP to show its current good care of the bumi groups, it would appear Penang Indians got nothing although belonging to the country’s weakest minority.

One-sided and sad apologia

It is a trait in common with Pakatan politicians who do not treat Hindu devotees in the fawning manner they do the Muslim devout.

In the course of hosting buka puasa (an activity in which Hannah Yeoh is competing with Teo Nie Ching to be queen bee doing the copious rounds), our surau-hopping politicians are liberal with their shower of cash and kind donations.

But we hardly hear of the pathetic Hindu temples, which are more sorely in need of assistance, receiving Yang Berhormat visitors.

Going back to Karpal and the imminent election wherein Malay votes are most pivotal, one can see how those in the Pakatan camp believe that Indian votes are inconsequential to their Putrajaya ambition.

Hence Indians sadly don’t figure in the present socio-political calculus.

From other self-disclosures in Jeswan’s column, we learn that she listens to Islamic religious talks on television. She is familiar with Islamic customs such as ‘puasa ganti’ and aware that Muslims use ‘sejadah’ during worship. She is able to roll Islamic terms such as ‘sahur’ and ‘iftar’ easily off her tongue.

Not just that, Jeswan is also vicariously excited about the Mecca pilgrimage and is knowledgeable about the ‘saie’ and ‘tawaf’ requirements during the Haj ritual.

I’m only left to wonder if Jeswan’s close Muslim friend knows anything at all about Sikh prayer. Or has ever shown a pinch of interest in Punjabi culture and customs … if only to reciprocate the eager enthusiasm exhibited by the FMT columnist.

Since Jeswan did not write about any inverse scenario, the reader can only conclude that the relationship between the two women is a one-way street. Yet Jeswan appears totally oblivious to this imbalance that the rest of us can easily decipher.

The Hasnah Yeop syndrome is one where non-Malay elected representatives find it expedient to further empower the already powerful majority. And these politicians display a similar lack of self-awareness as to the one-sidedness of their behaviour that pays scant attention to neglected minorities.

DAP’s disdain of Indians is best encapsulated in the disequilibrium of Hannah’s mixed race child ending up a ‘Chinese’ baby in her birth cert. Over-the-top politicking may just backfire when 5,000-year old cultural traditions bite back.

These issues have been discussed in greater detail at helenang.wordpress.com.