Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is up to his past mischief yesterday when he played the race card to create racial suspicion, mistrust and fear in his effort to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional from being voted out of Federal power in the 13th general election and replaced by Pakatan Rakyat.
Saying that the Chinese voters are the kingmakers for the 13th general election, Mahathir said the Chinese voters will decide who forms the government after the general election as the Malays are divided among three parties.
He claimed that “the Malay majority has split itself into three and become the minority” and the opposition PKR, PAS as well as UMNO have “to cede to Chinese demands”.
As a result, “these three small Malay parties need the support of the Chinese in order to win the elections”.
He said: “Whichever party gets the support of the Chinese will win the elections.
“The fact is today all three Malay parties are trying to butter the Chinese electorate. So they become racial and cater to racial demands.”
What Mahathir said yesterday must rank as among his most irresponsible and mischievous statements, making nonsense of his Vision 2020 and concept of Bangsa Malaysia which envisioned Malaysians “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” by 2020.
Mahathir raised three issues with his latest playing of the race card.
Firstly, is he completely writing off the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP as capable of securing a modicum of Chinese votes in the 13GE? And do the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP leader agree with Mahathir?
Secondly, the Malaysian Chinese are not and do not want to be the “kingmakers” in the 13 general election.
The harsh reality is that the electoral arithmetic does not allow the Chinese voters to be the “kingmakers”.
In any event, what the Chinese voters want is to be able to exercise their fundamental citizenship rights as guaranteed under the Malaysian Constitution to enjoy an equal place under the Malaysian sun, instead of being forced into a Malaysian Diaspora worldwide totally some two million Malaysians in the past four decades because of corrupt, unjust and undemocratic policies and governance.
Incidentally, the Malaysian Diaspora is not confined to Malaysian Chinese but is very multiracial, including an increasing percentage of Malays as well.
Thirdly, the real kingmakers in the 13th general election are not the Chinese voters but all Malaysian voters, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans to unite and bring about peaceful transition of federal power for the first time in the 54-year history of the nation to end corruption, cronyism and abuses of power.
Yesterday, Mahathir said that the next general election will be about race.
This is what Mahathir and the UMNO leaders and strategists want the next general election to be about so that they could play the race and fear cards to effect.
Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class or region must prove Mahathir and the UMNO leaders and strategists wrong, that although Mahathir has himself rubbished the “Bangsa Malaysia concept” just as the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has made a mockery of his 1Malaysia concept, Malaysians have the chance to show that they have become more Malaysian-minded and patriotic than the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders and will respond and rally to Pakatan Rakyat call to vote as Malaysians than just as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans.
The next general election is not a battle between Malays and non-Malay voters but between racialists who want to continue to keep Malaysians in their separate communal compartments and Malaysian nationalists and patriots who want good governance, economic justice, democracy, human rights and national unity and not race to become the dominant election issues.
#1 by yhsiew on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 1:42 pm
Say no to racial segregation and no to racialists.
#2 by Bigjoe on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 1:53 pm
Sabah and Sarawak combine has 56 Parliament seats. Who are the real Kingmakers is obvious.
The issue is why is Mahathir putting the attention on Chinese rather than the reality of Sabahan & Sarawakian? Because the cost for keeping Sabah & Sarawak in line is ALREADY TOO EXPENSIVE for BN. Its much cheaper to sell the politics of HATE of the Chinese (note its NOT of non-bumis). Its simply racist persecution. In other words, Mahathir is spewing hate just to save a few bucks because they are addicted to their corruption.
BUT why can’t BN just fix the problems of Sabah & Sarawak instead of buying the election there? Simply because the truth is colonising and assimilation of of Sabah & Sarawak is simply part and parcel of UMNO’s especially the Mahathirist ideology.
Sarawak & Sabah note – EVEN when UMNO/BN is desperate, they won’t let Sabahan & Sarawak have what is promised to them under the Malaysia agreement..
#3 by Loh on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 2:07 pm
///Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is up to his past mischief yesterday when he played the race card to create racial suspicion, mistrust and fear in his effort to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional from being voted out of Federal power in the 13th general election and replaced by Pakatan Rakyat.///–Kit
Actually Mamakthir was trying to save himself by having BN returned to power. When Anwar takes over PutraJaya, the best proof he can give about his determination to end corruption would be to give Mamakthir his days in court. Mamakthir can still plead amnesia, but can he destroy evidence from other parties?
#4 by monsterball on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 2:13 pm
I tend to agree with Mahathir that Malay majority is split into 3 groups.
He is so smart and should give his opinions why Malays are split like that.
One group is led to believe only UMNO b can guarantee their birth right futures….bla bla bla…become fanatics and racists….small group.
Another group prefers to be known as Malaysians …all supporting the Opposition parties.
The third group is the corrupted lot…101% support UMNO b also created by Mahathir.
