Malays must face cruel facts

If Mahathir and Zam are right, how does one account for all those many pillars of Malay society?

COMMENT

by Iskandar Dzulkarnain

Life in Kuala Lumpur is not exactly a walk in the park. Shuttling daily like a zombie between home and the city, dodging the endless traffic and struggling each day to arrive in time for work does take its toll on you.

And former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s latest outburst, describing Malays like myself as lazy, dishonest and shameless, makes my day even more distressing and stressful.

I have always been proud that I belong to a race that is diligent, religious, self righteous and somewhat superior due to the Malay supremacy rhetoric that I’ve been hearing from Umno and Perkasa. So hearing Mahathir’s reproach does rattle the nerves of Malays like myself. After all, he is the wisest, most democratic and most benign leader the Malays have ever known.

But if his words hold any truth, how do we account for all those pillars of Malay society like Daim Zainuddin, Tajuddin Ramli, Syed Mokhtar, Khir Toyo and so on and God fearing leaders like Najib Tun Razak, not to mention all the other exemplary leaders in Umno?

And then, to make matters worse, former information minister Zainuddin alias Zam Maidin seems to echo Mahathir in his condemnation of the Malays, saying: “To hell with all the voices of Malays, Umno, Perkasa, Isma, and Malay NGOs. These are all extremists, bigots, stupid, shallow and not up to Najib’s western liberalism.”

Now, that is truly uncalled for. Najib is neither western nor liberal. In fact he been a strong proponent against the liberalism and pluralism being practised by the Malay Muslims.

And contrary to what Zam has said, Malay NGO’s like Perkasa and Isma are not in the least stupid, bigoted or narrow minded. These endearing NGO’s are actually very intelligent and they have a deep sense of love for the Malays, and like the Home Minister, they support and protect the four pillars of race, religion, royalty and the Malay language. And mind you, they do all this without denying the greedy, bribe-giving, insolent Chinese their place under the Malaysian sun.

True to its peace loving nature, Perkasa has warned non-Malays against engaging with Mahathir’s criticism of the Malay community, as they may not have understood what he meant. It has also taken the liberty to thank the former prime minister profusely for his remarks and has accepted his criticism and reprimand with an open heart.

It didn’t come as a surprise that Umno Youth leader Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii chose to reprimand Zam. He alleged that Zam was being sarcastic when he referred to Umno as “bodoh” and said that even in cynicism, the words “Umno” and “stupid” cannot be placed side by side.

“If Umno is stupid, it will not be ruling the country until today,” Razlan said.

Zainuddin went on to urge our dear Great Leader Najib to listen to Idris Jala, who has condemned the sedition charge against law lecturer Azmi Sharom. He described Idris as a “powerful cabinet minister, who is highly influential in the financial world.”

Although Idris is listed by Bloomberg as being among the top 50 most influential leaders, surely he is still below Najib’s league.

Zainuddin also advised the Umno president not to mind the voices of Malays, Muslims or Umno in the wake of pressure to reject the Sedition Act 1948 or risk jeopardising his untainted reputation. He stressed that Najib’s policies must meet the “spirit of globalisation.”

Under such intense fire from within and lambasted from all sides, including the opposition, Najib is truly walking a fine line. However, he has gained the utmost respect of all Malaysians with his cool demeanour. He deliberately ignores the negativity around him, tirelessly soldiering on, juggling the matters of state with his frequent overseas trips.

In light of all this tension, it is really comforting that Najib has denounced Pakatan Rakyat’s failure to be a viable alternative to the ruling coalition.

PR has failed to copy or imitate the ruling party’s formula in promoting cooperation and mutual respect between all races. Najib also said that there was no viable alternative to BN since an imitation would never be better than the original.

Look at how peaceful and united the races have become under Najib’s administration. There is hardly any racial or religious tension and every BN leader seems to have a genuine smile and a comforting word for Malaysians.

Therefore, it is regrettable that former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has alleged that the Malaysian condition is worse than apartheid just because the government is exercising its sovereign right to charge its opponents with sedition.

BN leaders and Malay NGOs can’t be wrong for choosing to go against the call for repeal of the Sedition Act or to save this country from disintegrating or falling into the wrong hands of a cheap imitation coalition.

It may be all right if it is the non-Malays who condemn our alleged failures and shortcomings. But if Malays too are doing this, it does give you that sickening feeling that the Malays may be just ordinary citizens like everyone else in this country after all. We may have to get used to the fact that we are totally on our own. Without crutches, how are we going to compete in this cruel world?