I refer to the Malaysiakini report Mahathir a 'racist', says Nazri .

It’s quite funny to see Malaysians accusing each other of being racist. This from the ministers right up to the working class (the ‘cow head’ group). I think we Malaysians are in denial. We are all racist. I will outline below why I say so..

All Malaysian political parties are somewhat race-based; this includes those who claim to be multiracial. Multi-racial political parties - while claiming to be all equal - conduct their ‘ceramah’ targeting a particular race at various spots usually frequented by a particular race.

For example, DAP, MCA and Gerakan have their ‘ceramah’ at Chinese restaurants, complete with dinner and drinks. Umno and PAS like to have their campaigns near mosques and open areas usually within a Malay majority area while MIC and Hindraf like to do theirs in Indian majority areas and even temples.

The only time these political parties do otherwise is when they campaign for a candidate from another party and only then will they share the same stage. This is quite evident during by-elections when campaigns are more focused on all ethnic groups apart from the customary door-to-door campaigning.

Why is it that certain political party leaders give their speeches in Mandarin or Tamil? Aren’t we supposed to be communicating in Bahasa Malaysia or English? The objective cannot be other than delivering messages targeted only at a certain race.

We have various school streams based on mainly race and not really on mother tongues. We have so-called vernacular school champions whose statements and overall outlooka are racist in nature, supported vehemently by the MCA, MIC and not surprisingly the self-appointed ‘multiracial’ Gerakan, PKR and DAP.

Why PKR and DAP support vernacular schools, even to the extent of marching on the streets to pressure the government to reverse the Maths/Science in English policy, is beyond me. They were also the first to denounce the single stream school idea put forward by a racist party, Umno.

Of course, everyone, including Umno, MIC, MCA and other ‘multiracial’ parties often rely on the clauses in the federal constitution which guarantees vernacular education as well as special privileges for the Malays. While ‘multiracial’ parties want Malay rights to be abolished and the government to treat everyone equally, they are unwilling to accept the idea of having children study in a single school system, even though Mandarin and Tamil will still be taught.

When the ‘Vision School’ idea was mooted, a compromise of sorts to maintain the Chinese and Tamil schools in their current form while sharing a common venue/building, the same racist vernacular school champions objected to it and not to our surprise again, their objection was supported by so-called ‘multiracial’ parties such as DAP.

Why? Because DAP’s support is mainly derived from one race, hence race is a main factor in DAP’s political strategy. Why is it that there are hardly any Malays in DAP? The answer is the same - their actual focus is on race, race and race.   

What is the reason for the Selangor state government, helmed by a ‘multiracial’ party, to backtrack on their decision to appoint a Chinese as the head of the PKNS. Why is it that their line up for the state exco and for councilors are the various local councils are based on a racial quota - not on the basis of experience and competency?

Why do ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ leaders like Lim Guan Eng who want equality, and champion ‘Competency, Accountability and Transparency’  appoint Malay and Indian deputy chief ministers who have no administrative experience if not for the reason for none other than the candidates’ race?

Why is it that the DAP is very much focused on the Port Klang Free Zone scandal and not say MIC’s MIED or Maika scandals or even the roof collapse fiasco of the stadium in Terengganu, if not for the fact that the scandal is linked to the MCA, their arch-enemies in vying for the Chinese votes?

It’s also normal for all these politicians to take advantage of certain incidents to become champions of certain race. Good examples are the A Kugan and Teoh Beng Hock deaths. Though Malaysians as a whole deplored such tragic events, certain politicians found it fit to use them to their advantage and in the process, become heroes of a particular race.

In Kugan’s death, Indian politicians from both opposition and BN came to the fore but when innocent and not-so-innocent Indians are dying on an almost daily basis due to violence perpetrated by fellow Indians, these ‘Indian champions’ are nowhere to be seen.

I am not exaggerating here for almost one Indian is killed everyday by fellow Indians due to common fights, gang-fights, crimes gone wrong etc. Those who read the Tamil newspapers will agree with me. In fact, I had a relative who became a victim and whose case has not been resolved until today.

The same applies when known criminals are shot dead by police. Only politicians of a certain race come forward to slam the police but when policemen are killed or injured while on duty, the same ‘racial heroes’ are nowhere to be seen. You must have realised that a similar scenario prevailed in Teoh Beng Hock’s case.

Actually I need not go far to illustrate this point. Just go and have a look at the vernacular newspapers. They are full of reports on a certain race only. A non-record breaking Sea Games gold medal win by an Indian was glorified by all the three Tamil newspapers while a double gold medal win by a Sarawakian were given just a small column on the back page in two of these three newspapers. The other paper just highlighted it in their summary.

I pity most of our Malay friends who can’t read these vernacular newspapers. Even for the Chinese - or rather Mandarin newspapers - one need not know the language; you can know what’s going on, where the focus is, what the main issues are etc are by looking at the generous amount of the pictures.

You will never go wrong if you conclude that the main issues are about the Chinese and the key personalities are none other than the MCA leaders as well as other Chinese leaders from the so-called ‘multiracial’ parties.

In the Tamil newspapers, you can also easily detect the media conduct of Indian politicians from so-called ‘multiracial’ parties. People like S Manikavasagam, A Sivanesan, R Gobalakrishnan and even Dr P Ramasamy (deputy chief minister, Penang) . They pander to the Tamil media, appearing almost on a daily basis in stories exclusively focused on the Indians.

In the Tamil newspapers - who are generally more independent than the English or Malay mainstream newspapers - the ‘war’ between politicians is quite ferocious and these politicians from so-called ‘multiracial’ parties use these papers to slam MIC and BN leaders.

It is so obvious that the only reason they do this is, of course, to slam BN but on the other hand also to be seen as a ‘hero’ by their own race. They hardly invite the Tamil media to cover events involving the other races.   

On a personal basis, it is common for Malaysians to criticise and make racially insensitive comments about another race when their own kind get together. We would be lying if we deny this. We deplore the habits of certain race and the only opportune time to talk about it is when members of the same race get together. We make all kinds of accusations against another race when we can easily find similar deficiencies or weaknesses within our own race.

It is apparent in the case of Indians where all the blame for their misfortunes are leveled against the government in general when in actual fact most of the problems faced by the community are of their own doing. But none of the ‘racial heroes’ have come forward to criticise their own community for their own failures.

I had this similar feeling when reading the book, ‘The Chinese Dilemma’ by Ye Lin-Sheng,  where the community, despite being quite well off in general, was portrayed as being in denial of their own weaknesses. Most of the facts presented were quite true, says a Chinese friend of mine.

In summary, we are all racist and politicians should accept this  fact and stop accusing each other of being racist. No country in the world is without racists or people with such tendencies. We just have to minimise such rhetoric and focus on bridging the divide.