steadyaku47

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Towards a common goal of common good for all! 1 Malaysia


The aftermath of the 11th and 12th general election resulted in a paradigm shift to things that essentially made the Malaysian society what it has been since Merdeka. The self-enforcing Malay and non-Malay divide that had been encouraged and set in concrete by UMNO for its own vested interest began to crumble. This was set in motion not by the non-Malays but by the Malays themselves who started to question the concept of a privileged Bumiputra’s lot and the Ketuanan Melayu touted by UMNO as essential for the survival of the Malays. The issues seem to be clear-cut for the Malays: Why after 53 years of Malay dominated rule under UMNO were the Malays still economically disadvantaged when compared to the non-Malays? Why was wealth destined for the Malays ending up among the political elites of UMNO? Why was Malay political power in bed with immense and insane amount of wealth supposedly destined for the Malays but instead found its place in the pockets of these UMNO politicians?

The Malays no longer accepted the adage that the non-Malays were their nemesis. Islam was not being threatened by the Christians. The Malays began to question these “truths” that UMNO has been insisting were the reasons that the Malays should hold on to political power  - and that that political power should be in the hands of UMNO!

On the other hand faced with the mounting litany of abuses of executive power by the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government the Malays began to look elsewhere for others to take UMNO’s place as the custodians of Malay political power.

The failures of UMNO political elites to understand the need to address this shift within the Malay psyche proved to be their undoing. Too enamoured with their 53 years of perceived success in holding on to political power what concerned UMNO was still the acquisition of material wealth and the necessity of holding on to power in order to carry on merrily with their preoccupation of plundering and pillaging our country to their hearts contents. Nothing else matters – not their promise to the Malays of Ketuanan Melayu nor their lies to the non-Malays of a Malaysia for everyone.
       
Increasingly as the Malays started this process of introspection and self-examination of what they have gone through under UMNO for the past 53 years, they found an unlikely ally amongst the non-Malays.

For had the non-Malays also suffered greatly under the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government? What had been denied of the Malays by the BN government was doubly so for the non-Malays. If the Malays had found that their children were woefully unprepared to face education in foreign universities, the non-Malays were also severely disadvantaged by the lack of education opportunities for their children in Malaysian and were burdened financially by the need to send their children overseas for further studies without assistance from the government.

If the Malays were denied a fair share of the nations wealth because for the most part it was kept within the BN political elites, their families, cronies, acquaintances then so were the non Malays disadvantaged by their inability to share in the nations wealth and then burdened by the abuse of it by BN.

If the Malays felt cheated by UMNO, so were the non-Malays similarly offended by MCA and MIC who, to all intents and purposes, were subservient to UMNO in the BN coalition?

All this could be traced back to the 53 years of rule by UMNO where complacency and a sense of entitlement to rule in perpetuity was compounded by a slew of initiatives that ranged from reengineering of the population ratios through immigration and migration to the use of the election process to benefit themselves and also included and not necessarily ending with, the use of corrupt and abusive practices to win elections. All this was perfected and put into practice by UMNO especially during the 23 years regime of Mahathir.

With the advent of the 21st century all Malaysia had by then commonly experienced the abuse of their trust in the government they have elected to govern them. And once this thought was shared amongst the Malays and non-Malays what was unleashed upon the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government was the tsunami of the 2008 general elections!

But it was a lesson learnt but not understood by UMNO. Their solution to the loss of their two thirds majority in Parliament and the five states to Pakatan Rakyat was to go back to their tried and tested ways of getting votes – Ketuanan Melayu was promised to the Malays and 1Malaysia was promised to the non-Malays –two impossible utopian goals diametrically opposed to each other. The impossibility of these two co-existing was lost to UMNO but not to the people of Malaysia.

The political realties today reflect the frustration of the people and their demand for change from the ways of BN and UMNO. Malaysian who have had no interest in politics are now passionately involved as activist and participants in Pakatan Rakyat effort to oust BN. I myself have never registered as a voter, lived for the most part of my adult life and still do, outside Malaysian and yet I have committed effort and time to Pakatan Rakyat’s cause. The Malays and Non-Malays are united in a common goal – a change in government from BN to PR.      

And so the stage is set for the 13th general election, which would determine the political future for all Malaysians. What was promised by 53 years of abuse and mismanagement by UMNO has now happened. The people have had enough of UMNO and they want change. The Malay complacency disappeared and in its place Malay activism within Pakatan Rakyat promised the non-Malays that we are all together in this fight against BN/UMNO. There is now a national consensus that change is inevitable. We have the numbers, we are resolute in our focus, we have the political will and we now have a credible alternative to the UMNO led Barisan Nasional coalition in Pakatan Rakyat. So let the games begin.

No longer will UMNO use Ketuanan Melayu to hood winked the Malays into voting for UMNO. No longer will MCA or MIC be able to claim that they are the representatives of their own racial groups. Everything has changed. Each of this party has lost big at the 2008 general elections. Now the 13th general elections should once and for all determine their place in the mind of the people of Malaysia – and in this I would hazard a guess that irrelevance would be the main sentiment to be expressed by the people of this nation to all three of these political organizations! So help me GOD!

While we await the 13th general elections let us take stock of the situation we now find ourself in. We the people are in the driving seat. We the people will have this UMNO led Barisan Nasional party bowing before us for our votes. And we the people will decide who will govern us. We know it will be Pakatan Rakyat. We know it will be 1Malaysia in its entirety and we know that we will all see a brand new day in the annals of our history as we all go towards a common goal of common good for a common purpose – that of a better, decent and all inclusive Malaysia. MERDEKA!      



4 comments:

  1. Eh ada lagi.

    Pengkomen No1

    ReplyDelete
  2. HH,

    Are you sure the Malays are questioning the "truths"? I think you would like it to be true but the fact is the Malays in Bolehland have chosen to stick with UMNO as they fear losing out to the non-Malays. When push comes to shove, the Malays still believe that its better to have corrupt UMO dominating the political landscape then to face the challenges of meritocracy.

    Even the educated Malays I know are uncomfortable with competing with non Malays. When asked what would be their preferred choice, they invariably answered that its better to stick with the devil (UMNO) they know and at least they can be proud of Ketuanan Melayu than to lose Ketuanan Melayu totally without the corrupt UMNO championing their Ketuanan.

    Its sad but true.

    ReplyDelete
  3. after bersih- its KOTOR 1- ah jib said certain quarters are out to overthrow an elected GOMEN- so watch out lah malaysians

    ReplyDelete
  4. AFTER bersih COMES kotor GENERAL ELECTIONS LAH? ALL KNeW THIS ACT

    ReplyDelete