Mahathir s/o Mohamed, you are despicable!

Mahathir s/o Mohamed, today you have reached an all time low.

Malaysiakini reports today that in Tokyo, you warned of possible unrest in our country, and said that “extremists” among different communities had begun to voice their opposition and make unfair demands on the government, trying to “divide rather than unite.”

Malaysiakini quotes you :

“Now we are seeing the different races making demands on the government, which they perceive as a weak government”

The Malaysian Insider reports that on 17th May, in Johor, whilst speaking at a gathering, you referred to the Hindraf memo, and then said :

“What does it say? Malaysia for Malaysians! This is the reality of the present situation. If we do not speak up, if we choose to keep quiet, we will lose our rights and the other races will take over. When that happens, it will be like Singapore. Do you think we will still have control?”

What, Malaysia is not for Malaysians? For who, then?

Racists like you only?

Who is the extremist now, intent on dividing our people, if not yourself?

I checked your blog to see if perhaps you might have posted something there that would suggest you have been misquoted.

This is what I found you had written on 16th May, 2008, under the heading ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ :

Dalam 50 tahun kita merdeka, kuasa politik ada pada kita. Ini membolehkan kita panggil diri kita “Tuan”. Tetapi kita tidak Tuan sepenuhnya. Kita boleh jadi Tuan dengan ertikata yang bermakna jika orang Melayu berkebolehan dan berjaya dalam bidang ekonomi dan sosial juga. Ini boleh dihasilkan jika kita sanggup tuntut ilmu dan segala kemahiran dizaman teknologi tinggi. Tetapi kita amat kurang berusaha kearah ini. Kita lebih suka cari jalan mudah. Biar sahaja orang bekal segala-galanya kepada kita.

Hari ini kuasa politik pun sudah terlepas dari tangan orang Melayu. Dan orang bukan Melayu tidak lagi menghormati orang Melayu dan institusi-institusi Melayu. Segala-gala yang dianggap sebagai hak istimewa orang Melayu disoal dan dicabar. Dan orang Melayu tidak membuat apa-apa untuk menangkis semua ini dan mengukuhkan kedudukan mereka.

Sebaliknya mereka meminta-minta orang tertentu mempertahankan kedudukan orang Melayu. Tetapi ini adalah usaha “passing the buck” kata Mat Salleh, termasuk alasan bahawa semua ini adalah kerana Dr Mahathir yang memerintah 22 tahun dan pilih Dato’ Seri Abdullah sebagai penggantinya.

Nasib orang Melayu ada ditangan orang Melayu. Kita tidak jadi “Tuan” dengan mengungkit sejarah semata-mata. Kita boleh jadi “Tuan” jika kita berani bertindak, kita sanggup menghadapi risiko, kita berusaha untuk menguasai semua ilmu dan kecekapan sehingga tidak perlu bergantung kepada sesiapa.

Was it not you, in mooting your Vision 2020 in 1991, who advocated a Bangsa Malaysia? See what you said then :

By the year 2020, Malaysia can be a united nation, with a confident Malaysian society, infused by strong moral and ethical values, living in a society that is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable, progressive and prosperous, and in full possession of an economy that is competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient. There can be no fully developed Malaysia until we have finally overcome the nine central strategic challenges that have confronted us from the moment of our birth as an independent nation.

See your first and eighth strategies to achieve this vision.

The first of these is the challenges of establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny. This must be a nation at peace with itself, territorially and ethnically integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership, made up of one ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ with political loyalty and dedication to the nation.

The eighth is the challenge of ensuring an economically just society. This is a society in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress. Such a society cannot be in place so long as there is the identification of race with economic function, and the identification of economic backwardness with race.

Now as you traverse the country spewing your racist rhetoric of ketuanan Melayu just to save your own sorry butt, why don’t you also apologise to your audience for sowing this idea of Bangsa Malaysia, for advocating an end to identification of race with economic function?

Why don’t you also tell them about the friends that you’ve enriched at their expense?

Why don’t you tell them that in the name of ‘membasmikan kemiskinan’ you have entrenched them in abject poverty?

Understand this, Mahathir s/o Mohamed.

We survived, notwithstanding your 22 years.

Notwithstanding your plunder of this nation’s wealth and resources.

And whilst you talked then of Bangsa Malaysia but did little, we will walk that talk.

We will begin to build our Bangsa Malaysia.

Understand that if many feared you before, now you are viewed with scorn.

Posted in: Say No to Racism