Conjuring a threat that doesn’t exist

It's sad that the PM has joined the bigots in promoting the fiction that the Malays are being slapped around.

COMMENT

It is sad to see Malaysian politics descending into the mishmash of confused ideas and oafish bullying it has become. When will enough be enough?

As if the threat of ethnic violence through the red bluster were not enough, the PM is now applying the slum logic of the bigoted ultras in Umno to articulate the idea that the Malays are being slapped around, an awful thought that doesn’t correspond with any actual reality. With the witless but ambitious school yard ruffians and a few ministers from the far right giving vent to their demagoguery, a threat has been conjured that doesn’t exist, has nothing to do with the economy, will not improve national unity or race relations or anyone’s dignity except maybe Number One’s.

If cultish followers want to put him on a pedestal then they should take out advertisements in Utusan and Berita Harian to extol his virtues instead of assaulting the rights of millions of others who also consider Malaysia their home.

It was most disrespectful to our brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak that the anniversary of their federation with Semenanjung should be overshadowed by this.

Given the incredibly dim reasons for having the rally in the first place, the raucous among the assemblage, bused in from out of town to bring the kampung version of “shock and awe” to the KL Chinese, would have massacred a Pos Ekspres pillar box if ringleaders had said it was disrespecting them.

Keeping the identity of the organisers a mystery till the last moment allowed Najib to maintain a skimpy deniability that Umno or the government were involved. There was never a doubt that the planners would get the green light and now they even get a thumbs-up. Isn’t it obvious where the backing for the red bluster came from? Crassness can be expected from politicians of lesser backgrounds, but much more can and should be expected from the scion of a blue-blood political line.

We are not trying to come to grips with anything as complex as Einstein’s theory, but much simpler logic. The races have come to lean on each other for support over the decades and it would be crazy to think that anyone on top of the pyramid can gain stability by demolishing a corner. This is a contradiction between the aims and the means and it puts the whole structure at risk.

We need statesmanship and not lynch-mob heads to bring confidence back to the markets and the economy, as well as to the nation’s social stability. A bright leadership would facilitate all this and not jeopardise it with the kind of regressive politics we saw on September 16. Economic confidence is more about perception than it is about factual numbers. It is not only how it is but how it appears that counts with investors. We should be making our business climate more conducive and not the other way round.

Kudos to Zeti Akhtiar for acknowledging the niggling problem of 1MDB. And yes, the rakyat demand answers. We may not see the purported crimes but we can see the cover-up as plain as day.

The saddest thing must be that the crowds of red that were boisterous for a few hours returned home not realising that their hoarse throats and addition to KL’s litter did nothing to improve their own lot. Their minds have been embedded with the subliminal thought that their condition should be blamed on the yellows. They have drunk from the cup of forgetfulness. They can’t remember that the nation has been led by one red shirt after another for six decades.

The yellows should hold to their own dignity by being selfless, as the reds have a reckoning of their own taking place amongst themselves. September 16 was the fallout from that reckoning. Be the bigger hearted by not berating them for we are all brothers and neighbours.