The Chinese dilemma
Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily
The hudud law has caused a spate of panic among the public and finger pointing among Chinese-majority political parties. Meanwhile an extremist has issued a statement calling Chinese Malaysians “trespassers.”
Chinese Malaysians have pinned their hopes on a change of administration and fairer policies after GE13, but things have not quite worked that way.
BN managed to secure 133 parliamentary seats, with Umno alone taking a lion’s share of 88 seats or 66%. This has warranted Umno a free hand to act as it desires, so much so that the BN coalition has been hijacked.
As a result, Umno can easily bypass the BN Supreme Council to implement its bumi empowerment policy in order to further consolidate its grip among the Malays.
The same goes for hudud law. Without consulting other BN component parties, Umno has formed a joint technical committee with PAS to explore matters relating to the implementation of the hudud law in Kelantan.
Was it wrong for Chinese Malaysians to seek a change in administration? Not at all, as it was the choice made by the voters. Everyone longs for a better tomorrow, but unfortunately Chinese politicians have wrongly assessed the political virtues of our leaders.
During the 1990 general elections, Chinese Malaysians believed Semangat 46, splintered from Umno, was the hope for a government change. Consequently majority of Chinese voted in favor of the opposition, dealing a severe blow on MCA.
But then Mahathir did not lean towards conservatism. Instead, he implemented a more liberal economic policy to revitalize the country’s economy in order to win back the hearts of Chinese voters.
In 2008, then prime minister Tun Abdullah was confronted by the dual blows of losing two-thirds majority in the Parliament and five state administrations, but he remained loyal to his political principles without breaking the rules of the game.
But that did not stop people around him from resorting to excessive tactics, even to an extent of ripping off the social contract, just to ensure their continued prosperity.
Umno has entrenched its racial policies in gross violation of the economic transformation spirit, while the implementation of hudud law would thrash the country’s secularism, wreaking havoc on the next generation of Malaysians.
Chinese Malaysians are typically good at fighting among themselves but powerless when confronting their common enemies. With Umno and PAS now moving together over hudud, DAP and MCA are still busy exchanging curses.
Even though the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat received overwhelming support from Chinese voters during the last general elections, they never stand up to defend the rights of Chinese Malaysians. How can Chinese Malaysians pin their hopes on PKR and PAS which have a whole lot more political considerations than safeguarding the rights and benefits of Chinese voters?
It is high time we pick up a lesson here that politicians are hardly trustworthy. There is still no prospect yet for a complete end to race-oriented politics in this country.
As a significant minority group, Chinese Malaysians should assume the role of “kingmaker” instead of allowing ourselves to be exploited by other people to advance their political ends.
Where politics is concerned, Chinese are excessively superstitious, blindly worshipping their politicians of choice, in the end paying a hefty price for their own folly.
Looking from another perspective, the political dilemma of Chinese Malaysians could be disastrous to the nation as a while, as politicians could mount retaliatory actions against the community.
The MH370 incident has dealt a severe blow on the country and by right the government should make use of this opportunity to rectify its administrative weaknesses in a bid to restore the government’s bruised international image. Unfortunately our political leaders have failed to answer to the queries and various challenges, and have to harness the hudud law issue in an attempt to divert public attention while thinning the opposition strength.
