The demographics of those who turn up at the post-general election protest rallies nationwide is proof of “Chinese racism” in the polls, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

NONE In a blog post today, Mahathir said that this is because the rallies are “largely attended by the Chinese” and is “mainly a Chinese affair”.

This, he said, will result in further racial polarisation in the country, with the Malays being further sidelined economically and politically.

“Within the country and abroad, Chinese youths wearing black shirts and masks made up most of the demonstrators. Usually Malays make up the majority of the demonstrators,” he said.

He said the lack of Malays at these rallies could also be linked with alleged “disassociation” by PAS leaders with the demonstrations which he claimed are meant to overthrow the government “Arab Spring style”.

NONE In fact, he said, it is PAS which lost out the most in the last polls, while DAP was the biggest winner having “succeeded in destroying the collaboration... between the different races as exemplified by the BN coalition”.

“This pact clearly benefited the chauvinist Chinese in DAP most, while PAS, the most Malay of Pakatan parties benefitted the least, winning only 21 seats against DAP’s 38 and PKR’S 30,” he said, noting that this was despite PAS contesting the most seats.

He said this shows that the DAP is pushing for the Chinese “who already dominate the economy” to also control Malaysia’s politics.

“It is clearly racist and reject inter-racial sharing of power and wealth as advocated by the BN. Racial polarisation has become more pronounced as a result. It will become more so in the future,” he said.

‘DAP hates Malays’

According to Mahathir, his 60 years of experience in Malaysian politics has taught him that for Malaysians, race is the primary factor on deciding who to vote for.

NONE This, he said, was proven when the Chinese flocked to the DAP when the party played on “racial sentiments” by depicting BN’s foremost Chinese party MCA as “lackeys of Umno”.

“The quality of the candidates or parties, the ideologies and the desire for change will always be secondary to race,” he said.

He said that the DAP’s “hatred of the Malays” has been consistent throughout the years and that it is the Malay parties in Pakatan “election pact” are only “tolerated because they were useful for election purposes”.

Proof of the consistent anti-Malay stance, he said, was the slogan “Malaysian Malaysia” which implied that non-Malays were treated like “second class citizens”.

Pushing for meritocracy, he said, the DAP had countered those who defended affirmative action to assist backward Malays as “racist” to continue to push the Malays back.

“If today the schism between the races is deeper it is because the DAP reject the Malay-Chinese-Indian ‘kongsi’,” he said.