“Therefore, I feel that the objective we wanted to achieve has already been achieved. There is no need to give an extra stab.”
– DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke
The very fact that Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh wants to “fight DAP habis-habisan” (to the death) and the prime minister says nothing in defence of Madani’s most important component should tell us everything we need to know about the danger of the DAP to the Malay uber alles crowd.
Right now, a journalist is being investigated for sedition for using the Palestinian issue to frame mainstream far-right ethnocentric policies of this country.
However, when PAS claimed that the Penang-led government's “systemic seizures” of Malay land and “… equating land ownership issues in Penang with the situation in Palestine and Israel”, the state did not react to what PAS claimed.
DAP MP Syahredzan Johan said at the time, “It is very surprising that PAS undermines the legitimacy of the Palestinian people’s struggle to fit their narrow political narrative”. Is it any wonder that the PAS youth chief wants to team up with Akmal? Both understand that they are Teflon when it comes to inciting racial and religious issues.
The reality is that the DAP has bent over for Umno at the cost of angering its base.
DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok, a target of Akmal, was even chastised by the prime minister over her comments on halal certification, even though her comments were, in fact, taking into account the hardship faced by small Malay businesses and the economic effects mandatory halal certification would have on them.
So, you see, even when DAP voices out concern, which would help the Malay community, it is demonised, and more often than not, the head of Madani would side with the far-right ethnocentric agitators who really do nothing for the Malay community.
This is why the Malay uber alles crowd does not want a local election. If non-Malays are seen taking into account the welfare of Malays in their areas, this would shake the ideological bedrock of the establishment.
Mind you, the capitalist, of course, does not want a local election because it would place power in the hands of the rakyat, and this would screw up the whole social contract, which has sustained the political class for decades.
Taking the hits
DAP representatives have been vilified. DAP representatives have had police reports made against them. DAP representatives have had their cars fire bombed. DAP representatives have been reprimanded by the prime minister of their coalition.
DAP representatives have had to make retractions and apologies. DAP representatives have been attacked by online mobs, who happen to also be the people who voted for them, and did you see DAP having a hissy fit and threatening to resign from all posts and abandoning Madani?
Why? Because the other thing the DAP is good at besides attacking the MCA is taking hits from their Malay uber alles partners. The party has always had a soft spot for folks they have deemed as tyrannical and detrimental to a vision of a united Malaysia.
DAP has worked with PAS. DAP has worked with Bersatu. Indeed, all these Malay uber alles parties owe a debt of gratitude to DAP, but they know DAP will never collect.
Even when it comes to Najib Abdul Razak, DAP was willing to work with him. Sure, now that he is in jail, DAP gets all uppity, but remember, in 2016, DAP said it was willing to work with Najib.
“I am prepared to work with any Malaysian to save Malaysia, not only (former prime ministers) Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, but even with Najib if the prime minister is prepared to admit that he had led the country on a wrong tangent and that Malaysia must be saved with far-reaching democratic and institutional reforms,” said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
What DAP brings to any kind of coalition is the majority backing of a voting demographic, and hence, they can claim to be the “voice” of the community on secular and egalitarian issues.
The fact that they have to downplay such aspirations proves how well they can play with weak factions of the Malay political establishment.
Not a threat
Akmal should learn from former minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, whose chequered past with Umno did not mean he did not understand the benefits of being sympathetic to DAP. Indeed, poor Gerakan had conniptions because Nazri understood how beneficial a relationship with DAP was.
In 2018, Nazri said, “I said the voice of the Chinese after the 2013 general election is DAP. Is that wrong? I am friends with DAP because I respect democracy.
“I want to carry out tourism work in Seremban and in Penang. These are DAP areas. I cannot leave them aside.”
Akmal goes on about defending race and religion when even the top guys in Umno know that DAP is not a threat to Islam in this country. Here is Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, just last year, who wanted to debunk the slander of Islam threatened:
"This is a fundamental matter that we must understand, so that all slander and accusations - as though Umno is selling out the country, Islam, and the Malay struggle to others - can be put to rest."
Indeed, so inept has DAP been when it comes to maintaining the secular line, and so eager has the party been to please their Malay/Muslim partners that it has bent over backwards for an overtly religious state. More importantly, while non-Malays condemn such appeasement strategies online, they remain a fixed deposit for DAP.
Honestly, you know why the Umno big cheese is so hesitant to work with snakes who have betrayed Umno? Because the Malay establishment, well, intelligent or cunning ones, understand that Malay uber alles types always fight with each other.
Take what happened in Perlis, for instance, which managed to fragment Perikatan Nasional.
This is what bugs Akmal so much. The fact that DAP is the best partner the far right can have as long as demographics allow. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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