DAP leaders are what Malays call bodoh-sombong
And this is why Mahathir is delaying his retirement. He knows once he lets go that would be the end of Malay political power. You might disagree with Mahathir on many things but on the issue of retaining Malay political power we need to support him. And this is the reason why PAS stands behind Mahathir.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The statement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the Pakatan Harapan government may end up a one term government if infighting in the coalition continues is, no doubt, a timely reminder of the direction in which PH is headed.
As head of government, the PM must, however, take responsibility not only for the defeat in Kimanis over the weekend, but also in the four by elections before that, particularly in light of obvious waning support for PH since GE14.
Moreover, the PM’s confirmation that he is open to working with anyone, as long as it is not former PM Najib Tun Razak implies that PH may work with the likes of UMNO and others which were convincingly voted out in GE14.
This certainly does not inspire confidence in PH’s commitment to real reforms, the platform on which, it achieved the impossible in GE14 by defeating the Barisan Nasional after 61 years in power.
The issue raised by Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan a few days ago that perhaps the only person who has read the Institutional Reform Committee (IRC) report, of which she is a member, is the Prime Minister, is a serious cause for concern as well.
The IRC was set up soon after GE14, comprising of eminent members for the purpose of identifying areas which need major reforms and for proposing ways to achieve such reforms.
Surely, the said report of the IRC is crucial to PH’s reform agenda and ought to have been made public a long time ago. It is baffling why it has not.
No doubt, the manipulation of various local issues by the opposition such as the Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) may have been a contributing factor to Warisan’s loss but it would be naive to think that it was the only factor.
While I agree that infighting in PH must stop, other factors must be addressed urgently such as the peaceful transition of power from the PM to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and outlining a definite timeframe for the same, as promised in GE14.
Like it or not, this issue has created tensions in PH and can be destructive if not dealt with urgently.
The survival of PH must be the priority and we can ill afford further erosion of support for the coalition. There must be a strong political will to implement the reforms that were promised and to seriously tackle the very real problem of deteriorating race relations in the country of late.
If we start doing so now, I am confident that PH will not be a one term government.
RAMKARPAL SINGH, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, BUKIT GELUGOR
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Lim Kit Siang is the master of political doublespeak, millions of worthless words in 50 years
Pakatan Harapan leaders (and this includes DAP, PKR, PPBM and PAN) love making “water is wet” statements. In other words, stating the obvious. Why do they need to tell us that water is wet? Tell us something we do not know yet.
Most times these Pakatan people think that the rakyat are stupid. They have not come to terms with that fact that the rakyat know more than what they think the rakyat know. And they also think, as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is fond of saying, rakyat mudah lupa.
Actually, the rakyat remember perfectly well. They even remember why Melaka fell to the Portuguese back in 1511, and who is to be blamed, although some of us may not have been born yet then. And the rakyat remember that while Umno fought for Merdeka, MCA and MIC (meaning the Chinese and Indians) at first did not want to work with Umno to fight for Merdeka until and unless they were promised citizenship and much more (yes, the Chinese and Indians blackmailed Umno before they would join the Malays to fight for Merdeka).
There is a reason why Mahathir keeps talking about Melaka 1511 and his warning that it can happen again
So, do not underestimate the rakyat’s capability to think or to remember. The rakyat have more grey matter than you give them credit for.
What Ramkarpal said (see above), which is echoing what many other DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders say, is a load of nonsense. It is an insult to our intelligence. And it is mainly a “water is wet” statement, stating the obvious and something we already know. Are these people really so stupid or is it they think we are? Statement apa benda ni?
They whack Mahathir and blame him and him alone. They whack the infighting and say it must stop and in the same breath say Mahathir has to go and Anwar Ibrahim must take over. They blame the rakyat’s unhappiness on the failure to deliver Pakatan Harapan’s election promises. They blame the failure to institute reforms as another reason.
Yes, all very general statements with no details of what should have been done but have not yet been done. What precisely, in detail, are Pakatan Harapan’s failures and shortcomings that caused them to lose five by-elections so far, the most recent being Kimanis last weekend?
Kimanis is the last straw that broke the camel’s back
The electoral reforms DAP is talking about are all in the interest of DAP and the Chinese voters. They talk about electoral reforms but do not reveal this. If they fix each parliament seat, say, at 50,000 voters, plus-minus, then some Malay seats would need to be merged while Chinese seats would be broken into two or three.
The result would be the Chinese seats in West Malaysia would double from roughly 50 to 100 while the number of Malay seats would shrink. Then the Sabah and Sarawak seats would be affected as well since, according to the agreement, they must be given 25% of the total number of seats.
In short, Umno, PAS and PPBM would lose their majority in parliament even if all those three parties combined their seats under one coalition. The so-called electoral reforms that DAP is talking about is meant to end the Malay “hegemony”, to quote Lim Kit Siang, in parliament.
Muafakat Nasional won 100% of the 99 state and parliament seats in Terengganu and Kelantan
And Mahathir has talked about this many times when he said what happened in Melaka in 1511 can happen again if the Malays are not careful — and that the Malays would end up as hamba di negara sendiri. This is what Mahathir was trying to tell us.
That is only one issue and there are many more. Maybe we can talk about all those other issues later but at the moment the most crucial thing the Malays must take note of is that DAP’s agenda is to end Malay political power. And this must be resisted at all costs.
Remember the opening lines of Negaraku (Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku)? Yes, those lyrics were chosen as the opening lines of Negaraku for a reason. And, because of DAP, this may be required. In 1511 it was the Portuguese. In 2018 it was DAP. The nationalist Chinese did it in Taiwan and the Straits Chinese did it in Singapore. Now the DAP Chinese are trying to do the same in Malaysia, starting with Penang, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
And this is why Mahathir is delaying his retirement. He knows once he lets go that would be the end of Malay political power. You might disagree with Mahathir on many things but on the issue of retaining Malay political power we need to support him. And this is the reason why PAS stands behind Mahathir.
Many Malays are worried that Anwar will serve the Chinese-DAP interests and that the Malays would be sold out
