Dr M claims Malays could become like ‘Singapore Malays’
“It was only a coincidence that the rally was planned on May 13. However, there were strong accusations that we wanted to incite racial sentiments. But must we forget our history? When we forget our history then we will risk repeating our mistakes again.”
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA TERENGGANU, June 14 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the Malays were in crisis and risked becoming marginalised like “Singapore Malays” because of political divisions.
He told a rally of Malay NGOs here today that Malays could end up as a minority in their own country.
According to the ex-premier, the community had become divided by political parties selling them out for power.
He then blamed PAS and PKR, instead of Umno, for the predicament he claimed Malays were now in.
“The Malays make up 60 per cent of the population. However, the percentage of Malay voters are smaller today because 20 per cent each is given to the three [Malay] political parties, including Umno.
“And they will fight each other, [and this will cause] the community to become a minority. They (PKR and PAS) only want to grab power. Their priority is not race and religion but power.
“They are willing to do anything to become prime minister,” he claimed when addressing Gertak’s rally at the state’s indoor stadium here.
Fewer than a thousand people were present at The Gerakan Kebangkitan Rakyat’s (People’s Awareness Movement) “Melayu Bangkit” rally here. The organisers had expected a turnout of more than five thousand.
Gertak means “to intimidate” or “to bully” in Bahasa Malaysia, but organisers have denied that today’s rally was meant to intimidate non-Malays.
Dr Mahathir said that community was in crisis and must act before it shares the same fate as its southern neighbours.
“If we do not think deeply about the future of our community then there is a possibility that we can become [like] the Singaporean Malays and have no power.
“We would have to bow down when facing other races. It’s not that we want other races to bow down to us but we want fair distribution of economic and political power,” he said.
However, he said Malays would only have themselves to blame for this downfall.
“We must not fault anybody but ourselves. We, as the majority in the country, have become the minority.
“And in a democratic system, the minority will not be in power. We have lost the chance to be in power and we [need to] regain it back,” he said.
He also criticised the younger generation for not fully appreciating the gravity of this scenario.
“Maybe younger Malays believe that there is nothing wrong if we are not in power. Believe me, that they will not look after our interests when we are not in power,” he said.
Dr Mahathir went on to claim that meritocracy would not empower the community but would instead hamper it’s progress.
“Meritocracy does not see religion and race. I feel that the Malays will not be successful if we distributed the country’s wealth according to meritocracy.
“If we are not in power then we will not be able to help our own people. This will be the downfall of our people,” he said.
The Gertak movement was founded earlier this year, shortly after the controversial “Allah” judgment.
