The UMNO General Assemblies this week have been a disastrous demonstration of the triple divisive and dirty politics of fear, hate and lies.
The underlying theme of the UMNO General Assemblies was to propagate the siege mentality that the Malays and Islam are under attack, but not to allow any critical or rational thinking and inquiry as to whether and how after 57 years of UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers, the Malays and Islam are under siege in 2014.
If Malays and Islam are indeed under siege today, then UMNO which has ruled the country for 57 years with six UMNO Prime Ministers, must bear the fullest responsibility and blame.
Are the present UMNO leaders, led by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as UMNO President and Deputy President as well as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively, prepared to admit that the 57 years of UMNO rule and the six UMNO Prime Ministers since 1957 had been such dismal failures as to result in Malays and Islam facing unprecedented siege in the nation’s history?
If 57-year UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers have brought such disastrous results to the Malays and Islam, then the answer must be found in removing UMNO from Putrajaya and not in perpetuating UMNO rule at the national level!
The politics of fear, hate and lies at the UMNO General Assemblies with the daily diet of Chinese and non-Malay bashing are detrimental to Malaysian nation-building.
Fortunately, they do not find support among the majority of rational Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans, who find what happened at the UMNO General Assemblies most shocking and outrageous.
One UMNO delegate said “We have become slaves in our own land” while another called for the use of “1 Melayu” in replacement of “1 Malaysia” slogan.
The success of Penang were alleged to be because of illegal businesses and crimes in broad daylight committed by the Chinese in the state while the Chinese community in Kedah was accused of burning the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.
The lies about the Chinese community in Kedah being guilty of having “burned the Quran page by page during a prayer ritual”, made by the former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mashitah Ibrahim, is the worst example of the lies and falsehoods perpetrated at the UMNO General Assemblies.
What is most outrageous is that she betrayed neither regret nor remorse when it was pointed to her that the Kedah Mentri Besar, Mukriz Mahathir had admitted that it was a mentally-ill Malay individual in Alor Setar who had been arrested for tearing the Quran and who is being detained at the psychiatric ward and that there was no burning involved.
All she could offer was the weak excuse that she had been told of a different version of the incident by the Kuala Kedah UMNO Wanita Chief.
Was it a mentally-ill Malay individual who had torn the Quran or was it the Chinese community in Kedah which burned the Quran “by by page during a prayer ritual”?
Who had told a lie – Mashitah or Mukriz Mahathir?
If DAP or any Pakatan Rakyat leader had made similar provocative and baseless speech which was made by Mashitah, which seriously undermined inter-racial and inter-religious pace and harmony not only in Kedah but throughout the country, the police would have pounced on the DAP or PR leader, who would be in jail within 24 hours.
But Mashitah is confident that like all other UMNO leaders, she enjoys immunity and impunity to make the most provocative, incendiary and seditious speeches, even when they are based on lies and falsehoods in furtherance of the UMNO politics of fear and hatein Malaysia’s plural society.
This was the reason for her arrogance and contempt at the police report which DAP wanita leaders, namely Teo Nie Ching (MP for Kulai), Kasthuri Patto (MP for Batu Kawan), Dyana Sofia Mohd Daud and Syefura Othman had lodged against her for her politics of fear, hate and lies perpetrating the falsehood that the Chinese community in Kedah had burned the Quran.
Mashitah even challenged the DAP wanita leaders to sue her. There is no reason for the DAP Wanita leaders to sue Mashitah, for she will stand out as another glaring example of double standards of Barisan Nasional government in enforcing the law, the reason for the national reaction of shock and horror at Najib’s announcement that the Sedition Act will not only be retained but strengthened.
The message at the UMNO General Assemblies is that if UMNO loses in the forthcoming general elections, the Malays will be damned.
This is in fact the clearest admission by the UMNO leadership of the dismal failure of UMNO after 57 years of UMNO government through six UMNO Prime Ministers.
If UMNO had been successful in protecting the legitimate interests of the Malays and all other communities, the message it should be sending out is that whether UMNO wins or loses in the coming general elections, the rights and interests of the Malays are assured and fully protected.
Can UMNO leaders explain why they are incapable of sending out such a message?
(Speech at a coffee-shop dialogue in Taman University, Gelang Patah on Saturday, Novembr 29, 2014 at 11 am)