Hooligan politics on the rise?

Najib's 1Malaysia concept and his moderation concept, though brilliant in theory, are all hot air hype - zero substance, zero execution and zero results.

COMMENT

The recent storming of the Penang State Legislative Assembly and the threat of burning down the DAP headquarters by certain irresponsible people have shown that nothing much has improved after the 13th general election a year ago.

Racism has reared its ugly head once again and people are getting angry due to political intolerance.

This is definitely a very unhealthy and worrying trend and is an indicator that the leadership of the nation has gone off-course in their attempts at national reconciliation.

Indeed, are serious efforts really being made at national reconciliation or is it just empty rhetoric to inspire the rakyat to feel good?

The above question is being asked because despite the setting up of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), race and religion issues have constantly cropped up causing ill feelings and unhappiness.

This is not the way to go and not the way forward for Malaysia which has touted itself as a ‘model democracy’.

In this month alone, certain NGOs have done a great disservice to the cause of national unity by labelling the Chinese as ‘pendatang’.

The rise of these NGOs and the free rein given to them to voice out their race-based ideology is a sign that certain people have the privilege of speaking out while other voices, especially the opposition or anyone connected with the opposition, have been told to clamp down.

The double standard is obvious and has thus emboldened certain segments of society to act fearlessly such as those who stormed the Penang State Legislative Assembly and those who have threatened to burn down the DAP headquarters.

If no serious punitive action is taken to censure these ruffians, then it sends a clear message to civil society that certain people can do as they like and get away with it.

The government must wake up to the fact that the foreign investors here will be monitoring these developments closely and these investors will think that our government has lost power in controlling the unruly behaviour of these hooligans.

“With the Teluk Intan by-election polling day coming up on Saturday, May 31, it is time for voters to reject those who support hooliganism and threats. Otherwise we will have an uncivilised political culture,” said Nizar Jamaluddin, the state assemblyman for Changkat Jering in Perak.

Culture of hooliganism

There was also an incident in Teluk Intan whereby DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and the rest of the campaign team had to face hostile reaction from a group of men who revved up their bikes when the former were going about on their campaign rounds.

One of those hostile men even had the gall to say, “Ini Kampung Melayu, jangan bawa masuk orang kafir. Keluar daripada sini!”

Khalid Samad, the PAS Shah Alam MP in commenting on the above recent incidents of thuggish behaviour by those irresponsible people has remarked that “only a backward democracy condones a culture of hooliganism”.

Definitely for all his talk on the principles of moderation, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has failed to get his party people to adhere to the same.

This means that his 1Malaysia concept and his moderation concept, though brilliant in theory, are all hot air hype – zero substance, zero execution and zero results.

“It makes one think whether under the current leadership we can ever achieve First World nation status,” added Khalid.

We see that only in the field of sports, we Malaysians are united in supporting our national athletes. Outside of sports there is acrimony, anger, disharmony and disputes especially in the political arena.

Are we as a nation on the right track in our methods of fostering racial and religious harmony?

Perhaps our efforts have been derailed by a group of elite few whose extremely loud voices and hooligan methods are getting bolder by the day.

It is therefore time that we as civil society speak out against the hooligans and those who back them up.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and an FMT columnist.