Two-faced scam in 1Malaysia

comment Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has claimed that he does not understand what ‘1Malaysia’ stands for and suggested his ‘Malaysia Boleh’ is a better slogan.

I can’t help but agree with him that ‘Malaysia Boleh’ perhaps better describes some of the idiosyncrasies of Malaysian life, at least in two scenarios that spectacularly contradict each other.

Scenario 1

The premier’s wife Rosmah Mansor put up a stellar performance at a charity dinner that helped to raise RM2.3 million for a Chinese primary school in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 6.

Rosmah not only serenaded the audience with a popular Mandarin song (which alone netted RM 200,000), but her group of ministers’ wives sang four songs, each in a different language - Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil - to give full expression to her husband’s ‘lMalaysia’ slogan.

She heaped praise on the Chinese Malaysian community for their unfailing generosity in supporting Chinese education and urged other communities to follow suit.

Scenario 2

Almost at the same time, Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia spat racial fire in an incendiary article headlined ‘Melayu jangan jadi bacul’ (Malays, don’t be cowards) on Aug 4. Journalist Noor Azam accused the Chinese and Indians - with the help of Anwar Ibrahim and PAS - of wanting to “destroy Malay political power held by Umno since Independence”.

This power grab is purportedly being by Chinese-dominated DAP manipulating the Malay leaders in Pakatan Rakyat. The writer further claimed that “The attacks and the hatred shown by the opposition and Chinese and Indian political activists towards the Malays have worsened”.

To goad the Malays into action, he went to the extent of calling them “cowards”, writing: “The Malay race has become stupid cowards, and people who are cowards will die before even their deaths.”

Such bare-faced incitement of racial hatred should have landed the writer in the lock-up and the newspaper’s licence revoked under Malaysia’s repressive laws, particularly if they are on the other side of the political divide.

However Noor Azam and Utusan Malaysia not only escaped untouched, but had the honour of being defended by none other than Umno deputy president and deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin who ridiculously and inexplicably blamed the opposition for causing such heightening of racial temperature. That Noor Azam’s racist blast bears the stamp of Umno’s policy is unmistakable.

Double-faced politics

Observers of political developments following Najib’s ascension to power cannot fail to recognise that these two conflicting scenarios are by no means isolated. In fact each is a cog in a continuous wheel of events moving in diagonally opposite directions.

While the top husband-and-wife team merrily sings idyllic songs of racial harmony and dishes out goodies, their party’s propaganda machine regularly spews racist poison to rile up the majority race against the minorities.

Umno has partially got away with this double-faced game, because it has complete control over the local media (other than those on the Internet), and the two conflicting tunes are played separately to two different audiences in their respective media, with each largely oblivious of what the other has learned.

For example, news in the nature of Scenario 1 is never carried in the Malay press so that Umno can throw some bait to Chinese voters without risking the displeasure of Malays. It incites Malay sentiments against other races only through the Malay press which are not commonly read by the Chinese.

The objectives of this two-pronged strategy are obvious. Strategy 1 (Scenario 1) is meant to coax the return of Chinese and Indian votes which had left the BN in a mass exodus in the last general election.

And Strategy 2 (Scenario 2) is geared towards splitting the opposition and re-uniting the Malay electorate under the Umno canopy by appealing to the primordial instincts of race and religion through pressing the panic buttons through lies and deceit. The over-arching aim is of course an electoral victory in the next election.

This explains why Najib’s new measures are mostly ad hoc, piecemeal, populist and election-centred – every move is calculated for electoral gains.

There is a conspicuous absence of serious policy initiatives to regain national cohesiveness from the present chaotic political and racial fragmentation. There is no legislative and institutional reforms to restore full justice and equality to all citizens regardless of race, religion and political affiliation as guaranteed under the constitution. There is no long term planning to re-invigorate the economy through fundamental policy changes in economy, education and public service.

How can Umno achieve any of these when it refuses to give up racism, corruption and elitism as the mainstay of its political sustenance?

Revival of repression

In fact, Najib’s pursuit of this Jekyll and Hyde political game under the charade of his ‘1Malaysia’ slogan is a clear signal that Umno has given up its earlier token attempt under former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to institute reforms in the aftermath of its punishing setback in the general election.

In its place are tokenism, public relation exercises and image-polishing to spruce up the façade of reforms and harmony, for which the government spares no cost.

In substance, the Najib leadership has chosen the opposite course of renewed repression ala the Mahathir era. This is amply illustrated in the series of atrocities against political opponents, including the infamous power grab in Perak and the brutal crackdown against the anti-ISA rally on Aug 1.

Under these circumstances, the road ahead for Pakatan to realise its dreams of reforms is tortuous and challenging indeed. Apart from having to constantly fend off politically motivated harassment from various law enforcement agencies manipulated by Umno, it has to fight the awesome battle of winning hearts and minds in the uneven battlefield where the mass media (safe those on the Internet) are deployed as instruments of propaganda for Umno.

Pakatan does not have the luxury of unrestrained freedom to engage in intra-party and inter-party dissensions through the public media without dooming its chances of unseating the incumbent power.

All parochial party interests or personal ego must be subsumed to the coalition’s over-arching objective which is to bring in genuine reforms to salvage the country from unrelenting decline.

As for the public at large, just as every citizen has his inalienable rights to life and liberty and equality under the constitution, there is also the corollary obligation to each and every one to stand up and defend those rights.

It is in this respect that those who are enlightened about the truth must do his part to disseminate that truth so that justice and truth will eventually prevail.

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KIM QUEK is a retired accountant and a PKR member.