Awang Selamat recently wrote ‘The Malays have been betrayed' in an article in Utusan Melayu. It is easily accessible on the Internet on Utusan Online and I strongly urge everyone to read it.
He says the non-Malays have become increasingly racist since the last general elections. He says that MCA and MIC leaders promised to respect the special privileges of the Malays in return for citizenship at independence from the British colonial authorities.
He implies the non-Malays have not been grateful enough. He says that the Chinese and Indians have been kicked out of innumerable countries in South East Asia like Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Ceylon but that the Malays have kindly taken them in.
He then complains that there are Malay leaders currently who are encouraging fraternity, brotherhood and solidarity with non-Malays. He thinks such a message is a criminal act of betrayal, and he clearly feels aggrieved, and he thinks the Malays have been too polite and accommodating and tolerant to non-Malays all along.
He then complains that security of the Malays is an issue, and of course, the threat to the Malays, he implies is from the non-Malays. He then says the sacrifices of the Malays have been betrayed by the non-Malays.
Thus ends the article.
I hope everyone studies this carefully crafted article by Awang Selamat, one of the best apologists and spin doctors Umno has to offer us, and reflect on the cynicism, hypocrisy and corruption that opportunists hope might appeal to backwards feudal mentalities so beloved of those who walk the corridors of power in Putrajaya.
Let us examine the article.
When Awang Selamat writes the Malays have been betrayed, then he is keeping very good company indeed. Adolf Hitler repeatedly wrote the Germans have been betrayed by the minority Jews. Karadzan Milosevic repeatedly said the Serbians have been betrayed by the minority Bosnians.
Robert Mugabe repeatedly said the Zimbabweans have been betrayed by the foreign West. The BJP regularly say that the Hindus have been betrayed by the minority Muslims.
Nevertheless I am certain that the Malays nowadays are not as uninformed as Awang Selamat and his political masters in Umno would like to believe.
The fact is, Malaysia is fast becoming another basket case country - and the most important thing if you can't fix the problem or won't fix the problem is that Umno can still make sure they win the next elections by fixing the blame.
There is rampant theft by Umno elites, wholesale corruption by Umno cronies whereby the rich and connected Malays are entitled to rob the poor and everybody else under the guise of ‘social justice' via the NEP/NDP, Umno nepotism in the leadership selection process, a ‘fixed' judiciary by Umno, a ‘fixed' police by Umno and a ‘fixed' electoral commissions by Umno.
Why should Umno leaders fix the problem when they are getting richer by the minute via corruption, cronyism and nepotism? Awang Selamat like other Utusan hacks have been hired to do the job for Umno - make sure Umno can fix the blame onto the non-Malays via a good dose of racist rhetoric, scare-mongering, hate-mongering, bigotry and ethnic xenophobia - straight from the serious and weighty editorial section of Utusan Melayu.
They all have been victims - the minority Bosnian Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, minority Jews in Nazi Germany, minority Muslims in BJP's India, minority whites in Zimbabwe (now that their farms have been taken over by Mugabe and his ministers, black Africans are simply starving to death), and of course, the minority non-Malays non-Muslims in Umno's Malaysia.
There are no prizes for guessing who is being prepared for the role of the fall-guy, scapegoat and bogeyman by Umno in Malaysia - it is Hindraf, the Bar Council, Bersih, DAP, PAS (Erdogan faction only, but of course) and PKR.
Adolf Hitler, Karadzan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe, BJP and Umno leaders all have one thing in common - they became obscenely powerful, filthy rich while their countrymen suffered, starved and died for it. All the while their leaders shouted ‘traitor this' and ‘traitor that' - as if the louder they shouted the more easily their lies could be believed.
Luckily there are a lot of Malay-Muslims in Malaysia who think for themselves, and not swallow everything Utusan tells them to. How stupid do Umno spin doctors think the rakyat have become?
As for rich Umno elites getting contracts and scholarships, and poor bright non-Malay students not even getting a place in our higher institutes of learning, this is Umno's version of social justice - what a joke, what a travesty, what a monstrous lie.
The fact is Umno cannot make enough money to support their mansions, exotic cars, and wives without stealing from you and me - so Umno's version of social justice will always be Umno steals from everybody - you should know by now Umno loves stealing from the poor because the poor are just such easy targets - Malays, Chinese, Indians and ‘lain-lain' - ‘semua di makan oleh Umno - sedap-nya!'
Awang Selamat appears aggrieved that today's generation of Malay Muslim leaders might actually believe in freedom, equality and fraternity. He might be upset that some Malay Muslim leaders are trying to preach goodwill and compassion to everyone - regardless of race or creed.
I suppose this is a shocking betrayal of Umno's apartheid policies where in Malaysia today you can be threatened, mollycoddled, scapegoat-ed or jailed strictly on the basis of your ethnic origins.
As a word of caution, I am sure the boys at Utusan will mix it up for their readers - sound conciliatory at some times and then sound racist xenophobic at other times - because even the most stupid people will be able to see through their ploy.
So recently when Muhyiddin Yassin ostensibly tells Utusan off in public for being too racist, what he actually means is this - ‘You Utusan hacks are fooling nobody so please change tactics for now - later when the climate is more conducive, then you can try being racist again'!
Whether the average Malay thinks Awang Selamat is talking sense or nonsense, it is immaterial to me as I have already emigrated to a country where they insist on equal citizenship, equal opportunity, inter-racial solidarity, freedom of speech, rule of law, and freedom of religion - and they insist you get it for free. .
Although I love my place of birth, and I am used to racial and religious idiocy from people like Awang Selamat, I see no good reason why my children should have to put up with the same institutionalised racism in a rapidly declining Third World basket case like Umno's apartheid Malaysia.
In future, it won't really matter if the next generation become university graduates or not because the Malaysian public universities will be so rotten that the degrees will be just worthless pieces of paper. What future will the kids have then?
The fate of Malaysia will always be in the hands of the Malays. I hope they will choose wisely but then again, it is way too late for me and my family, because I am busy creating a life for myself abroad.
With people like Awang Selamat to lead the way for Umno, in spite of the pain of separation from old friends and family in Malaysia, and loneliness I feel abroad, I smile to myself every time I read Utusan, because I definitely know I made the right decision leaving for a country abroad that actually has a future.
