By Adib Zalkapli | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — The attacks against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s administration for allegedly discriminating against Malay traders would not work in favour of Umno to harvest more Malay votes, said analysts.
The Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia last week rapped the Penang government with banner headlines “Malays still oppressed”, highlighting claims that the state was preventing Malay traders from setting up Ramadan stalls.
It continued the diatribe yesterday, calling on Malay rights groups in the state to hold weekly demonstrations at the state secretariat, emulating the practice of federal opposition leaders in Kuala Lumpur.
UKM’s Professor Agus Yusoff, however, warned that the party should focus on winning the support of the non-Malays that it lost in Election 2008.
“Penang is a non-Malay-majority state. If Umno wants to hold weekly demonstrations, for example, it will backfire,” Agus told The Malaysian Insider.
He said most Malay voters are loyal supporters of either Umno or the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties.
“The Malays have made up their mind who to vote for. They are very compartmentalised. There will be no significant swing to the other side. The real issue for BN is to win back the support of the non-Malays,” said the political analyst.
“But looking at the current development it is still very hard for BN to get back their support,” he added.
“They have to find ways to get their support, fanning racial sentiments would not help,” he said.
His colleague, Professor Samsul Adabi Mamat, however, said the campaign on Malay political survival was necessary to inform members of the community who are not aware of the adverse impact of losing political power.
“The Malays’ fear of losing political power started soon after Election 2008 and it continues until today, especially in states where DAP has strong influence over the government. But of course it is not felt by the Malays in PAS because they are comfortable with Pakatan Rakyat,” said Samsul Adabi.
“There is a strong basis for this concern as the Bumiputeras only form about 56 per cent of the population. A split in the community because of Umno-PAS would affect the Malays,” said the political scientist.
He said even if the issues raised do not help Umno secure more Malay votes, it would at least make PAS leaders realise their duties.
“Raising this issue would at least enlighten the Malays who are in their comfort zone, when PAS leaders share the same concern they would act accordingly as an assemblyman or an MP,” said Samsul Adabi.
“The proposal for a unity government, for example, reflects such a concern,” he said.
“It may not necessarily translate into votes, but it should at least enlighten the community, that is more important,” he added.
Penang PAS, however, has refused to be dragged into the issue, arguing that it would not affect the party.
“This has been Umno’s strategy for the past two years, turning everything into a racial issue, but PAS will not play the racial game,” said state PAS deputy chief Dr Mujahid Yusof.
“The Komtar case, for example, it does not concern the majority of the Malays, it was only a technical issue turned racial by Umno,” he said, referring to the allegation that the state was preventing Malay traders from setting up Ramadan stalls inside the building.
It resulted in a demonstration by more than 100 traders led by Komtar Merchant Association (KMA) vice-chairman Mohamad Ghani Abdul Jiman at Komtar early this week.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also said the state government had victimised Malay traders.
The Penang Development Corporation (PDC) had clarified that the Malay traders were not being discriminated and that the issue arose from the failure of KMA to pay rent it had collected from the traders.
“They portray DAP as anti-Malay, try to divide PAS and break Pakatan Rakyat,” said Mujahid.
“They have been organising similar demonstrations before. If they really can make an impact we would not have been around anymore,” he said.
Lim Guan Eng was injured with a blow at his shoulder from one…waiting at the driver’s room.
LGE refused to launch a police report..treating it as nothing.
Karpal treated the bullet sent to him…nothing too.
Tony Pua just received a bullet…and you can bet…Tony will ignore the threat.
Presuming fanatics acted voluntarily…where is Najib or Home Minister comments?
Are these not elected Parliamentarians by Malaysians?
Let Najib prove his “People First. Performance Now.” is an honorable and truthful slogan.
Chances is…these UMNO B crooks will say…all deserved what they get for upsetting Malaysians…this and that.
FEAR FACTORS are out again..getting more and more personal targets..and all from DAP..and one from keDAILan.
Malaysians should cool as cucumbers and make them mad…but never be afraid to speak out with no fear.
UMNO’s DNA is racist.
