By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
9.12.2013
Yahoo! News
9.12.2013
Umno
President Najib Razak diminished the stature of a great man when he said last
Saturday at his party’s general assembly that Umno fought for the “same cause”
as Nelson Mandela, who had died two days before.
What
same cause? Mandela fought against racial discrimination whereas Umno
institutionalised racial discrimination a few decades ago and still upholds it.
Mandela
never advocated black supremacy, whereas Umno promotes Ketuanan Melayu (Malay
supremacy).
After
he became president of South Africa, Mandela proposed reconciliation and sought
to bring the races in his country together, whereas in Malaysia, Umno divides
the races in order to keep itself in power.
Even
at its general assembly, Umno’s delegates lobbied for the ethnocentric
‘1Melayu’ to replace the more inclusive ‘1Malaysia’, bashed the Chinese for not
supporting the party at the last general election, and demanded a bigger stake
in the economy, totally ignoring the reality that most of the country’s
economic development is now already in Malay hands.
Furthermore,
no less an Umno leader than Awang Adek Hussin, who is also the country’s deputy
finance minister, proposed that private companies should declare how they
support the Bumiputera agenda in their annual reports. He also insisted that,
because Malays now make up almost 70 per cent of the population, the hiring
policy of private companies should reflect the country’s racial composition at
every level.
This
is effectively saying that CEOs of private companies should also be Malay, and
that their staff should be 70 per cent Malay. Indeed. Apa lagi Umno mahu? (What
more does Umno want?)
On
the other hand, does the civil service reflect the country’s racial
composition? Are there 30 per cent non-Malay heads of department? In our public
universities, are 30 per cent of vice-chancellors non-Malay?
Mandela
did not take away the businesses of the whites in the name of affirmative
action for the black South Africans. He allowed the whites to continue to
control the economy and as a result of its being in experienced hands, South
Africa’s economy grew at a steady, robust rate.
Mandela
also believed in inclusiveness, in humanity and human rights. But Umno abhors
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBTs) although they are no less
human beings. One delegate denigrated them by saying at the assembly that LGBTs
exist so that “orang jahat (bad people) can be purged, leaving behind only the
good people to inherit the earth”. How simplistically stupid, or stupidly
simplistic.
Neither
does Umno tolerate Shiite (Syiah) Muslims. Delegates urged that the Federal
Constitution be amended to give recognition only to Sunni Islam. And Umno
vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in his customary aggressive manner of
winning support from the Umno flock, seized the moment to accuse the “No. 2”
man in the Opposition party PAS of being a Shiite leader. He called for action
to be taken against the latter. It was a clear manifestation of gutter politics
posing under the guise of religion.
How,
then, could Najib have had the temerity to draw parallels between Umno and
Mandela? They couldn’t be more worlds apart. How could he have said what he
said and not appear foolish to the outside world? He might have been able to
deceive his audience of Umno members, but he cannot deceive the intelligent and
discerning.
He
apparently rationalised it by claiming that no race has been deprived under the
New Economic Policy (NEP). He probably knows better – or else he is ignorant or
dumb – but he still played to the gallery. When he asked his audience, “Were
(other races) sidelined during the NEP? Did we ever hurt the livelihood of
other races?”, they of course responded with a resounding “no”. This of course
is an act of syiok sendiri too.
They
chose to conveniently forget the millions of non-Malays who over the decades
have been deprived of places in public universities, scholarships, jobs in the
civil service, promotions, higher ranks in the security forces, government
projects (except the big crony Chinese companies), etc.
They
pretended not to know that the non-Malays most hurt by the NEP were the
low-income and middle-class groups. Many of their children could not pursue
tertiary education through lack of means. Those who could had parents who
worked extra hard to make extra money to send their children to private
institutions.
They
chose to ignore the truth that the push for Ketuanan Melayu caused non-Malays
to be sidelined in unjust, uncountable ways and turned them into second-class
citizens.
Now,
to add insult to injury, they profess no knowledge of all that, still present
the Malays as victims after more than 50 years of independence from the British
“oppressors”, brand the “foreign races” (meaning non-Malays) as threats, lament
that the Malays might become “slaves in their own land”, ask for more handouts,
more projects, more quotas.
Enough
is never enough. At every annual general assembly, they dish out the same
laments, the same non-Malay bashing, the same demands for more opportunities
while at the same time moaning that Malay entrepreneurs still need
“hand-holding”. Their thinking is this: Ask and it shall be given. Just like
that. No need to prove their abilities first, no need to be free of
“hand-holding” first, no need to work to attain their goals. That’s the
attitude they take.
And
this is equated with Mandela’s struggle?
This
sort of attitude exhibited by Umno is what pisses off a lot of people and makes
them hate the party. If Najib’s comparison between Umno and Mandela doesn’t
piss off the South African Government, well, that’s its business. But if it
does, President Jacob Zuma might want to demand an apology from Najib for
showing disrespect and distorting the principles of the great Mandela.
Najib
cannot exploit a good man’s name to justify his party’s petty schemes.
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