Barisan Nasional Leaders think Bumis are dumb

MY COMMENT: Too simplistic, Ms. Shukri. Bumis are notstupid. BN policies make them feel that they are inferior and must rely on government for their sustenance. NEP must be replaced by policies that can help to build a resilient, rugged and competitive Bumiputra community, not one dependent on handouts from a corrupt regime.

Let us start by giving them good education to enable to think and fend for themselves. UMNO  Baru leaders must not be afraid of smart thinking bumiputras. We have enough of corrupt elite rule in this country. These bumiputras can be tapped for leadership roles in government service, business and research  and policy making and execution so that we do not have to dish out RM7.2 billion in consultancy fees to private consulting firms. Meritocracy is the way forward because competition strengthens a people and makes them proud of themselves.

With smart Malays around, we would not be talking about Blue Ocean strategy without understanding what that means and what it takes to put such a strategy into practice. Ms. Shukri should look at herself first before insulting the rest of us. Otherwise, she would not be elected in GE-14.–Din Merican

Barisan Nasional Leaders think Bumis are dumb

by Mariam Mokhtar (11-11-13) @http://www.malaysiakini.com

Barisan Nasional (BN) ministers must think the bumiputras are stupid and not worthy of respect. Nancy Shukri, the de facto Law Minister, said that she defended pro-bumiputra policies because without them, social problems would be created when bumis, who are lagging behind, would resort to theft when they have no money.

First. She insults bumiputras by insinuating that they have no self-respect or dignity, and have no compunction about stealing.

Second. Despite their vast wealth, ministers and their family, friends and cronies of UMNO Baru and BN politicians, allegedly steal from the rakyat, everyday.

Scandals, all with political links, have been quietly swept under the carpet. They range from the Bank Bumiputra fiasco to the bail-out of companies belonging to the sons and daughters of politicians. Farmers were deprived when money intended to expand the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) was diverted. In 1974, news of the Baling hunger strikes, when Malay farmers were struggling to feed their families, was censored.

Nancy (left), who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, casually labels poor bumiputras as potential thieves. In the past, her peers also branded bumis as lazy, stupid and ignorant.

Last month, this government inadvertently said that Malays were easily confused, when a court ruling decided that the word ‘Allah’ could not be used by non-Muslims. It appears that the qualities which define the proud Ketuanan Melayu man are stupidity, arrogance, a state of confusion, laziness, ignorance and a propensity towards criminality.

The National Economic Policy (NEP) launched by Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the PM in 1971, was supposed to end in 1990. Both Razak’s deputy, Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and the Permanent Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, Ghazali Shafie, agreed that should the NEP fail to get substantial results by 1990, then a change of strategy was warranted.

From 1990 onwards, successive PMs simply allowed the NEP to limp along in its various guises. This does not help the Malays and UMNO Baru, the ruling party, will suppress any challenge which it sees as a threat to its power and its privileges.

The launching of the Bumiputra Economic Empowerment (BEE), in 2013, by Najib Abdul Razak was a political ploy to assuage the extremists in UMNO. He was preparing for the toughest election in his career, the UMNO Baru internal election.

The affirmative action policies championed by UMNO Baru do not benefit the average bumiputra. The only people who grow richer are those with political clout. How many of the Malays who have made it to the billionaires club of Malaysia, do not have political or royal credentials?

Only UMNO Baruputras have the money to buy townhouses or apartments in Kuala Lumpur. Only elite UMNO Baruputras can afford apartments in Central London to accommodate their children who are studying in England, on scholarships which should have been awarded to the poor and deserving bumiputras.

Former teachers allege that examination pass marks are lowered to allow more Malays to pass. UMNO Baru is tacitly admitting that the majority of Malays are not academic, but why will it not tackle the root causes for poor academic performance?

Lack of competition leads to decline in performance

Malay extremists, who want to cage the Malay mind with their indoctrination, are gaining ground. Children who attempt to gain fluency in English are teased for speaking English and told they are unpatriotic. Malays who show curiosity about people of other faiths are called un-Islamic. The lack of competition on the sports field and the athletic domination of one race, has resulted in a decline in performance, at international level.

Contrary to popular belief, Malays are not averse to technological advancements. If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, politicians at both federal and state levels, take helicopter rides to conduct aerial surveys to find land which is ripe for picking. A survey of beach properties on our islands and coastline might reveal an interesting abundance of politicians and their proxies.

In Perak (and presumably in other states), people with allegedly close links to the top can amass great fortunes. State lands are acquired for a song and resold for millions of ringgits. A person’s political patronage can be revealed by the properties he develops and the name-dropping tactics he employs to defend the destruction of historical buildings, which are then replaced with structures of steel and glass.

During a court hearing last month, the list of people who were arraigned for the Genneva Gold scam, read like a list of ‘Who’s Who’ with Datuks comprising 85 percent of those charged.

UMNO Baru uses the Chinese or the communists as convenient scapegoats because communism plays on the heartstrings of the Malays. Chin Peng’s ashes were prevented from being buried in his parents’ ancestral plot, in Sitiawan.

Why are dead communists so feared? This government is happy to do business and grant honorary degrees to communist leaders, some of whom are tyrants. Is this why other nations are spying on us, because of our ties with communist North Korea and conservative Iran?

Behind the scenes a battle is raging between former PM Mahathir Mohamad and Najib Abdul Razak.  Mukhriz Mahathir has suffered two serious defeats in as many months and Mahathir is sore with Najib.

In 1981, Mahathir’s political secretary, Siddiq Ghouse, was imprisoned for allegedly being a KGB agent, a few days before Mahathir became PM. Around the same time, three Soviet agents were deported for being KGB spies. Was Siddiq’s arrest and the soviet expulsion a coincidence, or a conspiracy?

In the mid-70s, then-German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigned when his aide had been arrested for being an agent of the Stasi, the East German secret service.

Mahathir’s enemies may have hoped that Siddiq’s arrest would cause Mahathir’s downfall, but it did not work, because Mahathir is not like honourable western, Japanese and South Korean politicians who resign after a whiff of scandal.

What is he up to now?

Today, Attorney-General Gani Patail is accused of having allegedly employed CIA operatives. Is Mahathir using the tried and tested UMNO Baru formula of “reds under the beds”, to discredit Najib’s government? A charge of sodomy against Najib’s closest aides may not work, because no member of the rakyat would believe this bit of histrionics, again.

Is Mahathir exacting his vengeance on Najib with talk of spies and espionage, using similar methods as those used to get him out of the way in 1981?

UMNO Baru and BN will use the bumis to advance their own careers. To them, the bumis are just cannon fodder. Nancy has insulted all bumis, she should make an unreserved apology. -Din Merican