FEAR, HATE & LIES at Umno assembly, Muhyiddin's '2%' admission the only REDEMPTION

The only relief in the dreary 2014 UMNO General Assembly politics of fear, hate and lies is the admission by the Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that it will only take 2% shift in voter support to end six decades of UMNO rule in the country.

It is a reminder as to how close the UMNO/BN government would have been voted out in the 13th General Election in May last year, if the electoral process had been really clean, free and fair, minus all the constituency gerrymandering and the undemocratic abuses and malpractices in the country.

As Muhyiddin admitted, a loss of two per cent voter support will translate to Barisan Nasional being reduced from its 133 seats won in the 13GE to 103 federal states, less than half of the 222-seat Parliament – comprising 68 UMNO seats and 35 non-UMNO seats.

A loss of five per cent voter support would have slashed the total BN seats to 81, comprising 53 UMNO and 28 non-UMNO seats.

Feeding the siege mentality of the Malays

It is precisely because of this fear of losing Federal power which explains why the 2014 General Assembly is such a disappointment to Malaysians who had hoped that UMNO leadership would rise to the occasion to establish its claim to continued rule in Malaysia by articulating a vision for a better tomorrow for all Malaysians.

Instead, moderate, rational and patriotic Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli, were subjected to a week-long torture of the politics of fear, hate and lies – holding out no uplifting vision for the future, whether for Malays or Malaysians.

The underlying, overt and covert theme of the 2014 UMNO General Assembly was to propagate the siege mentality that the Malays and Islam are under attack.

If Malays and Islam are indeed under siege today, then UMNO which has ruled the country for 57 years with six UMNO Prime Ministers, must bear the fullest responsibility and blame.

If 57-year UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers have brought such disastrous results to the Malays and Islam, then the answer must be found in removing UMNO from Putrajaya and not in perpetuating UMNO rule at the national level!

So easily damned are the Malays?

The message at the UMNO General Assembly is that if UMNO loses in the forthcoming general elections, the Malays will be damned.

This is in fact the clearest admission by the UMNO leadership of the dismal failure of UMNO after 57 years of UMNO government through six UMNO Prime Ministers.

If UMNO had been successful in protecting the legitimate interests of the Malays and all other communities, the message it should be sending out is that whether UMNO wins or loses in the coming general elections, the rights and interests of the Malays are assured and fully protected.

UMNO leaders should ponder long and hard why they could not convey this message?

UMNO and Islam are not under siege as it is the UMNO leaders and their cronies who are facing a “life-and-death” struggle.

War-mongering & white terror

The “war mongering” speech by UMNO Vice President and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, is a repudiation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Political Transformation Programme, knocking out an important and essential pillar of Najib’s National Transformation Programme.

Heedless of nation-wide protests at the “white terror” unleashed by the indiscriminate, selective and malicious prosecution of Pakatan Rakyat leaders, intellectuals and activists under the Sedition Act to create a climate of fear, Zahid boasted that 40 people were prosecuted under the Sedition Act in 2010 while 12 were charged this year alone, and promising more prosecutions when the Sedition Act had been strengthened as announced by Najib in his UMNO presidential speech on Thursday.

It would appear that Zahid is arrogating to himself the powers of the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail who seems to have been ousted from his powers and jurisdiction vested in the Constitution - which is probably why Gani’s promise of review of the slew of sedition charges against law lecturer Dr. Azmi Sharom and others some three months ago have ended disastrously with the Prime Minister renouncing his 2012 pledge to repeal the Sedition Act with the promise to make the colonial law even more draconian, as well as the Home Minister’s “war cry” to launch a rampage of sedition prosecutions.

Shocking lies uttered in public

The 2014 UMNO General Assembly has furnished live examples why the Malaysian public have no confidence in the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the law enforcement authorities, as to date, no action had been taken against either former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Mashitah Ibrahim or Penang UMNO delegate Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said for making the most racist, provocative and incendiary hate speeches.

Mohd Zaidi had said that the Penang Chinese community had become rich off money from gambling, prostitution and entertainment outlets while Mashitah made the completely baseless allegation that the Chinese community in Kedah had burned a Quran page-by-page during a prayer ritual.

Was it a mentally-ill Malay individual who had torn the Quran as publicly stated by the Kedah Mentri Besar, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir or was it the Chinese community in Kedah which burned the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”?

Who had told a lie – Mashitah or Mukriz Mahathir?

If DAP or any Pakatan Rakyat leader had made similar provocative and baseless speech by Mashitah and Mohd Zaidi, which seriously undermined inter-racial and inter-religious peace and harmony not only in Kedah and Penang but throughout the country, the police would have pounced on the DAP or PR leader, who would be in jail within 24 hours.

Silent majority

Although the UMNO leadership is resorting to the politics of fear, hate and lies to save UMNO from defeat in the 14GE, sowing hatred, tension and conflict among the races and religions, it is even more important for moderate Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region to stand up and be counted in support of moderation and inter-racial and inter-religious peace, harmony and unity.

I believe the overwhelming majority of Malaysians regardless of race and religion are the silent majority of Malaysians who support moderation and reject the irresponsible, extremist and intolerant politics of fear, hate and lies expounded in the 2014 UMNO General Assembly.

Let the majority of moderate Malaysians unite in pursuit of a common Malaysian Dream of justice, freedom, equity, excellence and prosperity for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

Lim Kit Siang is the DAP adviser