Finally My Chinese Friends Came on to the Streets – 505 Ini Kali Lah

 

My Chinese friends fail to understand the true colours of DSAI. They don’t know that the same fate which befell their Tamil and Hindus friends after GE 12 is going to befall them.

M. Gunasekar 

Sometime in early 2008, I bumped into a Chinese friend and went for “yum cha” with him. During my conversation he said we Chinese don’t need to go to the street to protest like Indians to make the change. Economy is in our control and we are powerful enough to make the changes without the need to take to the streets like our Indian friends.

I nodded acknowledging his opinion and told him that a large number of Indians are below the poverty level and economically controlling less than 1.5 percent of the country wealth. What choice do they have to be heard by the ruling government?

The Hindraf rally on 25 Nov 2007 was the highlight of Indians especially the uprising Tamils and Hindus in Malaysia. Police roadblocks started the week before the rally to create massive traffic jams across the city and the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Many were upset with the Indians for pouring onto the streets and literally making the capital city a standstill causing major inconvenience to everyone. Five thousand riot police members dispatched to the scene used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds and 136 people were arrested.

Less than four(4) months later the ruling government called for election and were caught with their pants down. The GE 12 showed how HINDRAF became one of the triggers for a major change in the course of the country. The general dissatisfaction with the regime ruled by UMNO which had been brewing for some years was the kerosene and the Hindraf Rally of 25 Nov 2007 was the tinder that sparked off the kerosene into a major explosion that has been called the Political Tsunami of Malaysian politics.

The ruling UMNO-led BN government lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and came close to getting just over half the seats in Parliament from the Peninsula.

HINDRAF, which had barely existed for 3 years up to that time, and which was barely known up till Aug 2007 had suddenly caught the mood of a large proportion of Malaysians, not only Tamils and Hindus but the Chinese and a sizeable section of the Malays as well, causing a major upset in the process.

In the lead up to GE 13 the Chinese came on to the streets with much bigger fanfare, driven up in festive mood that includes Bersih 2.0, Bersih 3.0, Himpunan Satu Juta Rakyat, Carnivals, Mega Ceramah, road shows, fund raising dinners and etc.

“The urban Chinese especially… they are like… wow… suddenly, all that suppressed sentiment just erupted”. They were so eager that even in the smaller ceramahs in the Malay kampungs, they went. PR’s ceramahs attracted massive, almost frenzied crowds of predominantly Chinese voters who came decked out from head to foot in PR merchandise, from their T-shirts to caps, banners, balloons and even face paint.

Many big ceramah events resulted in donations of up to over RM200,000, mirroring the number of supporters who not only turned up but were willing to part with money to back PR’s campaign.

Thousands and thousands of Chinese friends flocked the ceramah(s) to hear their ‘heroes’ and ‘heroines’ speak about a future without racism, a future without prejudice and injustice, a future that is bright, fair and corruption-free.

Finally the judgment day came on 5th May 2013; my Chinese friends were so eager to cast their votes. Many could not sleep the night before dreaming that by the night of 5 May 2013 the country leadership will finally be transferred to their ‘heroes’ and ‘heroines’. Out of the total number of 13,268,002 voters for the 222 parliamentary seats, 11,257,147 voters or 84.84 per cent cast their votes at the 13th general election (GE13), the highest percentage in any general election in Malaysia.

Around midnight on the fateful day, the EC chairman appeared on the TV screens to make the official announcement that BN managed to win 112 seats which eventually climbed to 133 parliament seats that were more than enough to form the next government.

My Chinese friends cried wolf with all sorts of allegations of electoral fraud in GE13. Their ‘heroes’ and ‘heroines’ of PR have made a number of allegations including tampering of ballot boxes, suspected foreigners being drafted in to vote, and supposedly indelible ink which easily washes off. PR maverick hero DSAI said effectively the elections were stolen by Barisan Nasional.

In fact from the polling day itself, DSAI accused BN prematurely of stealing these elections, of massive fraud and irregularities. But until today, he has yet to come forward with a shred of evidence of any irregularities. What we have until today is just very blanket unsubstantiated allegations that these elections were marred by fraud and irregularities.

My Chinese friends fail to understand the true colours of DSAI. They don’t know that the same fate which befell their Tamil and Hindus friends after GE 12 is going to befall them. Remember all the promises made by DSAI before and during the GE 12 election campaigns to the Indians. Solving IC issues, Tamil Schools, Temple, Employment and many others, what happened?

During the GE 13 campaigns “Anwar, Sivaji the Boss” were missing and missing too on the stage were the Indian leaders. PR only talked about Indians without IC somewhere around Aug 2012 of which by then BN was already half way through the process of issuing ICs to many Indians and Chinese. They also alleged that around 300,000 Indians were without ICs but where is the official data to substantiate their claims? PR seats allocation to Indians for GE 13 compared to GE 12 were down from 16 to 14. As DSAI mentioned in the meeting within the top management of PKR that you Indians have been the minority – take what is given and don’t make a fuss of it.

My dear Chinese friends, DSAI’s manifesto were an “advertisement” to get the citizens to “buy his product” but after the purchase is done, DSAI doesn’t provide “after-sales service”. “When a consumer buys a product, they need a guarantee. However, based on DSAI’s track record, there are no guarantees.

It’s sad that the impact of the Indian Tsunami in GE 12 which translated into 82 seats for PR did not result in a bigger anticipated Tsunami in 2013. It were merely a huge monsoon flooding that swept across the country without creating bigger collateral damage to BN strongholds in ruling the country with their iron fist rule until the next GE. BN has institutionalized the way it manages politics in this country and to steamroll it out of power you need a mega force equivalent to a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Final message to my dear Chinese friends – “Kita Mathrubum(ubah) Next Time Lah”.