The Melayu Fear Factor

It seems that Malaysians, especially Malays, like extremists to lead their way. It seems that to reach the top, Malays cannot stop disturbing the Malays themselves. And this has already become a trend, a necessity in Malaysia.

By ViewAct

“Expected” was the word that came to mind when I read the headlines of a Malaysiakini report titled “Hishamuddin: Laporan Utusan ‘ada asas’”. Like many other Malaysians as well as foreigners who are following this news, we have guessed that no concrete action will be taken against Utusan, or the author of the controversial blog/article.

In fact, expectation is abound that bloggers and groups would instead be given more attention; with arrests, threats and the ISA slapped on their faces should they make counter attacks against Utusan. Meanwhile uproars, demonstration or even riots sprung up by NGOs such as Perkasa will be seen as justice and struggle for the rights of the Malay Muslim. Every spun news by Utusan is seen as truth and given much weight.

I am thus writing this with a heavy heart. For I may again be seen as insulting the Malay Muslims. But just as a father will cane his child to teach him, so too, I would put this in writing with tears in my eyes. For every sentence that come out hurting you, it cuts me just as deep. I may not be a Muslim, but as a human, I feel sad seeing the condition many Malay Muslims are facing now. In fact, this was what they faced in 1969, and thereafter. Malays, as well as other early settlers in Malaysia began to walk a difficult path, camouflaged under the glory of development.

It appears that during every troubling time in Malaysia, we will have certain individuals that stand up and make controversial statements that disturb the harmony of the rakyat. And most, if not all of these disturbances have something to do with Malays.

May 13 was about the Malays, Election topics, NEP, Ketuanan Melayu etc are also about the Malays. Sad, but it does seem that these controversy-causing people keep getting to the top of Malaysian leadership eventually – i.e. – becoming our PM.

It seems that Malaysians, especially Malays, like extremists to lead their way. It seems that to reach the top, Malays cannot stop disturbing the Malays themselves. And this has already become a trend, a necessity in Malaysia. Every time the reign of power is threatened, the Malays will be put to the boiling pan, and the rest of Malaysians would be the scapegoat. I need not elaborate further as I believe you know what I mean by that. With the unending claims that Malay rights and privileges are stripped and the Chinese are to be blamed.

To add salt to injury, Malaysians, especially the Malays, keep voting them in. After going through so much pain and exploitation, they still choose the very same group of people who mistreat them, who robbed them of the rights and privileges they were promised, who exploited them to the max. It appears to me that the Malays like extremists who shout insults, make empty promises, and bully their own people. (Probably why some NGO get so much support despite being a nuisance).

In fact, it appears that they believe such extremists would make a great candidate to be raised to the top, to the premiership. Probably the same reason why DSAI failed to be a suitable PM candidate. He had overwhelming support when he pushed his way forcibly to become the youngest DPM, until he decided to take an alternative route and now he is not seen as a suitable candidate for PM-ship. Because he is not an extremist anymore.

In contrast, individuals like our DPM, Ahmad Ismail, the home minister, Perkasa’s Ibrahim, and the likes of them makes inciting statements, and guess what, these may well be our future PM, should the Malays continue to support extremism out of fear.

Malays are actually nice, polite and wise people. In fact, I too have many Malay friends who are smart and diligent. Those are Malays that fears not about losing power. Those are Malays that sneer at NEP. Those are Malays that worry not about “Ketuanan Melayu”. Why then, is there the need to resort to using racial and religious issues to disturb the harmony of its people? Why the need for groups that keep screaming and threatening its people? Why does the government allow that, knowing it will create disharmony among its people?

“Power” is of course the reason. And the means to achieve that –> FEAR. NGOs are established not to fend of challenges from “other races” but to scare the Malays themselves. The mainstream media is also put at hand for the same purpose. In fact, no one is challenging the Malay Muslim. The group is established as a scare machinery to create insecurity to the Malay race, to create an imaginary enemy, to make them worry about something that doesn’t really exist.

Should the Malays begin to wake up, they will make up scenes and stories to convince the Malays that the issues are real, and Malays will apparently need these people to “protect” their rights. Utusan has just made up a seditious story, and to convince the Malays that they need help in securing their rights and privileges, Hishamuddin came up with that “ada asas” statement, with Perkasa behind his back.

Remember the Church arson attacks happening last year? Remember the continuous claim that DAP plans to have a Chinese PM? Or the continuous claim that Malays will lose power? The “Allah” name dispute? Or the warning that PAS should join UMNO to protect the Malays and Islam? Now they allege a Christian PM. All these were issues created by certain groups for only ONE purpose – to scare the simple minded Malays and instill insecurity that they are losing power, while in fact it is UMNO that is insecure as they are losing support.

Knowledgeable Malays don’t fall into this trap and I am lucky to know many of them. However, when the government comes to be aware about these groups of Malays, they will tackle them by creating restrictions and difficulties for them. Not able to use the power of race and religion, they resort to using economic power to control them by cutting off businesses and imposing restrictions unless they return to giving support to UMNO.

I have heard of how successful businessmen were forced to the brink of bankruptcy just because they support the opposition, and how many of them eventually abandon the cause to make ends meet. Well, being the higher middle class of the society, these Malays have only 2 choices: fight and risk losing everything; or associate with UMNO and prosper. What do you think a man would do when his family’s survival is at stake?

