I refer to the recent red T-shirt march as well as the many claims that Malay pride and dignity are under threat.

I for one agree on this, yes, Malay pride and dignity are under threat but not from the Chinese or the Jews but from Malays themselves, from Malays that have been elected and appointed to lead key government institutions but letting their fellow races down.

Both Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) have emphasised the points that almost all government institutions are controlled by Malays so it is super impossible for anyone else to be a threat to Malays except Malays themselves.

This is the key worry that may be driving Malay insecurity and their focus is either deliberately misplaced or mistakenly directed at others. I think it is deliberately done as after all these years in control and many lingering issues are still not resolved, who else can be blamed? So before the Malay mass starts turning on their leaders, better deflect it to a third party.

To add salt to the wound , many of these vocal screaming are also coming from Indian Muslims who are not even Malay but considered Malay as Umno accepts them as members. Surely Umno should be for Malays only? But then many in MIC think that they are for Tamils only and Hindraf which has ‘Hindu’ in its name fights for Indians (who are not all Hindus), so the confusion is everywhere.

Some ministers recently talked about setting up a Malay Low Yat, I don’t see anything wrong in this but it will never happen as the will to see this through is not there. Malls controlled by the government or government-linked bodies have existed for a long time. How come these malls have not been a beacon for shoppers?

They want to become instant millionaires with plum government contract and not through years and years of continuous hard labour. The many plum jobs and opportunity in the massive government set up and operated business sector is shared among the elites and the masses are left out.

How come after so many years of the Federal Agricultural and Marketing Authority (Fama) being in existence the issue of marketing and distribution of agricultural produce is still slipshod and not helping the rural producers enough. Who is to blame?

Nowadays , its more lucrative working in government companies and bodies than in the private sector and the euphemism is salary benchmarking with the private sector, but does this benchmarking carry the same risk and difficulties that the private sector carries?

Every now and then new personalities will appear out of the woodwork to defend Malay rights and warn others not to infringe on them, and these personalities will quiet down as soon as plum and key posts are handed out to them. This is the modus operandi of these personalities.

Wearing two hats at the same time?

They form various NGOs , we do not know if these are legally set up or just figment of imagination. Interestingly, how could someone who belongs and actively work in the party that is governing the nation be spearheading an NGO? You can’t wear two hats at the same time? Only In Malaysia does the finer forms of these set-ups just lost in official interpretation based on which side of the political divide you belong to.

I list below many such persons, starting from Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim , Reezal Merican , Salleh Said Keruak. Now it is the turn of Jamal Md Yunos and Syed Ali Alhabshee.

Best thing to do is just ignore these short-term personalities; they will just disappear without the attention. Look at what happened to the British National Party and the One Nation Party in Australia. After a while, people will realise it is all empty talk without substance, especially when the money runs out.

MCA , Gerakan and DAP should refrain from making useless police reports and wasting everyone’s time. These reports just give more attention to the publicity-seekers. Ignoring them is the best way and the only way.

These will not end and have become a key characteristic of Malaysian politics. There are so many of them out there chasing fame and fortune and to be noticed by the power brokers, one needs to be loud to be noticed. Remember how Ahmad Zahid Hamidi received the most votes in the vice-presidential contest during the last Umno elections.

You have two ways to be noticed, one is through long and hard dedicated work, which is definitely not easy in Malaysia, and the other is shout out loud, unfortunately as one receive more publicity when making loud statement and targeting other races.

The Chinese have become the punching bag for the various self-deficiencies and to be politically correct the target is cleverly drilled down as DAP Chinese. It’s quite hilarious if not for the long term danger to these sort of unwarranted accusations poses.

Yes, of course the private sector and private business is controlled by the Chinese and other races are shut out, but they have arrived at this situation through hard work and perseverance and great personal and collective sacrifice. They didn’t take it from anyone, they created it themselves. So why blame them?

I myself have felt aggrieved on many occasions for being denied jobs or passed over for promotion as it had gone to a Chinese who is far less qualified or experienced than me, but that is the private sector, it is the entrepreneurs’ right to act as they see fit as long as no law is broken.

In contrast, almost all government institutions and corporations and statutory bodies are controlled by Malays. Each passing month newer and more companies are created by governments to hand out jobs as chairpersons and CEOs. The majority of these chairpersons are retired politicians or civil servants who lack business experience or acumen. So how would the companies under them progress?

Target those who are running them

Fama, Mara and Felda are all set up mostly to assist Malays, if any of the objectives are not achieved, then the target of criticism should be those who are running them. Mara has spent its money buying properties abroad when it should spend those monies helping the Malays in Malaysia. This year they have to cut back on scholarship awards.

Talking about scholarships, many government and statutory bodies have their own ‘yayasan’ to dish out scholarships and almost all of these are handed to Malays but is it going to those in needs? Probably not given that many of those seeking National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans are Malays themselves. Why give scholarships to children of parents who are able to pay?

The not-connected Malays are being deprived by the connected Malays. Government-linked companies are carrying out so called corporate responsibility in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner. In my opinion they should not get involved in this, they should maximise their returns and pay high taxes and dividends to the government who then can carry out the social work.

A lot of grants mentioned in yearly budgets seem to be going back to government companies or bodies. They should not receive any grants; grants should be for private enterprises. Government companies should be funded via budget allocation, not grants which were originally designed to assist private enterprises financially.

It’s often said that the cities are full of big houses and cars owned by Chinese but then there are an equal number of big houses and cars owned by Malays, too. There are rich Chinese and rich Malays and there are poor Chinese and poor Malays, too. We Indians don’t count, no one gives a hoot. That’s why we have so many parties claiming to represent us but none are effective enough.

That’s why the powers-that-be had fixed UPSR with Deepavali right smack in between, and no one can say or do anything about it. Sigh.

The power is in their own hands. I cannot fathom and feel mystified how come they are so accepting and forgiving when so much of taxpayers’ monies have been wasted on needless projects, overpriced purchase, projects that help only few. All these monies can be better utilised to help the Malay masses, make education fully free, make hospitalisation fully free. Every ringgit wasted is every ringgit less to help the poor masses.

Malaysia is a country that is governed by proposals. Policies are created from proposals submitted, not proposals being created from strategic policies.

The government machinery is in disarray, with their attention being diverted elsewhere, no long-term fixing is being done. Business as usual will not work. Our operational costs as a percentage of the national budget keeps going up yearly. This mean the development ratio is going down. We just use up all our revenue to pay salaries and supplies, which is scary.

The ruling Malays have let down their own races massively over the years. Selfishness, lack of vision, enriching themselves has all contributed to this mess. The threat is coming from their own people. The quicker they realise the better as only they can rectify and fix it.