by Richard Teo
The Council of Former People’s Representative (Mubarak) President Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang described the Hindraf leaders as “opportunists and traitors to their race and country.” He further added that these people were extremists and that they should rightly be detained under the ISA.
Referring to his assertion, I would like the former Mubarak to carefully reflect on past history and see who are the opportunists.
After May 1969, with the introduction of the NEP, the Malay bumiputras were the sole beneficiary of govt policies. However somewhere along the course of implementation the NEP was hijacked by the UMNO elite Malays who only seek to enrich themselves and their cronies.
Based on such factual events how could the former Mubarak President condemned the Hindraf supporters as opportunists?Rightly the real opportunists were the UMNO elite Malays.
As regards his statement that they were extremists, can the former Mubarak president defined the term ‘extremists’ in order to justify his claim. Does his definition include people who participated in a peaceful assembly to articulate their grievances construed as extremists?
Yes, he could refer to the unfortunate terminology ‘ethnic cleansing’ used in the memorandum submitted to the Queen as extremist. But hello, what about UMNO unshealthing their keris and threatening the Chinese? What about the former Chief Minister Rahim Thamy chik’s utterance that the Malays would take out their parangs if the non-Malays challenge Malay supremacy?
Are they no more seditious and extremist? It is really pathetic that people like Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang who had enjoyed the fruits of NEP should now find it plausible to hurl untruthful accusations that it was the Hindraf supporters who were opportunists when in actual fact he and the UMNO elites were the opportunists.
How could Abu Zahar equate articulating one’s cause as being traitor to race and country? By his implication, the Hindraf supporters should just remain silent and accept their discrimination and marginalisation so that they will not be traitor to their race and country.
With such perverted logic so prevalent amongst the UMNO top echelon it is no wonder how a peaceful assembly of disdvantaged people could be construed as terrorists.