Ismail Sabri, don’t be ridiculous – T.K. Chua

I am sorry I just can't let go of the statements made by Daruk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the new rural and regional development minister.

He is known for making senseless and parochial statements instead of appealing to reason and logic.  He has a penchant for blaming others on problems created by his own party.

Once, when he was the agriculture minister, he said Pasar Tani traders who continued buying their supplies from middlemen should have their trading licences revoked. 
Then, recently, he blamed the controversial RM2.6 billion “donation” squarely on the lack of political funding legislation, which according to him, was due to disagreement from the opposition earlier.  

Now, he is asking that the Malays and other Bumiputeras must continue supporting Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), failing which the country would be ruled by “others”.

What exactly he meant by “others”, was never defined. 

Did he mean Malaysians other than Umno members?

Did he mean non-Malays and non-Bumiputera Malaysians?

Did he mean foreigners?

Seriously, how else should one interpret the statement of this nature? He was effectively saying only Umno is capable of protecting the interests of Malays and other Bumiputeras.  Is this true? 

Let’s look at the crisis besetting the country today. Is it due to Malay interests being compromised, and if so, by whom?

In all honesty, I can’t see that the 1MDB issues are strictly related to the interests of ordinary Malays and other Bumiputeras. How did land wheeling and dealing, buying overpriced assets, shifting mega amount of money in and out of the country, and investing in ventures that even ministers knew nothing about, benefit ordinary Malays and Bumiputeras?

And may I know who is effecting all these “dealings”, “investments” and “ventures” if not Umno leaders and those directed by them? 

It is nonsense to expect us to accept that each time when things go wrong, a clarion call was it has affected Malays interests. Look, the ordinary Malays did not cause it or benefit from it, neither did other Malaysians.

It is ridiculous for Ismail to demand that all "slanderous" allegations against Umno and the party president should be rejected.

First, are all the allegations slanderous to begin with?

Second, in a democracy, we don’t simply reject, discard or “bury” allegations; we answer them with truth and with acceptable and credible explanations.

I refuse to accept that Malaysia has reached a stage where leaders could avoid allegations by resorting to unreasonable use of power or devious use of race and religious sentiments. This is not Malaysia, no matter how deep we have sunk into.

As I asked earlier, Ismail should explain what he meant by “the country will be ruled by others” should Umno fall. Are Malays and Bumiputras in PKR, GHB and DAP not Malaysians? Are non-Malays and non-Bumiputera in BN and opposition not Malaysians too?

Alternatively, was Ismail saying that if Umno falls, those from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Indonesia will rule this country? 

* T. K. Chua reads The Malaysian Insider.