‘Politics of Fear’

UMNO Youth illegal demonstration in front of the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

NO HOLDS BARRED (Archives)
by Raja Petra Kamarudin, 20 August 2000

Umno Youth confronted the Chinese about the demands the Chinese had made, a long time ago, during the Tenth General Election. Why, after almost a year, does Umno Youth dig this issue up? Why did they not confront the Chinese then, at the time the demands were made, back in 1999? Is it because they needed the Chinese votes then but no longer need it now?

Maybe it did take Umno Youth almost a year to realise what the Chinese demands were, or to pluck up the courage to stage an illegal demonstration in front of the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. I was told it was a boisterous demonstration complete with four-letter words -- and I am not talking about the Umno word (which is also a four-letter word) but of the ‘F’ type. Some people were roughed up and one journalist-photographer was assaulted.But that’s not the issue.

The Chinese tried to pacify the Umno Youth demonstrators and explain what the demands were all about, but Umno Youth would hear nothing of it. Taking a very confrontational stand, Umno Youth told the Chinese they refuse to listen to any explanation and insisted that the Chinese apologise. Again, the Chinese tried to explain the issue but Umno Youth shouted them down and would not allow them to. Umno Youth only wanted an apology and nothing less.

Umno Youth was very abusive and vulgar in their treatment of the Chinese. Clearly their intention was to spark an incident but the Chinese knew better than to engage Umno Youth in a boxing match. The Chinese knew, either way, they would come out the loser.

Umno Youth has given the Chinese a week to apologise and warned the Chinese that they run the risk of angering the Malays if they do not. This, in turn, raises a greater risk of racial tension, possibly followed by a racial conflict. In short, if you don’t play ball, there may be another May 13 looming over the horizon.

Yesterday, the Chinese announced that they will not apologise, as there is nothing to apologise for. Furthermore, the issue is ‘dead’ and had already been previously clarified to everyone’s satisfaction.

Both sides will not back down so it is now a stalemate.

This was a major booboo for Umno Youth. They have thrown the challenge and the Chinese have stood firm. What will Umno Youth do next? If Umno Youth keeps quiet it will lose face so will it now start a racial conflict as promised?

Anyway, what Umno Youth is going to do is not important as it is no longer significant in Malaysian politics. Maybe when Anwar Ibrahim was the Umno Youth leader people took notice.

Since then Umno Youth is seen as merely Mahathir’s tool to provoke issues whenever Umno proper cannot be seen to be behind it. What is more interesting in this whole issue is that Barisan Alternatif (BA) is going to make history and change the way the many races in this land live with each other.

Yesterday, PAS, DAP, PRM and keADILan had a ‘roundtable conference’ in Kuala Lumpur. The conference had nothing to do with the Umno Youth threat. It was to plan the opposition’s strategies for the future. I must admit it was a fantastic conference and if they implement all the plans adopted it is going to make the opposition coalition a very credible alternative to the ruling government. But that is a story for another time.

At this conference, the youth members from the four Barisan Alternatif parties pledged to stand united in the face of Umno Youth’s threat. And they will be issuing a media statement to that effect in a day or two.

Pemuda BA (and three out of the four BA Youth leaders are Malays mind you) is going to tell Umno Youth that the Malays will stand united in defence of the Chinese. If Umno Youth tries to harm the Chinese they will first have to cross the line of Malays. The Malays in BA will stand between Umno Youth and the Chinese.

“Let the Umno Youth Malays kill the BA Youth Malays first before they can touch the Chinese,” said one Malay from keADILan.

“The Malays will stand between Umno Youth and the Chinese,” said another Malay from PAS.

“It is time we stop talking about Malays and Chinese and start talking as Malaysians,” said the DAP chap.

“PRM will take the initiative of drafting the press release to tell Umno Youth that Pemuda BA is guaranteeing the safety of the Chinese,” said the PRM Youth leader.

I felt a tear in my eyes. Umno Youth may not realise it but they have just made history. Their threat to start another race riot if the Chinese do not apologise has brought the Malays forward. The Malays are now standing in defence of their Chinese comrades. The Malays are prepared to face their fellow Malays in protecting innocent Chinese lives.

What really moved the crowd was when Dr Hatta Ramli of PAS got onto the stage and announced to the assembly of Malays, Chinese and Indians that Umno Youth would have to “step over our dead bodies first before they can harm the Chinese” (“langkah mayat kami dulu”).

The hall reverberated with applause. I felt like crying. My wife is, after all, Chinese, though of Siamese descent. 43 years of independence and, finally, Malaysians have learnt to set aside racial differences and stand up for one another.

Yesterday we stopped being Malays and Chinese and emerged as Malaysians. What a great Merdeka Day celebration this 31 August is going to be.

Umno Youth had better be warned. Nearly half the voters voted for the opposition the last general election. It is also said that more than 70% of these people are Malays, as the Chinese had been intimidated into voting for the ruling government.

Maybe Umno Youth is trying to win back Malay support by showing how aggressive they are and that they will take no shit from the Chinese. But this move has backfired badly, just as Dr Mahathir’s move to put Anwar in jail for 15 years has.

Umno Youth has not won back the Malays. They have only forced the Malays to come out in defence of the Chinese. And, to make matters worse, Umno Youth is probably going to now lose the support of the Chinese, which they had in the first place.

The Chinese were scared the last election. They were scared because they thought they were on their own. Now that they know the opposition Malays in BA will not let any harm come to them there is no longer any reason to be scared of Umno.

Umno Youth had better be warned. The Malays in BA are not just paying lip service. They mean what they say. The Malays in BA are determined that race riots are a thing of the past. The Malays in BA will take the punches first before a single Chinese hair can be harmed. The Malays in BA are not ‘talk only’ like Umno Youth but are ‘battle seasoned’ through years of Reformasi. And there are more BA Malays than there are Umno Youth members.

If at all any good has come out of the Reformasi movement it is that Reformasi has successfully set aside race and elevated justice as the rallying call. Umno is all about ‘Malay rights and privileges’. Reformasi is about justice for Anwar and justice for all Malaysians.