YOURSAY ‘As for politics, let the best-qualified win. That guarantees stability, not some racial pre-setting of election outcomes as suggested by Wahabuddin.'

'Malays must dominate political leadership'

your say Versey: The majority (if not all) Malaysians have no problem with our Malay brethren dominating the political leadership.

We want our leaders to be capable, efficient and trustworthy in managing the country. In short, good governance is what we desire.

When Universiti Islam Antarabangsa associate professor Wahabuddin Ra'ees was asked on what basis Malay leadership can be maintained, he cited the social contract. When he mentioned about Malay history, to me, he seemed to have conveniently forgotten about the indigenous people in Malaysia, especially those in Sabah and Sarawak.

We also would like to know, based on which studies and on what basis that Wahabuddin, a political scientist, thinks that the Chinese and others are not as accommodative as our Malay brethren?

CAT Lover: How does Wahabuddin plan to ensure that Malays continue to lead? Will Malay votes be counted double in the next elections? Anyway, the sultans are Malay by default, so Malay leadership is already secured that way.

As for politics, let the best-qualified win. That guarantees stability, not some racial pre-setting of election outcomes as suggested by Wahabuddin.

Telestai!: It is sad to see a learned professor taking sides in politics. I think it is more a case of the Malays taking leadership in politics, which means that the Malays ought to actively engaged themselves in national politics.

To do this, the Malays must rise above race and religion to speak up against the marginalisation of any group or community, reject racial politics and demand accountability and transparency. They must be prepared to punish parties that have failed the rakyat or bastardised the public institutions that we have built all these years.

The Malays can do this through NGOs or any political party, and not necessarily Umno. To portray Umno as the only means for Malays to exercise leadership is downright insulting and disgraceful.

Apacerita: I thought the Malays already dominated the political leadership, but look at what they have done to the country.

Please understand that the Chinese and Indians are Malaysians; we don't care what race our leaders are so long as they can bring good changes to the people and the country. It will be the same if DAP, PKR and PAS fail to help the people and prosper the country.

Proarte: The Malays and the East Malaysian bumiputeras must understand that they are mere pawns to keep Umno in power so that the Malay oligarchy and their proxies can continue to plunder this nation of its riches.

It is in Umno's interests to keep the vast majority of Malays ignorant, insecure and poor. They do this by a ‘divide and rule' policy which uses race, Islam and the monarchy as its weapons.

Malays have been infected with the 'Tongkat (Cane) Dependency' syndrome. The notion that they are incapable of competing with other fellow human beings is insulting and patently untrue, but unfortunately this feeling of insecurity and inferiority complex is widespread amongst most Malays, thanks to Umno.

Malays must not see other races as their enemy, but their fellow citizens to emulate and compete with. It is only then will Malays improve.

To give an analogy, Olympic athletes compete to get medals and are constantly striving to improve on their records. It must be noted that there are no ‘tongkat' in the Olympics.

Albertan98: I will agree that the political leadership must be Malay-dominated. It has to be, seeing that over 60 percent of the citizens are Malays.

I only pray that they will be like Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli, Khalid Samad, Mohamad Sabu... enlightened and moderate Malays.

Bamboo: I am sure of one thing, if Umno continues to dominate the political scene in Malaysia, we will be stagnant economically, with a fragile harmony among the people and dropping standards in education, health care, and all other public services.

Umnoputras and their cronies will get richer while the rest of Malaysians will be the serfs and stay poor, toiling to put money into the pockets of the Umnoputras and their cronies.

Visu: Wahabuddin, you have learnt well. Knowing that the Umno government loves such comments, you are now in for a reward. You will get a promotion - or even a full-fledged citizenship as a Malay - like all Muslim foreigners who support the Umno cause.

Poor Malays would be pushed down to the economic abyss and shall have their economic cake shared by all these new Malays. Welcome to Bolehland.

YF: Wahabuddin, which planet are you from? In the United States, a minority black is the president of the country. So by your logic, the whites there are less accommodative?

Absalom: Every debate these days seem to come down to races. Whether there is a hidden agenda or not, there is a concerted effort at work to provoke the people of other races to vent their anger and frustrations against others.

It seems to look like some quarters want the people to be busy opposing one another and arguing about who has more shoplots , who is richer and who is more 'accommodative', etc, thereby building on the tension and distrust among the races.

While we people here get riled up and defend our racial positions and make adverse comments about other races, this invisible hand is achieving exactly what it set out to do.

Well Thats Fantastic: The only race that matters is that of the human race. When will Malaysians be Malaysians?

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