— Ali Kadir
The Malaysian Insider
Dec 02, 2011
DEC 2 — You can only carry pretence so far, eventually your true self will emerge. This fact is true for individuals like you and me and for organisations or political parties.
And so it is for the United Malays National Organisation. Outwardly, its president Najib Razak talks about the party representing all Malaysians and in the run-up to the general assembly, he even urged his party members not to hurt the feelings of non-Malays during debate time.
But this posturing gave way almost immediately after the start of the assembly. Bent on staying in power, Umno politicians have used every opportunity to make the Malays view the Chinese as a threat to their political party.
I am not talking about the Chinese from Beijing or Taipei or Singapore. The Umno boys are urging the Malays from Kangar to Kuching to view with suspicion the Chinese who are born and bred here, people who would fight and die for this country.
By painting the Chinese and to a lesser extent Christians as a threat to the dominance of Umno, they are doing a great, great disservice to the great work of Tunku Abdul Rahman and his ilk. They are sending Malaysia back into the dark ages of race relations.
And all so that Umno can continue to govern and rape the country. The election strategy of Umno is clear to all: get the Malays so fearful of the other races that they will desert Pakatan Rakyat. They do not care if this plan leads to racial strife.
But what about 1 Malaysia? Like I said, pretence can only be carried so far.