Deja vu
Allen YuPublished: Dec 20, 2000 11:09 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
In 1987 Operation Lallang was launched by the government to detain members of the opposition parties as well as of the government, educationists and lobbyists, purportedly to quell the racial unrest that was brewing over the argument between an Umno leader and an MCA leader over Chinese/Malay rights. Asiaweek magazine quoted one MCA minister as saying: "It's like they step on our feet, and when we asked them to please remove it, they say, you are threatening us." Ironically the two troublemakers were not detained.
The recent outburst by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students or GPMS over Suqiu's 17-point appeal reminds me of the earlier event. Granted that Suqiu's requests are different and not backed by threats of demonstration or violence.
GPMS' so-called demands, however, are threats. Suqiu should not back down. And MCA should be ashamed of themselves if they are advising Suqiu to do so. If GPMS does go ahead with its demonstration then it is up to the police whether to grant them the permit or not. If the demonstration becomes unruly then it is also the responsible of the police to control them. But I doubt it would be unruly, as it has always been reported in the Malaysian media that only Keadilan and PAS members are unruly. And I doubt GPMS can find 100,000 Malay students to attend the demonstration since most of them support Keadilan or PAS.
But why the outburst now when Suqiu made that request months ago before the Lunas election?
The initial threat by Umno Youth over Suqiu's demands did not seem to have garnered support from many Malays who saw it as a feeble attempt to win over Keadilan and PAS supporters. Certainly the Lunas election is testimony to that. Certainly Umno leaders and GPMS know that making the Chinese scapegoats to win the Malay youth back into the party will not work.
My only conclusion is that the latest turmoil may be used as justification for another Operation Lallang to detain all parties that are against some policies of the BN-led government so that BN is given time and breathing space to win back the Malay youths' support.
The recent outburst by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students or GPMS over Suqiu's 17-point appeal reminds me of the earlier event. Granted that Suqiu's requests are different and not backed by threats of demonstration or violence.
GPMS' so-called demands, however, are threats. Suqiu should not back down. And MCA should be ashamed of themselves if they are advising Suqiu to do so. If GPMS does go ahead with its demonstration then it is up to the police whether to grant them the permit or not. If the demonstration becomes unruly then it is also the responsible of the police to control them. But I doubt it would be unruly, as it has always been reported in the Malaysian media that only Keadilan and PAS members are unruly. And I doubt GPMS can find 100,000 Malay students to attend the demonstration since most of them support Keadilan or PAS.
But why the outburst now when Suqiu made that request months ago before the Lunas election?
The initial threat by Umno Youth over Suqiu's demands did not seem to have garnered support from many Malays who saw it as a feeble attempt to win over Keadilan and PAS supporters. Certainly the Lunas election is testimony to that. Certainly Umno leaders and GPMS know that making the Chinese scapegoats to win the Malay youth back into the party will not work.
My only conclusion is that the latest turmoil may be used as justification for another Operation Lallang to detain all parties that are against some policies of the BN-led government so that BN is given time and breathing space to win back the Malay youths' support.
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