If both Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat were alive today, it would be easy to tell which political party they will support, going by the statements they have made. This is Hang Tuah’s statement: “Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia” (the Malays will never vanish from the face of the earth).
And this is Hang Jebat’s statement: “Aku Jebat, rakyat biasa. Pangkat aku untuk kepentingan rakyat. Bergerak aku untuk membuat jasa kepada rakyat dan aku rela mati untuk rakyat kerana aku mahu keadilan, keadilan. Keadilan!” (I am Jebat, an ordinary citizen. My rank is for the people’s well-being. I work for the good of the people and I am willing to die for the people because I want justice, justice. Justice!)
No doubt about it. Umno glorifies Hang Tuah in order to cement firmly the support of the Malays to the party as Umno is all about Ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy. And this is clearly epitomised in Hang Tuah. This is the reason why Hang Tuah is glorified in our history textbooks – to imbue young Malay minds to worship Hang Tuah so that these children will grow up thinking that the Malay is the greatest race on earth. This then is the Hang Tuah card played by Umno.
Umno and Ketuanan Melayu are Siamese twins. Malay supremacy is the lifeblood of Umno. Gluing the Malays to the concept of Ketuanan Melayu is Umno’s trump card and there is no way Pakatan Rakyat can break this stranglehold.
The battleground is now for the votes of the Malays, especially the rural Malays. But the Malays have always been taught to fear the Chinese while the Chinese have been taught to fear a repeat of an incident which occurred in 1969. The Barisan Nasional federal government thus controls the citizens by using fear as a weapon and what a mighty weapon it is.
Together with the weapon of fear is the weapon of Malay supremacy. So strong are these weapons that even PAS as an Islamic party has failed to counter them. The Malay support for PAS is only about 36 to 38 percent. And not many Malays support PKR either because they think that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has given too much leeway to the Chinese and the Indians.
Has Umno programmed the Malays to be selfish and to only look after their own interests at all costs?
There is no way the Malays will let go of Ketuanan Melayu and opt for Ketuanan Rakyat which is all encompassing and all inclusive. And this is also the reason why Pakatan will never win the general election. It is because the concept of Malay supremacy has locked up the Malay votes for Umno.
Due to Ketuanan Melayu, the Malays tend to view DAP with suspicion and this has led to them to ostracise DAP. MCA does not suffer such a fate in BN as MCA is merely Umno’s lackey while DAP is on an equal footing with PAS and PKR in the Pakatan coalition.
Umno’s bogeyman
Umno’s bogeyman
Umno uses Ketuanan Melayu to frighten the Malays into thinking that the DAP is a threat to the Malays. This is, of course, untrue as has been proven in Penang but the rural Malays are unaware of this because they only have access to the mainstream media which is controlled by BN. Therefore, DAP is always used by Umno as a bogeyman to scare the Malays.
Not only does Umno play the race card against DAP, MCA does it too. And that is why MCA has been labelled as worthless eunuchs by the Chinese. In addition to the race card, both Umno and MCA also play the religion card against DAP but in opposite methods. Umno says DAP is anti-Islam while MCA says DAP supports hudud law. The religion card is used against DAP but played differently to different audiences.
To sum up, this is the way Umno and MCA woo their respective race groups:
- Umno says this to the Malays: by supporting PAS, you will make DAP very powerful; and
- MCA says this to the Chinese: by supporting DAP, you will make PAS very powerful.
Looks as if Umno and MCA are still sticking to the old ways of communal politics – back to pre-Merdeka era style of doing things. With the existence of these types of political parties such as Umno and MCA, how is Malaysia ever going to achieve a clean, vibrant and matured democracy? Therefore it goes without saying that BN must be booted out to put an end to the era of communal politics.
However, as the Malay votes are the deciding factor, Umno is cunning in cornering the Malay mindset. Or course there are goodies for MCA and MIC too in order for them to toe Umno’s line and get the votes of their respective communities, all for the benefit of Umno. Umno channels these goodies to MCA and MIC for them to keep their mouths shut.
This will be a never-ending game of race and religion orchestrated by Umno. And you can add in the Hang Tuah card, too, unless the rakyat will put a stop to all these unethical abuse of cards in the coming 13th general election. As it is now, the cards are heavily stacked against Pakatan.
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