— Bangsa Malaysia
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 11, 2013

MARCH 11 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad may not be standing for elections anymore but ultimately he is just like any politician who will do or say anything to stay in power.

As evidence just take a look at his latest remarks about saving the Malays from the opposition.

As reported in The Malaysian Insider yesterday he has dropped all pretense for a Bangsa Malaysia and has gone for the Malay vote and slammed the Opposition for listening and accommodating the views and needs of the non-Malays.

State news agency Bernama quoted the country’s longest-serving prime minister as saying that Selangor must be saved from the opposition to ensure the rights and position of the Malays and Bumiputeras are maintained in the state.

Really? The Malays and Bumiputeras need saving?

Dr Mahathir often talks about the Malays having short memories but he seems to have forgotten that in 1999, he would have lost the elections if it was not for the support from the non-Malays.

He had lost huge chunks of support from Malay voters in the fallout from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking and prosecution for sodomy, and had to depend on the overwhelming support of non-Malay voters to ensure BN remained in power.

But he seems to be contradicting himself now and is only gunning for the Malay vote for BN.

Yesterday Dr Mahathir said the weakness of two Malay parties in the opposition, resulted in disrespect for the race and risked the special privileges of the Malays and Bumputera being done away with.

Funny how he did not admit that in 1999 it was his weakness and that of Umno under him that forced him to campaign hard for the non-Malay vote.

One wonders what he would have said in 1999 if the opposition parties had suggested that his weakness as the leader of Umno would risk the special privileges of the Malays.

But that would mean applying the warped logic of this man.

As a result of Dr Mahathir’s logic it is perhaps a waste of time to remind him that the special privileges of the Malays and Bumiputera communities are a result of constitutional provisions.

Regardless of who is in power in Putrajaya the special privileges remain in place in the Constitution.

What Dr Mahathir is now doing on behalf of BN and Umno is playing the race card to appeal to the insecurities of what he hopes are significant numbers of Malay and Bumiputera voters.

Just look at what he said yesterday when he talked about an alleged disrespect for the Malay race and how a vote for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would risk the special privileges of the Malays and Bumputera being done away with.

In his words: “We also want to stress that Bahasa Melayu and Islam are the official language and religion of our nation. So they must respect our rights as how we respect their rights.

“But, because the leadership of the Malays in the opposition pact is very weak, they often just follow their colleagues including when pressed for the word Allah to be used (in the Bible).

“When they proposed to strip the special privileges of the Malays, the opposition, which purportedly had two parties with Malay leadership, willingly complied. If we are not careful, we will lose altogether our rights on our own soil and they (opposition) will get rid of all efforts to develop the Malays and Bumiputeras.”

Who are “they”? Dr Mahathir does not say but one will have to guess that “they” means the non-Malays.

Also who exactly is proposing to strip Malays and Bumiputeras of their rights?

Or is the name of the game to make things up?

Surely Malaysia’s greatest statesman, the architect of Bangsa Malaysia and a modern progressive country does not make things up.

If so Malaysia and Malaysians would surely need to be saved from this man.