'I was in UK throughout those years - no one in Ireland had ever heard of Malaysian politics. Next I suppose BN will claim credit for solving global warming.'

Najib: Northern Ireland followed BN's lead

your say Cala : The social turmoil of Northern Ireland has its root in religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics.

To compare it with ethno-political conflicts of the kind of minorities seeking to regain their lost interests from the hands of dominating groups within plural societies is a bit far-fetched.

KS Jomo (1984) and a few scholars had a long time ago pronounced the death of the ‘Alliance spirit' right after the May 13, 1969 racial riot. To expect equality within various party components is ridiculous.

If PM Najib Razak is correct, why is there no power-sharing as a way to regulate group relations in multi-ethnic societies?

What is apparent to all is the Umno-led BN regime has to rely on ‘containment' as a strategy, as a way to hold on to the levers of power. Simply put, Najib is hardly the right person to dwell on such a topic.

What is containment? Ted Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff (1994) defined containment as a strategy of keeping the minorities "separate and unequal", as was done to African Americans until 1950s and to black South Africans under apartheid.

As a policy approach, pluralism is more humane. Pluralism means "equal but separate" - equal individual and collective rights, including the right to separate identities and cultural institutions.

Clearly, Umno-led BN regime is relying on the containment strategy to manage Malaysia. Pluralism was history after Tunku Abdul Rahman stepped down as PM.

Pemerhati: Lying and distorting facts has now become a habit with Najib and the other Umno leaders.

The reality is Najib, while hypocritically promoting 1Malaysia, also has an agency called Biro Tatanegara (BTN) in the bloated Prime Mnister's Department. This bureau promotes a pro-Umno and communal slant in its programmes among civil servants, public universities students and public scholarship holders.

The current harsh and unfortunate reality is that Umno promotes and implements supremacist and discriminatory policies against the minorities, some of which are similar to the ones practiced by the evil German Nazi and South African apartheid regimes.

Disbeliever: Mr PM "masuk bakul, angkat sendiri". In all probability Northern Ireland doesn't even know where Malaysia is or whether it exists.

Lexicon: "We were the only country to defeat a communist uprising", except Brunei (AM Azahari), Indonesia (Sukarno), the Philippines (Hukbalahap), and a large number of other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

What did they all have in common? Brutal tactics and military assistance from the US and western Europe.

Onyourtoes: Please cut the crap. In Malaysia, power sharing is when Umno has all the power and the rest are just there to give it a colourful favour. Respect for democracy is when Umno wins election after election.

Look at 1969 and 2008, we can draw some parallels.

In 1969, we had National Operations Council (NOC) rule. Now we have these talks about forming ‘askar wataniah' in all parliamentary constituencies, joint army and police patrol for security, and Rela everywhere.

And please don't talk about the Arabs. They have benevolent leaders so long as the people are supporting them. The moment the people turned against them, they resorted to violence.

So too is the case in many countries in Asia - we have respect for democracy so long as the ruling parties continue to win.

CiViC: Hello Mr PM, since when Malaysia = BN and BN = Malaysia? BN is nothing more than the biggest shame in the history of Malaysia.

Clearwater: Now the prime minister of Malaysia has broadcast to the world he is an utterly shameless braggart.

Manjit Bhatia: Najib's claim that Umno already possessed the foresight to win the hearts and minds campaign before the British colonisers did is yet another example of Najib's bald-face lies and a deliberate, disgusting and shameful attempt to rewrite Malaysian history according to a Malay right-wing ideology not dissimilar to post-war Japan's and post-1949 China's attempts.

Najib certainly can't claim Umno-BN has won over the entire Malaysian population. Malaysia is far more politically and racially polarised today, thanks to Umno-BN's entrenched racism, corruption, incompetence and downright stupidity of all its politicians.

Dood: It's one thing to be big-headed and being able to rightfully claim credit for something, it's quite another to be big-headed and try to claim credit for something that one has had no hand in doing.

Anonymous_3f67: I was in UK throughout those years - no one in Ireland had ever heard of Malaysian politics. Next I suppose BN will claim credit for solving global warming.

Victor Johan: Whilst the 'Umno-Barisan Nasional range of products' were available then, they had served the purpose. The current batch of these products has their ‘expiry date' long gone.

They must be replaced immediately with new stocks, but not from the same manufacturer, as 'consumers' do not see value for money for these products.

The alternative products are consumer friendly and have money back and satisfaction guarantees. It is worth purchasing and sampling this new product range - out with the old, in with the new.

 

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