YOURSAY | ‘Anwar is being practical, acknowledging the existence of multiracial Malaysia…’
Malays won't accept Anwar due to liberal philosophy, says Dr M
Proarte: Dr Mahathir Mohamad is talking nonsense. Why was Mahathir himself so “liberal”' that he joined forces with “liberal” PKR, DAP and Amanah to form a government?
Malays are very liberal and easy-going people. Mahathir’s daughter is known to be a very liberal person. His adopted son Mazhar is also widely known to be very liberal.
The fact of the matter is that Machiavellian politicians, who are purportedly half-caste like Mahathir, as are most of the Umno crew, seem to know more about the Malays than themselves.
These Malay elites want to define the Malays, just like the colonial British did, in order to control them. The Malays are a vital vote bank and are a gateway to power and endless wealth.
This is the reason why they are given a dumbed-down education system, are told they are a feudal people beholden to their “raja-raja”, are denied freedom of worship, and policies are instituted to keep them apart from people of different races and religions.
In short, Malay elites have employed and further honed the colonial “divide and rule” modus operandi.
Mahathir's policies created kleptocrats among the Malay elites, who are “very liberal” with stealing the nation's wealth and we are paying the price of Mahathir's diabolical racist and thieving agenda.
Not surprisingly, Najib was a protege of Mahathir and he, too, stole in time-honoured tradition. See how “liberal” the Malays are with Najib Abdul Razak despite his alleged kleptocracy - he is still regarded as their “Bossku”.
Yes, 1MDB was a huge financial heist but RM42 billion is a small sum compared to the kleptocracy which took place during Mahathir's tenure as PM, allegedly.
In real terms, Mahathir caused the nation to lose more than a trillion ringgit due to bad management and kleptocracy. It is not surprising if his children have assets running into hundreds of millions and even billions of ringgit.
Najib could be just a scapegoat for Mahathir to cover up his own criminal mismanagement of the nation's coffers and kleptocracy.
Pakatan Harapan should learn that there are no shortcuts to reformasi. To team up with a political scoundrel like Mahathir, whose alleged grand scale corruption and excesses led to the “reformasi” movement, was naive and foolhardy.
Let us hope Harapan makes a clean break with Mahathir and Mahathirism. He has already dumped Harapan by saying they will lose if there were a confidence vote in Parliament now. So why is Harapan still hanging on to Mahathir's coattails?
For goodness sake, isn't it obvious he engineered its downfall from day one and never intended to hand over power to “liberal” PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim?
The Wakandan: That the Malays cannot accept Anwar’s liberal philosophy is rather sweeping. “Liberal” for Mahathir here means cannot associate with non-Malays, specifically the DAP.
He demonised DAP and attempted to destroy them even as his partners in a coalition that supported his premiership.
It is foolhardy to come to his conclusion in politics. He seems to be living in his own cocoon, unable to understand the sentiment on the ground. Being in the upper reaches of society as PM for so long can make one lose touch with the sentiment of the grassroots.
The Malays generally were never exclusively racists. Like most people, many of them understand the Chinese or Indians, and can count among themselves to have good friends and business partners from among these races.
Even if the Malays aspire for a Malay-led government, they do not want a corrupt government because that means wastage and, as a result, the Malays themselves would be victims.
BN has a stranglehold on the Malays because of ‘dedak’, as Mahathir rightly said, but now more and more Malays don’t receive them as the population increases and there is less largesse to share with. In other words, they are not beholden to BN like it was before.
They, like everybody else, just want an efficient government for better economic prosperity and the future of their children. Going to study in universities does not guarantee a job now but if the country prospers then life will be easier. The Malays know that.
Exclusive and extremist policy with the exclusion of non-Malays will not achieve that.
We have to take cognisance that many Malays have attained urban middle-class status. This segment will not take kindly to obsolete and foolish ideology of race and religion in a multiracial and multicultural Malaysia, especially if that policy will bring us back to the last century.
It is more about prosperity and being informed. That also explains why many Malays send their children to Chinese schools rather than the irrelevant government schools.
It’s stooping low to brand people. Calling Anwar ‘liberal’ also could imply that you are an extremist conservative. Anwar is being practical, acknowledging the existence of multiracial Malaysia and being inclusive where everybody should have equal rights in the country.
Vijay47: Perhaps it was our naivete, perhaps our desperation for a change of government, but in following you, Mahathir, we were convinced that a man in his 90s would have discarded his vile ways and reformed himself.
We were sure that Mahathir wished to make one final contribution to the nation in atonement for his past and prepare himself for the future. How little we really knew the man.
A word commonly used in respect of our former prime minister is “evil”; to that, I would add “cunning and vicious”.
Who would have ever imagined that throughout his seemingly benevolent efforts to bring the country together to overthrow Umno, Mahathir harboured a consuming hatred towards Anwar, that come hell or high water he would never pass the reins of government to his promised successor?
Today he accuses Anwar of being liberal, a label he deems as dangerous as being a Jew in Germany during the 1940s or a non-Malay in present-day Malaysia.
What exactly does “liberal” mean? To be progressive, to be fair to all citizens especially those who toil and sweat for the country’s well-being?
In accusing his foe as liberal, Mahathir reveals that liberalism is a concept he totally rejects, that to be fair is to be unfair to those who are entitled to the fruits of others’ labour.
I don’t carry a torch for Anwar, but apparently his greatest sin according to Mahathir was that he bonded with DAP. "He wanted the support of DAP so he invited DAP (to join his coalition), even PAS joined," he said.
But wasn’t that exactly what you did two years ago? Is such association wrong if practised by Anwar but noble patriotism when done by Mahathir?
Even the Sinar Harian interview is a Mahathir masterpiece – he is not voicing an opinion, he is cunningly reminding the Malays that “Anwar and DAP are the same, committed towards all races and religions. Chose Anwar and it would mean the end of your free meals”.
Anonymous_1547638541238.97951547637684420: The biggest blunder we made was to support Mahathir in GE14.
I rather Harapan being in the opposition with their heads up and slowly gain traction to defeat BN. I rather trust Anwar who fought for the cause, even in prison, than Mahathir.
When we had Bersih rallies, all races united in a show of force. That was a good sign of things to come. But it got scuttled when Mahathir was not ready to commit on the transition, brushed aside the Harapan manifesto and by-election loses.
I’m confident God is on the side of the faithful and those who pursue a cause with integrity. Many Malays are also rejecting all this stupid politicking and rhetoric of expired shelf life politicians.
Bamboo: Mahathir, what Malay government do we have? We have had (in your own words) a corrupted to the core Umno government for the past 60 years. We managed to change it on May 9, 2018.
For unknown reasons, your scheming has allowed Bersatu to join forces with Umno-PAS and stole ‘our’ government.
We don’t care if Anwar is liberal or otherwise, we just want a non-corrupt government led by Anwar or anyone else. So, do not dispense your stale view of whether Anwar has the Malay support or not.
The majority of us, including the Malays, are not happy with your backfired scheming which led to this backdoor government. In GE15, we will choose the government that we want, minus you. You have done enough damage to this country.
Seladang: Mahathir does not represent the Malay community. The Malays are diverse as the non-Malays in their polity.
Mahathir is the chief architect of the ethnocentric divisive politics during his rule from 1981 to 2003.
He was purportedly responsible for the economic collapse in the 1998 financial crisis by indulging in mega projects and building Putrajaya from the newfound oil wealth without saving the oil boom money in a sovereign fund which could have helped Malaysia during the financial crisis.
Norway has invested judiciously in its sovereign fund, which is US$1 trillion today and generates US$20 million every day.
Mahathir is using the liberal bogey on Anwar because allegedly Mahathir's children have billions in assets and shares which Anwar had promised to investigate.
Purportedly, 200 cronies have plundered the nation's coffers, which is legitimately stolen from every Malaysian citizen, for their personal greed.
Abdul Taib Mahmud in Sarawak was not investigated despite plundering the indigenous Sarawakians of their natural resources and impoverishing the natives of their wealth.
Allegedly, Mahathir’s biggest fear and hatred towards Anwar is his personal fear that if Anwar becomes PM, he will arrest Mahathir and his children for fraud, corruption and unexplained wealth acquisition, which Anwar has been vituperating in his speeches before his incarceration.
Yoursay: Mahathir’s real face unmasked
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