…”One legacy. One destiny.”
But behind the message of unity, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the conservative race-based party that has run Malaysia since independence, is ushering in the country’s 50-year anniversary by ratcheting up its trademark fear-based communal rule. Last week Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak controversially referred to Malaysia, which includes 40% non-Muslims, as an Islamic state. “Islam is the official religion and we are an Islamic state,” Najib said.
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Najib’s aspirations to become prime minister are well known and have been cast into doubt by an ongoing murder trial in which the main suspects – including prominent political analyst Razak Baginda and two elite police officers – have been closely linked to Najib.
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Nonetheless, the ongoing case has hurt UMNO’s political standing, and the party appears to be appealing to its well-worn tactic of playing the race and religion card to divert attentions.
In the larger scheme of things, Najib’s comments might have been meaningless. UMNO has long relied on communal rhetoric to sustain its five-decade grip on power.
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In response to Najib’s remark, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of the BN coalition, issued statements assuring its constituency that Malaysia is a secular state. UMNO Youth chief and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, famous for speeches in which he brandishes Malay daggers and warns Malaysia’s minority Chinese and Indian communities not to question Malay “supremacy”, hit back by telling the MCA (sans dagger this time) not to issue “any more statements that Malaysia is a secular state”.
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Former UMNO chief and longtime prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his onetime deputy and current opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim have both in recent weeks concluded that UMNO has “rotted”. Meanwhile, a band of academics has begun campaigning against Akujanji, a pledge of loyalty to the government that every college student must sign and over the years has been used to suppress free expression.
…many political analysts predict an UMNO-BN landslide at the next general elections, which will occur when the prime minister decides to call them. That, they say, is because most Malaysians have been indoctrinated by the government to fear political change and still vote on ethnic lines. In an ironic twist, Mahathir, who ruled with an iron fist for 22 years, recently suggested that Malaysians tend to vote blindly and said, “The country deserves the government it gets.”
The real victim in all this is the Malay community, whom UMNO claims it is serving and protecting. By politicizing religion, UMNO has tarnished Malaysia’s international and domestic reputation as a bastion of moderate Islam. Meanwhile, UMNO’s unwavering support for an affirmative-action program favoring ethnic Malays over minority Chinese and Indians has bred animosity among non-Muslims and become an excuse for them to scapegoat Malays for all the country’s shortcomings and ignore their significant contributions to nation-building.
That racial divide has and continues to play into UMNO’s hands.
Source: Asia Times
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“There’s no party other than UMNO which could ensure the progress and achievements of the Malays, as well as uphold the sanctity of Islam and bring about a civilisation pillared by Islam in this country,” he added.
The 4Ms, which were launched by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, were:
