by Fairuz Azhan
We can be proud of the fact that the race-based BN government is the longest ruling party in world history. They have ruled longer than the KMT Party in Taiwan, and even longer than Kim Jung Il`s Communist Party in North Korea. (Malaysia boleh!)
The reason why the UMNO-led race-based coalition has been in power for all of these years is the simple concept of FEAR.
UMNO brainwashes Malays to think that everyone else apart from their race is out there to get them. Terms like ‘kaum pendatang’ and ‘musuh-musuh Islam’ are thrown at the non-bumis. Keris wielding UMNO leaders, reminders of 13 May, and ISA for dissenters are examples of how BN uses the culture of fear to make us ‘get in line’ with the concept of a “guided democracy”.
History has shown how racial indoctrination has destroyed countries and its people. Japan`s conquest of Asia in WWII was based on racial supremacy, Hitler`s Nazi Party ruled also based on racial supremacy, so did Mussolini`s Fascist Party in Italy.
These governments were so easy to love and be proud of if you were the majority race in those countries. However, they also created irrational people who were contemptuous of other races and defended the indefensible all in the name of their glorious race.
Today in Malaysia we have the same problem. Among the circle of staunch UMNO supporters that I personally know, all of them have the characteristics mentioned above. This can also be apparently seen in the actions and comments of UMNO cybertroopers all across the internet in websites and blogs. Their comments are vicious, full of anger, and irrational.
Hitler`s National Socialists Workers Party was so easy to support as a German. However, it garnered its support upon the basis of the German inferiority complex when they lost WWI. Germany at that time had just signed the Versailles Agreement (which many Germans felt breached their sovereignty) and the Jewish community were thriving in their businesses while the German economy floundered.
This created a huge German inferiority complex. It was all too easy to blame everything on the ‘other races’.
Alas, this current situation is very similar to the Malay situation in Malaysia. One has to admit though that the brainwashing effect has been well-engineered. From generation to generation, the Malay community has been constantly told that they are a weak race which can’t compete, that their rights and position are constantly being challenged. Malays were made to believe that they needed UMNO to ensure their rights, that without UMNO they will all be doomed.
The Malay Dilemma, ‘perjuangan yang belum selesai’, Biro Tatanegara – these are all tools to manifest the belief that UMNO today is needed to ensure Malay political survival. If the Malay people are enlightened, smart, and rich all across the board, would UMNO then be relevant? Will the struggle ever end?
This situation is akin to the narration of the Disney-Pixar animated movie Rapunzel. When Rapunzel was stolen from her parents and locked up in a tall tower deep inside the forest, her ‘adopted mother’ constantly scared Rapunzel to never go out. The mother told her, it’s so dangerous outside; there are many wild animals, thieves, bad men, all out to get you. The adopted mother had 2 agendas, 1. To make sure nobody found her, 2. To harvest Rapunzel`s hair so that she could live forever.
The evil adopted mother constantly reminded Rapunzel that ‘Im only doing this to protect you, or because I love you’. Similarly, UMNO`s cause has never been about the advancement of the Malays, but about keeping them at bay.
If UMNO were serious about the advancement of Malays, they would allow freedom of the media. Utusan, Berita Harian, TV3 are merely propaganda tools. They either lie to praise BN or lie to ridicule PR. How are the Malays going to get enlightened when the media constantly makes them ignorant?
Why is it only the Malay language media that is controlled but the media in other languages is freer? Why do you stifle vital news that make your own people enlightened? Im not saying that BN doesn`t control the media in other languages, but the Malay community does not have a choice.
If UMNO were serious about uplifting the Malays, they would have wouldn`t have made the NEP as the basis of giving out ludicrous contracts to cronies and UMNOputras. Has it really lifted hardcore poor Malays, Chinese and Indians out of poverty? Or, would everyone flourish in a better government?
I would like to thank the Penang Government for debunking the myth that without UMNO, Malay businesses will die. With Penang`s CAT governance, all state contracts are won by open tender. Not only that the Malays got more state contracts, they did not have to pay UMNO Division Leaders for endorsement letters. The Malays got so many contracts even MCA is labelling DAP as anti-Chinese!
Clearly, the only people that want the Malays to believe that they are weak are UMNO.
What I dislike the most about UMNO fear-mongering tactics is that they weaken their own people. They make sure that the Malays have a big inferiority complex, which makes them defensive and full of hate.
The Malays know that the BN is full of corrupt leaders, they know the abuses of power of the BN leaders, but they close their eyes, ears, and hearts as long as UMNO is in power. Because of the myth that UMNO represents everything Malay.
The Malay community and Malaysians at large deserves better. We should be free of fear and racial politics that have long hindered our capacity to be a great nation.
I urge those of you who still live in the shadow of fear to liberate your mind from everything that the BN government has taught and told you. We don’t need BN to ‘maintain the peace and harmony’. Malays don`t need UMNO to be great people. What we need is a better government. A government based on proper ideologies and policies, not a government that breeds racism and hatred.
Be like Rapunzel who liberated her mind. When she defied her mother and climbed down the tower, she found that the world was a beautiful place, not evil and ugly as her mother portrayed. And in the end, she found her happily ever after. –The Rocket
