Vilifying Chinese for participating in democracy

 

“Every election is determined by the people who show up.”

- US political scientist Larry J Sabato

It really does not matter if former two-time prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s arithmetic is wonky. His intent is clear.

According to him, the Chinese are to blame for the democratic process which does not give the ketuanan (supremacist) brigade total control of the country.

Keep in mind that, today, in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Madaniville, racial preoccupations of the Malay majority are not ignored.

Pakatan Harapan, when it was led by Mahathir, also did not ignore the preoccupations of the majority.

For decades under Umno/BN, the preoccupations of the majority were also not ignored. So there has never been a time when the preoccupations of the majority were ignored.

There have only been times when Malay power brokers, for whatever reasons, have been at war with each other. Most often, the old maverick was behind these internecine wars.

Indeed, the last machination of Mahathir was the Sheraton Move and then all his minions decided they had enough of him.

Remember when Utusan Melayu claimed the former prime minister and once Pejuang chief was working with the enemies of Islam because he hooked up with DAP in 2016?

PAS’ then-spiritual adviser the late Haron Din claimed: “When you befriend the enemies of Islam, you will become just like them.”

Non-Malays in the ketuanan system

Mahathir’s son Mukhriz has also admitted that, in the past, when Umno could not deal with issues, they blamed the DAP and the Chinese community. This is a matter of public record and it was pure strategy.

This is the evil of the ketuanan system. They knowingly scapegoat an entire community just to galvanise public sentiment to deflect from their failings.

We also need to understand that the supposedly non-race-based and supposedly multicultural parties of Malaysia also play the system in order to gain political power.

This includes aligning with race-based parties, the way Harapan did when it aligned with Mahathir and when it was known as Pakatan Rakyat, it aligned with PAS under the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat as some sort of fig leaf of moderation.

While the ketuanan system is identity politics rooted in policy, something like the Bangsa Malaysia Kool-Aid is rooted in reactionary politics that deflects from any real change. Notice how nobody in Harapan mentions Bangsa Malaysia now.

Do you know what defines the non-Malay vote? Progressive levels of fear. With each election, this level of fear goes up.

People like Mahathir at one time had the backing of the non-Malay polity. Then he not only dismantled our public spaces but also (again with the backing of the non-Malay polity) created an Islamic bureaucracy (with the help of the current prime minister).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

So thank you Anwar for further empowering the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), whose sole function is to sustain the aspirations of religious charlatans for a theocratic state.

This is why non-Malays vote even though they understand their vote means very little. They vote because they do not want to see this country turn into another failed theocratic state. To push back just a little bit even if the people they vote for are compromised.

What I want to know is how do the non-Malays not spook the Malays. Does stating clearly that the opposition is secular and egalitarian make the situation better or worse?

Or is it better to pour more government funds into religious departments? This is our dilemma.

Mahathir’s Malay dream

What do Mathathir and his Malay Proclamation have to offer the Malays, anyway? Nurses with syariah-compliant uniforms? States where gambling and alcohol are illegal? Airports which do not function during prayer times?

Remember that, although Mahathir is now courting parties in Perikatan Nasional to unite to save the Malays, he previously claimed that the country was heading into failed state status when PN was in power.

In 2021, he reportedly said, “Anyone can be a minister. But choosing a candidate who only wants a high salary will not result in the best services being provided.”

“Those who are appointed as ministers or managing directors are chosen because they support certain parties. And this support is given because they want to get a high salary. Those who want to serve the nation and country are dropped to give place to supporters.”

And remember also how he vilified PN and its callous response to the floods which shocked the nation:

“Such is the irresponsible attitude of members of the administration that some of them (even) went on holiday abroad and those in the state did not come down immediately to help the people.

“Those who did go to the ground preferred to be photographed and highlighted in the media.”

And these are the cretins who Mahathir now thinks will save the Malays?

And you know why a certain percentage of Malays do not vote? Well, the answer is simple. They know they are taken care of by whoever is in power.

Name one Malay political operative who would jeopardise the so-called rights of the Malays. Name one Malay political operative who would point out the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the religion of the state as espoused by PN. No Malay leader would do that.

Here is the god-honest truth. The only people who need representation in government are the Malay community because the rest of us know that our voices really mean nothing when it comes to the politics of ketuanan-ism.

Ultimately, this is a numbers game and it’s a game non-Malays are destined to lose. This is why it does not matter if Mahathir’s math is wrong. - Mkini

---

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

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