YOURSAY | Many congratulations to the new couple.
Entire Umno top leadership to attend PAS muktamar, says Zahid
Ultimately: And so, the final chapter in the 10-year drama and 'sandiwara' (shadow play) of Umno-PAS' secret love affair that started in 2008 is to begin.
It started with an attempt to retake Pakatan Harapan's state wins after the 2008 general election, followed by the instances of close proximity here and there, to public denials while trysts in Selangor and in Mecca were taking place.
Finally, on to the great show of PAS breaking up with DAP, and then PKR, to the open dating with Umno in the hudud fiasco, vehement denials while holding hands in the 14th general election (GE14), and now, they will be officially "married".
And yet there were those who were writing copious essays on why Pakatan Harapan needed to court PAS going into GE14.
Imagine if that had happened... we would now be sitting in Malaysia Lama 2.0 with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang as deputy prime minister to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's third term.
Rakyatians: So now BN and PAS belong to the "shiok sendiri" alliance. Their main issues are race and religion. Their reward will be "cheques" and monetary "balances".
Many congratulations to the new couple.
Clever Voter: Umno probably considered all options; backed against the wall, they had no choice but to combine their resources with PAS. Not exactly the perfect fit, it is for convenience simply because they used race to win votes and religion to warm up the conservatives.
Convenient it may be, there are differences, historically and ideologically, but they are being practical. PAS will want control of the agenda but Umno has the money. They will capitalise on Harapan's divided coalition.
Both their leaders had hoped for a collapse in the current regime, or better yet, wanted to target on certain individuals' unhappiness. So politics has once again reignited the fight over race and religion. Next, it would be over royalty, and this has also started.
Anonymous_3f49: Yesterday's man Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is not a leader with the calibre, capability or ideas to lead a credible opposition, so it is now back to the three 'Rs' (race, religion, royalty), as that's all they were capable of.
And of course, they have formed a tag team with the religious PAS that has also lost its own credibility, like Umno has. The aim is to play mischief again and stir up social disharmony to this great country of all Malaysians.
The new Harapan government must play smart and show genuine leadership to bring this country forward, and not outdo and be cowed into playing the same tired old game of race, religion and royalty.
Cocomomo: The Harapan government has been very accommodating in allowing racist BN Umno-MCA and bigoted PAS leaders to speak freely but divisively on race and religion.
BN and PAS leaders have been abusing this freedom, which Harapan leaders never had when they were in the opposition.
Harapan is not perfect, but it is still far better than BN or PAS. Let us work for a harmonious and just Malaysia.
Malaysia Baru: Because PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad has allowed freedom of speech, Umno and PAS are abusing it. All the speeches are very, very seditious and smack of racism. If this goes on, Harapan will face an onslaught from the Malay working class and middle class.
This is not good and not a healthy sign. If it was the other way around, the Chinese and Indian leaders by now would be in prison.
The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is not doing its job. Probably the police's loyalty is still divided. It looks like the PDRM is still Umno and PAS friendly.
Anonymous: You would think Umno would be thinking about contrition, atonement for past sins and mistakes, root and branch reform of party structures, serious debate about policy to build a new party to appeal to all Malaysians.
No. All these are far beyond the mental abilities of Zahid and his financially-stretched bunch of cronies.
It is easier to play the old game of spinning promises and lies to PAS whilst arrogantly strutting around ignoring the fact that when in power, protecting Malaysian institutions meant draining as much money out of them as possible.
Anonymous_b497ffa7: "Respect our race if you want us to respect your race," said Zahid.
What kind of message is this from Umno to Harapan? When you say, "our race," what race is Umno? What race is Harapan?
As always, they must play the race card, to the point they refuse to acknowledge that there are Malays in Harapan. A truly stupid and dangerous politician telling lies to provoke the rakyat.
The Fog of Life: The Umno standard operating response to almost every issue is to default to race, religion, royalty and language. It will be very interesting to see how the Malays view and respond to such values over the next five to 10 years.
GE15 and GE16 will be a critical time in that it will reflect on the development of the Malay mindset on whether such default thinking will continue to prevail (and favour exclusively Malay-based political parties), over the values of education, skills, performance, tolerance, absolute integrity, equal rights and respect for all diversity, honesty, hard work and a rejection of religious extremism, cronyism and corruption.
By 2050, it is projected that 70 percent of the population will be Malays. Ultimately, it is this group that will make or break this country.
I am yet to be convinced that Malaysia will be able to excel in the 21st century, and a lack of ability to compete globally on performance and values may mean that the standard default position will become the easier way out for the majority race. It’s a slippery slope.
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