COMMENT I have been writing about Malays quite frequently these past few weeks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I’m going to change the subject any time soon because some Malays just keep doing silly things.

Take the red shirt rally that is scheduled to take place on Sept 16, which is meant to warn the Chinese not to be rude; and to show the strength (whatever that means) of Malays by gathering and shouting in the streets.

This Malay gathering, which is fully endorsed by the largest Malay party Umno, is being held ostensibly to ‘redeem Malay honour’, which was apparently besmirched by the largely Chinese gathering of Bersih 4.

In the eyes of the hidden and mysterious red shirt rally organiser, the 200,000 or more Malaysians who assembled under the Bersih 4 banner did so to attack Malay leadership in the wake of the many urgings for the prime minister to resign for scandals the world has never seen before. Malay honour was also said to be under attack because a few Bersih 4 participants- admittedly stupid ones - stomped on pictures of the prime minister.

Both these reasons for the red shirt rally are infantile or childish and will only make Malays a laughing stock of the community. I suggest that if the red shirts are genuinely intent on redeeming Malay honour, then they are better off confining themselves to five specific demands.

In this way, they can expect the support not only of the larger Malay community, but also other Malaysians for deciding to demonstrate peacefully to push for their legitimate demands.

Their first demand should be for Najib Abdul Razak to step down. Nothing would redeem Malay honour more than to ask the PM to resign. Let his deputy take over. If this is done, Malaysians will remember the red shirts for fighting to defend Malay honour and integrity.

Secondly, the red shirts should demand that travel bans imposed on the 500,000 young Malays who have failed to pay their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) student loans be lifted. Imposing such travel restrictions is publicly humiliating for Malays, as if they have been avoiding their debts when the truth is many are struggling to pay them.

Malay honour demands that the government pursues these claims as it would against other debtors, i.e. in the court of law, without imposing travel restrictions.

Reduce the GST to three percent

Thirdly, the red shirts must demand for the goods and services tax (GST) to be reduced immediately to three percent so that the prices of goods will fall.

Malaysians (and that includes Malays) can barely afford to keep their families afloat at present. It’s difficult to maintain your honour and dignity when the prices of foodstuff are beyond your means and you can’t afford to meet all of your children’s needs. This is an important demand that the red shirts must include.

Fourthly, the red shirts must ask the government to be ready to cope with the forthcoming monsoon season. The lack of readiness and support for flood victims last year was humiliating for Malays. The flooding is an annual affair so the government cannot claim to be taken completely by surprise.

The red shirts must also demand that the government completes re-building affected houses as it promised to do during the last floods, because a new one is coming in three months’ time.

Finally, the red shirts must ask for the fast speed train from the east coast to the west instead of wasting money for a multibillion ringgit fast train to Singapore.

Malay honour demands that development in the Malay states must match those in Sabah and Sarawak, where they have been rewarded with a RM16 billion highway.

The Malays, too, must not be forgotten just because they do not speak the language of autonomy. Malay honour demands that Putrajaya do more for the Malay states.

Of course, the red shirts can do something else - they can curse, shout obscenities in the street and even threaten their Chinese countrymen.

But if that’s what they end up doing on Sept 16, then they will confirm my suspicions that, rather than redeem Malay honour, all they want to do all is to show the world how shallow they are.

ZAID IBRAHIM is former de facto law minister and former MP for Kota Baru.