One year on from GE14, the biggest obstacle to Malay progress is still the Malay politician.
The inability of many Malays to reject and rise above the destructive rhetoric of old Malaysia’s bumi politician is the saddest thing in the political environment since May 9, 2018. It should be a matter of heartfelt concern to all Malaysians.
There is no denying it is the result of decades of brainwashing and scaremongering through the entire tenure of the former Malaysian government. The result is that today, a hapless Malay community is the biggest block facing Malaysia Baru as a reborn country tries to step up to a united forward march.
MCA and MIC are also guilty of duping the ethnic groups they claim to stand for, but the cumulative effect of their actions on Chinese and Indians is like nothing, compared to the lasting devastation Malays have suffered because of the politics of race and religion.
One year since rebirth, renewal and the Pakatan Harapan promise, the real enemies of Malaysia’s ethnic majority remain as Umno and PAS.
They peddle the lie that there is reason for Malays to fear for their place in this country, the religion they profess and the Malay sultanate, all of which are being threatened by Harapan and the people who voted for it. Of course, according to the duet of deceit, Malays must also be afraid of the other communities subsuming their place as bumiputeras.
The truth is, Umno and PAS lie because it is now their sole means of survival.
It would be suicidal if they were to admit the inconvenient truth - Malays have nothing to fear from other ethnic communities. Islam is, at one and the same time, the religion of the state, as well as one of many faiths practised freely in a secular Malaysia, and the sultanate is all it has been constitutionally given to represent.
The old lie, from old Malaysia, is today’s fake news, and Umno and PAS must continue to breathe life into it in Malaysia Baru.
The emergence and growth of the new Malay, free-thinkers, educated, advocates of free choice, worldly, secure in their financial positions, absent of the need to resort to racism, would be to Umno and PAS a threat like no other.
In a Malaysia Baru, where communal fear and distrust do not exist, there would simply be no need anymore for Umno and PAS, as well as MCA and MIC.
In a brave new future free from fear, this foursome might have to do real work in the parliamentary opposition.
Two words have brought Malaysia Baru to this impasse - “Malay fears”.
Who is this “Malay,” if not the most belligerent within Umno and PAS leaders?
What, after all, is the “fear,” if not the fallacy that Malays will lose their place under the Malaysian sun if Harapan were to continue to lead?
That the worst of these two parties in opposition continue to define the most disturbing reality of Malaysia’s ethnic majority does not speak well for Harapan.
It simply means Harapan is yet to control the narrative, one year since coming to power.
Whatever else may lead a Harapan leader to say, “Malay fears are genuine” as they respond to the lie, as Harapan fights to survive, it also means Harapan allows Umno and PAS to continue holding Malays as prisoners in their own land.
It has never been more crucial that Harapan finds the key to the Malay prison.
Keeping in mind that many in Harapan were once in Umno and PAS, that they were part of the lie, finding the key may require Harapan admitting to its own role in this new Malay dilemma.
It would not be such shocking news to Malaysians, who knew they were choosing the lesser of two evils one year ago. It would not be too much to expect these same Malaysians, Malays included, to hold their ground to keep Harapan going in the face of a genuine mea culpa.
The lie must be called out. The lie has cost us ICERD, the Rome Statute and more, not least the controversy surrounding the UEC and matriculation quotas.
There must be 50 ways to say there is no need to fear, and that does not include saying, “We must consider the concerns of Malays”, because that translates to Harapan dancing to an opposition tune.
Demanding Anwar Ibrahim’s release from prison was fruitless. Malaysians had to find a way to take custody of the keys to Sungei Buloh, and we did.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar and Harapan must now find their way to freeing the wider Malay community.
Malaysia Baru, the future, has arrived. Umno and PAS have real reason to fear. Each has defaulted to survival mode. Harapan must realise its lies will only get louder, and more dangerous, the more afraid these parties become.
This would be the worst time for Harapan to blink, to back down, to make more space for the lie.
Harapan may not have four years to find that key, free the Malay, the rest of us, and Malaysia Baru from lies, damned lies.
WILLIAM de CRUZ was the first president of Global Bersih. - Mkini
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