A message to Umno supporters
Leo Antony
Dec 5, 07 3:32pm Adjust font size:

What happened on Nov 25 was simply a plea by the marginalised Malaysian Indians, for whom no one else wants to speak up or fight for. Most of the 30,000-odd Indians who rallied have been voting for Barisan Nasional since independence.

The present government needed only to listen to what they had to say. They were not under any opposition influence. Only desperados such as Anwar Ibrahim would want to capitalise on it, as was the case here.

Why would poor folks take such pains and risk injuries to join a banned rally? People like Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister in denial, knowingly misrepresenting the facts and used foul language on people who are crying for help. How can this guy be trusted to govern fairly? Who appointed him guardian of two million Indians in Malaysia? He is simply saying that the winner at the national elections takes all? Is that his definition of democracy?

If Pak Lah had met up with the group of people who were rallying, it would have given the government and BN much credibility. The government would have been the hero of the day. But it has lost credibility now. The 30,000 counts for much more on election day, certainly with people like Nazri and Najib responding the way they did.

Leaders should listen instead of telling poor, frustrated and marginalised folk to shut up or get out. Asking them to take their problems to the MIC is no solution. If MIC had listened and if the government had heard through them, this rally would not have happened. Indians know very well that nothing would happen if they went through MIC.

Let us not keep on putting wool over Indians’ eyes. They have very little left. Even their places of worship are being demolished unceremoniously. Isn’t that an insensitive act by the government? Are rallies against such “insensitivities” on the part of a government they had elected considered insensitive?

Umno is drunk with their brand of power and patronage politics. They are freely using the Malay masses with the ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, New Economic Policy and threats of a repeat of May 13 to appeal to their emotions. The keris act was one such case. No amount of subsequent explanations can undo that.

In 2006, a couple of Umno delegates shouted from the floor, asking when the Umno Youth president was going to use the keris. But no leaders at the podium corrected them. The explanations only came after the assembly, after much public outcry.

One gets the feeling that when Umno/Malays are alone and on public television, they are as insensitive as can be. One can imagine what they say in private. That is how powerful they feel. They have redrawn electoral boundaries to maintain Umno in power even with less than 50 percent popular electoral votes.

Now they even want to extend the services of the Election Commission chief, who is due to retire at the end of the month, by amending the Constitution which will enable the executive to bypass the Agong. Why such acts for sake of one man? Is he so dispensable to Umno?

Umno has the apparatus at the grassroots level to stir up trouble and conduct another coup, as was the case during May 13, but this time to dethrone Pak Lah and revert to the situation of the late 60s and early 70s where Umno’s young turks will have tighter control and get rid of any dissent.

They have all the government machinery, which is dominated by a single ethnic community, to impose everything they want to do. The police, judiciary and executive have all been corrupted at the highest levels. These people will have no choice but to comply, failing which their past deeds will be used against them.

Even in light of a video clip implicating a top judge in corrupt practices, the government ignores the potential of some element of truth in it and proceeds to extend his service – given the fact that VK Lingam’s brother had made a police report as early as March 2007, which the authorities if not the prime minister surely knew about.

Indeed, all the country’s current ills – from education, unemployable graduates, corrupt civil service, judiciary and police – are a product of the Mahathir Mohamad era. The PM has not delivered on his 2004 election pledge. My only guess is that he is just a pawn of the hidden powers. He appears powerless. If he acts, he will potentially be dethroned.

On Nov 25, the government had no intention to listen, as it is supposed to do. Mahatma Gandhi’s banners were displayed to show that this was a peaceful expression of their concerns. Where and to whom will these people go if rallying is not an option? They have real problems. Do you want them to become violent with their backs against the wall? It does not hurt anyone to listen.

It is the government that should be afraid of the people, not the other way around as seems to be the case now. The government loses billions of ringgit on many failed projects and corruption. The culprits, including some in the government and at ministerial levels, are still free to do what they want.

This curse of corruption occurring unabatedly at all levels of the executive, enforcement and judiciary can only mean that we have a government that is so strongly entrenched in power with the help of clever electoral boundaries that they have no fear to be voted out.

Is this government “a government of the people” or is it “a government of the powers-that-be behind Umno?” It is just a matter of time before the Malay masses would find this out for themselves. We can only hope and pray that by that time, the state of the country’s development, economy, judiciary and enforcement has not been set back many decades.

We appeal to Umno supporters, it is in your own interest to stop the moral rot in the party and in the government. It is in your interest to provide justice to all Malaysians especially the long-marginalised sectors