The people of Penang woke up on Chinese New Year Day on Sunday, February 10, 2013 to ten thousand 1Malaysia flags lining the routes which would be used by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his two-day CNY visit to Penang from Penang Airport to Han Chiang School which would feature the Korean pop star Psy to Georgetown heartland areas around Komtar.
But can the South Korean K-Pop sensation give life, spirit and soul to Najib’s 1Malaysia policy with the 10,000 1Malaysia flags arrogantly, haphazardly and dangerously planted along the main Penang thoroughfares – showing utter contempt for the welfare, safety and the by-laws in the state as well as highlighting the abject failure of Najib’s key 1Malaysia transformation programme?
It is pathetic that after four years as Prime Minister, there is only one out of 68 Ministers and Deputy Ministers who dare to openly go against the UMNO/Barisan Nasional mainstream and publicly declare that he is Malaysian first and Malay second.
Is there a second UMNO Minister who dare to emulate what the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, did in September 2010 in declaring that he is a Malaysian first and a Malay second, in line with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature policy as distinct from Najib’s own public declaration?
I say “in line with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature policy as distinct from Najib’s own public declaration” for the Prime Minister, as far as I can recollect and I am prepared to stand corrected, had never said a single time in the past four years that he is a Malaysian first and a Malay second!
Najib said in Penang yesterday that “I don’t believe in promises that I can’t deliver”.
Has Najib delivered his 1Malaysia promise in the past four years apart from flooding Penang with 10,000 1Malaysia flags in conjunction with Psy’s Gangnam Style performance?
If Najib does not believe in promises that he can’t deliver, why is he not going up and down the country in the past four years to promote the 1Malaysia Policy to create a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regard himself or herself as a Malaysian first and race, religion, region or socio-economic status second, and putting himself as an example of a Malaysian leader who is “Malaysian first race second” for all Malaysians to emulate?
However, in the past four years, Najib has signally failed to get the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Supreme Councils and the Cabinet to endorse his 1Malaysia Policy, ever since his Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not mince his words in March 2010 when he repudiated the 1Malaysia policy by publicly declaring that he was “Malay first, Malaysian second” – which Najib dared not reprimand or contradict in the past four years.
In fact, in July 2011, Najib dodged the question when asked at the Malaysian Students Leaders’ Summit whether he was prepared to state that he was Malaysian first and what he thought of Muhyiddin’s infamous remark of being “Malay first and Malaysian next”.
Najib did not answer the question, saying: “I don’t want to respond in a way that will divide me from my deputy. 1Malaysia is our guiding philosophy. It does not matter what you say, just as long as you follow (the 1Malaysia concept).”
Most ominous of all, Muhyiddin had the support of the UMNO eminence grise, Tun Dr. Mahathir who publicly said he did not understand Najib’s 1Malaysia concept and that “Malaysia has become more racial than ever”.
And in the recent months, when Mahathir seemed to have emerged as the real force behind the UMNO throne, the former Prime Minister has put into practice his concept that “Malaysia has become more racial than ever” as seen by his recent utterances:
• Questioning the citizenship qualification of one million non-Malays which he falsely claimed had been granted by Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman before Merdeka although “unqualified” – as justification for his treasonous act in the “citizenship-for-votes” scam in Sabah during his premiership;
• His racist rant that Malay politicians in both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have become “political beggars” in alleging that their scramble to be Prime Minister has led them to plead for support from the country’s minority races;
• His seditious incitement that UMNO/Barisan Nasional would need two-thirds parliamentary majority to strip Bersih co-chairperson S. Ambiga’s citizenship.
Is Najib prepared to speak up to deplore all these three latest instances of rank racism and “perverse Mahathir illogic” which are completely inimical to the concept of 1Malaysia where Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysians first and race, religion, region and soci-economic status second?
At the recent UMNO General Assembly where UMNO delegates stood in silence and shed tears touched by an overseas UMNO club student representative’s rendition of ‘Anak Kecil Main Api’, a song that bemoans the fate of Malays for being sidelined in their own land.
The song, which was written by former National Civics Bureau (BTN) chief, was taught to all those who attended the BTN courses, which is compulsory for students before attending local public universities or going overseas on government scholarships.
The questions raised by this episode include:
• 55 years after Merdeka, 42 years after the New Economic Policy and half a century of UMNO political hegemony, who must bear responsibility for the fate of the Malays marginalised in their own country? Shouldn’t the UMNO-putras bear the greatest responsibility?
• With 1Malaysia concept and policy, shouldn’t the focus be on the marginalised and discriminated among all Malaysians in their own country, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli, Kadazans or Ibans, and not just one community?
• Is this not the best proof that Biro Tata Negara has become the chief agency in government sowing anti-1Malaysia concept?
These critical questions can only be answered by Najib himself and not by spending millions of ringgit and flying ten thousand 1Malaysia flags inviting Psy to perform Gangnam Style in Penang.