The vast majority Chinese and other minority races want change of Government….want a united Malaysian country.
Put it in a nutshell….Mahathir knows Malaysians want to get rid of corruptions and his so call govern through diversity …to divide and rule….like what the British did 100 years ago.
Without race and religion dirty politics….Mahathir’s UMNO b party is finished.
It was riding high and mighty in the past for Malaysians sees the combinations of PAS and DAP are not strong enough.
Out of jail…comes Anwar Ibrahim with his keDAILan party…..and the non stop ideas how to put Anwar back into jail is clear signs….Mahathir and Najib fear Anwar.
Malays are split into haves and have nothing by UMNO b selective methods to choose and reject who to help…and who to be ignored.
Again…it is corruptions involving stealing money so call legally..that Mahathir hope to rope vast majority Malays to kow tow to him.
He failed and what we are seeing is his performance to keep trying to get back Malays supporting UMNO b party.
#5 by Loh on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 2:21 pm
///Firstly, is he completely writing off the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP as capable of securing a modicum of Chinese votes in the 13GE? And do the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP leader agree with Mahathir?///–Kit
For once Mamakthir is right to write off MCA and Gerakan. Mamakthir knew how these MCA and Gerakan leaders sold off the interests of the people they said they represent, and now Mamakthir knows that the truth is within grasp of the Chinese and Indian communities. The Chinese may not be the king makers, but Chinese votes certainly can help tilt the balance. Quite obviously Chinese do not expect Malays to give them unfair advantages, and whichever Malay parties tried to discriminate against them, they cannot hope to win their votes. UMNO got the votes to form government because Chinese during the past elections were swayed by fear. Now that Malays themselves realize that UMNO is bad for the community and they fought only to make a few cronies rich, and they are willing to provide leadership to have a truly democratic system put in place, Chinese would certainly support them. Chinese hope that in time, politics based on race would be history.
#6 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 3:04 pm
CrazyO’mamak wrote off mca and gerakan. And guess wot? Yup, he is absolutely right to hv done that. And just how on earth did he know that mca and gerakan are ripe for writing off? Well that is because he was himself the architect of this consequence and of course the crazyO’mamak knew it! Wat the hell is the meaning of this? You see, crazyO’mamak made full use of mca and gerakan. Squeeze every last drop out of them. These two bodies are now dry and pretty much dead. Not much use is left of them anymore. So discard them. Write them off. Dats wot crazyO’mamak is doing. He is right there.
#7 by Godfather on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 3:44 pm
Mamakthir’s politics of hate and fear – that’s what he was good at, and he is still trying to practice it since he hopes that his son will emulate him one day – and that day could be fast disappearing if the old fox doesn’t do anything about it.
#8 by Godfather on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 3:47 pm
He must have been watching the International Court of Justice at the Hague, currently prosecuting Mladic and Charles Taylor. He’s having nightmares imagining what a PR government would do to him and his cohorts.
#9 by SENGLANG on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 4:07 pm
What the Chinese in Malaysia wants? They ask for more opportunity for education. They ask for more Chinese primary school so that they can learn they can learn their mother tongue for six years. They also ask for more Chinese independent school. Are these racial?
What restrict the Chinese to have education such as more places in the Universities? Aren’t these educated Chinese contributed to the Malaysia economy?
The government has refused to allowed Chinese to built a university and instead they allowed MCA to open TAR College but they did not recognized TARC diploma(TARC only allowed to award diploma courses even though those joining the courses are after Form 6). Not only they did not TRAC courses, they also down grade the courses. Courses with degree standard but was only award as diploma, these diplomas are recognised by such ACCA, CIMA and ICSA but not recognised by Malaysia government then., only as last Wednesday Ah Jib Kor say it was due to technical mistake? He mean the education department has been sleeping for the past 30days over this technical mistake for not recognised the course.
They should not only recognised the TARC courses, they should also allowed TRAC courses to be up garde the course from now recognised as advance diploma to degree.
In the past those student after form 5 taking up TRAC courses are award with certificate level, while those after form 6 and take up the courses are award the diploma level. Those student after form 6 in the past are having the same level as those who are lucky enough to get a place in the University, those who are not lucky have not choice but enroll in TARC but the courses are of diploma level though these courses are degree in standards.
These are the way how they government try to limit the education opportunity of the Chinese, until now when they want the votes so badly that they say it was due to technical error. And the MCA fellows sing along……sing loudly and praise the BN…….after such a long time…
#10 by Loh on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 5:05 pm
///As a result, “these three small Malay parties need the support of the Chinese in order to win the elections”.
He said: “Whichever party gets the support of the Chinese will win the elections.
“The fact is today all three Malay parties are trying to butter the Chinese electorate. So they become racial and cater to racial demands.”///–Mahathir
When a political party caters to the demand of the people that is democracy. When it caters to the demand of one race which constituted the political party, that is racism. Mahathir is senile or he tries to fool Malays whom he considered anything but analytically inclined. That is why he was able to con true Malays in his capacity as constitutional Malay.