A similar situation happened in 1969. Issues of making a living were already evident in the Malay community, which were lured into abandoning the rural life to live in the cities. The government of the day was aware of this, but did not take any action to resolve it. They let the issue boil and eventually, when the rakyat began to lose confidence in their capabilities and voted the opposition, the government tuned up the issue and played it into a serious racial issue seemingly caused by the opposition, and especially the Chinese community.

A country needs able leaders to bring the country to higher ground. As long as he/she is a capable person, he/she should be given the mandate to lead the people towards a better future. The ruling party, in trying to cover up for their mistakes and their plots of exploiting the Malays, resorted to appointing more Malays into the cabinet, ministries, and government agencies and whatnot as a camouflage that Malay interest is taken care of. They put aside credibility and capability; and appointed people that are closely associated with them into positions, just to show that Malays have a higher occupancy in the executive level. This is to serve as a mirage that Malays are having more power under their leadership. Their personality and credibility however, are overlooked. And the common Malays still suffer like before.

To further strengthen their positions, they encouraged Malays to have more children, and promised that the government will take care of their welfare. They tried hard and managed to increase the percentage of the Malay population. However, how many are really cared after? Many Malay families have up to 10 children but how many are living comfortably? Some do not receive simple education, some even lack basic necessities. They managed to increase the quantity, but neglected the quality of the community. Not realizing the truth behind their hard lives, this increase in number is then used to provide votes to the same ruling party who exploited them; by merely a few hundred ringgit every 5 years.

To ensure that they remain in power, a wicked plan is then deployed. To increase votes at their side, they imported people from a neighboring country and provided them with identities, and working opportunities. Coming from a dire state in their homeland, these people eagerly take up the new identities and in time they too began to declare themselves as Malay, and access to all rights and privileges of this land. This further deteriorates the already impaired situation in Malaysia. As they come from a place of worse living standard, they would eagerly work for a lesser wage. This not only reduced job opportunities for locals, it also reduced the amount of wages for the same tasks to be carried out. Employers can save more by hiring them than local workers, and this makes life even more difficult for the lower class locals. The increase in their numbers also poses as a social issue as many of them display a more hostile behavior.

To fend off opposing power, the legislative, executive and judiciary were manipulated by the ruling party, and all opposing individuals removed and replaced by people from their side. This caused the institutions to become a mere tool to ensure supremacy of the ruling party and secrecy of their plots and mistakes. We can see today in many cases where the actual criminal is let off, while innocent people scapegoated, or killed to cover up. By the way, how has the Lingam case ended? How about the PKFZ, Istana Infamy, or even the Balinese mansion? I believe many remember how 5 judges were sacked by one PM some years ago to enable his clique into the judiciary institution. If you don’t stand by me, I’ll have you replaced. This happened in all related sectors, including the police, military, and municipal councils.

Not forgetting the Kerabat diraja. The same fear factor is used to threaten the royal lineage. The succession of the throne is manipulated, and control of land ownership used to hold their reign of the ruling party against the royals, so as to keep them in their cage. The dependency on the government is a factor causing the royals to be bounded by the government. Betrayal from within the royal family was the cause of them falling into the grip of UMNO in the first place.

The Malaysian Chinese and Indians began to let go of their fear and ceased supporting BN. Despite monetary offers and various promises by BN, the Chinese still voted for the opposition. This move however is labeled as disloyalty, and ungratefulness by the ruling party. But as a matter of fact, the Chinese merely rejected the ruling party’s trick to continue exploiting the Chinese community, thus swinging their votes to the opposition, although the latter might have lesser experience in governance.

The educated Malays have also awakened. However there are still many others whom the ruling party has denied their privileges; they have no access to information and any knowledge to help them see through this. In their simple mindset, the one that dared to stand up against others regardless of what and why he actually screamed or shouted, as long as it appears to be for the Malays, will be seen as a hero and should be supported by fellow Malays.

The common Malays need to wake up and be brave. Fear not that you will be losing power. Because if you are capable, you will surely get your way up there. We have the constitution to serve as guidance over our governance and if people live their life in harmony, the constitution will never be questioned. When no one is under threat, who would want to challenge the constitution and invite trouble for themselves?

Above all, Men should have no fear when he is walking with God/Allah. And they will not shake under screams, threats and challenges from anyone, even the devil as long as he follows the path set by God/Allah. UMNO is creating fear in Malays to make them feel insecure so that they can be manipulated. This is not in accordance with the teachings of religion. They are thus not followers of Islam. Only the devil will try to scare religious students. And as a follower of Islam, thou shalt have no fear against the devil.

To be honest, I would gladly follow anyone in my business deals, be it Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, or whatnot as long as he is really capable and skillful in business dealings. There is no racial preference for me, and I believe that applies to most Malaysians too. So the Malaysian Chinese did not threaten the Malays; The Malaysian Indians did not threaten the Malays. It is the Malays who are threatening the Malays into believing that the Chinese are threatening them. They scream to create fear among the Malays itself. They shouted slogans to mislead the Malays. They created stories to support their threats. The make racial issues to exploit the Malays.

YOU WON’T HAVE FEAR IF YOU ARE TRULLY CAPABLE. AND FROM THAT, GROWS FAITH AND CONFIDENCE.

STAND UP, MALAY BROTHERS OF MALAYSIA! REJECT THE SCARE MECHANISM OF UMNO!!!