Voting in Melaka will be based on race and religion

Voting will be based on race and religion. Which political party or which coalition will make a better government is not important. It is about the colour of your skin and to which God you pray. Voters cannot be trusted to choose the government. Voters are racists and bigots, so they will vote based on race and religious considerations.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I remember back in the 1980s an American friend who lived in Kuala Terengganu for many years commented about race relations in Malaysia. The racism in Malaysia is even worse than in the deep west, he said.

If racism in Malaysia is far worse than in America’s ‘deep west’, then it must be bad indeed, because the deep west of America is supposed to be the pits.

How to cure racism and religious bigotry? How to avoid incidents such as launching a crusade or jihad to protest naming a whiskey ‘Tin’ (or ‘Timah’ in Malay) because this might confuse Malays who are not smart enough to know they will not be drinking a Malay woman (what business do Malays have drinking whiskey in the first place anyway)?

No, you cannot cure racism and religious bigotry. Racism and religious bigotry are not the disease. Racism and religious bigotry are merely the symptoms of the disease. And you cannot cure the symptoms, as any doctor will tell you. You need to cure the cause of the disease for the symptoms to go away.

Ban politicians from talking and Malaysia will be a better place

The cause of the disease is politicians. Politicians trigger racism and religious bigotry by opening their mouths. Every time politicians open their mouth, they create trouble. And this is the reason why we see racism and religious bigotry spreading worse than Covid-19.

Politicians love the sound of their own voice. They suffer from diarrhoea of the mouth and words pour out of their mouth uncontrollable — just like berak cair of someone suffering from a bad reaction to nasi kandar sudah basi.

Parliament should pass a law that forbids politicians from talking. After all, there is nothing worthwhile in what they have to say. They talk because they love talking. And they think if they do not talk then people might forget they exist and will think they do not talk because they are not clever.

So they talk just to prove they are clever even though when they talk that proves they are not clever. People might suspect you are not clever if you do not talk, but why talk and prove you are not clever?

The old folks (like me) reminisce about the good old days when Malaysians of all races and religions got along well. Of course, that was in the Merdeka years before the 1960s. Then, in the 1960s, things began to deteriorate resulting in ‘May 13’ (which was caused by politicians). And, since then, things have never been the same again.

Malaysia back in the old days before the invention of TV and the Internet

I mean, even Guinness Stout advertisements featured Malay men and women and no member of parliament tied a bomb around her chest and threatened to blow up a busload of schoolchildren.

So, what happened in the 1960s that changed things and made Malaysia what it is today, a country plagued with racism and religious bigotry?

What changed was the media. In the past, we did not hear politicians talk. Then came TV, and every day politicians would infiltrate our homes with their statements. Tiap-tiap hari politicians would make statements on TV and all over Malaysia their voices would be heard. After a while, all their hasutan would brainwash us and we would end up hating those of another race and religion.

Yes, politicians have made us hate each other. If you are not Malay and Muslim, then you are my enemy. The same goes for those who are Chinese, Indians, ‘others’, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. when they look at Malays-Muslims.

This is the result of Umno, PAS, Semangat 46, Amanah, Bersatu, Berjasa, Hamim, and many other Malay-Muslim parties, telling the Malays-Muslims they are fighting to defend their race and religion from the enemies of Islam and the Malays.

The same with the others as well. DAP, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, plus those Sabah and Sarawak parties. fight for the rights of the non-Malays and non-Muslims and to defend the non-Malays and non-Muslims against the threats from the ‘racist Malays’ and ‘extremist-Taliban Muslims’.

Today it is worse. Not only do we have TV, but we also have the internet and social media. So we are constantly being bombarded with racism and religious bigotry. There is no question of Malaysia breaking out into ‘May 13 version 2.0’. The only question is when.

The Melaka state election is about whether the Malays will retain political power or whether the Chinese-led opposition will grab power. It is about Malay-Muslim versus non-Malay-non-Muslim.

Voting will be based on race and religion. Which political party or which coalition will make a better government is not important. It is about the colour of your skin and to which God you pray. Voters cannot be trusted to choose the government. Voters are racists and bigots, so they will vote based on race and religious considerations.