A Chinese view of Pakatan Harapan’s collapse
Yes, in short, what Hew is saying is: we (the cybertroopers) have been successful in bringing to the attention of the Malays the danger which DAP poses to the Malays and Islam. Hew calls it perception. We call it a genuine clear-and-present danger. The danger DAP poses to the Malays and Islam is real. It is not a fabricated perception. DAP challenges Malay privileges, Malaysia’s Islamic country status, the national education policy, the National Language, Islamic Sharia laws, the Raja-Raja Melayu, and even the songkok and Jawi.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I have been saying this for a number of years: if DAP is not careful, they are going to push Umno and PAS into each other’s arms. However, DAP thought they already had the Malays in their pocket so they do not need to be careful. And their folly was proven when PAS and Umno, who had been adversaries for almost 70 years, finally buried the hatchet and got married under Muafakat Nasional.
A research fellow at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Hew Wai Weng, wrote an essay titled “Manufacturing Malay unity and the downfall of Pakatan Harapan” (READ HERE). It is obvious Hew is seeing things from the Chinese perspective and with biased Chinese lenses. As an academician, one would have thought he would be able to come out with a more objective study.
Let us analyse some of things that Hew said.
“Prior to the dramatic fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in February, anti-PH agents had been taking to social media platforms in Malaysia to popularise perceptions that ‘Islam is under threat’ and ‘Malays are being side-lined’. Fears that such threats are real are being used to justify the establishment of a ‘Malay-led government without DAP’.”
That was Hew’s opening statement. But then, was it not DAP that said if PAS and Umno came back to power it would mean Malay racists and Muslim extremists would be in charge? How do the Malays interpret that statement other than Islamophobia and Melayuphobia? In politics, what Umno and PAS did is called fighting fire with fire. As the English would say, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Hence DAP and their supporters like Hew should look at the elephant in the room. Prostitutes have no business calling another woman a whore.
DAP’s Superman Hew said DAP is using Malays to fight Malays
Hew went on to say:
“I have argued elsewhere that PH’s GE14 electoral success was not due to the total decline of racialised and Islamic politics in Malaysia. Rather, the coalition managed to attract voters from across the political spectrum, including moderate Islamists and Malay nationalists. While most Malay Muslims are neither outright racists nor narrow Islamists, many do desire ‘Malay leadership’ and do not endorse a total separation between religion and politics. Anti-PH agents have been playing up these issues to diminish PH’s Malay support. Together with political infighting, the inability of the PH government to contain these contentious issues partly led to its collapse.”
Yes, my exact point. Since back in 1999, I have been saying that Pakatan Harapan (Barisan Alternatif in 1999 and Pakatan Rakyat in 2008), in particular DAP, needs Malay support if they want to come to federal power. And for that to happen they need to first convince the Malays that the opposition is truly multiracial.
Finally, after 20 years, in 2018, Pakatan Harapan did come to power. And they came to power because of the hate campaign which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan launched against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, and for no other reason other than that.
In fact, they did the same thing in 1999, except that time it was the anti-Mahathir hate campaign. And when Mahathir retired in November 2003 and handed power to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the opposition suffered its worst defeat in history. Hence hate campaigns do not last, as the March 2004 general election proved. You need something more than just hate to win elections.
DAP said they are merely using Mahathir to bring down Umno and after that will allow him to become PM for two years as a reward
So, Pakatan Harapan won the general election in May 2018 because of Pakatan Harapan’s successful hate campaign. And when that hate was no longer there, Pakatan Harapan fell from grace. You see, if people vote for you because they love you, then the relationship may last. But if people vote for you because they hate the other chap and not because they love you, then that relationship will last only as long as the hate for the other person lasts.
What Pakatan Harapan should have done after it came to power in May 2018 was to covert that hate for Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor, Umno and Barisan Nasional into love for Pakatan Harapan. But they did not do that. Instead, they converted that hate for Najib, Rosmah, Umno and Barisan Nasional into hate for, Mahathir, Lim Guan Eng, DAP and Pakatan Harapan. And that was the reason for Pakatan Harapan’s downfall. It was not Umno and PAS that hurt Pakatan Harapan, as Hew alleges. Pakatan Harapan was a victim of a self-inflicted wound.
Hew said, “While most Malay Muslims are neither outright racists nor narrow Islamists, many do desire ‘Malay leadership’ and do not endorse a total separation between religion and politics.”
Yes, secularism or separation of church and state (a concept introduced in Europe by Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1800s) goes against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and most Malays will reject it. Hence DAP blundered bigtime when they kept repeating that the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, declared that Malaysia is a secular country and will always remain so.
DAP is against the Islamic Sharia laws, that is no perception
DAP’s opposition to the Sharia laws (such as RUU355) also created the impression that they were anti-Islam. It was not Umno and PAS who gave DAP the anti-Islam image. DAP gave themselves that image by opposing anything Islam. In the old days, they opposed the songkok. Then they opposed the Sharia and Hudud. And, today, they oppose Jawi, even though Jawi is not about Islam just like learning Greek and Latin is not about Christianity.
Hew added, “Besides politicians linked to UMNO, PAS and some factions in Bersatu, many activists and preachers have been popularising perceptions of Malay insecurity and Islam being under threat. In fact, most politicians do not directly or openly promote such perceptions themselves, but let activists, preachers and cybertroopers to do the job for them.”
Yes, in short, what Hew is saying is: we (the cybertroopers) have been successful in bringing to the attention of the Malays the danger which DAP poses to the Malays and Islam. Hew calls it perception. We call it a genuine clear-and-present danger. The danger DAP poses to the Malays and Islam is real. It is not a fabricated perception. DAP challenges Malay privileges, Malaysia’s Islamic country status, the national education policy, the National Language, Islamic Sharia laws, the Raja-Raja Melayu, and even the songkok and Jawi.
