Dr M claims Malays under siege

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today continued his push for a siege mentality among the Malays by pointing out that the community’s political leaders were now under the thumb of “the others” and need to be united again for the sake of the its future.
Writing in his blog today, the former prime minister cited as an example of his argument the fall of the Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government “led by a Malay (but) a certain race considered it the fall of a government belonging to their race.”

Dr Mahathir has been stepping up his rhetoric in recent months to lobby for the current Umno leadership to respond to disquiet among conservative Malays.

Backed by increasingly influential right-wing Malay groups like Perkasa, Dr Mahathir and his supporters have rattled Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reform agenda.

While Dr Mahathir and Perkasa have not directly criticised Najib, they have slammed some of his ministers and proposed policies for not fulfilling the “Malay agenda.”

The former premier’s blog entry today was the second time this week in which he has argued that Malays were losing out to other communities in “their own country”, in remarks which even he has acknowledged could be construed as racist.

“I will be accused of being a chauvinist and racist for voicing my opinion. I am willing to be labelled as such. My intention is to remind us all before it becomes irreversible.

“Go on being divided and tussling. In the end what is being held will be spilled and what is being chased after will not be achieved.”

Earlier this week, Dr Mahathir told a gathering of right-wing Malay groups that the Malays were in crisis and risked becoming marginalised like “Singapore Malays” because of political divisions.

He argued that Malays could end up as a minority in their own country.

According to him, the community had become divided by political parties selling them out for power. He blamed PAS and PKR, instead of Umno, for the predicament he claimed Malays were now in.