‘Subtle ethnic cleansing’ of Malays utter rubbish

With PAS embracing Umno, we should prepare for more instances where the Islamist party demonises and belittles the efforts of the DAP.

COMMENT

By P.Ramasamy

Is the “subtle ethnic cleansing” of Malays by the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan government taking place in Penang? PAS Tanjong member Yaacob Omar seems to think so – by way of development projects on the island.

During the recent PAS muktamar in Kota Baru, Yaacob Omar went overboard in his speech when he attacked the DAP in Penang for what he alleged was the “subtle ethnic cleansing” of the Malays there.

Will the police act on the outrageous and insensitive remarks by Yaacob and charge him under the true Sedition Act? Or will the police hold back simply because PAS has a new friend in Umno?

We must remember that P Uthayakumar who led the Hindraf protest in 2007 was charged and jailed under the Sedition Act for writing about the “ethnic cleansing of Indians” by the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Ethnic cleansing can be defined as any attempt to get rid of members of a particular ethnic group through acts such as deportation, displacement and mass killing to ensure a particular geographical area remains the preserve of another ethnic group.

Yaacob was referring to the loss of Malay land in Penang over the last five years or so. He said Malay land ownership had dropped from 28% in 2010 to 20% in 2015. Where he obtained this information from is not clear. Perhaps he should have cited his source or sources.

However, he was driving home the point that there has been a subtle attempt on the part of developers (with the tacit approval of the state government) to dispossess Malays of their lands. By doing this, with the passage of time, Malays would have lost a considerable portion of their land in Penang.

The idea that the “subtle ethnic cleansing” of Malays is taking place through development projects is utter rubbish. It is only people like Yaacob, who have nothing better to say, who would engage in infantile adventurism of this kind.

By accusing the DAP-led government of “ethnic cleansing”, Yaacob like his leaders have engaged in the lowest form of emotional outbursts. Just like his leader Hadi Awang who said it would be better to cooperate with those who took care of cows rather than those who herded pigs, Yaacob has shown his true calibre and the kind of party he belongs to.

Unfortunately, through the political machinations of their leaders, PAS members have become infatuated beyond imagination with hudud and those in opposition of it, have been promptly labelled “enemies” of Islam.

PAS’s leaders have identified DAP as the “number one” enemy of Islam in the country. Is this how a party that is supposed to be god-fearing and Islamic with high moral and ethnic values engages with its “imagined” enemies?

Given the party’s own political decline, it has chosen to cooperate with Umno and by so doing, has embraced some of the ethnic and cultural features of the party. It is no coincidence that during the recent muktamar, some of the party leaders were seen in Malay ethnic and cultural attire.

Today PAS stands out not as a major alternative to Malay/Muslims, but an appendage to Umno – a party that is the main cause of the current racial and religious polarisation in Malaysia. Thus, with PAS embracing Umno, the stage has been set for yet another round of racial and religious polarisation in the country.

Given this, we can expect more and more PAS members joining hands with those in Umno to demonise and belittle the efforts of DAP. Cooperation with Umno comes with a heavy price of loyalty and PAS leaders must convince their rank and file that the enemy is none other than the DAP.

This time the talk is about “ethnic cleansing”. Next, it will be something more preposterous and perhaps much more ominous.

P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.