What Rais is saying is that the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese, are the enemy. And for the Malays to protect themselves from this enemy they must vote for Barisan Nasional. If Pakatan Rakyat instead of Barisan Nasional wins the general election, then the Malays are in deep shit. Furthermore, Rais is saying that the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese, are not important. Only the Malays are important. The government does not need to care much for the non-Malays.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When it became public knowledge that His Highness the Sultan of Johor had participated in an open tender for a car registration number, WWW 1, there was a hue and cry. Some commented that it was a waste of money and that the money could have been better spent building houses for the poor.

These are, of course, valid arguments. The poor do need housing. And the government should do more for the poor. But whether His Highness the Sultan of Johor should be tasked with the job of providing houses for the poor or whether this is the elected government’s job is an issue that needs debating.

Just to digress a bit, do you know that the previous Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, gave the late Sultan of Johor JKR 1? JUA 1 and JUY 1 were also given to the Sultan, as were many other number '1's with ‘J’ letters in front of them. And these were all given free. His Highness did not need to tender for them or pay more than RM500,000 to get them.

As I said in an earlier article, normally, numbers 1 to 10 are reserved for the palace. Only if the palace does not want them will they be tendered out to Chinese towkays or Malay politicians. For the Federal Territory, these numbers are reserved for Ministers and senior politicians. This has been the practice since way back when car registration numbers started to become fashionable and a status symbol.

Anyway, there was an outrage and many people whacked all royalty and the institution of the monarchy. Some people even suggested that the monarchy be abolished in favour of a republic. Well, now we have a Chinese minister who used the government’s money, not his own money like the Sultan, to buy a car registration number.

So what are we going to propose here? Should we also call for Chinese ministers to be abolished? Because Sultans spend their own money buying car registration numbers, the monarchy should be abolished. Hence, because Chinese ministers spend the people’s money to buy car registration numbers, then Chinese ministers should be abolished as well.

We should be careful how we argue our case as sometimes that same argument can be used against us. We complain about dragging up ‘old issues’ then we go and drag up even older issues. We say that no allegation should be made without the evidence then we go and make allegations without any evidence. We say we must toe the party line then we foam at the mouth and refuse to toe the party line when something is not to our liking.

We appear to be inconsistent and wishy-washy in our arguments. We should avoid that lest we are seen as insincere and hypocrites. That can only hurt the cause.

Anyway, read what Rais Yatim said in the news item below. If the voters are as intelligent as we hope they are -- but unfortunately they are not -- you can see that Rais has just buried Umno. But can the voters analyse what Rais said with an open and intelligent mind? Can they see how Rais has just shot Umno in its own feet?

I fear not. And the opposition is not doing its job either in educating the voters and help them to see what they cannot see unless you hold their hand and spell it out to them like you are talking to a primary school kid.

Therefore, allow me to walk you through what Rais said so that you can better grasp the implications of his statement.

“The Malays must unite for a Barisan Nasional win in the upcoming general election,” said Rais. So what does this mean? This means Barisan Nasional needs to depend on the Malays and not the non-Malays to be able to win the next election. It is crucial, therefore, that the Malays ‘unite’. And ‘unite’ here means unite behind Umno, not behind PAS.

Hence the non-Malays are not crucial to Barisan Nasional. Only the Malays are. And even if it were an MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, or whatever, candidate who is contesting, these non-Malay candidates would still need Malay votes to be able to win the election. Without the Malays, even the non-Malay candidates cannot win.

Rais then went on to say, “To ensure their rights are not taken away by the opposition.” This means if Pakatan Rakyat instead of Barisan Nasional were to win the general election, then the Malays are going to suffer. Their rights are going to be taken away from them.

What rights are these and in what manner will they be taken away? This, Rais did not say. He just generalised it by saying that the Malays are going to lose their rights if Pakatan Rakyat were to win the general election. What these rights are and in what manner they are going to be taken away needs no explanation. The Malays know what these are. Rais needs not explain the details because the Malays are clever enough to understand.

“Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim did not love the Malays, the monarchy or Malay culture,” added Rais. Now, this is a most interesting statement. Can Rais explain this part of his statement? There must have been something that Anwar did or said that shows he does not love the Malays, the monarchy or Malay culture.

Rais then extended this allegation to Pakatan Rakyat by saying that the Pakatan-ruled states are neglecting the welfare of Malays. Again, no details are given. In what way are the Pakatan-ruled states neglecting the welfare of the Malays? There must be some specific incidences.

Many accuse me of being too cheong hei (long-winded). That is certainly true. My essay assignments normally have a 500-word limit so I need to keep within that limit or else I will fail my paper. But then this is the limit set and I have no choice but to keep within that limit. Furthermore, those reading my essays are Oxford tutors who know what I am saying plus they want to see whether I am articulate enough to cover all the points in a mere 500 words and not leave anything out.

But when dealing with Malaysian voters I can’t afford to keep within a 500-word limit. I need to be cheong hei and write 2,000 or more words. If not then many people would not get the point. And in the case of Rais, he also needs to be cheong hei and explain what he means by what he said. As it is, it is not clear what he means.

