Malays, UMNO and the Country

by Dr R@28

• By my own standard I would say the Malays in this country in general are not racist. Except a group of minority, they are kind and very accommodative people. Certainly over the last 25+ years, the size of minority has increased but I believe it is still very marginal. The fear of the Malays losing their constitutional rights is nothing more than a fallacy that is propagated by self-serving politicians. Historically, UMNO is a well-respected party. Off late it is being destroyed by their leaders. Members failed to question their leaders illegal and immoral act. Many have become “pak turut”. They no longer provide the necessary check and balance that is much needed in the party to ensure that its leaders stay clean and focus on serving the people. It seems the unwritten motto now is self before country.

• Our constitution clearly protects the rights of Malays without denying the rights of Non-Malays. In the eyes of the nation, we are one people. To protect the constitution, UMNO need to ensure that the GE13 candidates are accepted by the community. UMNO must look seriously from within and if necessary from outside to find the best candidate that can serve the community. The tradition that candidates must be “Ketua Bahagian” or office bearers must be discontinued if he is not acceptable. UMNO must seriously look beyond its membership base in getting a winnable candidate. A candidate must have strong principles. He will reject anyone that demonizes the Non- Malays or denying their rights to practice their religion and yet he must ensure that the rights of Malays are protected.

• Unfortunately I do not see this happening in BA. To me bringing ZN to BA was a wrong move by UMNO. They shot themselves in their foot. There is a strong opportunity for BN to get the support of the community in view of the poor performance of Azmin Ali. As an ADUN, he is inaccessible and lives a life that is way above the ground. His primary interest is clearly at the national level. There has been plenty of lip service but there is very little action. Instead of capitalizing the situation, UMNO is making all the wrong moves. UMNO potential candidate is unknown outside the inner circle. He is an alien to the community. We don’t know him and not aware of his contributions in our area. I sincerely hope that UMNO would find an acceptable representative to contest the GE13 at BA. As I said, maybe it is time that they look outside their membership roll. We need both parties to put up strong candidates and if they don’t have any, I suggest they endorsed an appropriate independent.