May 13 and Vision 2020

With government officials threatening us with mob violence, we might as well go back to the Stone Age.

COMMENT

By Selena Tay

It has been difficult in the past two weeks to get Helang and Knife brand cooking oil at the neighbourhood sundry shops in Kepong Baru. What’s going on? This is a bad sign for a country hoping to achieve First World status by 2020.

The proprietor of one of those shops said he had no idea why the supply was short, but added that the hypermarkets did not seem to have a problem getting theirs.

Of course, one can easily find corn and sunflower cooking oils, but these are too expensive.

As if this sort of problem is not bad enough, there is the May 13 threat that seems to keep cropping up, especially in recent years. Some of us are genuinely scared because we can imagine some crazy person taking the cue and running amok.

Why are irresponsible people fond of harping on May 13? It certainly does not help in fostering harmonious race relations. Is there some sinister agenda?

The government should realise that making threats of mob violence against citizens is not the way forward for Malaysia. It is regressive and takes us back to the Stone Age. As it is, we are already lagging behind Myanmar in broadband speed. Certainly nothing to be proud of.

Strangely enough, it is only politicians from one side of the political divide plus those of their ilk who seem to enjoy resurrecting May 13. What is their purpose in doing so? To assist the cause of national harmony?

“If there is another May 13, the country will fall and everyone will suffer,” said Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad of PAS. “We may even suffer international sanctions.”

How is the government going to portray the nation as a “model democracy” or “a nation of peace and harmony” when the spectre of May 13 is constantly being raised?

“Those politicians who always threaten us with May 13 really have insane intentions,” said another PAS man, Changkat Jering assemblyman Nizar Jamaluddin. “Do they want Malaysia to become a failed state?”

A foreign investor has told FMT that he and his business colleagues were getting increasingly worried about the local political climate because race and religion issues were constantly being played up.

The government must put a stop to all this or forget about attracting foreign investors or achieving Vision 2020 and the thriving economy that comes with it.

One sector of the economy that is certainly not thriving is tourism.

FMT’s contacts in London have reported that there is an influx of Chinese tourists in the English capital. One contact who lives in the Bayswater area says he frequently has to snap pictures of them posing in front of London’s iconic red telephone booths. Some have told him they were glad to have cancelled their vacation in Malaysia in favour of London.

The Malaysian government had better wake up fast. The world is watching us because of the trouble we cooked up in New Zealand and the recent issue involving soup kitchens. We already have enough problems; there’s no need to cook up more.

Selena Tay is a FMT columnist