“Malays must understand who they are and know their rights,” said Rais. Now, what does this mean? Does Rais mean that the Malays do not know who they are and do not know their rights? What Rais meant was Malays must know that they own the country (know who you are) and the Malays must know that they have special privileges that the non-Malays do not have (know their rights).

And his next statement better explains what is in Rais’s mind. “In the opposition, there is no Malay political force.” Yes, that is the crux to the whole thing, Malay political force. This argument is strengthened when Rais said, “For a community to stay in power, they must understand politics of numbers, which states when many come together we can determine something.”

And his closing remark tells it all. “Though recent polls show that Chinese support is low, don’t worry, as long as Malays practice politics of numbers, we will benefit.”

Okay, how do you analyse what Rais said? Actually, if I need to continue with my cheong hei piece and explain it to you then you are too stupid and hence you deserve the government that you vote for. But I will explain it to you anyway.

What Rais is saying is that the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese, are the enemy. And for the Malays to protect themselves from this enemy they must vote for Barisan Nasional. If Pakatan Rakyat instead of Barisan Nasional wins the general election, then the Malays are in deep shit. Furthermore, Rais is saying that the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese, are not important. Only the Malays are important. The government does not need to care much for the non-Malays.

This whole thing has now been reduced to a ‘them’ and ‘us’ situation. ‘Us’ are the Malays and ‘them’ are the non-Malays. This is war. This is about survival. The survival of the Malays depends on Barisan Nasional winning the election. If Pakatan Rakyat wins the election then the Malays are as good as dead.

Do you believe all this? I don’t know whether you do, but whether you do or not do not matter. What matters is the 60% of the voters who are Malays. And if the majority of the 60% of the voters believe this, then Barisan Nasional will be assured a win.

The fact that 20% of the voters represent 50% of the seats and the fact that all these seats are in the rural areas and hence are predominantly Malay makes it very important that the Malays believe what Rais has said.

Never mind whether the readers of Malaysia Today or the voters in the urban areas believe what Rais said. They only represent 30% of the seats. Even if 100% of Malaysia Today’s readers or 100% of the urbanites vote Pakatan Rakyat it does not matter as long as the majority of the Malays vote Barisan Nasional.

Not many of you understood what I was trying to say in my Sunday’s article, ‘To see change we need to see change’. My question in that article, which to me is the more crucial issue, was how are we going to achieve this? In other words, as I said, to see change we need to see change. But how are we going to see change? Unfortunately, no one got my point.

Most of you commented: to see change we need to see a change of government. That, as I explained, is like saying: to get rich we need to have plenty of money. I know you need plenty of money to get rich. That is elementary. But how do you get this money? Do you rob a bank? Do you insure your wife for RM10 million and then murder her? How do you get this money so that you can get rich?

Hence, if all you can say is ‘to see change we need to change the government’ that is not the solution. You have not told us how we can change the government.

But Rais knows how to make sure that the government does not change. Hence, while we do not know how to change the government, Rais knows how to keep the government. And this would be by making sure that the Malays fear for their future and that the Malays regard Pakatan Rakyat as a Chinese stooge and that the Malays regard the Chinese as the enemy and that the Malays feel that if Pakatan Rakyat takes over then the Malays are as good as dead.

And if more than half the 60% of the Malay voters who control more than 50% of the seats buy this argument, then Barisan Nasional will stay in power while Pakatan Rakyat will remain the opposition. And Anwar Ibrahim’s forecast of winning at least 105 Parliament seats will not come true and instead they will win less than 80 seats in the coming general election.

Rais says Anwar has no love for Malays, urges vote for BN

(The Malaysian Insider) - The Malays must unite for a Barisan Nasional win in the upcoming general election to ensure their rights are not taken away by the opposition, a senior Cabinet minister said today while hitting out at Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whom he said did not “love Malays, the monarchy or Malay culture.”

In a sign of moves to consolidate support from Malay voters for the ruling coalition, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim also accused Pakatan-ruled states of neglecting the welfare of Malays.

He said Malays “must understand who they are” and “know their rights”.

“In the opposition, there is no Malay political force,” Rais said today when launching the 1 Malaysia Social Media Convention in Selangor.

He claimed Opposition Leader Anwar “does not love Malays, the monarchy or Malay culture” for the latter “had never once talked about Malay welfare”.

“Mr DSAI, when was the last time you talked about strengthening the Malay language?” he asked to applause from the 1,000-strong crowd.

Rais called for Malays to unite and vote for leaders who cared about their special rights and welfare.

“The reason we lost so many seats in the 2008 election is because the Malays have forgotten themselves,” he said.

“For a community to stay in power, they must understand politics of numbers, which states when many come together we can determine something,” he added.

Rais told the Malays not to worry over the latest survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center which found support for BN among the Chinese was waning.

“Though recent polls show that Chinese support is low, don’t worry, as long as Malays practice politics of numbers, we will benefit.”