by Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider

APRIL 21 — PM Najib has firmly stated that BN members who are contesting as independents will receive their walking certificates on Monday. I suppose any party would do the same for insubordination or betraying the party. Nothing wrong with this line of action for maintaining party discipline.

But why is he mum and dumb as to what action will be taken against a BN candidate approved by him who deliberately did not file his nomination papers although he was at the nomination centre? This candidate stood by and watched Ibrahim Ali file his. Isn’t this another act of insubordination? Or was some drama being acted out? This was a history making incident as never has such a thing happened before — the BN withdrawing so an independent can have a straight fight with an opposition candidate. The independent must be a very powerful person for this to happen, for him to intimidate the ruling party to surrender to him.

A drama it surely was. The Perkasa President is Dr M’s right-hand man and mouthpiece. He incites racial feelings with impunity. Only days ago Dr M had said that Malaysia needs more people like Ibrahim Ali. He had even said the BN should field him as a candidate under the BN banner. Dr M started the racial discrimination of Malaysians with his labelling of the non-Malays as “pendatang” in his 1970 book The Malay Dilemma. Perkasa is continuing that work, and Dr M is the patron of Perkasa. Why is Dr M bent on destroying the racial harmony in this country?

This incident leaves no doubts that Dr M has all along been the de facto PM calling the shots, with Najib just being a proxy.

So what is to be made of Najib’s 1 Malaysia? Racists are being given very important places by him and is that consistent with creating 1 Malaysia where Malaysians of different racial and religious backgrounds live like brothers and sisters?

It is extremely callous of politicians to use race and religion for their personal ends, i.e. to win votes. Feelings of racial hatred aroused in the course of trying to win votes do not disappear when the elections are over. They stay rooted in people. They drive wedges between people.

Besides racists causing damage to inter-racial and inter-religious relations, we have a hate movie that is being shown behind locked doors to audiences of a single race. The government invested RM4.8 million of public money to produce this hate movie. For what?

Are these actions which are calculated to create feelings of ill-will against some Malaysians so as to influence how people vote, consistent with the teachings of Islam? Doesn’t Islam teach its adherents to live in peace with others, to respect others?

Political power is not a licence to do anything to remain in power, the more so in a multi-racial country like Malaysia. Racists should have no place in Malaysian politics.