#11 by Loh on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 5:14 pm
AhJibKor considered that he has done TAR graduates a favour in announcing PSD recognition of TAR diplomas. It would have been a bid deal had there been TAR graduates working in the government services. The fact was, non-Malays holding degrees from government recognized local universities stood little to no chance of getting into civil services, TAR graduates never considered civil services their career. Thus PSD’s recognition meant nothing to TAR graduates of years past. It might be good to TAR if the government revert its intake into civil services without racial consideration. But Civil Service is the employment of last resort of the unemployable TAR graduates would be better served following the footsteps of their seniors.
Najib has no choice but to recognize TAR after having recognized the degrees of a few hundreds universities in China. Surely Chinese from China are less Malaysian than Malaysian Chinese!
#12 by Jeffrey on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 9:45 pm
You can’t underestimate him. He still commands considerable influence if not the principal power broker behind he scenes. The situation on the ground for UMNO per coming GE must be uncertain to the extent that he has to take over the public relation of winning back sufficient Malay votes to ensure BN survives. This he does with consummate subtlety. A year or 2 back he spoke his mind every month, gave patronage to Perkasa; since last few months was firing salvos every other fortnight, and nowadays nearly every other day. That day he was complaining about Chinese being King makers, today is about the privilege for non-Malays to keep race image etc Nobody intellectually challenges him – none from Opposition PKR, PAS has the articulateness to engage and everything is left to LKS of DAP (who is a Chinese) to rebut thus falling into the very trap that he seeks to lay – which is to cleverly manipulate all discourse on politics from him disagreement /controversy from others are drawn along the racial axis of Malay vs Chinese interests, and by so doing influence Malay voters to return to the fold.
#13 by Jeffrey on Friday, 29 June 2012 - 10:01 pm
When he said Kingmakers in GE13 are Chinese YB Kit saw through his game of pitching every controversial statement along Malay/Chinese line by rebutting that the king makers are not only Chinese voters “but ALL Malaysian voters, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans to unite and bring about peaceful transition of federal power to end corruption, cronyism and abuses of power”. However he always wins the preliminary round because every serious high profile and articulate rebuttal of his controversial statements from time to time (from the Opposition’s side) has principally been from this particular Chinese Opposition Leader rather than a Malay, Indian, Kadazans or Iban one. This is what he expects and hopes for. It suits his objectives. What’s wrong with the rest? No courage or standard to speak up or what?
#14 by SENGLANG on Saturday, 30 June 2012 - 10:03 am
Chinese is not the kingmaker but Sarawakians and Sabahans are. With the East Malaysian support BN has long gone in the last GE. The coming GE will be much the same.
What the Chinese concern now is nor purely of their rich bowl but many national issues that affected them. Education is the issue that will never end but the Chinese will go along with what ever they have. They will survive despite the unequal playing fields.
Recognising TARC courses are not enough but TARC should be up grade to University status, because many of the courses offer are degree in standards but was down grade to diploma.
In the early 70-90s, those offer diploma courses from TARC were those who have sat and pass the A level, the form six. The so call diploma courses are recognised by professional bodies such as ACCA, CIMA & ICSA, and those who take the School of Technology courses are well recognised by certain universities from UK. After passing the so call three years diploma courses all can admit into the UK university and after a year they get their master degrees. And those from Business Studies have to pass their professional examination other wise the business school are worthless and they are not recognises by the governing body such as MIA.
Thus TARC business courses should be up grade to degree and recognised by body such Malaysian Institute of Accountants. These will enable those who pass the TARC advance diploma recognised and be an qualified accountants regardless they pass the professional exam or not, though most of the TARC business studies students are aiming the Professional Examination as these exam are recognised world wide.
It is time to be honest in the education but not discriminate against any people. Other race will not lost out by recognising the TARC courses as they only enhance the qualities of the work forces in Malaysia.
Let see what next the Ah Jib Kor will do on the TARC courses.
#15 by Loh on Saturday, 30 June 2012 - 11:25 am
Mamakthir said that he would support his son as MB of Kedah. Until Najib confirms it, Mamakthir will not stop doing what he did best as a racist. He used it in the 1960s to earn the reputation of Ultra, and he utilizes the same formula for the son now. To him getting into elective office is to satisfy one’s ambition, it is not to perform what is expected of the job. But Najib might be using the Mamakthir racist remarks to get votes from Malays who might still believe in adherence to selective period of history. To them human rights and United Nations are incomprehensible. But they must be the dying breed, going soon with Mamakthir to another world.
#16 by sotong on Saturday, 30 June 2012 - 1:25 pm
Chinese Kingmakers?
No, it’s the extremists!