IT'S guys like Zul Noordin that weaken BN and give Umno a STINKING NAME!

I write in response to Zulkifli Noordin’s latest blog posting “lamenting that the Chinese school teacher who labelled two of her students as cows, tied bells on them and forced them to eat grass had been let off with a slap on the wrist.”  (read POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK! Sorry, no cure for racism - Zul Noordin tells Chinese educators)

When I first read this article, I was not planning to write in response to a man with such a perverted mind. However, not sharing my insights into the current development in the political scene is something that I feel is an injustice done.

Root of Racism

It goes without saying that Zulkifli is the by-product of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “Dilemma Melayu”, which was used mainly to play on the sense of insecurity of the Malay community to gain his own political expediency at a time, when he, a Mamak, was not well received by Umno, which was back then mainly dominated by the Malays.

In the sixties, it would not have been conceivable for a nation, with a Malay majority to be led by a Mamak. This is akin to saying that in the present context, a Bangladeshi made a Malaysian today can lead UMNO as its president! This would not happen unless the Bangladeshi man is capable of playing racial cards, by playing on one race’s feeling of inferiority; and then, concoct a tonic solution that would turn this so-called ‘inferior’ race to a superior race.

In reality, there is no superior or inferior race, as God created all men and women equal. At the end of the day, it is our upbringing that differentiates us. But over time, the children of the immigrants would have adopted the ways of life in the country where their forebears chose to live in. Like me, I have always enjoyed Mamak and Malay food, because Chinese food is a given fact.

Now, as I look back, I see a long-sighted Tunku (Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman Petra Al-Haj) made the right decision to sack Mahathir because he had foreseen that Mahathir would destroy Umno if he were allowed to return to Umno. We have seen this entire episode unfolding, especially in recent years.

It is no surprise therefore that despite Mahathir going to the ground to support his Perkasa allies, they too lost in the last General Election – Zulkifli Noordin included! Even the loud-mouthed Ibrahim Ali, president of Perkasa, could not hold his fort because even the Malays themselves voted for PAS in his Pasir Mas constituency and Shah Alam where Zulkifli Noordin was the candidate endorsed by prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak. When Najib announced the candidacy of Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin, it was obvious to me that Perkasa is nothing but a subset of Umno.

Tell me, under normal circumstances, who would be willing to give two parliamentary seats to an NGO, when its own political party members have worked hard through the years hoping to garner enough support to be picked as a candidate? It is only logical that the president of any party would favour the members of his own political party.

Besides that, isn’t the “Father of Racism” – the label used by Tourism and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz on Dr Mahathir – the patron of Perkasa? Dr Mahathir, being an Umno Baru member, is today the patron of Perkasa, yet he was not being sacked from Umno Baru is another interesting observation why I see the ‘Mahathir’ link between Perkasa and Umno.

Political rather than racial

When there is no fire, people like Dr Mahathir and Zulkifli would create issues to stir up race sensitivities in this country with the hope that there would be a repeat of May 13.

Recently, Mahathir said that Christians had the motive to hurt the sensitivities of the Malays by using the revered name of Allah. It is not surprising such an insinuation could come from a former prime minister of Malaysia. He is both arrogant and without a conscience. People like Zulkifli Noordin, who has emulated him, cannot be taken as a good example of a Malay in this country.

These words, in fact, came from a PAS ulama: “People like Zulkifli Noordin have no place in this country. He should not have been born in this country in the first place!” If you do not believe this quote, ask Batu parliamentary representative, Tian Chua, as Tian was in the same press conference.

If these words came from me, people can call me a racist, but what do you make of a Malay and an Ulama who said that Zulkifli Noordin has no place in this country? Is the Malay ulama also a racist?

It should be obvious by now, and I repeat, May 13 was never a racial riot the way it was made to appear. The riots only happened in states where Umno lost in the General Election, whereas in other parts of the country, the Indians, Malays and Chinese were mingling well with each other.

I never realise the significance of the phone conversation between my late father and my mother (I was only four or five years old) until in recent years. He was in the East Coast when we were living in Kuala Lumpur when the trouble began. Whereas there was bloodshed in the Federal capital, my father told us that he and his Malay colleagues were still enjoying breakfast together in Kelantan.

Isolate them

As a fellow Malaysian and for the sake of our future generation, I urge every citizen of this country to make a strong stand and speak up against such ‘despicable bastards’ who have nothing better to do than to create trouble in this country.

By creating chaos and racial tension in the country, they hope history would repeat itself. This time, I wonder who would be removed from the country’s top portfolio.

There is no room for people like Zulkifli Noordin in this country. Let us not play into Mahathir’s race cards again. Umno has to immediately return to the middle path if it wants to continue to enjoy the people’s confidence.

For that simple reason, Tun Abdullah A. Badawi had a big mandate when he first became prime minister. The 2004 General Election result is nothing more convincing that Mahathirism has come to an end finally. Had Mahathir not left his office, the political tsunami that we saw in 2008 would have happened much earlier.

Allow me to quote the words of Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ You have no one to blame if situations flare up, when you, as a fellow citizen choose to remain silent for now. We have to put a stop to all the nonsense by declaring who we will vote if things continue the way it happens.

The Fourth Wave

Malaysians have to look back just to realise that most of the things that have happened in the past has nothing to do with race or religion, but the ugly face of Umno politics. In my opinion, at least, this is the case that it has created four waves.

The sacking of Anwar Ibrahim by Dr Mahathir in 1998 was political, and it is the cause of the original split between the Malays. Mahathir has no one to blame, but himself, now thathe is saying the Malays are now in three different camps – Umno, PKR and PAS. Why should the Malays have to only unite under rUmno? Why can they not choose to unite under PAS or PKR instead, and through the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, to unite under one umbrella and strike a good working relationship with people of other races?

At the rate how things are moving, I wonder how you can expect a pious Malay Muslim, for example, to join Umno when it is obvious to a non-Muslim like me that fitnah has become the culture of Umno in many ways? Umno will not want to be implicated, but I wonder what happened to Datuk T, after the trio claimed that Anwar was involved in a sex scandal.

To me, reformasi movement was mainly a Malay thing. This was the first wave that we saw.

The second wave was of course the Hindraf, which I believe is still very much alive in the hearts of the Indian community, despite the imprisonment of P. Uthayakumar. Both the first and second waves had the momentum to cause a political tsunami of 2008.

The third wave is what Najib himself called the ‘Chinese tsunami’. I first observed this new phenomenon in Bersih 3.0; followed by the big turnout by the younger Chinese men and women during Anwar’s judgement and of course, in the 13^th General Election, the Chinese voters made a difference in a number of seats where Umno traditionally held onto. It is these ‘Chinese kids’ (quoting directly from Zulkfli Noordin) that helped Pakatan Rakyat to win a seat.

The fourth wave, I believe, is the Christian community in both Peninsular, but more so, in East Malaysia. I wonder if there would be a fifth wave involving the marginalized community now that price hikes are affecting everyone in the country.

If Umno is not careful in the way it plays its political game, it will be the biggest loser at the end of the day.

People like Zulkifli Noordin cannot blame it on the Chinese or the Indians for Barisan Nasional’s loss of its grip in Putrajaya, because he should realise he is one of the contributing factors to BN’s loss in upcoming GE14. - MAILBAG