YOURSAY ‘Umno's divide-and-rule strategy has taken a toll on our psyche.’
Why so few Malays in Bersih 4?
Pemerhati: Malaysians of all ethnicities are disgusted with PM Najib Razak and Umno’s rampant corruption and the massive theft of the country’s funds.
Many Malay Malaysians dare not come out openly to show their disgust at the Bersih 4 rally because of the fear factor.
This is because most of them are employed in the Umno-controlled public sector and thus fear jeopardising their careers or even losing their jobs.
Most of the Chinese Malaysians on the other hand are in the private sector which is not under Umno control and hence unlike the Malay Malaysians they do not fear that Umno can hit at their rice bowl.
In fact if you had a situation where most of the Chinese Malaysians were in the public sector and the Malay Malaysians in the private sector, then we would have seen a reversal in the ethnic make-up of the Bersih 4 crowd.
Anonymous 5783290: Political analyst Wong Chin Huat, though I respect much of your writing, you are mistaken on this one. The lack of Malay attendance is due to the PAS factor.
PAS, before its break-up, had a well-oiled machinery, replete with its experienced Unit Amal, to bring out thousands of its supporters.
Now however the PAS grassroots is split and confused, and the party refused to participate in Bersih 4.
Anonymous_4030: "For me, the answer is straightforward: the Malays feel politically vulnerable because three main Malay-based parties - first PKR, then PAS, now Umno - are split while the Chinese are seemingly united behind the opposition especially DAP."
Yes, Wong almost got it right this time. We may have issues with the leadership, but nothing supersedes what Wong has written above. Also Pakatan Rakyat and DAP are clearly not the alternative.
Swipenter: Besides the five aims of Bersih 4, it is also a struggle for national unity. This part is an unspoken.
I am sure many of us wish there were more of our Malay brothers and sisters out there in the streets rallying with us for a better Bolehland.
Once upon a time the Chinese were seen as politically passive and stay shy of participating in rallies but how things have changed. Has the reverse taken place now? I don't think so.
Umno's decades-old divide-and-rule strategy has taken a toll on our psyche. The polarisation of Malaysians by race and religion is still strong but fortunately weakening.
We are in the (re)learning process to live, work, play and struggle together again as one nation, one people and as Malaysians.
I say "relearning" because there was a real 1Malaysia before politicians messed it up with their divisive racial politics.
Prudent: A good spin on the facts. But the solid fact remains, as shown by the poor Malay turnout at the Bersih 4 rally so far and supported by the Merdeka Center survey, that 70 percent of the Malays do not support Bersih 4 against the Umno-Najib kleptocracy.
The 30 percent which oppose the Umno-Najib regime is slated to be further diluted by the potential new ‘bangsats’ that will be allowed into the country in time for GE14 - the 1.5 million Bangladeshis workers.
Unless God Almighty intervene, the time is unlikely to ever come when they wake up from their stupor before they find themselves and the whole country impoverished like Bangladesh. This is not too far-fetched.
The population of Malaysia, led by the Malays, doubled in the last 15 years. At this rate, the population will very likely hit 120 million in 30 years' time, with the Malays at about 100 million.
Ferdtan: If the cause is right, it doesn’t matter who or which race is predominantly at the show. It is time to stop thinking along racial lines.
We need to change as we have been brainwashed for more than five decades of BN’s self-serving racialist rule.
It is time for the old people like us, including the not-too-old writer, to let our youths today to show the way forward.
They, being young, can still change - but sadly it is not the case of the older generation, especially those from the ruling BN government as well as the opposition.
XED: It is easier for those who are not Malays to mock the corrupt and incompetent Malay-dominated leadership of the country. Simply put, how can ordinary Malays cope with the reality that they have been let down so very terribly by their own kind?
Enter a state of denial, like a wife or child who has been viciously abused by the man of the house.
The history of the country since Independence shows that Malay dissidents who tried to mobilise the ordinary Malays into opposing the Malay ruling class were treated very harshly, even more harshly than non-Malay dissidents whose intended support base was seen to be the racial minority and therefore less of a threat to the position of the Malay leadership.
Unspin: Wong has made a powerful point. The Malays have as much right not to come out as the Chinese have their right to come out because we are all Malaysians. There is no need to be apologetic about it.
It is a given that the evil regime will spin this into a racial issue but let them ignore Bersih 4 at their own peril.
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