Opposition has fair chance in Malacca

Former Malacca Chief Minister Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik viewed that the opposition has an equal chance of winning seats during the impending general election in his home state.

In a exclusive interview with Malaysiakini yesterday in his office suite in Kuala Lumpur, the Umno supreme council member did not elaborate further on that point but stressed the party should be more careful when fielding candidates.

Abdul Rahim - who is the Federation of Malays Economic Bodies (Gabem) president - had also criticised de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim for trying to belittle the other opposition parties.

With his radiant complexion in his white Gabem shirt, Abdul Rahim warned against extremist moves by groups and expressed his hope to contest in the coming general election.

There are six parliamentary and 28 state seats in the tiny state. At present DAP controls two state seats. The rest are all in the hands of the BN.

Abdul Rahim, who was the state’s chief minister from 1982 to 1994. He was forced to resign following a sex scandal. He was also investigated for the matter and for corrupt practices but no charges were brought against him.

More recently, Abdul Rahim was in the news when the Malacca DAP lodged a police report against him last December for allegedly inciting racial hatred against non-Malays.

The state’s DAP youth leader Tey Kok Kiew based his report on an article which was published by Chinese daily China Press which quoted Abdul Rahim as saying: “The Malays have never taken to the streets so do not force us to do so as we will draw our parang (machete) to defend the Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) in this country.”

Abdul Rahim is said to have made the statement in his speech as the chairperson of the Malay Economic Body (Gabem) during a ceremony in Malacca on Dec 1 last year.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

Malaysiakini: How are the election preparations going in Malacca?

Abdul Rahim: I’m in the Umno supreme council for Malaysia. What do I know what they are doing in Malacca? (smiles). I believe what Malacca has done is that they are preparing themselves, they are tightening their election machinery, they are looking into the registeration of voters, they are making sure everything related to general election will be polished.

Will you be running in the elections?

I’m just waiting for orders. Whether I contest or not, it’s up to the leadership. No leaders except the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister will know whether they are going to be chosen to be candidates. Only on the day of dissolution of parliament [...] you will know your fate.

What are the chances of DAP getting more seats in the coming general election?

Both sides have fair chances ( laughs ).

Will you be more than happy to run?

I’m offering myself to the national leadership, if they want me. If they don’t want me, what can I do? I don’t know. It’s up to them. Now, the selection of candidate is more careful because in a survey carried out by Umno it is indicated that the people considers 60 percent for the candidate, 40 percent for the party. Now with higher level of education, Umno recognises the reality of voters' power.

Have you gotten any backlash for your alleged hate speech made at a Gabem where you said “The Malays have never taken to the streets so do not force us to do so as we will draw our parang (machete) to defend the Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) in this country”?

The true statement that I made was, if the extremist group tries to push the Malays into the corner and continue with their extremist activities, giving no breathing space to the Malays, I am afraid the Malays will lose their consideration and they will come out with certain action which (is) not desirable.

So this is a pre-warning, Malaysia is a multi-racial country we have to be moderate when we (move) forward or struggle for our vested interest so that in the state of moderation we will respect each other. We will place national interest above smaller interest.

So this is my pre-warning to those extremist people and those who try to exploit these issues for their own political sake. I’m not saying not you come out with your parangs (machetes) and slash everybody, no. I’m the president of Gabem, I have to see that the government policies (have) nothing but moderation, tolerance and wisdom.

When you say extremist group, we can safely assume you were referring to Hindraf. Hindraf has said they are not against the Malays but Umno. What are your views on that?

They have no issues with Umno because whatever we do, we do collectively. Even though Umno is dominant, Umno is doing things, especially the process of decision-making in a form of collectivity. We have a cabinet and it consists of various races in forming a coalition government and definitely in deliberation before they make a decision, everybody is given the opportunity to express their views.

Hindraf and other extremist groups should fight the Malaysian way (that is) parliamentary democracy. If they are not happy with things, they should fight the way other political parties are fighting. We cannot resort to violence. We may be angry but the way we are fighting for certain issues reflect the very institutions that we are practicing now. If they can join any legal political party in the country to voice out what they are going to voice out [...] there’s no way we can resort to violence and (aggression).

Everybody is not happy. The Malays are unhappy, the Chinese are unhappy and the Indians (are unhappy). The unhappiness has created a strong Malaysia where democracy works. If everybody is happy then democracy is slipping.

Are you saying having a democracy means people should be unhappy?

They can be unhappy for what they want which is not achieved but there is a way and channel for them to fight. You can compare Malaysia like a company. If you have a poor company (there will be) many problems but what if we start fighting each other? We cannot please all the shareholders and workers. If the company is prosperous, we’ll solve a lot of problems because a big cake to be shared. So like Malaysia, we cannot be a poor country. It must be prosperous and the prosperity must be contributed by all of us.

Don’t you think the raising of the keris (dagger) by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein can be considered as an extremist gesture?

That is Malay tradition, it’s too small to be made into an issue. The Chinese also have their own pedang (sword), they can show their sword also but nobody bothers about it because it’s your tradition. It is our gathering, when we apply Malay tradition, it’s a Malay tradition. Everybody will kiss the keris, why should we be overemotional about it?

What is the state government doing for the pig farmers in Malacca?

I’m not (involved in the) politics of Malacca but from my observations there is a cease fire situation. They should maintain this cease fire, negotiation must go on until you achieve a certain settlement (that’s) mutually acceptable.

The government is looking at the environmental problem over there. For the Chinese this might be their livelihood and if you want to change that you must have a good replacement or alternative. For example if you want to do away with piggery, change to poultry.

Is a race-based component party Barisan Nasional a good model in today’s politics?

It is a good model because we have different levels of economic development. For example like the per capita income, household income for the Malays, Indians and Chinese are different. Therefore they demand for a different scale of solution, it is not universal. Because our culture is different, they need a special political party to look into these sensitivities.

We have a body like BN supreme council or the cabinet where diverse demands from different ethnic groups are rationalised and where national interest come in. So when you come to decision-making though every racial party fight for their own interest at grass root level, when they come up to the highest level, it is sorted out. At the end of the day, we place national interest above all.

So what is considered national interest?

National interest is the Malaysian interest. We maintain national unity, harmony, we maintain the system we are practising this moment, we maintain peace and we allow economic potentials to grow.

What are your views on what de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim has been doing of late?

He’s trying to be a peacemaker among the opposition parties even though his party is very, very small. He like to behave like a big chieftain for all. So he wants to dictate his own terms and condition on parties which have been established and have their own sphere of influence among the people. Anwar comes up and attempt to unify them with his own terms which is not acceptable to these people, they are not fools.

Anwar is trying to belittle any body and any party as long as his own agenda survives. It’s no good for the opposition to listen to a man like this. PKR adalah party atas angin saja (PKR is a party that’s neither here nor there). He is still using his personal aura to be a political figure. To Umno, he is not threat to us. If he is so influential, he would’ve won Ijok. He still failed there.

This election will be battle between transformation and reformation. Transformation represent Pak Lah and Najib where they perpetuate continuity or the politics of development in the country - transform people to a higher level. But reformation is where you get people to have illegal demonstration where you burn tyres, you create a lot of fear to the people and foreign investors and you injure people. The people will be wise to choose between transformation of reformation.

Watch the 10-minute video here.