Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jul 15, 2013

What Rowena Abdul Razak, daughter of one of Malaysia’s most infamous toadies, said that minorities were incapable of ruling, it is not just an affront to Malays, but an insult to all Malaysians.

Rowena should know that when you raise your head above the parapet, you can expect it to be shot. It is alarming to hear a woman with a sound education, who has enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and is currently pursuing her postgraduate studies, talk about the governance of a country in terms of majority rule, Malay rights, protection and race.

It is disheartening to hear educated Malays talk in such a shortsighted manner and act as if they learned nothing from their times spent in civilised countries. They have learnt nothing of the outside world, nor of the fallacy of Malay supremacy.

Students like Adam Adli Abdul Halim have had their education curtailed, whereas children of Umno Baruputras enjoy the largesse of the taxpayer. Adam was trying to help all Malaysians, whereas Rowena appears to be selfishly championing Umno Baruputras.

At a Bar Council Forum on electoral reforms Rowena queried the ability of the minority to protect the rights of the majority.

barack obama president of the united states of americaHas she not heard of Benjamin Disraeli, Barack Hussein Obama and Alberto Fujimori? One was Jewish but became prime minister of Great Britain, the man who was of African extraction now heads America and a Japanese once ruled Peru.

Rowena talks like an Umno Baruputra. Most normal people want a country which is ruled by an able leader, who is prepared to look after its citizens with equality and fairness.

She said, “In Malaysia, you are proposing something where the minority would be empowered, how then do you protect the rights of the majority?”

How ironic that what she said is true. This illegitimate minority Umno Baru government has already broken many of the promises it made before GE13. It does not champion the interests of the majority but it excels in protecting the rights of Umno Baruputras.

By referring to “the majority”, Rowena presumably means the Malays. If the truth be known, the original Malays are a minority in Malaysia and it is the pseudo Malays, those who want to take advantage of the perks which were granted to the Malays, in the constitution, who form the majority in Malaysia.

Holding the rest of Malaysia to ransom

We once had a PM, Mahathir Mohamad, who was of Indian extraction. He sought to confuse the Malay mind by creating a dilemma within the Malay world. What emerged was another Malay species – the Umno Baruputra. In a sense, the minority Umno Baruputras could be classed as a minority species and it is they who are holding the rest of Malaysia to ransom.

In Syria, the ruling minority Alawite sect, to which President Bashir Al-Assad belongs, punishes and kills the majority Sunnis for opposing his rule. Rowena is right but conversely, we have seen that Mahathir’s policies continue to wreak havoc on the Malay psyche. Rowena is therefore wrong when she said that “the minority cannot even protect themselves”. The Umno Baruputras who govern, only think of themselves and jealously guard their turf.

If we allowed Rowena the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the Malay majority can protect others, why have we issues with forced conversions of children of another faith into Islam, why are Christians forbidden from using the word Allah, why is the Ambassador from the Vatican shown the door and why are certain people – Indians, Orang Asli and Penans having problems establishing their citizenship?

Why did Mahathir dilute the percentage of the true Sabahans with an influx of Muslim foreigners from the Philippines, Indonesian and Pakistan? The former majority Kadazan-Dusun population was cheated by a minority group.

Rowena criticised the NGO Tindak Malaysia for the low (10 percent) percentage of Malays in the organisation which she said was not representative of Malaysian demographics. Is this a fair criticism? Are Malays averse to volunteering? Do they avoid corporate social responsibilities?

It is wrong of Rowena to publicly admonish Wong Piang Yow, the Tindak Malaysia chief, for something beyond his control. Malays may form a majority in some other NGOs, like Perkasa, but this is not necessarily a good thing.

abdul razak baginda and altantuya shaariibuu murder caseIn November 2006, when Rowena’s father, Razak Baginda, was charged with abetting two police personnel in the murder of the Mongolian national Altantuya Shaaribuu, observers were shocked when Mazlinda Makhzan, Baginda’s wife, screamed, “Why charge my husband, he does not want to be the prime minister…”? What was Mazlinda insinuating?

After Baginda was acquitted in 2008, he held a press conference, and stressed throughout the 50-minute-long media briefing that Najib Abdul Razak, the deputy prime minister at the time, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, had nothing to do with Altantuya’s murder. Why did Baginda blame bloggers for misleading the public?

It is curious that Rowena and her mother, Mazlinda, attended this Bar Council forum on electoral reform and attracted attention with their remarks.

One would think that a family, with a chequered past, such as theirs, would want to be as discreet as possible, especially as large sums of the taxpayers’ money were stolen under the guise of commission, a woman was murdered violently and a cover-up involving the judiciary, police and immigration allegedly followed.

Stuff of spy-thrillers

The trail of sex, corruption and scandal which Baginda weaved with his alleged lover across Europe and Asia is the stuff of spy-thrillers. There was no romance involved, just plain deceit and lust. The rakyat demand answers and justice.

Why would the Baginda family be interested in electoral reform, especially as a change of government could trigger a re-trial of Altantuya’s alleged murderers and force Baginda to return the millions he sequestered? More importantly, Najib’s true role might be exposed.

Rowena should realise that the sins of her father have cast a shadow over her. Is the rakyat being misled by remarks made by her and her mother? Is this a distraction designed to dissuade people from attending Suaram’s Scorpene fund-raising dinner, to be held on July 19, at which new revelations about the progress of the French lawyers could be revealed?

Has Rowena been pressured into becoming the new “Ummi Hafilda”; another sexton charged with burying news that are detrimental to Umno Baru?

Conversely, having been betrayed and having to endure the wrath of the public, there is a slight possibility that both mother and daughter want justice to be served. They must know this can only happen if Pakatan forms the government of Malaysia.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.