///Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin in his accusation that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a “traitor of the Malay race”!///– Kit

It is an interesting question of who would qualify to be called a traitor. A traitor is one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation of duty. For what do Malays trust their leaders? They trust their leaders would lead them to a better future. For that they should be led to become successful and capable of looking after their own livelihood. That could be done in at least two different ways; to create an environment where Malays are shielded from competition, and remain so forever, or to enable Malays to be competitive in the real world. UMNO leaders which created Independence Malaya planned their strategy and believed that after 15 years of quota protection Malays would have developed capability to face competition in the real world.

The current crop of leaders chooses to hold on to the quota system and claim that 52 years after independence Malays still require the quota system. They are more concerned about laying claim to preserve the quota system based on votes and thus political might rather than the right and noble thing to do. In fact only those Malays who are not captive of the desire for political power have accepted long ago that government policies which made Malays captive voters are destroying the inert capability and creativity of the Malays. The late Tun Dr. Ismail said that when the Malays no longer require the protection of the quota system, they would forgo it on their own, out of pride. Pride cannot be measured on material terms but it is a spiritual value that people sometimes care more for it than for their lives. Should a person who cared for the pride of the community such as the late Tun Dr Ismail be labelled a traitor?

Muhyiddin considers the way UMNO resorting to divide and rule based on race was the only correct way to maintain political power and to exert unfair advantage for Malays against the other communities. Muhyiddin pretended that NEP was implemented to care for the interest of the rural poor Malays. He certainly knew that equity stocks at par value reserved for Malays at a discount had been snapped up by those who could not be poor. A total of RM 54 billion worth of shares had been allotted to Malays, and only RM 2 billion remains in their hands. Of those RM 52 billion shares at par value a 50% mark up could have been earned, and they would have been worth more than RM 75 billion in market transactions. Had these been spread among the 3 million Malay households, each household would have gained RM 25,000. But the estimate was RM 40 billion might have landed in the hands of 192 families, who are controlling the UMNO divisions. That RM 25 billion was mobilised from the market, but a lot more were siphoned off from public funds, conveniently financed by Petronas, particularly during the reign of TDM. Now the gap between the rich and the poor Malays are the widest among the different races, and more interestingly those who had qualified to be known as Malays after 1957 are having a lion share of new found wealth among the Malays. They rendered the ordinary pre-1957 indigenous Malays no fighting chance in commerce with their political power. The removal of NEP would affect the interest of those fat-cat Malays, but would enable ordinary Malays and other Malaysians equal right to partake in all fields of endeavours based on their efforts rather than their connection to the powerful. A Malay who calls for the removal of NEP might be seen a traitor to 192 Malay families, but a saviour for 3 million other Malay families. On majority interest he could not be called a traitor.

A Minister is expected to serve the nation, and if he could not transcend racial consideration in a multi-racial country he is not fit to be a minister. It is dangerous for a DPM who could accidentally become Prime Minister to hold a racist view. Muhyiddin’s utterance proves that he is a racist out to gain political support. Or is he a racial-opportunist like TDM?