The hidden racist agenda

One needs to only read the articles and comments in Malaysiakini and Malaysia Chronicle to see this. The attack by the Chinese Bloggers, columnists and commenters is proof enough that this is all about the Chinese agenda. Are we trying to demolish the Malay agenda of Umno or are we propagating the Chinese agenda of the opposition? It looks like it is both, to demolish the Malay agenda and to replace it with the Chinese agenda.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

For more than a year I have been having genuine concerns about the hidden racist agenda of some Chinese in the opposition. I am not talking about the DAP, which appears to be seriously attempting to shed its Chinese chauvinist image by attracting more Malays to join its ranks. I just hope this is a sincere effort and not just a window-dressing exercise. My concern is more about the Chinese in PKR.

I am equally concerned about some Malays in the opposition as well. So I am not just pointing to the Chinese. And I do not wish to even start talking about the Indians as you might interpret this as an anti-Hindraf statement.

For decades I believed that Umno is evil and that its racist agenda is a hindrance to national unity. Until Umno can be brought down its Malay Supremacy or Ketuanan Melayu can never be wiped out. Hence my heart was with the opposition, which I saw as the only true platform to national unity and the benteng against Ketuanan Melayu.

In the run-up to the 2008 general election I told the DAP that I was only prepared to campaign in constituencies where the DAP was contesting. I declined all invitations to campaign or give ceramahs in constituencies where PAS or PKR were contesting. Even when I was asked to ceramah in Nurul Izzah’s constituency I refused to do so until some Indian friends spoke to me and pleaded with me to reconsider. Because of these Indian friends of mine I relented and agreed to do a few ceramahs. But only for Nurul Izzah. I still refused to go to the other non-DAP areas other than just Nurul Izzah’s constituency.

That was the extent of my commitment to the ‘Chinese cause’, if I may be permitted to refer to it as that. My heart was with the Chinese, not because I am anti-Malay, but because I felt the Chinese (plus Indians, of course) were being given a raw deal and thus should be supported in any way possible.

Then, not long after the 2008 general election, I began to see the Malays form all-Malay cliques and the Chinese form all-Chinese cliques. Suddenly the ‘we are all equal’ and ‘we are all fellow Malaysians’ flew out the window. The Malays began having their secret meetings that did not include the Chinese while the Chinese had secret meetings that did not include the Malays.

This not only got me worried but triggered feelings of disillusionment. My support for the opposition was because, other than to see an end to corruption, abuse of power, and mismanagement, plus to see good governance, accountability and transparency, is to see an end to racism and racial cliques. Now, the very reason we are opposing Umno appears to be surfacing in the opposition as well.

My concerns were proven when we began to see a number of Malay leaders from PKR and PAS leave the opposition. Then they began to talk just like the Umno people that we are opposing. The numbers may be less than ten but that was enough to prove that these Malays may have been in the opposition but they are certainly Umno at heart.

Did they suddenly turn from being Malaysians to becoming Malay Supremacists? Did they suddenly embrace Ketuanan Melayu just because they are no longer in the opposition? Certainly not! They were always racists at heart. They just did not want to show it when they were in the opposition. Now that they are outside the opposition they are free to show their real colours.

But these are just the Malays who left the opposition to either join Umno or declare themselves as independents. And some of them were close to Anwar Ibrahim and were members of his inner circle. But they are not the only ones. There are still many Malays who have not left the opposition, some even in Anwar’s inner circle, who share the same Malay sentiments as those who had left. And they have grouped themselves into their own clique and hold secret meetings where the non-Malays are excluded and where they discuss the ‘Malay agenda’.

Yes, and that was also around the time, back in 2010, when I decided to form the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement so that I can continue the fight for reforms outside the political structure that we call Pakatan Rakyat. Alas, MCLM did not get the support of the opposition, which viewed this movement as a threat. Instructions were issued by the party leaders that the opposition was not to support or cooperate with MCLM.

That is all now water under the bridge and we have since decided that MCLM will be non-partisan and apolitical. We decided to abandon all efforts to seek reforms through the political process. This would also mean we are no longer interested in ‘interfering’ in the elections or to try to influence the selection of candidates standing in the elections. Of course, not everyone in MCLM agreed with this decision and this saw the exit of some of the original founders of MCLM.

A good test was when I did my TV3 interview in early 2011 and the NST interview on 1st January this year. It was met with a very venomous response from leaders and supporters of the opposition. It was something to be expected and was not a miscalculation. Before I did these interviews I discussed the matter with a few close friends. They all agreed that I should proceed with the interviews and no one thought that the violent backlash would not happen.

Hence I did the interviews and braced myself for the fallout. And the fallout occurred, as venomous and as violent as we had discussed and had expected.

Then we studied and analysed the attacks. Most of it came from the Chinese. Chinese Blogs as well as news portals such as Malaysiakini and Malaysia Chronicle, which are owned by the Chinese gang in the opposition, in particular those in PKR, were the most vicious in their attacks.

That was the proof that we needed.

Of course, most of the attacks were camouflaged. They raised issues such as this is an Umno agenda, I have turned, I have been bought, and so on. This was merely to give the impression that whatever criticism against the opposition is mala fide with an aim to deny Pakatan Rakyat the federal government. The issues were never addressed. The raiser of the issue was attacked.

One needs to only read the articles and comments in Malaysiakini and Malaysia Chronicle to see this. The attack by the Chinese Bloggers, columnists and commenters is proof enough that this is all about the Chinese agenda. Are we trying to demolish the Malay agenda of Umno or are we propagating the Chinese agenda of the opposition? It looks like it is both, to demolish the Malay agenda and to replace it with the Chinese agenda.

I did not believe it at first when some of these Malays started leaving Pakatan Rakyat. I believed it was because they had been bought and not, as they claimed, because the Chinese in the opposition have a hidden agenda. I believed that all this talk about the Chinese hidden agenda is a lame excuse to justify why they left. Now, I am not so sure.

It is now very clear that ABU, although about removing Umno from power, is not about seeing a better government. It is about weakening Malay political power. While there is nothing wrong in ousting Umno if those Malays in power are evil and hence need to be removed. But that is not the real reason why Umno needs to be removed. It is because Umno represents Malay political power and by removing Umno then the Malays would be weakened.

And this is what frightens me. Are we removing one racist government just to replace it with another racist government? This appears to be the case and the attacks I am subjected to, the manner it is being done and the things that are being said, certainly points to this.

This was something that needed to be put to a test. And I had to be that mouse that bells the cat. And certainly the mouse that is tasked with belling the cat needs to take this risk. It comes with the territory. It is an occupational hazard.