The Malay Mail Online
MAY 21, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Umno’s personal attacks against DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud despite the party’s claims of upholding Islam exposes the violent political culture dominating Malaysia, said Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
Comparing the tone in Teluk Intan with Indonesia’s recent presidential election, the former Cabinet minister noted that campaigning in the neighbouring country remained civil despite the much higher stakes.
In the minor Malaysian by-election, however, Zaid pointed out that Dyana Sofya has come in for all manner of personal attacks from rival Umno, who have labelled her a traitor to the party, a sell-out to her people, and a puppet of the DAP, among others.
“To put it simply, Indonesia has progressed in many ways in their quest to build a nation with values all Indonesians share as a people — but in Malaysia, the Malays seem to be going backwards.
“Perhaps the great success of the New Economic Policy (NEP) has somehow made Malays ‘different’,” Zaid wrote on his blog yesterday.
The NEP is the technically-defunct race-based affirmative action that created a system of preferential treatment for the Bumiputera in jobs, housing and access to government funding.
The former Kota Baru MP also condemned Umno’s leaders for failing to restrain the party’s followers from engaging in the “virulent” attacks against the political secretary to DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang, pointing out that this ran counter to the party’s professed embrace of Islamic values.
Dyana Sofya’s political choices are her own, Zaid argued, and do not make her a race traitor simply for not joining the Malay nationalist party to which her family has links to.
He also urged the Chinese voters to look beyond racial lines when examining their choice between Dyana Sofya and Gerakan’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong, saying that their vote should go to the Malay candidate if they believe she will be a good lawmaker.
“The idea that only a leader from your own ethnic background can serve you well is a lie — you just have to look at real democracies to know this.”
Aside from the criticism from Umno, the DAP candidate is also the target of an Internet smear campaign purportedly by pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) bloggers.
These include a photograph of a Filipino actress in a bikini that was then claimed to be of Dyana Sofya, and picture of her together with president of Malay rights group Perkasa, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, which was used to suggest her affiliation with his movement.
Dyana will face Gerakan president Mah in a straight fight for Teluk Intan.
Mah won the Teluk Intan seat in 1999 and 2004, but lost to DAP’s M. Manogaran in 2008 with a 1,470-vote majority.
DAP’s Seah Leong Peng had defeated Mah in 2013 with a 7,313 majority before succumbing to advanced bladder cancer on May 1, this year.
The voter base in Teluk Intan is 42 per cent Chinese, 38 per cent Malay and 19 per cent Indian, making a total of 60,349 registered voters.
What type of Islam are these UMNO Muslims following? Not from the Koran, but from Satan himself. Satan can also quote the scriptures, understands the Koran better then these confused and easily offended “knowledgeable” UMNO Muslims. That why he can easily trick and confuse these egoistic UMNO Muslims. Remember Satan was the most powerful angel of God, but he became too ambitious and decided to go against God. Satan’s intellect is too deep for mere mortals to fathom. So in order not to be confused, one has to understand the essence of Islam. These UMNO Muslims are just superficial and cannot stand the test of what Islam demands.
Religion is neutral but it can be manipulated by men. Satan is evil but men have a choice in choosing to do good or bad. Man is 100 % equipped to choose.
the great karpal represented the chinese in jelutong w/o any problem. patients see doctors w/o prejudice. clients choose lawyers w/o bias. students taught by teachers w/o discrimination. so what’s the problem.
Only leadership with NOTHING to offer will allow their followers, who OF COURSE have lesser offering, to perpetual such behaviour. They are so desperate that they will do anything just to keep their hands in the national coffer! That is all to it! If there is a Olympic Gold medal for the ability to deny; then surely they will win that medal hand down. They forgot they are insulting the Malays as a whole; perceiving them as unable to be discrete or to think out of the box; hence all third rate opinions just based on pure emotion. They are praying hard and through the national education policy to keep the Malay society so that they can lead people by a string! Forgetting that the 21st Century awaits for no one! Even UMNO-putras!
Young Malaysian may see the days, when Malaysian may have to work in Indonesia as maid, maybe by 2044 ??
This is the best that UMNO can do. They can’t fight on real issues, they can’t debate their relevance. All they can do is to lie and cheat their way.