Are Chinese the real masters of Malaysia?


Is Dr Mahathir Senile?
By Koon Yew Yin

I was reminded of the witticism on politicians that “we hang the petty thieves but elect the great ones to office” when I read Dr. Mahathir’s claim in his blog that the Chinese (and Indians) are the real masters of the country. Specifically he wrote that “Because they (the Malays) are willing to share their country with other races, the race from the older civilisation of more than 4,000 years and who are more successful, as such today whatever they have now is also being taken away from them”.

As election day approaches, this line of argument is being rehashed. We can expect more of this race baiting by Dr. Mahathir and his kind in UMNO and PEMUDA when they are addressing Malay voters. Of course, this rehashing will take on new permutations such as “the PKR and PAS are selling out the rights of the Malays” or “the DAP is really the dayang master pulling the strings of the Pakatan coalition”.

What is important to do is not to get angry or remain silent but to refute it with facts, figures and arguments.

Malays are masters of everything important

For Mahathir to accuse the Chinese of being the real masters of the country is really the height of political idiocy. If we want to go by racial perception, it would appear to everyone that Malays dominate in every sphere of life in the country.

They form the majority in parliament, judiciary, army and police, the MACC and all other important political bodies. In the socio-economic and educational sphere, they control all the major banks except for Public Bank; the GLCs; Petronas; public universities; civil service; etc.

Any Chinese or orang putih wanting to do business has to kowtow to the Malays for licences and permits. Moreover, Malay businesses control some of the monopoly businesses such as water, electricity, toll roads, etc. where it is so easy for them to make more profits by just increasing the price abetted by a Malay-oriented civil service.

Even the richest and most powerful Chinese and Indians such as Robert Kuok, Ananda Krishna, Tony Fernandez, Vincent Tan and others are completely at the mercy of the Malays if they want to do business in Malaysia.

Who are the real masters?

But let’s not go by simplistic perception. The indisputable fact is that the real masters of the country are the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional which has ruled Malays and Malaysia for over 55 years. During that period, Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister was the undisputed numero uno or number one man. He changed the country’s constitution and laws; sent his political opponents into prison or oblivion; singlehandedly undermined the judiciary; and put the clock and our time back to ensure that we would all wake up an hour earlier. He even took on the most sacrosanct of Malay institutions – the Sultanate – by reducing the authority of Malay rulers.

Dr. Mahathir’s Legacy of Financial Wastefulness

Dr. Mahathir also controlled and manipulated the country’s purse strings. His financial leadership of the country have left an indelible black mark on the country’s economic and financial fortunes. First, he made the key decisions on economic white elephants and scandals such as Proton, Bakun Dam, Putrajaya, and Perjawa. The last resulted in a loss of MR2.6 billion. Mahathir himself has admitted publicly in 2002 in a dialogue with Malaysians in London that the loss could have been as much as RM10 billion due to possible misappropriation of funds.

The mother of all financial scandals took place during Dr. Mahathir’s time. This was the forex losses incurred by Bank Negara’s speculative currency trading which cost us over RM 50 billion ringgit.

The second outcome was the plague of privatization he inflicted on the country. A devoted fan of Mrs. Thatcher, Dr. Mahathir pursued privatization of telecommunications, utilities, airlines and other public sectors and services with a vengeance. But he lacked The British premier’s caution and acumen and closed both eyes to the leakages and abuses that accompanied the privatization programme.

Dr. Mahathir can be considered to be the god father of the class of capitalist cronies which has cornered much of the country’s wealth and who together with UMNO/Barisan are the undisputed masters of the wealth of Malaysia. These big time tycoons comprise of many Chinese but they are a multiracial cast and include an increasing number of Malay businessmen.

Please look into the mirror yourself

Today, Dr. Mahathir blames the Chinese for working hard and enjoying the fruits of their labour. He is envious of the Chinese middle and upper classes living in high end housing estates and owning the lion’s share of urban property. He himself lives in a gated community and is reputed to own numerous properties but he laments for the many Malays living in squatter houses.

But who has been responsible for this situation?

Dr. Mahathir needs to look at himself in the mirror. He has squandered thousands of billions of our petro dollars in his projects of superficial grandeur and his love of cronies, many of whom he has helped with expensive bailouts. He could have solved the plight of hundreds of thousands of squatters by using treasury funds on them instead of his pet projects.
If he had invested the money wisely in skill acquisition for the young Malays and in public housing and urban infrastructure for all Malaysians, especially needy and deserving Malays, the racial economic divide will surely not be so conspicuous.

