YOURSAY 'If you add all the allocations for the Orang Asli over the last 20 years and ask where that money has gone, you will be surprised.'

'Focus on pribumi, not Chinese voters'

Anonymous_3f4a: Umno-BN will be home and dry if it can secure the support of the pribumi, says party veteran leader Abdullah Ahmad, but who are the pribumi?

They are the Kadazan, the Dusun, the Iban, the Dayak and other minority indigenous people, and they are the very people that Umno-BN have marginalised over the decades.

Umno-BN have abused them so much so they have created and conveniently lumped them together under the subclass of 'pribumi'.

A former federal minister under Berjaya-BN, the late James Ongkili, was once rejected by the Kadazan and Dusun people he represented over the issue of pribumi. Pribumi is not a race by definition but a subclass of bumiputeras in place of the distinct racial origins of the people.

The minority indigenous communities have been resentful of such political classification which would wipe off the identities of their respective races from the face of this earth. That simply can't be acceptable to these peoples.

Sadirah: Why should the Orang Asli vote for BN when they have been exploited all these years? They are treated badly and are not even given the land promised to them.

If you add all the allocations that have been made for the Orang Asli over the last 20 years and ask where that money has gone, you will be surprised.

There are about 178,000 Orang Asli. And each would have been a millionaire if the allocations had reached them.

How many of them are educated and what is the status of health services due to them? Promises over the years have never been honoured and money allocated to cover their needs has been siphoned away.

Pour in some more money and buy their votes - that will be the BN strategy to hold on to power and continue to exploit these people.

Disgusted: So now we have the bumi who are first-class and pribumi who are second-class, but who are true natives of the land? So far they have been neglected in terms of development, education and social interaction with rest of the rakyat.

They have been kept that way by BN so that they may be exploited and bought over easily when elections come about - RM10-RM50 here and there for them would ensure their votes. A good example is the last Sarawak elections.

After they win, it is payback time when the pribumi native lands and rights are intruded into by creating laws on their blind side as their representatives sell them out in Parliament and the state assemblies just to enrich themselves.

They remain in status quo until the next elections when they will build a bridge or a road and provide some new areas electricity and water, and claim that they have given them ‘development', etc.

When will they stop conning these true sons/daughters of the land? The exploitation will stop only when they kick out their reps from Parliament and the state assemblies. I hope they wake up.

Anonymous #35113156: Abdullah Ahmad, do not focus on the Chinese voters? How about asking the Chinese voters to cut their income tax payment by half too? How narrow-minded.

Kairos: Abdullah's analysis is probably correct. The BN's safe deposit is still safe.

That's why it is crucial that Pakatan Rakyat focus their efforts on East Malaysia if they want to change the government. They must try to win as many seats as possible in Sabah and Sarawak.

Besides that, Pakatan must identify the shaky BN seats in Semenanjung and spend more time campaigning in these areas.

If they do this, even if Pakatan does not win this time around, they will at least reduce the margin of a BN victory drastically. It will lay the groundwork for GE14.

Blind Freddo: I don't know if you have ever noticed, but most aspects of Malaysian life are dominated by the elderly, but I guess that is not surprising in a country that appears to hate its young people.

Honestly, I'm not interested in hearing the opinions of has-beens who had presided when Malaysia went through an era of unprecedented erosion, rape and destruction.

I would desperately like to hear from the youth of this nation, to hear of their dreams for the future (if they have any) and their own personal goals.

Why not try for some optimism instead of the negativity and looking backwards, which seems to be the norm for this country.

Petestop: BN is about Umno and Umno alone, the rest of the mosquito parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan, and whatever else are just squatters in the toilet of BN's house (or rather Umno's house).

Therefore, don't be conned into voting for the mosquito parties, as it is actually just a vote for Umno.

Hang Babeuf: 'Focus on pribumi, not Chinese voters'... Or, when you are in a car that is out of control and speeding towards a precipice, there is no point in applying the brakes if the brakes aren't working.

So instead, just accelerate, and hope you land somewhere safe and okay.

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