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Mahathir, 'lazy' Malays and his roti shop

YOURSAY ‘Why talk about a few Malays stealing money at your shop?’

 

Mahathir defends 'lazy Malays' remark

Pemerhati: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, “Now I own bread shops. I say it clearly, I am ashamed because among Malay, Chinese, Myanmar or any other workers... when Malay workers see money, they forget and become dishonest.”

 

And in one incident, he claimed his manager had attempted to conspire with other workers to siphon off money but was thwarted by one of the workers.

 

Weren’t the workers doing to Mahathir what Mahathir and Umno had done, and continue to do, to the country?

 

Indeed, the Umno leaders, their family members, the royalty and their cronies are doing to the country what the Malay workers did in Mahathir’s bread shops.

 

Since Mahathir’s time as premier, the Umno leaders and their above mentioned cohorts have been siphoning off money from highly over-priced negotiated contracts and purchases.

 

These people thus steal from all Malaysians whereas the Malay workers in Mahathir’s shops steal only from the shop of a former PM. 

 

Gerard Lourdesamy: Shouldn't the police be investigating Mahathir's statement for sedition or at least provocation to cause public disorder?

 

Mahathir is clearly exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech although some Malays may get offended by his comments, but the seditious tendency is there. If non-Malays had expressed similar views, the Sedition Act would be invoked by the police and public prosecutor.

 

It is time that the attorney-general (AG) seriously look at the pending cases for sedition to see if the police have overreacted under political pressure to arrest as many as possible at the slightest excuse for sedition.

 

Sedition has the dreaded effect of stifling freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Unless a statement is clearly inciting hatred, discord, hostility and ill-will, the AG should not proceed with any prosecution.

 

The sedition dragnet has made Malaysia look like an oppressive state in the eyes of the world. Is this an image that we want?

 

Little Sparrow: I salute you Mahathir for calling a spade a spade. Nobody in this country dares to say what you said about the Malays.

 

Anyone else who said it would be arrested at lightning speed by the IGP (inspector-general of police) under the Sedition Act and there would be thousands of police reports lodged.

 

The first to lodge the report will be by none other than Perkasa boss Ibrahim Ali, Isma and Umno Youth. There could even be riots and the threatening of lives. But in this case, everyone is as quiet as a church mouse.

 

Isn’t this not more seditious than calling Umno ‘celaka’?

 

Onyourtoes: I am actually quite disappointed with Mahathir’s analyses of the Malays. How can he say Malays are lazy? Based on what - genetic, cultural or religious influence? It is a generalisation that was made with no scientific basis.

 

Then he said Malays cannot be trusted with money and again this is based on his personal experience and observation at the roti shop where he interacted with a few Malays, Chinese and Myanmarese.

 

I thought his experience as the PM would have given him much better insight than at the roti shop.

 

Mahathir, why talk about a few Malays stealing money at your shop? Why don’t you look at big-time corruption, pilferage and stealing perpetrated and perpetuated by all races at the very top.

 

Hearty Malaysian: Dr M, the "lazy" Malays as you so described would not be a threat to the country.

                                                           

However, it is the Umnoputras who stir racial hatred and rip off the country through corruption in the name of bumiputera rights who pose the danger to the country.

 

The Malays need real Malay leadership to overcome their own weaknesses without blaming the other races. Otherwise we will only see ‘lazy’ leadership that focus on looking for scapegoats.

 

Waktamnoko: Of course, people like Mahathir are not lazy. After all, they make easy money out of the inflated contracts that they dished out to their cronies. 

 

Try working as a rubber tapper, fisherman and those odd job workers to understand what I mean. On the contrary, those who are corrupt and those who siphoned off the nation’s coffers are the laziest as they do not really need to work hard.

 

Man on the Street: Here’s a paragraph from ‘Dilema Melayu’: "Kemerdekaan telah memberi kuasa dan kemewahan kepada segelintir elit Melayu yang baru. Cabaran dan pergolakan perang dan tahun-tahun selepas perang sudah berlalu. Politik dianggap sebagai penawar kepada segala masalah. Politik memudahkan segala kehendak. Semua perkara boleh dicapai dengan mudah.

 

“Dengan politik juga seseorang itu mencapai kedudukan yang berkuasa. Dengan kuasa politik termaktub undang-undang dan dasar-dasar yang membolehkan sebilangan orang Melayu yang mempunyai kedudukan untuk menikmati kekayaan atau sekurang-kurangnya hidup lebih mewah tanpa bekerja kuat.

 

“Politik juga telah menyebabkan kehidupan di kampung lebih selesa dan tidak pula terpencil dari bandar. Dalam erti kata lain, politik telah mewujudkan suasana yang selesa dan tenteram bagi orang Melayu serta melelapkan segala cabaran kepada kehidupan dan kemajuan mereka."

 

So, according to Mahathir, laziness and the lack of integrity is in Umno, not among the Malays in general.

 

Kilgore: Even though it is scientifically idiotic, Mahathir needs to tell himself that Malays are genetically lazy and corrupt, otherwise he would have to admit that he is to blame for the culture of entitlement which has poisoned the minds of so many.

 

For the sake of maintaining his voting block and therefore his power, he has sold out his own race, and now blames them for the result. The old man is in a deep state of denial, and admitting the truth would probably kill him.

 

Hplooi: If Mahathir’s premise is correct, then the correct response is to nurture an atmosphere of competition which will wean the Malays away from the 'malaise' and not by instituting more affirmative action.

 

In truth, no race is intrinsically stupid, lazy or challenged. All races have the God-given gift of attaining their full capacity in the exercise of free will. This includes being industrious, smart, moral, etc.

 

It is the ‘conditions’ which make a person or a whole society more corrupt or less moral. Therefore to racially profile a group of people is despicable.

 

For example, during the late 1970s up to 1980s, some of the most "creatively" corrupt civil servants in Malaysia were (in my experience) the Chinese.

 

Being in the building industry, I used to expound on my experience of a Malay-dominated local authority (in the northern states) which was in fact less corrupt than a less Malay-dominated local authority (again, from my personal experience in the 80s).

 

So racial profiling is wrong.

 

Gen2: This is an issue the Malays have to thrash out themselves. Of course, the Umnoputras will deny the truth. They need a subservient and complacent Malay population to stay in power.

 

Keep them satisfied, don't have to work hard and once in a while give them BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia). Clearly, other races already have an opinion on this matter.


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