Mahthir said so too. He said in no uncertain terms that UMNO’s objective is KETUANAN MELAYU. Mahathir was UMNO’s President for 22-23 years or so. Hello, that is almost quarter of a century. If anybody knows UMNO’s DNA, Mahathir, the maverick, knows. In fact, he did some genetic reengineering with UMNO’s DNA and the recombinant DNA is pure RACIST. Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn were so shell-shocked, they pressed the ejector seat and bailed out of UMNO’s hellfire.
Muhyiddin, well, he agrees with Mahathir too. Always. Muhyiddin has no mind of his own. He is conjoined at the brain with Mahathir. The thoughts flow thru the same grooves.
Najib chickened out from 1Malaysia. But what do u expect from Jib, eh? Some people think he has so many skeletons in his cupboard, just the rattling sounds shake the ‘sheets’ out of him.
And, is there any truth to IGP’s extension? Should u be surprised at all. Musa is UMNO’s guardian angel. He thinks his shadow is enuf to strike fear in Pakatan Rakyat.
Back to UMNO’s DNA – the alleles, homozygous racist!! So, all UMNO members inherited homozygous RACIST alleles-lah. U can’t change DNA like u change your underwear. If u r a member of the UMNO society, u are born with it, man!
Malays are definitely still oppressed. I agree 100% with this conclusion. Now the question is: Who is the oppressor?
One answer given by the natives and owners of this land is: ALL THE non-MALAY MALAYSIANS. The proposed answer is un-MALAYSIAN each of everyone of them. Dispose of these non-Malays Malaysian into their country of their ancestors’ origin.
This is the proposal that is heard the loudest today, even in the MSM.
Could this scenario below happen? Would it? Could it? Should it?
Chinese are to go back to China as they are considered a migrant community by the natives/owners of Malaysia.
One of the challenges is the definition of ‘Chinese’. Do the citizens of China define a Chinese as a Chinese National or a person of Chinese origin. The answer is: A Chinese national. The disposable Chinese in Malaysia does not have a place where they can be disposed.
So the natives and owners of this land now have a problem. .. In every likelihood, these Chinese will continue to be seen as oppressors of the Malays.
Could the solution be for the native owners of this land to negotiate a mass refugee package for these disposable Chinese in Malaysia to be mass dumped into China? This is one open option for the native and owners of this land. Without this avenue to dispose of the Chinese, they will forever be seen to oppress the Malays in this land by the native and owners of this land.
This is not a easy problem for the natives and owners of this land to solve. If they cannot solve it, they will continue to see the Malays being oppressed.
Maybe there is another country who will gladly accept these disposable Chinese and Indians. … Is there one?
Hi chiNA,lets not get confused,please.First of all how can you or the malays themselves say they have been oppressed by the chinese.The malays and the bumis are the majority in the country.They have all the rights en-powered for them by the constitution.They also have Umno (united malays national organisation ) with them for more than five decades protecting them. Please also don’t forget the hundreds of affirmation laws or action being made available for them. Now in view of all the above advantages and previleges,they are (should be) the aggressor,rather than being oppressed ,definitely not even in the least being oppressed by the chinese. You know and most malays should know,the chinese or non-malays are the victims of circumstances and the real oppressor is UMNO,the malays own party,the ruling regime.Hence if they (malays n bumis) wanted to voice anger or take action because of being oppressed,they should turn to Umno,not the chinese or any non-malays grouping.
What the author is saying is Malays have made up their mind and therefore there is nothing much to be gained by UMNO’s strategy. He thinks it is more important to try to win non-Malays support and to make the Malays realize the serious consequence of losing Malay political dominance. Even PAS should be awaken to this consequence (of losing Malay political dominance).
The author is basically old school communal minded person unable to get out of the old box. Stop thinking race and start thinking Malaysian before we find ourselves left further behind! The world economy has no sentiments for Malays, Chinese, Indians or any other races. It is about world market share and profits.
KMA failed to pay rent it had collected from the traders
Why isn’t KMA taken to court for criminal breach of trust? At the very least, get rid of its chairman and committee members and vote in clean, responsible leaders
Undang tetap undang. Kalau orang lain bayar cukai atau sewa, orang UMNOB kena bayar juga. Tak boleh ada orang harus membayar, ada orang pula dikecualikan daripada apa-apa pembayaran. Jadi saya minta En Mohamad Ghani faham sedikit. Kalaulah dulu apa-apa wang dipungut boleh simpan didalam poket sendiri. Sekarang tak boleh. Sekarang UMNOB bukan ‘cheng hu’ Nak jadi hero pun jadi hero betul. Jangan memalukan bangsa sendiri, OK?
Famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking say this to Umno;
… It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster….next years, …..Our population and our use of the finite resources …., are growing exponentially, …… But … genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next ……
If your don’t trust me, check this out;
http://bigthink.com/ideas/21691
Who are the Komtar Merchant Association ? I bet you they were set up by UMNO during the days of KTK to be a typical Melayu rent-seeking agency. It should remind us of the rent-seekers masquerading as taxi associations who continuously cheat on their members and never pay them on time – despite collecting fares from the passengers in cash. That’s the UMNO way – cari makan lah.
The tragedy here is that this episode has made Moo Hee Din a laughing stock, and increased trepidations about him being a heartbeat away from the premiership. He’s not just incompetent, he’s a danger to society.
The current komtar thingy is the work of perkasa, I believe. In other words, umno is responsible. Just like the spycam thingy.
It was stated:
Komtar Merchant Association (KMA) collected rent from traders BUT DID NOT pay d rent 2 the Penang Development Corporation (PDC)
So, no rent, traders cannot set up Ramadan stalls
Looks like KMA jiat lui, gasak semua
Traders should go after KMA, not PDC, Y not done aah?
Ai-yah, some1 #2 mentioned UMNO’s DNA, alleles, homozygous racist
Very cheem/chim ooooh
Got truth aah, racist trait is recessive meh?
If true aah, number of racist will be low, unless d racist allele present in high frequency in d population
Y not consider racist allele dominant?
Then we hv both homozygous n heterozygous racists what, more loh
This is how UMNO controlled media is intimidating the non-bumis. This is good as more non-bumis will distant themselves from UMNO, as we shall see in the coming GE. As Datuk Khalid said, UMNO is spitting into their own faces, how true!
///His colleague, Professor Samsul Adabi Mamat, however, said the campaign on Malay political survival was necessary to inform members of the community who are not aware of the adverse impact of losing political power.///
The statement of the ‘professor’ surprises me. If this country is run on the rule of law, it would not matter the racial classification of those who are in the government, and the government should face the electorates based on their performance. The performances should be good for the nation, and it should not be biased against any race, be it majority or minority. There should be equality.
Unfortunately even a university professor does not realize that Malaysia is the only country in the world where the people are made to vote based on race to ‘protect’ their rights. The so-called professor would have considered article 153 as the special rights of Malays rather than as a provision because of the special position of Malays; that specialty is the weakness of Malays to compete, if ever they are asked to do.
One wonders whether the weak mind as represented by Prof Samsul Adabi Mamat was an isolated example. If it was, there could not have been so many unemployable graduates. Why pay good money for bad material to be in the teaching profession? It causes the country more in terms of expenses and the time of the students spending in the university learning the wrong thing and ended up having perverted mind.
If people who call themselves professor can be fooled by Mamkthir, there is no wonder that ordinary Malays cannot escape being fooled. It is true that not all the people can be fooled all the time, but there are enough Malays who were fooled for 22 years and now continuing to be fooled.
I am sure that Chinaman who poured kerosene on himself maybe thinking he could get some bonus from BN. Stupid scumbag, why don’t you just light the match. Owah, so coincidental, you friends managed to stop you in time.
Mana Biro Tatanegara?
Time 4 BTN 2 properly educate n indoctrinate civil servants n young NS participants abt d dishonest n greedy Komtar Merchant Association (KMA) dat tried 2 stir up racial tension
Malays to lose political power? Possible? Not impossible. To who, that is the question. The rest of us, non-umnoputras. Suppressed. Will they then be? Highly unlikely. But why is umno so afraid? Because they have been abusive, arrogant, suppressive and oppressive for far too long. It has become their nature. And they now have it in their heads that anyone else in power would do exactly the same thing and behave the same way. They fear repercussions. They are afraid of their own shadows.
Race card will eventually destroy UMNO as well as cause the Malay race to become extinct … most will become faked Americans, some may become faked Hindus, and the rest may become Indons and Filipinos.
Remember what ME-layu stands for in BM! Me-layu means “to wither”, thus they are destined to be so!
BANGSA ME-LAYU = THE WITHERING RACE!