What ails rural Malay voters?

 

It’s the Malay voters that will decide which political party wins the election and form the government.

This is the widely held view among Malaysians who agree that the Malays - predominantly the rural folks - are the easiest to be enticed with cash and goodies dished out at their doorsteps to secure their vote.

Further, racial and religious sentiments are also being played up by Malay and Islamic-based political parties to up the sentiment of hatred and dislike for the candidates from multiracial political parties.

The fact is, this has been the usual trend of soliciting the rural Malay votes at almost every election - a diabolic tactic that has made the Malays highly divisive in their perceptions of other races.

Corruption, abuse of power and false promises by political leaders of Malay and Islamic-dominated political parties in their desperate and hell-bent effort to gain popular support from the rural Malay voters, are conveniently whitewashed away with cash and goodies handed out to the unsuspecting rural populace.

The inertia of leaders of the Malay and Islamic-dominated political parties to condemn corruption and abuse of power that has this nation mired and saddled with its historically worst economic and political performance is deafening.

We can easily recall an Islamic party leader who had even said that “corruption does not fall under the hudud law”. And in a different statement, he said that “non-Muslim and non-bumiputera are the most involved in corruption”.

Are not such statements racist and divisive, to say the least?

When former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was sentenced to a 12-year jail term for corruption recently, instead of supporting the highest court’s final decision, leaders of the said party berated the court sentence, labelling it as politically motivated and that Najib was a victim of injustice.

It took almost four years to conclude this high-profile court case, and the trial had gone through various steps of the judicial process, yet leaders of the political party are still not satisfied and demand a royal pardon; a demand that is most incredulous and undermines the justice system of the nation.

Now the nation awaits GE15.

To most Malaysians, the decision to prematurely call for a general election was deliberately plotted to satisfy certain clusters of political leaders and those who are mired in serious crimes and are facing an uphill battle in court.

Questions have been asked as to why the king succumbed to the demands of the prime minister and the Umno leadership, paving the way for the dissolution of Parliament.

The ensuing GE15 comes despite knowing very well that the prevailing weather patterns and the impending northeast monsoon are likely to affect voters’ turnout.

Patriot demands to know should the effects of the monsoon be serious enough to curtail voters’ turnout, to who will blame be apportioned?

Patriot puts on record once again its fears that such unsavoury leaders will be appointed to ministerial positions should the party win GE15. It is not farfetched or mere speculation to fear that such an outcome will surely drag the nation and its people further down the cesspit of a disastrous socio-political landscape.

What will the state of our beloved nation be, post-GE15, should a known and corrupt political party win GE15?

All patriotic, concerned and informed Malaysians must contribute their efforts in reaching out these legitimate concerns and fears to the unsuspecting and easily pleased rural Malay folks.

Let us do our fair share for the love of the nation, its people and the king. - Mkini

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MOHD ARSHAD RAJI is the president of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot).

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.