Leave while the going is good

Dr Mahathir still does not want to go away from the centre stage. He wants to remain in it because he knows that the BN has to maintain power if he is not to be made answerable for the racial, political and economic mess that he was responsible for and left behind as his main legacy. The extent of his desperation can be seen in his speeches aimed at shoring up Malay support by claiming that the Chinese are the real masters of Malaysia.

But as the Malaysian saying goes, his talk has no walk!

  1. #1 by rjbeee on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 10:32 am

    Mama Tongkang is up again.. Idiot does not know where he came from…………..

  2. #2 by boh-liao on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 11:01 am

    MMK should know it, after all his blood has elements of an ancient civilization
    He had and is still successfully CURI tons fr dis land n M’sians, truly a master of CURI-CURI M’sia

  3. #3 by sivasundram on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 11:06 am

    This man Mahathir, is a personification of all that is evil!

  4. #4 by Winston on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 11:49 am

    No, the real masters are the Mamaks like him.
    Who not only subjugated the Malays by masquerading as a Bumi!!!
    He also deceived them by impressing upon them that he was heaven sent to lead them out of poverty and misery.
    Just like a prophet!!!!
    But he is a false prophet!
    He was in fact a devil disguised as a prophet!
    And instead of leading the Malays out of their tunnel, he dug the tunnel deeper so that that will never, ever get out of it!
    Now that he and his ilk are to be displaced and replaced by the angel personified by the PR, he is at his wits’ end to prevent his own downfall!
    But his fate is sealed and now in the hands of enlightened Malaysians of all ethnicity.
    And we will deal with him and his ilk with the justice that they deserved!

  5. #5 by Bigjoe on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 12:38 pm

    If sharing is the Malay problem, then why don’t Mahathir point out that the Malays keep sharing with their rulers and cronies and increasing share of their pie eventhough those rulers and cronies have proven to fail them again and again, wasting away hard built fortunes and wealth again and again???

  6. #6 by chengho on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 12:51 pm

    Come to live in USA , you will know their tea party group , Malaysian is color blind unlike in the USA they will profiling you .malaysian is the most open economic in the world , practice meritocracy .

  7. #7 by lee tai king (previously dagen) on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 2:41 pm

    Chinese and indians are masters of the country?

    Really? I dont know about that.

    What about mamak? Oh yes. Look no further than MonsterO’mamak himself! He is real master of the country. The real PM of the country for 32yrs.

  8. #8 by monsterball on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 2:42 pm

    I cannot understand what chengho is trying to say.
    He is a genius!!

  9. #9 by omeqiu on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 3:19 pm

    Chengho, I know that you badly need attention just to live. But learn English first before you write in this blog.

  10. #10 by cemerlang on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 3:49 pm

    Money knows no race.

  11. #11 by TheWrathOfGrapes on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 6:30 pm

    cemerlang :
    Money knows no race.

    Oh yes, money knows one race – the rat race.

  12. #12 by Bunch of Suckers on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 6:36 pm

    CHANGE HOLE aka ChengHo or WHATEVER HOLES, please write English!

  13. #13 by john on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 7:08 pm

    Mad’tir will re-churn the underhanded/dirty tactics he adopted during his past 22years regime. He is targeting certain broad segments where he hope could be hookwinked by him like ‘the good old days-for him’ again. Berita H., TV1, and certain other media already being directed to play it’s role and some others to downplay/black-out such news eg. star, TV8 or selected air-time coverage.
    But, majority of the public already “once(too many) bitten, twice(too many) shy”, wanting to vomit each time seeing him/to hear such of his bullsh*t again.
    Knowing the ‘PM’ a lame duck from day one with all the baggages and the hindeous Altantuya C4 case not going away quietly, Mad’tir has to step up (more afront instead at the back scheming which he likes best) his rhetorics -expect more of such dirty tactics from him again.
    Already channelled his LOOT overseas, still around to try ensure his son’s position entrenched further for take-over and own safeguard from ABU – why not, still like heaven here for him and in control actually.

  14. #14 by chengho on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 8:25 pm

    Rakyat irrespective of color will support Najib & BN, your trusting partner .

