Now that the elections are around the corner, the major dailies have fed us with news that the government has allocated huge sums of money to Chinese schools, and also to help the poor Indians. However, non-Malay voters, especially those living in Umno constituencies, should take this opportunity to teach Umno leaders a lesson.
One might not be able to forget how the Malays deserted Umno in droves in the 1999 elections and if not for the non-Malay votes, Umno would have lost several states namely Perlis, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor. One could also remember how these Umno politicians went to the various Chinese and Indian areas begging for votes, knowing that they had lost the support from the Malay community.
As a result, Umno still won many state and parliamentary seats, but with far-reduced majorities. Having won and being ‘safe’ for the next five years, these leaders became arrogant and are back to their antics.
Suqiu then, and now, Hindraf, are being labelled as extremists by the extremists in Umno. Accusing others of being extreme is a simple yet effective way to protect these leaders from revealing their true colours. Hence, a group of Umno Youth supporters went to the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, and threatened to burn down the hall as retaliation to the requests made by the ‘extremists’ Suqiu. More recently, Umno leaders have warned that they have stopped the Malays in Kampung Baru from coming out to retaliate over the Hindraf issue.
After 50 years of Independence, what have we learned about national unity? After years of being ruled by Umno, one would have expected the ruling party to inculcate a sense of respect among the races and incidents like ‘threatening to burn down the hall’ and ‘stopping the Malays from coming out’ should not even have happened. As a non-Indian, I do not see any reason for a non-Indian to retaliate against Hindraf, which is only demonstrating peacefully and making a point known to the government. If it is ‘so easy’ for the Malays to come out from Kampung Baru and probably riot (that seems to be the assumption that Umno is giving to the non-Malays), then Umno as the ruling party should be held responsible, for after so many years in power, it has failed to take good care of its main constituents in this civilised era.
If Umno claims itself to be a moderate party which fully upholds the religion of Islam, one would have expected Umno to sympathise with the minorities and their grouses. Instead of trying to be fair, trying to correct the imbalance and learn from the Hindraf issue, Umno leaders are seen as being able to instigate the feelings of the Malays against the non-Malays, and use this opportunity to boost up support from its Malay constituents for their own benefit.
Take for instance the body-snatching incidents. Generally, most Malays and non-Malays would not have bothered if the religious authorities showed some respect to the dead person’s family. However, the incident happened as a result of overzealousness of the few religious officers and this has practically angered the rest of the non-Muslim population. Because of these few, millions of us are unhappy and frustrated. Of course, overzealous religious officers think that they might be going to hell if they do not proceed with the body snatching. Understandably, some Malays would sympathise with these religious officials, knowing that this was done in the name of religion.
These people, of course, never thought that the deceased person’s family also has a religion and will be going to hell instead, if they allow the dead body to be snatched. Never mind that the deceased has a mother or a wife who has lived with the deceased for years. They simply have no respect and regards for other religions and for the sensitivities of the non-Muslims. There is a need to reach a consensus since other religions might also have a ‘one and only one religion’ rule and hence respect and mutual understanding are the key points in solving such difficult and mind- boggling issues.
Some might argue that the above case should not be solely blamed on Umno, since it was the result of overzealousness of the religious officials. However, this argument does not hold water since Umno is the main reason for creeping Islamisation in Malaysia. Taxpayers money is involved. Is my contribution to taxes being used as allocation for religious classes and who funds the salaries of religious teachers and who pays the electricity bills for such classes?
When I was in school, I wonder why the baca doa is read at every assembly when two-thirds of the students are non-Muslims. When applying for a place in local university, I wonder why is there a need to state my race and religion. Why is it inappropriate to eat pork in front of Muslims but perfectly acceptable to eat beef in front of Hindus? When buying a house, I wonder why I do not get a discount for my only house whereas my much richer bumiputera friend gets a hefty 7% discount for all the semi-Ds and bungalows that he has purchased.
When Umno talks about fairness, it would be as simple as producing statistics, showing how the Chinese controls the private sector, and hence it would be fair for the Malays to control the public sector. How the Chinese forms the majority in private colleges, and hence it would be fair to allocate most of the place in public universities to the Malays. When Hindu temples are torn down, they come out with statistics, proving that there are more Hindu temples than mosques. Chinese and Indians complain of unfairness. So do the Malays. Since everyone complains of unfairness, it is then all ‘fair’ according to Umno’s simple but shrewd logic.
If Umno were to exist in other countries, it would have long been kicked out from their Parliament. Yes, the time has come. We must reduce Umno’s power once and for all. The more it wins, the more threatening it becomes. We do not want to be bullied for the rest of our lives in Malaysia. Say a big ‘NO ‘to big bullies.
Benjamin Tan
Malaysiakini
PEOPLE'S POWER
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