Stop whining! When you punch you get punched back

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 31, 2015

And stop trying to tell the Malays about what is right and what is wrong. To the Malays, the only thing that matters is to not lose political power. And that is the only right thing to do: nothing racial about that. Even getting the army to take over is right as long as Malays do not lose political power. Everything else is wrong.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Politics is a game of hardball, not a game of softball. So if you want to play the game of politics then accept the fact that there is no such thing as rules, not even in the US or the UK. Everything is fair game in the game of politics. You try to beat your opponent and win whether by fair means or foul.

So stop whining! If you want to play the game of politics then accept whatever comes. It is the risk you take because in politics it is winner takes all and loser loses all. There is no second prize in the game of politics. It is win or die, sometimes even literally.

I find that the non-Malays are probably 30 years behind the Malays in this game of politics. The Chinese want to play politics but they do not want to suffer any injury. They want the right to hit but resent being hit back. They throw ten punches but when even just one punch is thrown back at them they scream like hell.

The favourite ‘hit back’ retort of the non-Malays is ‘racist’. They deflect what you say and do by screaming racism. They think if they accuse you of being a racist then you would back off. But Malays do not understand that word so they will not relent. What is racism to the non-Malays is nationalism to the Malays. And nationalism is a good word, not a bad word. So Malays do not run for cover if you scream ‘racist’.

Defending the rights of the Malays and upholding ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ is a noble perjuangan as far as many Malays are concerned. That is not racism. That is the duty of every Malay who would be seen as a traitor to his race if he abandons this ideal.

When the anti-Tunku Abdul Rahman forces made their move to oust the first Prime Minister of Malaysia they did not use corruption or cronyism (meaning corruption) as the issue. They did not even raise the fact that the Tunku drank, gambled and so on. The issue they used was that the Tunku gave in to the Chinese, surrounded himself with his Chinese friends, and hence this is what angered the Malays.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made this very clear in his letter to the Tunku back in 1969. It was all about the Tunku neglecting the Malays in favour of the Chinese. This was not racism. This was nationalism. And the Malays agreed with Dr Mahathir.

When Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah opposed Dr Mahathir and formed his Semangat 46 to oppose Umno Baru 20 years later, it was the same thing. Ku Li travelled the country to explain to the Malays that Dr Mahathir was putting the Malays at risk. By reducing the powers of the Rulers, and in the event that the federal government falls into the hands of the non-Malays, then Islam, the Malay language, the special privileges of the Malays, etc., would be at risk.

This is not racism. This is nationalism and something that all Malays must fight for and uphold.

Dr Mahathir’s initial attack against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was regarding Umno’s and Barisan Nasional’s poor performance in the 2013 general election. Najib is too soft towards the Chinese. Najib gives in too much to the Chinese. Najib is neglecting the Malays that are the support base of Umno and Barisan Nasional. In spite of all that the non-Malays still did not vote for Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Dr Mahathir also raised the issue of Najib kowtowing to Singapore, meaning, again, to the Chinese. Later, of course, Dr Mahathir used other issues to attack Najib, the 1MDB being one of those issues. But this was only when he realised that raising the issue of Najib being a Chinese-lover like he did with the Tunku was not really gaining much traction.

The non-Malays say that ousting Najib is not about politics. This is about good governance, seeking the truth, justice, and so on. Most Malays do not see it that way. Most Malays see this as just politics. There is a group in Umno that is trying to oust the Prime Minister just like they did all the previous Prime Ministers since Merdeka (except Tun Abdul Razak Hussein who died in office before he could be ousted — if not he, too, would have been ousted).

So, every Prime Minister since Merdeka, other than Tun Razak, was ousted. And Najib, too, is facing the danger of being ousted. You can say whatever it is you want to offer as the excuse or justification to oust Najib. The fact still remains that this is just about politics and an attempt to oust the Prime Minister.

“Why are the non-Malays so keen to oust Najib?” the Malays ask. They can understand why the Umno Malays want to oust him. It is in the nature of the Malays to try to oust the Prime Minister and grab power. So, to the Malays, it is all about grabbing power and nothing more than that.

The non-Malays know that even if Najib is ousted it will still be other Malays who will be in charge. The non-Malays are not going to be able to take over the government unless they want to see a civil war. However, as far as the Malays can see, if Najib is ousted then Umno will collapse and once that happens Malay political power will weaken.

This theory is enhanced when you take into consideration about what is happening in PAS. The Chinese in Pakatan Rakyat are determined to split PAS. They are even prepared to spend millions to finance a rival to PAS. Why?

Well, with Umno and PAS both divided, the Malays would be weakened. Therefore, to be able to form the federal government the Malays would be absolutely dependent on the non-Malays. In the past, the Malays were in the driver’s seat. With Umno and PAS destroyed, the Malays would now be in the passenger’s seat.

See the chai below. When the ‘Team B’ in PAS went against the ulama’ in the party during the recent party election they put the face of another ulama’ as their leader. However, all except one person lost and they managed to win only 20% of the votes.

Now that they have all abandoned PAS and are forming a new party called Gerakan Harapan Baru a.k.a. PAS Baru, the face of the ulama’ has disappeared and the leader is someone seen as a liberal.

When they present themselves to the PAS members and try to get their support, they show the ulama’ face. When they failed and now need the support of the non-Malays, in particular the DAP Chinese, they show the liberal, non-ulama’ face.

So they have two faces — one for the Muslims and another for the non-Muslims. And while PAS wants to push for Hudud now, the new party will not push for Hudud now but later on only when it comes to power. So it is merely a matter of one wants it today and the other can wait till tomorrow. That is the only difference.

So, to the Malays, this is just about splitting the Malays, first in Umno, and now in PAS. And once both Umno and PAS are split the Malays would be weakened. And once the Malays are weakened they would have to play second fiddle to the non-Malays.

So, when the Malays think like this, do you think it is still possible to kill the Umno President Najib Tun Razak and the PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang? If they can then the ‘liberal’ group in PAS would not have lost the party election with only 20% of the votes and by now Najib would have gone into retirement.

No, the Malays look at politics differently from the way the non-Malays do. So if you want to win this game you need to think like a Malay and not like a Chinese or Indian. The Malays may say this, that or the other. But if there is one thing the Malays cannot stop being that would be to stop being a Malay. And Malays play Malay politics. And that is why the non-Malays need 30 years to catch up with the Malays in this game of politics.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK