YOURSAY | 'Race-based politics and handouts have been proven formula.'
Tok Mat: BN must address 'toxic' reputation
COMMENT | GE15: Race-based policies might trump rice-bowl promises
Hrrmph: What has BN been doing for the last 30 years? Only everything to enhance its toxic reputation.
Religion is used to stifle dissent where everything somehow touches on cooked-up sensitivities. The ideas of secularism are painted as some kind of Western threat, instead of the best framework of justice it often affords to the marginalised and the minorities. Money politics is the order of the day.
Renting a mob to intimidate and bully was quite popular at one time. Education is dumbed down, because the more clueless the populace is, the easier they are to be led by the ring around their noses.
When all else fails, the very foundation of our democratic institutions is attacked. Just witness the current bash-a-judge tactics. It will take a lot more than this croak from BN deputy chairperson Mohamad Hasan to change the narrative.
Just a Malaysian: Race-based politics and government handouts have been a proven formula for 60 years. Many touted it as a success, seeing how stable our country is.
Many will also feel proud of this Malaysian formula and want it indefinitely. But if you look closer at the data and trends, the future is scary.
Sixty years of accumulated debt, 60 years of poor education, 60 years of cronyism, 60 years of the government-dominated private sector killing off entrepreneurship, 60 years of imported cheap labour, 60 years of build-up of bloated, unproductive and arrogant civil service, 60 years of a huge number of pensioners, and 60 years of talent loss.
Be proud, be very proud of killing meritocracy. The day of reckoning is coming.
We do not have the strong foundation to survive the post-Covid and present hyperinflation crises. We do not have enough talent, entrepreneurial capital, technology, knowledge and confidence to bring progress and growth to the country.
We will be a mediocre low-income-generating nation exporting cheap labour to other countries. Just you wait.
SayNoToFrogs: Even in a thousand years, race-based politics will remain in Malaysia. Politicians go to the ground and drum up whatever causes to further their selfish aims. In this, Umno and PAS are the chief culprits. MCA and DAP are not far behind.
The solution? Until the rakyat can see through this, we have no hope of seeing the end of racial politics. We need nationalists like former South African president Nelson Mandela or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as our leaders.
Is he or she here in Malaysia today? No.
Guglu: At the strategic planning level, BN is better than Pakatan Harapan. It has a clear vision and common objectives, an appealing philosophy and a unified culture.
Harapan, on the other hand, is directionless, dominated by a few individuals. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is like an old holy book in PKR, DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng is the ‘tokong’ in DAP and Amanah president Mohamad ‘Mat’ Sabu is the captain of clowns in Amanah.
What BN has failed is at the implementation level. Race and religion are used to enrich a few individuals in Umno. Unity and harmony are used in MCA to kowtow to Umno to get a few crumbs, and power-sharing is used in MIC to promote certain leaders to stay relevant and to keep one or two seats in the Parliament.
BN is not strong. In the recent Malacca and Johor state elections, it has the support of less than 35 percent of Malaysians. It is still a toxic party. But alas, Harapan is weaker and even more toxic. So Malaysians are forced to choose the best among the worst.
It would be good if all politicians above 50 resigned en-masse. Sadly, only the good ones, former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, are resigning. Perhaps Damansara MP Tony Pua will join them too.
We, like the Australians, should move away from the big parties and start voting for independents based on their merits. Then I, like many others with qualifications, would be tempted to join politics.
Greg Lopez: In 1957, the end date for special privileges for Malays was 1977. The stated privileges were narrow in scope. In 1970, the scope was expanded, and the end date was 1990. In 1990, no end date was provided, and the scope widened further.
In 2022, the end date is given as 2030. Those non-Muslim Malaysians who supported this, and continue to support it, are no different to battered wives that do not leave their abusive husbands.
They have no dignity themselves and believe that their dignity comes from being the spouse of the abusive husband, telling themselves lies, that this lying, cheating, abusive husband will one day become a loving man, with integrity.
IndigoToucan1627: I thought for a moment that Mohamad was going to address the two elephants in the room - kleptocracy and corruption. What he did was tip-toe around this important issue. What to do? The spoils of corruption and kleptocracy have tied the tongues of political leaders.
In the aftermath of the results of the 14th general election, one heard about reforms from Umno. Now, not a whisper. Thanks to the Sheraton Move and the subsequent ascendancy of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
OrangePanther1466: Mohamad, you know why the problem exists. People join Umno only for monetary benefits through rent-seeking and corrupt practices. Umno still provides a safe harbour for corrupt members, the chief of whom is a felon, Najib.
Umno no longer fights for the common Malays but its members, on the pretext of promoting the Malay agenda. That is also mainly for the elite Umno members.
Umno needs a complete overhaul if it is to spare the BN coalition the taint to the party. The kampong Malays are now getting politically wiser and better informed. The day will come when they turn their backs on Umno if the party continues on like it is.
Kilimanjaro: This has always been the problem with Umno. These leaders are not symptomatic of the problem - they are the problem. And they have no shame even after a court stated that one of them is a national embarrassment.
It is a party which has thieves among them. Mohamad, who is Umno's deputy president, shouldn't get carried away. Labels stick and, in Umno's case, that will stick as long as it curries favour with thieves.
And it will catch up. The next fall may seal the fate of Umno and BN.
