So now do you get it? Umno has given up on the Chinese. They have abandoned the Chinese voters. What they want is the Malay votes because one Malay vote is equivalent to two Chinese votes. Pakatan Rakyat needs to win 100,000 Chinese votes to win just one seat while Umno can get two or three seats with that same 100,000 Malay votes.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Have you noticed that of late there appears to be an explosion of controversial issues and statements regarding Islam and isu Melayu-Cina (Malay-Chinese issues)? Today alone Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has made a few statements, as he has been doing for a while now.

Some are direct attacks while others are indirect and camouflaged. You, of course, can clearly see the direct attacks but you do not notice that the indirect attacks are actually targeting something else.

I know many of you, in particular readers of Malaysia Today, will foam at the mouth and scream ‘racist’.  Dr Mahathir is a racist. Najib Tun Razak is a racist. Ibrahim Ali is a racist. Umno is racist. Perkasa is racist. Pekida is racist.

Firstly, you need to distinguish between racist (prejudiced person), chauvinist (war hawk) and nationalist (flag waver). Most readers understand only one word, racist, and everyone is called a racist.

Would those who fight for Chinese education and Chinese schools then be considered a racist? Are they prejudiced?

They would be prejudiced or a racist if they think that Malays are an inferior race, just slightly better than animals, and that is the reason they are fighting for Chinese education and Chinese schools -- to uphold and maintain the more superior Chinese language and culture.

Most Chinese educationists are not racists. They could, in fact, even be called sentimentalists or romantics. For all you know, they could even be connoisseurs and scholars of Malay poetry and literature while still wanting to uphold Chinese education and schools. So how can they be racists?

I know many scholars of Islam who are actually Christians. They love doing research on Islam and they have published more books than all the lecturers of UITM combined. Muslims call these types of people ‘orientalists’. Some have even classified Prophet Muhammad as the most influential person in history, even above Christ, the Prophet of Christianity, the religion of these orientalists.

Fighting for your language, culture, community, etc., does not make you a racist. It might make you a chauvinist in some people’s eyes. You become a racist only when you feel you are of a superior race and that all other races are inferior and you discriminate against those you regard as inferior.

In that same spirit, the Hindraf people are not racists. And neither are the Umno, Perkasa and Pekida people.

Now, before you stop reading at this point and start posting comments whacking me for ‘defending’ Umno, Perkasa and Pekida, as most of you normally do, read on till the end and see why I say this. If not you will again be commenting off tangent, as many of you normally do.

The Umno people (meaning also Perkasa, of course) actually do not hate the Chinese. In fact, most, if not all, do business with the Chinese (and they just love China Dolls). Many of them have become extremely rich because of their links with the Chinese. The Umno-Perkasa people will be the last people in Malaysia to go to war with the Chinese.

Read what Dr Mahathir said today. Many Chinese have become rich under the NEP. A few days ago, Umno said that the NEP has created many billionaires. Who do you think all these billionaires are? And sometimes those Chinese or Indian billionaires do not really own everything they are perceived to own. Only part of their wealth belongs to them. Part of it belongs to their ‘silent’ partners who they are holding the shares under trust for -- meaning, of course, the Malays in the corridors of power.

How do you think all these Chinese and Indians became billionaires if not because of their links with the Malays? How do you think all those Malays became millionaires (or even billionaires in some cases) if not because of their links with the Chinese and Indians?

You people reading Malaysia Today are so dumb. You foam at the mouth and scream ‘racist’. Hell, they are not racists. They are Bapak Kapitalist -- Capitalists of the highest degree. They are only pretending to be racists. And they have been fooling you good and proper for a long, long time.

Lim Goh Tong, Robert Kuok, Khoo Kay Peng, Vincent Tan, Francis Yeoh, Tan Kay Hock, Ananda Krishnan, Samy Vellu, and many more of their ilk would never have become what they have become if not because of Umno. From the days of Merdeka and the days of the First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Chinese and Indians have made it big because of Umno.

I am not saying that some Malays also did not make it big. But note one thing. While the Chinese and Indians made it big in partnership with Umno, the Malays made it big while fronting for Umno. In other words, do these Malays actually own all that wealth or do they own just a percentage of their wealth while the lion’s share actually belongs to Umno whom they are fronting for?

Even Daim Zainuddin’s wealth is questionable. How much belongs to him and how much belongs to ‘others’ and Umno? Does anyone other than the people concerned know the real situation?

So, if all these people are not really racists, then why of late have they been acting like racists? What’s with this Islam and Melayu rhetoric? Why antagonise the Chinese and Indians and risk losing their support and votes?

Umno and Barisan Nasional know that they have already lost the Chinese support and votes and nothing they say and do is going to reverse that. They also know that the Indians have swung back to Barisan Nasional and they are confident of getting no less than 50% of the Indian votes. So that leaves only the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak to worry about.

The Malay heartland is very crucial to Umno. There are more ‘Malay’ seats than ‘Chinese’ seats. Malay seats are as low of 20,000 or 40,000 voters. Chinese seats are as high as 100,000 or 120,000 voters. Hence, there are double or more ‘Malay’ seats compared to ‘Chinese’ seats. Hence also, this means that if 50% of the votes go to the opposition while Umno gets also 50%, Barisan Nasional can still form the government with around 60% of the seats in Parliament, as long as Umno’s 50% comes from the Malay heartland.

So now do you get it? Umno has given up on the Chinese. They have abandoned the Chinese voters. What they want is the Malay votes because one Malay vote is equivalent to two Chinese votes. Pakatan Rakyat needs to win 100,000 Chinese votes to win just one seat while Umno can get two or three seats with that same 100,000 Malay votes.

That is why Umno, MCA, Gerakan, etc, are all playing on the Malay sentiments and issues related to Islam. They want to win as many Malay votes as they can to compensate for the loss of the Chinese votes. DAP-PKR can take all the towns. Umno will take all the kampongs. There are more seats in the kampongs than in the towns. And this includes Sabah and Sarawak as well.

It is a bonus for Umno when the Chinese and Indians react negatively to Umno’s ‘racism’. That helps Umno in its strategy. When the Chinese and Indians also resort to Malay-Islam-bashing, Umno can use this as ‘proof’ to convince the Malays in the kampongs that Pakatan Rakyat is a threat to the Malays and Islam and that if Pakatan Rakyat takes over the Malays will become second-class citizens and hamba (slaves) in their own country.

Actually it is a brilliant strategy. Make tons of money in partnership with the Chinese. Use the Chinese as the bogeymen to frighten the Malays. And then let the unsuspecting Chinese do the rest in proving how dangerous they are by their own words and action.

Brilliant or not?