Apa lagi Melayu mau?

Joe Samad
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The recent “Melayu Bangkit” rally in Kampung Gajah shows the displaced Malay elitist in the
post-Umno era peddling their toxic sermon of race and religion. They have not been able to find
their footing in the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) era and they do what they do best: sow the seeds
of discontent to divide the nation for personal gain.

To maintain their relevancy in a new political environment, they continue to play the race and
religion card, and DAP is still their favourite bogeyman.

The duped Malay crowd needs to wake up to the fact that Lim Kit Siang is not the prime minister,
and the prime minister in-waiting is a Malay.

These people are still drunk on their own “Kool Aid”, to use Khairy Jamaluddin’s expression,
and have not sobered up to new realities. The crème de la crème of Malay elitists created by
Umno cannot adapt to change because it was never in their vocabulary. To them, the feudal
system must be maintained where the elitist Malays are fed riches and those in the lower pecking
order pick up the crumbs from the floor.

The hoards of Malays gather at the rallies that have been sponged on all these years by the elitist
crowd and are unable to think for themselves. The Malay leaders dish out the same Umno
rhetoric: Malays rights are under threat, the sultans are under threat, Islam is under threat, the
Malay language is under threat – in fact, virtually everything “Malay” is under threat.

This is in spite of the fact that Malay is the official language, Islam is still the official religion,
the sultans are doing well, and virtually all the top ranked persons are Malays, from the armed
forces, police and civil service, to the prime minister of the country, aside from one Chinese
finance minister, one Indian attorney-general, and one Kadazan chief justice.

The claim that these three musketeers of Malaysian Chinese, Indian and Kadazan descent have
displaced Malay rights is probably the biggest joke of the century. Perhaps the only threatening
signs were when they found out that Tommy Thomas can actually speak Malay, and the new
generation of MPs from all races as well as the new parliamentary speakers are also fluent in
Malay and can debate the Umno MPs on their own turf. This must be unsettling for the Umno
MPs, as unsettling as when they found out that Lee Kuan Yew could speak fluently in Malay.

Umno MP Tajuddin’s remark in the Dewan that Malaysia is “Malay land” has irked many East
Malaysians. Ramai Mohammed, a Dusun from Sipitang said: “If that is the case, they can keep
Malaya and we can go our separate ways.

“Malaysia does not belong only to the Malays – it belongs to all races and ethnic groups in the
country we call Malaysia. The Malays should wake up. It is the Malay elitists from Umno who
have squandered the nation’s wealth and preyed on their own race.”

I can’t believe that the Malays have not woken up to the fact that their Malay leaders have done
them in. How do you explain the massive corruption that is being revealed on a daily basis? How
do you explain the mind-boggling cash and luxury goods found in several apartments in Kuala
Lumpur, the cash stolen at the Prime Minister’s Office, now claimed by Umno members as
belonging to the party? How do you explain the former spy chief and seven other intelligence
officers being investigated by MACC for the alleged misappropriation of RM49 million believed
to be for the use of Barisan Nasional during the general election in May? Where did all this
money come from, and which “Malays” benefited from these cash hoards? The rural Malays or
the elitist Malays?

If the money was meant for the election, it should have been in the bank account of the party and
disbursed before the election and not kept lying around. Who are they trying to hoodwink?

These Malay elitists know very well that they benefited the most in the Umno era and the only
way they can survive is by playing up the religion and race card in the feudal society they created
in Umno. They have no answers on how to combat a reborn Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a new era
of change. They are still living in the analog age while the rest of us have moved on to the digital
age where lies can be exposed with the click of a button.

In a news report, Tawfik Ismail, a former party member, described Umno as a stagnant pond of
water breeding only bottom feeder fish, saying lack of direction caused their downfall in the 14th
general election. He said Umno, by voting in the old guard as leaders during the recent party
elections, showed that the same mentality was still being employed. “At the moment, Umno is
directionless. They don’t have any ideology or new ideas that attract young people. They are
feeding on themselves. They are a self-supporting group.”

I still recall the Utusan Melayu heading “Apa Lagi Cina Mau” after GE13. We Malaysians
should be asking the same question now, “Apa lagi Melayu mau?” You have had everything
since independence: handouts, Bumiputera policies, priority in education and full control of the
country. But what did the Malay leaders do? They squandered every opportunity given to them
and blamed other races for their failures. Only a handful of Malays became rich through political
patronage whereas the rest have to work doubly hard to earn a decent living and make ends meet.

Malaysia belongs to all, not just the Malays. The Malays should move beyond their narrow
thinking and stop wallowing in self-pity, because if all Malaysians prosper, the Malays will also
prosper.

Joe Samad is an FMT columnist.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.