With selective persecution, crackdown on freedom of speech, as well as racial and religious divisions all apparent in Malaysia, the country could eventually fall apart, a former academician warns.

 

Ariffin Omar, now a senator in the Malaysian Parliament, said this scenario is one we have to face - and that we cannot take the survival of our country for granted.

 

"Malaysia, as it is, cannot go on. Many countries in this world have disintegrated," Ariffin ( left ) warned in an interview with Malaysiakini today.

 

"When I was young, no one in his right mind would think that the Soviet Union would disintegrate. But it did, in 1990.

 

"In Malaysia, we should not be too happy about what is happening now. After all Singapore left in 1965 and there is no guarantee that Sabah and Sarawak will not leave.

 

"There is already an active movement calling for the secession of Sabah and unless we look into the grievances of the people there, the movement will continue to grow.

"The 'Umno Baru' government has failed in its policies to unite the people," he stressed.

 

Ariffin refers to the dominant Malay party as 'Umno Baru' noting that the High Court in Kuala Lumpur deregistered Umno in 1988, after finding that the party had several unregistered branches that voted during the party elections the year before - an act that is illegal under the Registrar of Societies.

 

Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad ( left ) registered Umno Baru in its place. Subsequently ‘Baru’, which means new, was dropped.

 

During the interview, Ariffin also announced the reprint of his 1993 book titled ‘Bangsa Melayu’ - originally published by Oxford University Press.

The first print was only 750 hard copies, priced at US$450 each, and thus not easily available.

“Downright outrageous!” he quipped, with reference to its cost.

Ariffin was at the time lecturing in history at Universiti Sains Malaysia, which he served until 2006.

He then lectured at the Malaysian Defence University in Kuala Lumpur before resigning in 2012, and was then appointed to the Senate as a DAP member.

 

The reprint, which will be in Malay, will be at a more modest price.

 “It is important to me that the book is translated so that when the Malays read the book they will know Umno was not nationalist-minded," he said.

 

His book, he said, was based on documents that included several speeches from Umno leaders in the pre-Merdeka era, which proves this thesis.

 

“What they wanted at the time was a return to British colonial rule,” held Ariffin, who is one of DAP’s vice-chairpersons.

'Malaysians are rational enough'

 

The book is based on his doctoral thesis and is currently used as a compulsory text for history and political science majors in the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Tokyo.

 

Ariffin said the time has come for Malaysia to be frank and open to discussions, instead of applying the sedition law in a manner that stifles democratic dissent, if it wants to stay competitive globally.

 

Malaysians are rational enough to know what they can discuss and what they should stay clear off, he added.

 

“We don’t have to behave as if we are primary school children. But that is the mentality of a party that has lost its direction... one can see that Umno today is very divided.”

 

Atiffin was referring to the current scenario in Umno, where president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( left ) is facing queries over his brainchild, the government-funded company 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), for alleged mismanagement of funds.

 

Najib is also being severely criticised by Mahathir, his former boss, who had implied that Najib should resign as prime minister - as Mahathir did in 2003 - if he could not handle his job.

 

But as Umno faces an internal crisis, more than 100 individuals, including opposition politicians, activists, students and recently, five media personnel from online news portal The Malaysian Insider, have been arrested under the Sedition Act.

Why can't Parliament discuss 1MDB accounts?

 

Meanwhile, Ariffin said the Malays - who are the majority in the country - should not feel under siege as the community controls the government, army and police force - and that they should allow controversial issues to be discussed.

 

“Why can’t Parliament discuss 1MDB or Petronas accounts?

 

“It becomes a joke of the century when the accounts of the Selangor Royal Golf Club is presented in the House. 

 

“What is the relevant of that? What do I care if the PM scores a hole in one?” he asked, laughing.

 

Ariffin added the government has no idea what parliamentary democracy is as it fails to realise that the opposition - Pakatan Rakyat - is part of the government. 

 

He said Pakatan may not be holding the levers of power but are watchdogs to monitor how the country is run.

 

“We should be given access to information and more scope to express our opinions and allowed to be involved in debates. 

 

“But this government behaves as if it is a law unto itself. It has lost its credibility, and is not even able to control the police force, which is running wild.

 

“The police come under the control of the Home Ministry. The force cannot act on its own. The police are not supposed to be like the Gestapo during Hitler’s reign, which could do as it liked.”