Echoes of 13 May and Operasi Lalang

* This post is part 1 of my two cents on the UMNO assembly.

Before we go on, let's briefly go back to the past to establish the connection. 

In 1969, for the first time ever, the then Alliance party lost for the first time the customary 2/3rds majority of Parliament. And then, the riots instigated as a retaliation against the Chinese by the late Harun Idris in Kampung Baru, and subsequently many things happen like the NEP and so forth (for a run through of this refer to this Wikipedia entry here.) If you have read the book May 13 declassified, you would find that the riots was not instigated by the Chinese as what many claim but instead was planned by a select cell, with Tun Razak and Harun as head of it as a coup de'tat to topple Tunku.

In 1987, prior to Operasi Lalang, Najib (then UMNO Youth Chief) declared in Kampung Baru of "soaking the dagger with Chinese Blood". (Read supplement here and the government white paper here.)

Fast forward to this time, Najib said in the assembly that..."Are we willing to give our beloved Malaysia to this traitor of race and nation?" Does this mean that one party of 3.5 million members (being 1/8th of the country's population) is afraid of one man ex-UMNO turned opposition man? Does this mean that because of Anwar Ibrahim, things are not so rosy for the country? Does that mean that UMNO must look for many excuses to whack Anwar? One instance of Anwar called traitor was prominently seen in an article that former NSTP deputy editor Rose Ismail wrote (subsequently sued successfully for defamation)

It's a common cliche now to say to people that "if UMNO loses, Malay representation will be lost, country will not be stable...bla bla bla.". The cliche line is used to spook people out of nothing whereas in actual truth there is nothing to be seen from that line of utter bullshit.

Najib also said: "Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya," bears similarity to his 1987 line "bath dagger with Chinese blood". It is just a ghost story to scare people out. There is nothing disastrous if they lose out, except what it shows that UMNO is behaving like a spoilt child.

Something not right, is it? A week before the UMNO general assembly, Najib was quoted saying: "We cannot assume the Chinese as pendatang. The Chinese are also people of this country and needs to be respected." At the UMNO assembly, he said: "If UMNO cannot rule the country, you can forget about everybody else." Strange. Was that speech in the MCA gathering was written by him personally or is it prepared in advanced by a copywriter? But wait, aren't the Chinese always being accused bythem as the hantu / the one that "jajah ekonomi" as to scare the Malay people out of nothing?

In fact the statements that Najib mentioned in the speech brings echoes from the past. In 1969, riots happen simply because UMNO cannot accept defeat by the opposition in the fair fight (elections) and deliberately planned out to start a fight against the other races as an excuse to retain power. All because the fear of loss of power. Same as in his claim that problem will happen to Malaysia if they lose. It also show shades of Operasi Lalang in 1987.

No doubt the conclusion is that the thinly veiled speech by those people in UMNO shows that anytime now another Operasi Lalang is looming over people's heads. Alternative media is considered a problem to them. They called it badmouthing the country (Rais Yatim would say that) Another May 13 can happen if they lose badly in the next General Elections, but RPK said that people are now aware of such threats and declared that UMNO will be fighting only other Malays protecting other races instead (read here) Excerpt:

The Indians and Chinese need not fear anything. Dr Hatta Ramli has already issued a challenge. PAS will form a human shield. The Malays from PAS will emerge in great numbers to face those Umno Malays who want Indian and Chinese blood. As Dr Hatta said, “Over our dead bodies.” The Umno Malays would first have to slaughter all the PAS Malays before they can reach the Indians and Chinese.

The message sent out by that thinly-veiled speech simply tells (we can intepret by ourselves since we're educated people):

1. The party doesn't care whether you elect us or not, UMNO will run Putrajaya forever and there's nothing you can do about it. Which of course is violating the democracy concept since it's the people that decide which party to rule as the government of the day. 

2. Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat cannot touch Putrajaya at all in which they are willing to use violence ("crushed bodies") and intimidation to stay in power. They want to have war vs people.

3. Like what George Bush said for the introduction of the Patriot Act 2002: "Either you're with us or against us."

The problem of getting people to wake up to this problem is that people, those in heartland in particular may not believe of the reality and still in the dream that nothing is happening. This is wrong and they need some shake up to wake up.

UMNO people claims themselves to be representing all Malays, pious to God and so forth. But their antics speak for themselves and otherwise. Most of them do the daylight robbing (take lands from the poor, corruption) but still claim themselves to be pious. But it commits one of the greatest sacrilege in God's law of nature: Nothing lasts forever. (The party motto seems to say the other way round) It is the party themselves that started to speak such delusions above, not others. In fact it's situation is like an elderly person that is having dementia (a common problem)

Can't understand? Have you seen Hishamuddin Rais' video on "Bonsification of Malay Mind?"

See also Zaid's video on this:

TO BE CONTINUED