GE14 is not Malay vs Malay but Malay vs Chinese proxy
And that is why DAP is prepared to bury their rocket and contest under PKR. PKR is a Malay-based multi-racial party (just like DAP is a Chinese-based ‘multi-racial’ party, as what Zaid Ibrahim said yesterday). If DAP contests under their rocket it will be seen as a Chinese show. Contesting under PKR will be seen as a Malay show. Hence PKR and the rest of the Malays would be reduced to DAP’s proxy or Ali Baba and the Malay-Bumiputera voters can be tricked into believing they are voting for a Malay party.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
In Wong Chun Wai’s article, ‘Down to the wire with the Malays’, published in The Star on 16th April 2018, he said that the 14th General Election or GE14 (PRU14) is basically a Malay versus Malay contest. While I agree with most of what Chun Wai wrote, he is wrong about GE14 being a Malay versus Malay contest. It is actually a Malay versus Chinese proxy or Ali Baba contest.
READ HERE: Down to the wire with the Malays
“If you haven’t already heard this one before, it will be the Malay and Bumiputera voters, mainly in rural areas, who will determine what the next government looks like,” said Chun Wai in his opening statement.
Chun Wai said 155 of the 222 seats in parliament (which is more than two-thirds) are Malay-Bumiputera dominated
Yes, that is true. More than half the 222 seats in parliament will be determined by the Malay and Bumiputera voters. A total of 57 of those 222 seats are in Sabah and Sarawak (Labuan included) with the Chinese-led opposition having the potential to win just 17 of those seats, which are mainly all in the towns or urban areas.
The same goes with the 165 parliament seats in mainland Malaysia. The Chinese control the towns and cities while the Malays are in the rural areas and in the Malay heartland. Did not Trump win the American presidency also on the same basis although his critics say he lost the popular votes?
Rashid of PPBM said his job as the Election Commission Chairman was to ensure Malay political domination
In 2013, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman — one-time Election Commission Chairman and PPBM candidate for Kelantan who will be contesting under PKR — said that the three delineation exercises he did during his term as the EC Chairman were done so that the Malays can continue to dominate or monopolise political power.
This is confirmed by Chun Wai who said, “Out of the 222 parliamentary seats, there are now 117 rural Malay seats in Peninsular Malaysia, following the delineation exercise – up from the previous 114 Malay majority seats in the previous general election. There are 19 seats each in Sabah and Sarawak, with predominantly Bumiputera voters.”
Mahathir is prepared to be DAP’s proxy or Ali Baba as long as Prime Minister Najib can be ousted
So, according to Chun Wai, 155 of the 222 seats (or more than two-thirds of the parliament seats) are Malay-Bumiputera seats with only 67 that the non-Malays can hope to grab. And they need to grab 74 seats to deny Barisan Nasional two-thirds of the seats in parliament.
But then only about 54 of those 74 seats are Chinese seats. So, if the Chinese want to rule Malaysia, or even just deny Barisan Nasional two-thirds of parliament, they cannot do so unless they hammer out a deal with the Malays.
At this point the DAP supporters or Chinese Malaysians will probably scream ‘racism’. But this is not about racism. This is about the reality of Malaysian politics. And the reality of Malaysian politics is the non-Malays cannot grab power on their own. They need to work through the Malays and Bumiputeras to do that. Hence, they have to play politics the same way they do business, which is use Ali Babas as proxies or frontmen.
DAP is now a Malay party since their rocket has been replaced with PKR’s Mata Lebam
DAP or the Chinese opposition would not want GE14 to be a Malay versus Malay contest. Why replace one group of nationalist Malays with another group of nationalist Malays? And PPBM is as nationalist as Umno is. PPBM leaders such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, and many more, have proven they are ‘Malay-first’ in their aspirations, policies and ideology. Most of the PPBM Malays are aligned to Ibrahim Aii’s Perkasa.
So, there is no way DAP or the Chinese opposition is going to help the opposition Malays dislodge Umno or the Umno-led Barisan Nasional and take over. If DAP or the Chinese opposition helps the Malay opposition grab power they would achieve nothing. DAP or the Chinese opposition must grab power instead. But that can only happen if they work through the Malays and Bumiputeras because on their own it cannot be done.
The Chinese do not have the numbers so they need to use the Malays as proxies or Ali Babas to grab political power
This is a simple case of arithmetic. The Chinese or non-Malays just do not have the numbers. And elections are a numbers game. So, DAP and the Chinese opposition have to work through their proxies or Ali Baba to grab power.
And that is why DAP is prepared to bury their rocket and contest under PKR. PKR is a Malay-based multi-racial party (just like DAP is a Chinese-based ‘multi-racial’ party, as what Zaid Ibrahim said yesterday). If DAP contests under their rocket it will be seen as a Chinese show. Contesting under PKR will be seen as a Malay show. Hence PKR and the rest of the Malays would be reduced to DAP’s proxy or Ali Baba and the Malay-Bumiputera voters can be tricked into believing they are voting for a Malay party.
