YOURSAY | Improve economy and everyone will be happy

 

YOURSAY | 'Unhappy Malays need to give Anwar’s leadership a chance.'

COMMENT | Are Malays unhappy with Anwar?

Proarte: What do the Malays have to be "unhappy" about more so than the other races? We are all citizens with the same concerns to varying degrees. Malays have “privileges” which are not accorded to other races.

Paradoxically Malays should be unhappy about their "privileges" because it has been abused by their leaders to impoverish the Malays as a whole.

The Chinese are vital to our economy and the Malays should not blame them for their woes. As former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad pointed out, they contribute 90 percent of taxes.

Malays have reason to be unhappy with their corrupt leaders but I believe they will be happy with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when he improves their economic lot.

The Chinese Malaysians are not the enemy. We need their industry, talent and business acumen to develop Malaysia further. Incentives or "privileges" should be given to them not to leave our shores only to contribute to the development of other countries.

Cheong Sai Fah: This country had 60-plus years of a government which had policies favouring the Malays.

The Malays need to think about why so many of them are in the B40 group.

The country has regressed from a leading Asean country to one that is not so great. So where did the country's treasure go?

Perhaps the corrupt leaders care more about enriching themselves.

The Malays who are not happy with Anwar’s leadership need to give him a chance. Let him do something that will truly help those Malays who are really in need.

He is only in power for less than a year. Give him a break and some time.

Milshah: It's too early to say whether Malays are happy or not. Based on the last general election, Pakatan Harapan and BN definitely lost the Malay votes to Perikatan Nasional.

The Malays don't want Harapan due to DAP, the bogeyman of Malay politics, and they don't want BN due to corruption charges.

Now the Harapan and BN combo will have both corruption-charged leaders and DAP.

Former prime minister and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin is now seen as a political victim as the money was a political donation.

In politics, perception is important. Mahathir and his former party Pejuang are rumoured to be joining PN as well.

My humble opinion is that Harapan and BN will lose badly in the state elections since they lost the all-important Malay votes. If Harapan and BN lose Selangor or Negeri Sembilan, that would be a terrible blow to the unity government.

My advice, even if Harapan and BN lose the state elections, as long as Harapan and BN still control the majority in Parliament, then the unity government will be fine. So above all else, make sure Parliament is secured.

Headhunter: I believe the soon-to-be-held election in some states will be very telling if the Anwar-led government won Malay support.

Malay states like Terengganu and Kelantan where Malay support is the strongest surely expect a very conclusive result.

But if the two aforementioned states' support dropped compared to the last state elections, then they have much to worry about even if they get re-elected.

That would be a clear sign that Anwar is gaining ground amongst the Malays.

Cowboy: Only the corrupted, the rent-seeking, the slanderers, the lazy commission dependent, and the religious bigoted Malays are not supporting the unity government.

The majority of the remaining Malays respect and have been waiting for so long to taste a successful, well-governed, prosperous, no-nonsense and corruption-fighting government led by Anwar.

The majority of Malays had enough and are very sick of the stupid politicking, and racial and religious attacks by the cowards and losers despite leading the Malays for more than six decades, achieving nothing but bringing only misery to the Malays.

Salvage Malaysia: I’m sure the majority of the rakyat is happy with the anti-corruption stand. But when it comes to welfare benefits for the lower-income Malay group, many are not so happy with this government. This is how they think.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Salahuddin Ayub suddenly thinks Menu Rahmah is the panacea to this cost of living issue. They don’t agree. One person shared with me that his family comprises four members.

Each Menu Rahmah meal will cost him RM20. Three meals a day will be RM60. He would rather the cost of food go down so that his RM60 spending can buy ingredients for cooking and last the family a few more days. See how they look at things?

OrangePanther1466: If the Malays are unhappy, then what about the non-Malays who were marginalised for decades under the New Economic Policy? The Malays have no reason to be unhappy except, of course, the Malay politicians.

Columnist Francis Paul Siah you are so right about your observation of the ordinary Malays being kind, friendly and helpful souls. If you have a problem with your vehicle on the road or if there has been an accident, it's always the Malays who help. I once had a flat tyre and a nice Malay gentleman came to help me change it.

If we can somehow ban racial politics, and force all political parties to be multiracial, Malaysia would be much better off.

ScarletPanda9731: Great, insightful, honest article, by Francis. A leader can never make everybody happy. If he tries that he will be unhappy.

Only leaders who lost their cars, drivers, free trips overseas, free food, and privileges are unhappy.

But the majority are content, working hard, having enough food and drink, worshipping their gods and going on holidays. Most of us are happy! - Mkini