“Malays Unite”
Zaid Ibrahim
This slogan is a tad too old and uninspiring, and it rings hollow as a rallying cry for this year’s UMNO General Assembly.
Malays are not easily fooled by the false alarm, repeated over 40 years, that their problems stem primarily from their lack of unity and that the Chinese “threat”, whatever that is, can be overcome by nothing more than mere sloganeering.
It would have been better had UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak changed the slogan to “Let’s Get Real”. It would have been better had he made a serious attempt to thwart former his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s growing criticisms of his administration by outlining new policies that are believable and needed today.
So far, however, Najib has been playing different tunes to different crowds. Often, he has chosen to remain characteristically silent on important issues so that he can continue to be blue, black, or yellow depending on whatever seems popular.
He must know by now that trying to be both “50 percent moderate” and “50 percent Ibrahim Ali” will not work. This time he must—to save his job—commit to a position: either agree with Perkasa and forget about those promises of reform, or be a real agent of change.
I actually think the “Let’s Get Real” is very appropriate.
Chinese support will not come without attitudinal change. If Najib needs their votes, as he explained when defending the continued existence of vernacular schools, then it’s not enough to say merely that we must not close the schools because we need Chinese votes.
If I were Chinese I wouldn’t be impressed with this kind of reasoning because: come 2030 when the population of Malay-Muslim voters reaches 75 percent, the authorities can then close vernacular schools because Chinese votes would no longer count.
It would have been more fitting had Najib said that at the time of Independence, the Founding Fathers of the country agreed on the existence of vernacular schools, and therefore as Prime Minister he would honour that agreement come what may. Chinese and Indian Malaysians might then view Najib differently.
On the subject of Islam, Najib seems happy to let Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom have a free hand seeking and demanding more power and more money for the institutions he controls.
The Islamists in UMNO might vote for Najib because of Jamil Khir’s rhetoric. Others might vote for Najib because Jamil has spoken against pluralism and the transgender community.
But there are many who will reject them both for their own reasons and whatever Najib or Jamil do will never be enough to please them.
