The Council of Former People's Representative (Mubarak) President Abu Zahar Ujang has described Hindraf leaders as " opportunists and traitors to their race and country ." He added that these people were extremists and should rightly be detained under the ISA.

Referring to his assertion, I would like the Mubarak president to carefully reflect on history and see who the opportunists are. After May 1969, with the introduction of the NEP, Malay bumiputeras were the sole beneficiary of government policies. However somewhere along the course of implementation, the NEP was hijacked by the Umno elite who only sought to enrich themselves and their cronies. Based on such factual events, how could the Mubarak president condemn Hindraf supporters as opportunists? The real opportunists were the Umno elite Malays.

With regards to his statement that they were extremists, can the Mubarak president define the term “extremists” to justify his claim? Does his definition include people who participate in a peaceful assembly to articulate their grievances? Yes, he could label extremist the unfortunate use of the term “ethnic cleansing” in the memorandum submitted to the Queen.

But hello, what about Umno unsheathing their keris and threatening the Chinese? What about the former chief minister Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik’s utterance that the Malays would take out their parangs if the non-Malays challenge Malay supremacy? Are they not more seditious and extremist?

It is really pathetic that people like Abu Zahar Ujang, who has enjoyed the fruits of the NEP, should now find it plausible to hurl untruthful accusations at Hindraf supporters when in actual fact, he and the Umno elites were the opportunists.

How could Abu Zahar equate articulating one's cause with being a traitor to one’s race and country? By his implication, the Hindraf supporters should just remain silent and accept their discrimination and marginalisation so that they will not be traitors to their race and country. With such perverted logic prevalent amongst the top echelon of Umno, it is no wonder that a peaceful assembly of disadvantaged people can be construed as terrorists.