  15. #15 by monsterball on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 8:27 pm

    The Rat Race started after 12th GE…where the rats are running different directions…making King Rat loosing power.

  16. #16 by monsterball on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 8:31 pm

    “Rakyat irrespective of color……blah blah blah”…that should be a good slogan for Najib to use.
    Najib is blind not to notice smart chengho.

  17. #17 by yhsiew on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 8:47 pm

    The cunning old Fox swindled money from the nation’s coffers and now he makes the Chinese the scapegoat.

  18. #18 by waterfrontcoolie on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 10:38 pm

    The Half-Indian is the real Ruler of Malaysia and he is trying to divert attention from his on-going scheme to instal his son into the PM seat! He is sweating in his underwear that DSAI will be the next PM. For that reason alone, many of us will campaign for PKR in the coming GE! Non of his PIRATIZED projects stand any scrutiny by any audit firms in the world! All have been jacked up by FOLDS against international market pricing! There is NO OPTION for Malaysians!

  19. #19 by jus legitimum on Friday, 28 December 2012 - 11:08 pm

    All right thinking Malaysians must stand up and vote out the corrupted and rotten 55 year old regime.When DSAI becomes the next Premier,this mamak devil cum the biggest crook must be made answerable to all the misdeeds during his rule.Every wise person must expose his dirty and ugly tactic of using race and religion to hookwink the Malays to win votes.This crook must be punished for he is the main culprit for putting Malaysia in the doldrums.

  20. #20 by Noble House on Saturday, 29 December 2012 - 3:58 am

    But that’s not what Umno meant when they told the Chinese they are “pendatangs” and they can leave the country if they don’t like the ways they are treated here. Has anyone ever heard of a “master” being told to leave his own home? Someone must be lying here!

    There’s only one thing that can kill the movies…..that’s education!

  21. #21 by PRmaju on Saturday, 29 December 2012 - 8:18 am

    Mamakthir is an evil genius, he co-opt , induce , bred umno baru mafia gang to decieve , rob the simple minded Malay blind for a whole generation ! His end is near, now the Malay, the kampong Malay, no matter how simple minded they are , are waking up to the horrors and mess he has created! Mamakthir , the ultimate melayu celup, has the lowest regard for the general intelligence of Malay, that’ s why he has the darnest audacity to cook up the most outrageous excuse for his collosus failures ! He still think that he can fool the Malay !

  22. #22 by jus legitimum on Saturday, 29 December 2012 - 10:40 am

    This mamak devil invented the wawasan 2020 which many say is beyond reach if the country is still ruled by the current regime.Had Malaysia been well administered,it would have become a developed nation at least a decade ago.The rail transport of the country has put the people to shame as it is the same 50 year never change KTM as far as speed and service are concerned.Look at both Taiwan and Hainan island each of which is only one third the land size of Peninsular Malaysia,the people there can already travel in super trains that run at 250 to 300 km per hour for years.Our folks here still have to spend the slow and agonizing 8 to 9 hours from KL to JB on the train 55 years after independence.

  23. #23 by chengho on Saturday, 29 December 2012 - 12:54 pm

    Najib ETP including urban and inter town transportation especially the LRT , MRT and HST . Rakyat must vote Najib for modernization .

  24. #24 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Saturday, 29 December 2012 - 4:44 pm

    Is ‘the man who walks on water’ (courtesy blogger AK47) senile?

    Slightly, yes but hugely sinister.

    No, we will not vote UMNo, Mahathir, Muhyiddin or Najib. Choose your own order of dislike.

  25. #25 by chengho on Monday, 31 December 2012 - 4:23 am

    Careful with Taliban within Pas .

  26. #26 by Loh on Wednesday, 2 January 2013 - 4:29 pm

    ///I was reminded of the witticism on politicians that “we hang the petty thieves but elect the great ones to office” when I read Dr. Mahathir’s claim in his blog that the Chinese (and Indians) are the real masters of the country. Specifically he wrote that “Because they (the Malays) are willing to share their country with other races, the race from the older civilisation of more than 4,000 years and who are more successful, as such today whatever they have now is also being taken away from them”.///–the author

    Mamakthir was right about the above; he as an Indian took away the rights of true Malays. It is just that he still pretends that people do not know that he is actually Indian though he claims in his book that he is Malay.

  27. #27 by monsterball on Friday, 4 January 2013 - 5:03 am

    One may go to USA …find you a cut off your Bls.

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