ARE MALAYS DOOMED? Apart from hatred for Chinese & Indians, what else unites Malays?

Former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, was the person who most pointedly remarked that the Malay community in this country are not united, that they are a divided and disgruntled lot who are unhappy despite great assistance given by the BN (Barisan Nasional) government towards them.

What gives? Despite decades of affirmative action put in place to help them, they are unhappy. Mahathir himself believes they are not only unhappy but also an ungrateful lot who don't deserve what BN has done for them.

This really is beginning to be a bewildering situation and puzzling. How can the Malay's be still unhappy and miserable?

It really should be the other way round, where the Chinese and Indians are unhappy despite being oppressed and made compliant, the minority races being denied their rights for many years.

But it also comes as no surprise that the Malay's are unhappy, disunited and divided. This is because any attempt that is deceitfully used to alleviate the status and upgrade the socio-economic status of a particular race is bound to backfire.

In this case, the affirmative action put in place to supposedly uplift the socio-economic status of the Malay's have failed terribly.

In the process, Malay political allegiance have also started to fizzle and fade with their loyalties divided between three main political parties, PKR, PAS and UMNO.

While PAS and PKR belong to the same coalition, it is not surprising that overt and covert attempts have been made between Parti PAS and UMNO to woo each other.

But will these ploys work? Will the strange bedfellows of PAS and UMNO be ever united?

The possibility of PAS and UMNO joining forces

Why most Malaysians believe that Parti PAS and UMNO will never be able to unite is becoming more apparent and clear to them now.

Basically, Parti PAS champions Islamic supremacy. On the UMNO side, the political party champions Malay supremacy.

While PAS champions for religion, UMNO roots for the race. If this is so, if they combine, they will turn out to be a most formidable force to champion Malay-Muslim supremacy.

But such a possibility is never expected to arise because of the simple fact that PAS and UMNO supporters have a grave distrust and suspicion of each other.

In the case of PAS, it views UMNO members as "kafir" (infidels) and that they have betrayed the Islamic faith by subscribing to corruption and evil.

In the case of UMNO, it believes PAS is nothing but a lunatic fringe group whose obsession with the Islamic faith and the cause of implementing "hudud" (archaic Islamic laws) as setting the tone to bring the country back to the Dark Ages.

For most Malay's watching on the sidelines, it really is a dreadful situation for them to choose between Parti PAS and UMNO and it's a bit like having to choose between the "devil and the deep blue sea."

This is why the moderate and secular PKR have attracted a growing number of Malay's especially those in the urban areas and the political party is set to make greater gains in the years to come as forecast.

Even the mainly Chinese-based DAP have begun to woo and attract Malay's into their ranks, Malay's who are disillusioned by the political ploys of PAS and UMNO.

These are the reasons for factionalism. This is the reason why the Malay's are beginning to get more splintered and disunited and causing leaders like Mahathir to lament that the Malay's will forever be not able to get ahead if they do not learn to reconcile their differences.

Will Parti PAS and UMNO be able to set aside their differences and reconcile Malay's?

The possibility of a Malaysia where the Malay's are united and happy is really getting to be quite remote. This is a worrisome situation as appeasing the Malay's after the May 13, 1969 race riots was paramount in saving the nation from disaster.

But the form and manner used was a trigger shotgun reaction to an explosive situation that is really the cause for the Malay's to linger in limbo.

While PAS will readily agree that the term "bumiputra" should never have been coined and affirmative action for them only not put in place, UMNO will defend to its death the need for affirmative action for the bumiputras.

Not only in this major point of dissension, but others as well where PAS and UMNO do not see eye-to-eye.

It is hard in the near or even distant future to see the two political parties of PAS and UMNO being able to get together and in the process unite Malay's.

While the idea of affirmative action for bumiputras was really a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the non-bumi's have been suffering a great injustice for having to sacrifice and make way for the bumiputra's to have special rights and privileges.

This was the way the social contract by the founding fathers of the nation was manipulated to pave the way for injustice and oppression to take place in this country which PAS agrees to and wants to rectify.

Unfortunately, UMNO are steadfast and defiant that this is the only way the bumiputras can be assisted to be on par with the other races.

In a globalized era, Malaysia's affirmative action programs for bumiputras have come to the attention of the international community and more and more bumiputra's on the local front agree that it has failed to really assist them.

For the failure of affirmative action programs for bumiputra's, PAS squarely puts the blame on UMNO and blames the party for failing to play by the rules of the game.

Given this scenario, there are many stumbling blocks towards the real possibility of Parti Pas and UMNO forming a unity government.

Irreconcilable differences between Malay's a distressing sign

The writing is on the wall for Malaysia. If the Malay community does not buck up, if they do not pull their weight and learn to shoulder their burden on their own like the non-bumi's they will become "the weak link" of society.

This surprisingly is agreed to by Parti PAS and readily understood by them in their quest to bring about a more egalitarian society.

Unfortunately, UMNO is perceived to be riddled by corruption and have used the cause of affirmative action to help themselves and enrich themselves to form a governing elite in this country.

While PAS is dead set against this form of UMNO oppression on the people, UMNO has no qualms about this and have become openly bold in their corrupt ways having solely governed this nation since Merdeka.

This is why, as it stands, the irreconcilable differences between Parti PAS and UMNO makes it virtually impossible for the two sides to unite and therefore this idea should forever be banished by them. - Malaysia Chronicle