Mahathir , from Malay Dilema to Chinese Dilemma

What’s Up Mahathir: You want your job back?

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has lamented that UMNO – the party he led for two decades – has failed to defend the Malays in the face of attacks from the minority Chinese.

“What is happening now is that Malays are forming NGOs because of Chinese attacks against the Malays, and UMNO seems unable to defend them,” said Mahathir.

The former UMNO strongman has lambasted “Chinese extremists” for their unreasonable demands.

“We hear a lot about demands by Chinese extremists questioning the provision of Malay special rights in the constitution, demanding an end to the NEP, reduction of quotas for Malay students. They even say the Malays are also ‘kaum pendatang’ or immigrants.

“UMNO remained silent. In fact, when an UMNO member said that the Chinese and Indians are descendants of immigrants, he was suspended by UMNO. It seems to many Malays that UMNO is incapable of countering the attacks by Chinese extremists against Malays.”

According to Mahathir, the Malay NGOs such as PERKASA were left with no choice but to “rebut racist statements” by the Chinese. “And when they do they are labeled as racist,” he decried.

Chinese hard to satisfy

The man who wrote the controversial ‘The Malay Dilemma’ has noted that UMNO and the ruling government is facing a new dilemma.

“In trying to win over the Chinese with allocations and abolishing New Economic Policy provisions, the BN will lose Malay support as indeed it did in 2008. On the other hand, no matter how the government try to satisfy Chinese demands, the Chinese have clearly rejected the BN.”

Mahathir, however, said that backing the opposition is not the answer as “they have shown no capacity to rule”. He nevertheless did not offer an opinion on how UMNO should overcome its dilemma, apart from saying that “the choice is ours”.

“Playing race politics in Malaysia is dangerous. This country may find itself being governed by a weak government. There will be more politicking and more racial conflicts. There will be instability and chaos. Then everyone, whatever race he may be, will suffer.”