DPM Muhyiddin’s baptism of fire

Muhyiddin must have forgotten that today’s political situation in Malaysia is such that
1) The Malays cannot speak in support of the Malays; and
2) The Malays cannot speak about any shortcomings of the non-Malays.

Scene One –

In an interview published in Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday, Muhyiddin laments the lack of support from the Chinese and Indian voters in Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang which led to Barisan Nasional defeat to PKR and PAS respectively. Based on the voting patterns during the by-elections, it was estimated that BN won 55% to 60% of the Malay votes, but that was not enough as 70% to 90% of Chinese voters voted for the opposition.

And these are the reactions to DPM Muhyiddin’s remarks:-

Gerakan, MCA rebuke DPM over ‘ungrateful Chinese voters’ – The Malaysian Insider
Kit Siang shocked by DPM’s ungrateful Chinese’ comment – The Malaysian Insider
Cina, India bukan peminta sedekah – Malaysiakini

Scene Two –

During PM Pak Lah’s administration, everybody tends to air their grievances. Things were so chaotic that government ministers started criticising another, and component parties had a go at each other. At the same time, Pak Lah maintained his elegant silence.

I think Najib’s administration would like the mudslingings to stop. Hence, when it was informed that MIC was not satisfied with the party’s representation in Najib’s cabinet, DPM Muhyiddin (rightly so) advised them to meet PM Najib in person to air the grievances.

And this is the reaction from the new media:-

Be quiet, Muhyiddin tells MIC – The Malaysian Insider

I guess the negative reporting against the new administration will continue in so far as The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini are concern. Malaysia Today will happily ‘cut and paste’ the stories from these new media and enjoy the vicious remarks posted by its commentators.

The Indian Connection

You would have noticed lately that even the mainstream media have been vocal about the Malays and Islam: Star, Sun, FinancialDaily and the weekend business magazine, TheEdge included. Their alternative media counterparts such as theedgedaily.com, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider tend to behave similarly.

Some of their articles seem to imply that most Malaysian agreed that the Bar Council was right and should continue to voice out and organise more events such as the open forum on conversion to Islam. The articles also seem to imply the most Malaysian deplored the protest organised by “mostly UMNO sympathisers” who violently disrupted the open forum that the organisers were forced to end it prematurely. It didn’t matter that the presence of Zulkifli Nordin (PKR) and Salahuddin Ayub (PAS) actually indicated a large presence of non-UMNO members in the protest.

They would run negative views on any attempt of unity talk between the Malay dominated parties. They will support any proposal that to reduce Malay quota on anything. They will highlight that affirmative actions undertaken to improve Malay wellbeing were things of the past. In essence, the theme should be Malaysian Malaysia.

What I noticed was that almost all of the writers of such articles were Indians. There are a lot of Indian journalists out there, and they seemed to take advantage of their numbers in the media to carry out their own agenda. They used their positions to articulate their views and form opinions on behalf of the minority. Slowly, they are also trying to legitimise the Hindraf agenda. Words uttered by Karpal will be given prominence.

The Bar Council is also headed by one of them, and use the position to the best of their advantage. A lot of them are also active members of the Bar Council. One of the prominent senior judges is a relative of the Bar Council president. They can, and they may try to control or greatly influence the judiciary in Malaysia.

Let’s not forget the Malays and Muslims formed the majority of the Malaysian population. Be aware that most MPs are Malay, and likewise the majority number of state assemblymen.

The Malays cannot afford to let these Indian minority opinion makers to take advantage of our currently weak leadership to run down the Malays, as well as Muslims.

Populist approach

The Prime Minister spoke today. He effectively blamed Anwar Ibrahim for spooking the Malaysian economy.

And I realised that it was Monday. The Prime Minister seldom worked during the weekends. You will not see him making headlines in Sunday or Monday newspapers because he almost refrained from working during the weekends. He thought that he was always too busy during the working days that he would require a good rest and recharge for the week ahead.

Back to the Prime Minister’s remarks on Anwar. The PM should realise that Anwar dared to act as such because he knew that the government leadership is weak. And we cannot afford a weak government in a multi-racial Malaysia.

With Anwar, a Malay, acting as such and being very vocal against a Malay-dominated government, the non-Malays have increased their attacks on almost everything Malay.

You will not be able to speak on Malay rights as you will be instantly bombarded as being racist. You cannot speak on the need to maintain Malay unity as you will be stamped as racist. You cannot voice against the open forum on conversion to Islam as you are curbing freedom of speech.

If you post a comment on Malaysia Today to defend the Malay rights you will be instantly bombarded with nasty remarks from the other readers. Other alternative media such as Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini, dominated by non-Malay journalists, have also been attacking government affirmative actions, whilst defending attacks on Malays.

Such were the effect of Anwar’s populist approach. I think that it is a dangerous approach, and may lead to dangerous consequences.