Tengku Razaleigh’s Romancing the Past
For the people who do not know the politician prince Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, after reading his blog, may find him a dreamer who is caught in his own time warp. However, true supporters of UMNO cannot fault him for being a true patriot of his party, UMNO.
Razaleigh continues his romance with the past, reminiscing how great his party once was as he reminded himself of the Tunku's words, “we have created Malaysia through friendly argument and compromise. The spirit of co-operation and concord is living proof of the desire we share for a common destiny.” This spirit he called the very “basis of Malaysia” and its “augury for the future.”
He continues, "Malaya and Malaysia were achievements of vision executed by patient deliberation. Umno’s leadership articulated that vision, won others over to it, and helped forge the constitutional underpinnings for a new nation in negotiations over many months."
However, the true historical narration of UMNO is not all that rosy pink. Beneath the party which was claimed to be capable of "friendly argument and compromise" this image was shattered in the 1969 racial riots.
Prior to the incident, a blot in our race relations, the party was instrumental in shifting the whole political landscape toward a very dangerous racial extreme. Incidents leading to the 1969 racial riots were laced with emotional racial sentiments and fervour culminating in the demise of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965.
In fact, several UMNO leaders were allegedly involved in inciting the riots which turned into racial riots. As a healing process, the BN government did not take any positive step to conduct a full inquiry into the incident.
