YOURSAY | ‘He will say and do anything that suits his selfish agenda.’

Rafidah recalls Vision 2020’s united Bangsa Malaysia goal

Mazhilamani: It is heartening to hear former cabinet minister Rafidah Aziz speaking up for all Malaysians, while the Malay leaders who matter most have been keeping silent.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is speaking as though Malaysia became a nation after he came into power in 1981.

Even then, we had a good racially mixed cabinet.

Mahathir had personally thanked the Chinese community for supporting him in the general election that was fiercely contested between Umno-led Barisan Nasional and Semangat 46-led Gagasan Rakyat.

So which community was his enemy then?

When he lost his deposit in the 15th general election, who was his enemy then?

They were the Malays who spoke Bahasa Melayu, practised Islam and the Malay culture. Mahathir “cepat lupa” (forgets quickly).

As reminded by Rafidah, he has forgotten the Vision 2020 blueprint that he launched in 1991 that embraced a united Malaysia through Bangsa Malaysia.

Mahathir has demeaned the other races who have contributed and died here long before Malaya attained independence.

The British masters only gave independence to Malaya on condition the three main races came together along with the sultans.

Mahathir has failed to honour and respect the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Rukun Negara.

He may have issues with the present leadership, but what has it got to do with the people of Malaysia?

IndigoTrout2522: Rafidah should call him out for his slanderous, divisive and racist remarks. But then is this a surprise?

Look back at all his actions and words, his book “Malay Dilemma”, political rejection from party to party, his deputy prime ministers and successors.

He would do and say whatever to suit his own selfish and racial agenda. Now, he is desperate, rejected, irrelevant and trying to divide the nation and draw attention.

Just condemn or ignore him and move on to dealing with the nation’s economic agenda. Only such unworthy politicians are divisive, greedy and racist, not ordinary Malaysians!

Bobby0: Loyalty. How many Indians and Chinese died sacrificing their lives during the Second World War in this nation?

How many Indians and Chinese died fighting the communists?

How many Chinese Malaysian, and Indian army officers and police died when serving?

How many Indian and Chinese athletes have brought glory to the nation? Playing against their so-called compatriots.

How many Indians and Chinese were successful in their ventures overseas and made the nation proud?

Mahathir has successfully used racism to further his agenda.

Even now, he is trying to divert the attention of the people away from the scandals being exposed concerning his and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin's family.

A man is rejected by his people, as they now know who and what his agenda is.

LimePanther5220: Many politicians of the majority race, when they talk about oneness under a Malaysian identity or a Malaysian family, there is usually double-talk or hidden meaning behind their speeches.

For instance, when Mahathir talked about Bangsa Malaysia in his Vision 2020, he meant the assimilation of races into one Malay race.

(Going by Mahathir’s standard, I wonder why, when the Malays first arrived in this land, they did not assimilate into the culture of the Orang Asli, the original sons of this land.)

Another example is ex-prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. His Malaysian Family concept got the non-Malays feeling all excited, loved and included at last in this big Malaysian family.

It turned out, however, that being part of the Malaysian Family means one-directional sharing. For instance, non-Malay freight forwarders were told to surrender 51 percent of their business ownership to bumiputeras.

There is no reason at all why non-Malays should trust the Malay-Muslim politicians at all in whatever they say.

Words, promises, standards and goalposts can be shifted at will whenever it suits their purpose.

Does this double-talk and lying nature explain why many potential foreign investors are shunning this country?

Maya: Vision 2020 vanished as though it was just someone's dream. It did materialise for many within and their counterparts in many ways.

In the space of 22 years, 2020 was great, but unfortunately, not a cent trickled down to others.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, of course, cannot make such visions as time and stability are not on his side. But to say that 2020 did bring a united Bangsa Malaysia is false.

It was more the tyranny of politics, unavailability of information and non-politicising of issues that ensured stability and acceptability.

MarioT: Vision 2020 was seen as projecting the Malays to a higher platform of economic growth and not to create a truly developed Malaysian society encompassing everyone.

It failed to materialise because of its racial inclinations. Rafidah, you were part of it and just followed without question.

Too late to talk about it at this juncture when racial and religious division is the focus of the current political form of governance.

Ranjit Singh Malhi: Enough of talking and preaching!

We need an action-oriented and multi-ethnic working group to prepare a blueprint for building a secular, multi-religious and multicultural Malaysia, and present it to PM Anwar Ibrahim for his consideration.

Equally important, we should take to task individuals who preach sedition, fan racial hatred and make statements contradicting our Federal Constitution and the nation as envisaged by our founders and the then-Malay rulers.

You can count on my support.

We badly need to stem the rot, including rampant corruption, deteriorating ethnic relations and a general lack of meritocracy, which are slowly but surely ruining our beloved nation. We need to act now.

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