Petra on ‘equally racist’ supporters of PR
(Harakah Daily) – Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has warned that some Pakatan Rakyat supporters have confused their own racism with the agenda to oust UMNO, saying he feared this would undermine the ‘Anything But UMNO’ (ABU) campaign.
In an article on his blog Malaysia Today hitting out at critics who accused him of being a ‘turn-coat’, Petra (pic) warned against any attempt by some non-Malays with racist inclination to use the ABU movement to weaken the Malays’ political power.
“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,” wrote Petra, who reminded that his comments were being made at the risk of being branded as ant-Chinese.
He cited a string of bloggers, columnists and commentators who are focused on the Chinese agenda, as well as anti-Malay comments posted on several news portals including Malaysiakini, as proof of his claim.
Petra said the concerns about “hidden racist agenda” among some Chinese opposed to UMNO came at a time when DAP was seriously trying to shed its ‘Chinese chauvinist’ image.
Petra, who said PR remained the only platform to oust UMNO, said as long as UMNO was not brought down, its racist ‘Malay supremacy’ ideology would not be wiped out.
He added that his support for non-Malay concerns especially when he campagned for non-Malay candidates in 2008 was because he felt that these communities had “been given a raw deal and thus should be supported in any way possible”.
However, Petra said soon after the 2008 elections, there emerged “all-Malay” and “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,” he added.
Petra said elected Malay PR leaders who defected to the opposition had been hiding their UMNO-type racism, and this was why one should not be surprised to see them speaking UMNO’s language the moment they crossed over.
“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.”
He hit out at certain PR supporters who were quick to describe criticism against opposition leaders as having a secret agenda.
“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,” said Petra.
As a result of such thinking, there were more underlying reasons beyond the allegation of ‘being bought’ when some Malays turned against PR, he said.
“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.
“And this is what frightens me.”
