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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Harmony under siege


Why would the race issue crop up time and again? How dare the politicians humiliate the non-Malays whenever they feel like it?
COMMENT
Not a single day goes by without the country’s mainstream politicians demonising their opposition counterparts and claiming glory for having done wonders for the rakyat.
However, it is also these very politicians who become tongue-tied when issues of national interests crop up, as happened recently when a politician-aspirant Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, who heads Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M), turned aggressive towards Universiti Utara Malaysia student, KS Bawani.
For a long time to come, Malaysians, especially the non-Malays, will not forget the mistreatment they continue to face at the hands of the dominant race.
The aftermath of the Sharifah Zohra versus Bawani episode has also opened the Pandora’s Box, revealing the dreaded and ugly truth that racism is no stranger to this country which brags about its unity in diversity.
Looks like the assurances given by the leaders of the ruling party Barisan Nasional that all is well when it comes to harmony between Malaysians of different ethnic background are false.
From ministers to self-serving politicians, they have all been down-right racist towards the non-Malays.
If former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had the audacity to insult the non-Malays by asking them to be thankful to the Malays for being allowed to call Malaysia their home, what does one do when smaller fry like Wanita Umno chief, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Sharifah Zohra, take it upon themselves to condemn the non-Malays?
Shahrizat had raised the May 13 ghost during the opening of the Wanita Umno general assembly last November.
She told the close to 1,000 delegates that a weak Umno would spread uneasiness among the Malay community and possibly invite the same racial conflict that caused the bloodshed during the 1969 tragedy.
“Do we want to have such a terrible situation repeated in our country? Of course we do not,” she said.
Did her racist streak worry or annoy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak? On the contrary, the premier was far from bothered, his mind too preoccupied with the timing of the coming 13th general election.
Unity in diversity long gone
Instead of shooting their mouths off, politicians, especially the seasoned ones, should know better than to rehash issues like unity in diversity and hoodwink the rakyat into believing they know what is best for the people and the nation.
When were the politicians, especially those from the BN fold ever concerned about the well-being of the people? The current show of support vis-à-vis fundings and allocations is simply a gimmick to get the rakyat to direct their votes to BN.
Where are these “prihatin” (concerned) politicians when the non-Malays are taunted and branded as “pendatang” or migrants? Is this how a nation that prides itself on inter-race unity behaves?
In Sharifah Zohra’s case, while she disgraced herself through her antagonism, it was a non-Malay, KS Bawani, who came out tops.
Not only did the second-year law student not retaliate when the SW1M chief grabbed her microphone and cut short her questions, Bawani has also pleaded for everyone not to turn the issue into a racial subject.
Does it not bother the leaders of this nation that the country’s harmony is under siege, all no thanks to the manipulative and insidious politicians, especially those representing Umno, the dominant party of BN?
Umno and racism go hand in hand
The recent “non-Malays cannot utter the word Allah” issue, comments by Wanita Umno member Norhayati Saidin that Bawani should go to India if she wanted free education and that Indians never “knew” what toilets were until Umno-BN governed the country to the constant threats towards the non-Malays coming from Malay-rights group Perkasa are enough proof that the non-Malays have yet to be “welcomed” here.
Otherwise, why would the race issue crop up time and again? How dare the politicians humiliate the non-Malays whenever they feel like it? And why is the leader of the country not the least bothered to reprimand such racist politicians?
When former Bar Council chairperson S Ambiga, who is also Bersih 2.0 co-chairperson, fought for electoral reforms, not only did she face character-assassination, there were also calls to strip Ambiga of her citizenship.
The worst came when Najib himself turned racist towards Ambiga labelling her as a “threat to Islam”. In Najib’s words: “Who doesn’t know Ambiga? She’s the one who threatened Islam. And below her is Mat Sabu.”
Najib clearly endorsed all the non-Malay bashing that continues to take place. When Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali distributed leaflets that screamed “Alert! Ambiga is a dangerous Hindu woman” and called this award-winning human rights activist a traitor, what did Najib do? He turned a deaf ear.
It is not the non-Malays who keep harping on the May 13, 1969 racial riots. And it is not the non-Malays who keep issuing threats to the Malays, promising bloodshed if their rights come under threat; it is on the contrary.
Such an irony that while on the one hand Najib touts his 1Malaysia “way of life”, on the other, he unabashedly makes defamatory remarks against non-Malays like Ambiga.
What does this say of his character and leadership qualities?
Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.

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