Umno wants Malays to remain POOR & IGNORANT

AS LONG as Malays remain ignorant and poor, they will be dependent on Umno.

That has been one of Umno’s main strategies in its divide-and-rule policy to remain in power for 55 years.

That is also the reason why wages and salaries have remained low compared with our closest neighbour, Singapore, under the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

The cat was let out of the bag by former Biro Tata Negara (BTN) director Johari Abdul, who quit the BN-Umno regime, to join PKR.

Johari was elected Sungai Petani MP in 2008 by toppling then Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin.

BTN or the National Civics Bureau is BN-Umno’s brainwashing operative to misinform and mislead the people to serve Umno’s agenda to remain in power.

Shocking revelation

Johari had revealed that civil servants were told to promise Malay villagers anything they want when they go to the ground to campaign for BN-Umno.

However, they are not to fulfil their promises because as long as the Malays remain ignorant and poor, they will continue to be dependent on Umno.

This is what Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wants to overcome and remedy as fast as possible.

We want to alert Malays to stop allowing themselves to be perbodohkan (made a fool) by Umno.

Umno fears wise, intelligent, independent and informed Malays. Instead, we have no fear of that and we want to raise the thinking capacity of all Malaysians, especially rural Malays.

The Najib (Abdul Razak)-led BN is only interested in propagating falsehood through its control of the media and to disunite Malaysians via racial and religious issues.

When it comes to really important matters that affect the people, they lose all their courage and do the disappearing act.

Irresponsible & cowardly

The tabling of Budget 2013 is testimony of BN-Umno’s gross irresponsibility.

The cowardice of Najib and all his Cabinet members, including deputy ministers, created parliamentary history by being absent on the day Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim kicked off the budget debate.

Not a single one of them had the courage to face Anwar that day to defend their Budget 2013. That is the quality of BN MPs today. What a shame and an act of betrayal to their voters and country.

Stealing the people's land

The land grabs by state governments nationwide, especially in Johor, are also clear examples of Umno making fools out of Malays.

Mahathir Mohamad, in 1991, amended the Land Acquisition Act 1960, to enable state governments to legally rob people of their land and then alienating the land to their cronies for property development.

We already know the massive land grabs of native land in Sarawak. But this has also been happening in Johor – Pasir Gudang, Denga Bay, Gelang Patah and now Pengerang.

Thousands of Malay villagers have been evicted from their customary land under this Act. This is the nasib of orang Melayu under Umno (This is the fate of Malays under Umno).

What is Petronas hiding

All natural resources in the country belong to the people and country, not to any individual or organisation.

What has happened to Petronas’ trillions of ringgit in oil revenue? Why is the government in heavy debt?

Has anyone seen the accounts of Petronas, other than the prime ministers?

Anwar, as deputy prime minister and finance minister, has never seen the accounts. Not even Parliament.

What have the last three prime ministers – Mahathir, Abdullah Badawi and Najib – been hiding?

High costs a huge burden

You must also consider our socio-economic development policies and strategies contained in PR’s Bukit Jingga and its alternative Budget 2013.

Unlike BN’s Budget 2013 containing one-off cash give-aways aimed at buying your votes to remain in power, we have proposed many macro-economic measures that benefit the people directly and indirectly every day of the year.

We promise to reduce the retail price of petrol and oil because that will help ease your pockets and also bring down the prices of essentials because of lower transport cost.

We promise free education up to tertiary level for all Malaysians. We promise to set up trust funds to look after and help the need of individuals, families and the welfare of women, thereby recognising their critical role in family institutions.

We also promise to abolish road tolls.

These are the many issues and questions that Malaysians, especially the rural Malays, must consider carefully when they go to the next national polls.

Chua Jui Meng is the Johor PKR chief