Some UMNO leaders can never learn from history. Over 50 years holding on
to power has made them arrogant. It is always threats and racial
tinges that have made them survive thus far. But the equation has now
changed in Malaysian politics. UMNO is no more seen as a political
entity that is likely to survive in the next general election.
Threats and racial overtones have now even climaxed to uncouth
statements demanding for a person’s life. An UMNO MP’s suggestion that
Ambiga is a traitor and should be hanged is too much for the Indian
community in the country to swallow.
Ambiga exploded many myths
Ambiga Sreenevasan, the co-chairman of Bersih 3.0 − a coalition of NGOs
(non-governmental organisations) which seeks to reform the current
electoral system in Malaysia to ensure free, clean and fair elections −
has proven to UMNO that the Bersih rallies in the past had seen people
of different ethnic and religious backgrounds working in unison as
Malaysians.
She has exploded many myths long held by UMNO leaders that multi-racial
Malaysia cannot work as a team. UMNO is thus not pleased with Ambiga.
UMNO has all this while speciously thought that only they can lead the
country with their divide-and-rule policies stained with an unfair
electoral process.
Just recently it was reported that an UMNO MP had derided Ambiga to the
extent that she was labelled as a traitor and went to suggest that “she
be hanged” for treason. Just because Ambiga was involved in the Bersih
3.0 rally on April 28 this year and has won the hearts of majority
Malaysians the MP invidiously labelled her as a traitor and equating
her to the Al-Ma'unah leader who was found guilty of treason and
sentenced to death about a decade ago.
The Al-Ma'unah was a militant terrorist group − headed by the leader
Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali − at Bukit Jenalik on 6 July 2000 and
brought to trial for charges of "waging war against the King". This
became the first people convicted of such offence in Malaysia. Amin and
his two lieutenants, Zahit Muslim (ex-police VAT-69 commando) and
Jamaluddin Darus, were sentenced to death.
The dye is now cast
Though the MP was later forced to retract his statement by the Speaker
in parliament he did not say sorry to Ambiga for his uncouthness. His
demeanour has hurt the feelings of the Indians in the country. The dye
is now cast as the damage has already been done.
In fact derogatory terms were freely used to label Ambiga by some bigots
who supported UMNO. They had no qualms over using disrespectful words
such as “pariah” and even “sex nuances” to vitiate her. This has
actually backfired and become an ignominy to UMNO.
Ambiga has been harassed for too long while the police and Najib are
keeping an elegant silent about the whole issue. Before this was the
setting up of burger stalls in front of her home by a group of
disenchanted traders, followed by a group of so-called army veterans who
went to perform “butt exercises”.
They must be mindful that beef is not consumed by devote Hindus. Ambiga
is a Brahmin and a vegetarian. This blasphemous act by those zealots is
very offensive to all Hindus and those respectable citizens of the
country.
The Indians are today disappointed by all these crackpots, as they were
not reproached by the UMNO leadership. Najib as the prime minster has
perceptibly been silent over this matter − feasibly thinking that all
these “uncivilised” actions by some irresponsible fanatics could bring
him some brownie points to uplift his sagging image.
Ambiga is a devoted Hindu and is a Malaysian lawyer who served as the
President of the Malaysian Bar Council from 2007 to 2009. A
distinguished personality she was conferred honorary doctorate in law by University of Exeter.
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She was one of eight recipients of the US Secretary of State
“International Women of Courage” Award in 2009. Marc Barety, the
ambassador of France to Malaysia, granted the Legion of Honour insignia
to Ambiga in 23 September 2011. She was recognised for her contributions
to the human rights defence.
Alternative to UMNO
UMNO can remain arrogant. But history has proven that no political party
in any part of the world can remain in power forever. In the Malaysian
context the indications are that UMNO is becoming less relevant to the
Malays. PAS is now becoming the alternative to UMNO.PAS is gradually and
surely overtaking UMNO as a party that represents the majority Malays.
Malays are, as most would expect, embracing PAS, PKR and even DAP.
PAS as a relatively moderate and unassertive political party is being
cherished not only by Malays and Muslims but also the Chinese and
Indians. The people have not heard a single PAS lawmaker or member in
the past hurling abusive words against a Chinese or Indian in the
country. Their piety and strong leaning towards religion has made them
behave thus.
