‘Utusan’ questions Chinese vote, claims ‘racist’ DAP lied

Utusan had, on Tuesday, front-paged the incendiary headline titled “Apa lagi yang Cina mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?). - File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Utusan Malaysia has continued to question Chinese voters over their switch from Barisan Nasional (BN) to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in last week’s polls, claiming that they had been cheated by DAP, which it labelled as the country’s “most racist party”.

The Umno-linked daily’s editors wrote today that most of the Chinese community had rejected BN in Election 2008 despite controlling the country’s economy and purportedly being the richest ethnic group in Malaysia.

“In the 13th GE, the Chinese community once again chose to trust DAP more, which plays up thick racial sentiments. The Chinese tsunami is larger this time,” the editors going by the name of Awang Selamat wrote in a weekly analysis carried in the paper’s weekend edition Mingguan Malaysia.

“As far as Awang knows, the Chinese are not easily fooled repeatedly.

“But why allow themselves to be cheated by DAP that is the most racist party,” the editors wrote.

They further claimed that the Chinese community appeared to be giving their blessings for the “extremism” displayed by DAP leaders, alleging that some Chinese employers had threatened their staff to support DAP.

It said that many Chinese businessmen, including those who had benefitted from government contracts, had allegedly funded the PR to bring about the fall of the BN government.

It went on to say that the Chinese community had supported “illegal” rallies protesting against the polls results, while saying that Chinese youths had followed the DAP leaders in throwing insults.

“Hakikatnya, (the truth is), DAP won many parliamentary seats but still continued to carry out various provocations. So the question what more do the Chinese want, is relevant although kurang disenangi (it was not well received),” the paper said in reference to its headline earlier this week.

Utusan had, on Tuesday, front-paged the incendiary headline titled “Apa lagi yang Cina mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?) in an attempt to shape the elections outcome as a Malay versus Chinese vote.

In a separate opinion piece titled “Mengurus tsunami Cina PRU-13”  (Managing the GE-13 Chinese tsunami), Zulkefli Hamzah today wrote that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had attempted to win over the Chinese community and reverse their lack of support in 2008 by “giving them anything that they asked for”.

“His hope is for the Chinese voters to return to BN.

“But that did not happen and it was even worse. Imagine the disappointment of BN, especially the prime minister. So he is qualified to express his disappointment by describing what had happened as a Chinese tsunami,” Zulkefli wrote in justifying Najib’s choice of words after last Sunday’s polls.

Najib had used the term “Chinese tsunami” after the results showed that the BN retained power but had its worst showing in elections, winning only 133 federal seats after it ceded an additional seven seats to PR.

Mingguan Malaysia also featured an opinion piece by columnist Baharom Mahusin, who wrote that the Chinese community is no longer the “kingmaker” in the country’s polls.

“The Chinese are not the kingmaker in Malaysian politics because BN still rules the country without their support, but racial relations after GE13 will enter a new suasana (environment).

“The voting patterns in GE13 that are racial in nature - that was mirrored in the Chinese tsunami - should strengthen BN’s iltizam (will) and courage to carry out affirmative policies for the Malays, Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak as well as the Indians that are far behind economically,” he wrote when putting forth a few lessons learnt from last Sunday’s polls.

Earlier in his piece, Baharom claimed that the Chinese voters were “clearly influenced” what he described as the PR’s alleged poisoning of thoughts, slander about corruption and their slogan for change, “Ini Kalilah” (this time).

He said that Najib had carried out an inclusive policy with his slogans of “1 Malaysia”, “People First”, noting the prime minister’s warm approach towards the minority ethnic groups in the country, especially towards the Chinese community.

Baharom said that Najib had strengthened the principle of meritocracy in education and the economy, besides abolishing laws - including the Internal Security Act (ISA) which the Chinese community had considered harsh.

He noted that Najib would tread more cautiously as a prime minister after the Chinese community voted for PR despite his sacrifice and hard work as a national leader for all races.

Mingguan Malaysia’s writings appear to reflect Najib’s speech at the 67th Umno anniversary celebration last night, where the Umno president defended the party from accusations that it is a racist party.

He also appeared to blame the DAP for the loss of BN seats.

“Umno was not defeated, in fact it added more seats. If not for some quarters playing race issues, we would have won more seats.”

“We are not a racist party, we are a party that is moderate. We have been serving other races for a long time,” Najib said yesterday.