No Malaysians have ever heard of uncalled-for loutish terms such as
“pengkhianat”. “pendatang”, “kesal diberi kerakyatan”, “pecat
kerakyatan”, ”Cina babi”, “penumpang”, “tak suka boleh balik ke negara
asal”, “kurang ajar”, “pelacur” “celaka”, “pariah” coming from PAS (or
the Opposition) lawmakers or members. Such is the graciousness of the
God-fearing people in PAS. They are the bigots in UMNO and some NGOs
allied to UMNO that have disaffected the Indians and Chinese in the
country by using all the boorish expressions against the non-Malays.
These foul-mouthed words were never heard of from other natives in the
country against the Indians and Chinese. The majority of them are
willing to live together as Malaysians. But rhetoric on race relations
by UMNO has actually become a sham and this has made the people more
polarised.
The Indians and Chinese are only made up of less than 35 percent of the
population. They are here to stay as this is their country. It’s UMNO’s
bad policies of 55 years that have failed to bring all the races
together and they should now stop blaming the non-Malays for not
supporting them.
Indians especially are not as fortunate
First of all the non-Malays in this country are not considered as
“natives” by UMNO and they do not enjoy the privileges given to the
“natives”. But as ordinary human beings they have their pride and many
have struggled against all odds to survive. Many have become successful
and many others have not.
The Indians especially are not as fortunate as the Chinese or the
Malays. Over 60 percent of Indians in the country are in the poor
cluster. With poverty comes deprivation that usually brings to
humiliation. This should not be the reason for demeaning the Indians.
The majority being deprived, poor and underprivileged they have always
been mocked by politicians. They even had a novel “Interlock” used in
schools that did not portray the poor Indians in a couth and mild
fashion.
“Interlok” is a 1971 Malay language novel written by Malaysian national
laureate Abdullah Hussain. The novel was included in the syllabus for
the Malay Literature subject as compulsory reading for students in Form 5
in schools throughout Malaysia.
“Interlok” caused a controversy when detractors claim that the novel
contained derogatory words to describe Malaysian Indians as "pariah".
The book has since been withdrawn from the syllabus.
Not sensitive to the feelings of the minority
It looks like some of these UMNO bigots are not sensitive to the
feelings of the minority in the country. Post-2008 general election saw
many unpleasant events happening in the country, which included the
stomping of a severed cow head in public, temples and churches being
desecrated, the mock Hindu funeral rites in front of the chief
minister's home in Penang. This has offended both the Indians and the
Chinese.
The Indians and Chinese were often branded as “pendatang” when over 90
percent of these people today are Malaysian-born. By virtue of been born
in the country shouldn’t they be considered natives of this country?
Irrefutably, the ancestors of all Malaysians can be traced to
“pendatang”. The theory says some came to this country very much earlier
and some others very much later. But today we see a big generation of
Malaysians almost all were born in this country.
This racist politics of UMNO became more overt beginning 1981 when
Mahathir Mohammad (by virtue of the same theory can be described as a
product of “pendatang”) − took over office as prime minister. His
divide-and-rule policies have made race relations in the country become
murky and more divergent.
UMNO lacks the political will to make all Malaysians unite and live
together as Malaysians. UMNO’s agenda is to play a Malay-centric
politics and this has left the country polarised until today.
No ordinary person
Ambiga is no ordinary person in our society. She has become the new icon
of the Indians as well as the other races in the country. Her name is
today on the lips of every Malaysian not because she is a traitor but a
saviour of the country’s democracy.
The Indians rejected UMNO and BN in the last general election (2008). It
was Hindraf under the leadership of Uthayakumar that significantly
brought about to the demise of MIC leader’s political career and BN’s
loss of a few states to the Opposition.
Samy Vellu lost to the PSM candidate in Sungai Siput. Many other MIC and
PPP candidates lost in that election. BN also lost its two-thirds
majority in parliament.
The Indians and Chinese together with the Malays gave victory to many
Opposition candidates then. They did not hesitate to vote for PAS. Many
PAS candidates won with a big majority because of their votes,
Najib is off beamed by keeping an elegant silent on so many sensitive
matters affecting race relations in the country. With all these
tomfooleries by some UMNO chauvinists it has reflected badly on Najib
and UMNO. MIC and PPP can forget about getting crucial support from the
Indians. UMNO, MCA and Gerakan can also forget the same. .
The relentless attack on Ambiga by some UMNO extremists just because she
is an Indian, a Hindu, a woman and comes from a minority group has
offended not only the Indians but also the majority of the Malays,
Chinese and women in the country.
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