Divide and rule — Elijah M

May 07, 2011

MAY 7 — This is Umno's strategy to remain in power in Malaysia: make the Malays feel like the Chinese and Christian communities are threatening their hold on power and position of Islam.

They need the Malays to come out in force at the coming elections and vote for Umno candidates in a big way. But in their calculation for that to happen, they must have an imaginary enemy for the Malays/Muslims.
Given than the Chinese have generally deserted the corrupt and self-serving MCA and Gerakan and by extension, BN, they qualify as a prime bogeyman. They are portrayed as slavish supporters of Chinese-based DAP and harbour ambitions of taking over political power from the Malays.

Now the Christians following their support for Pakatan Rakyat in the Sarawak and their refusal to be submissive to a government which has molested their religious rights are also being lumped by Utusan Malaysia and pro-Umno bloggers as enemies of Islam in Malaysia.

Such is the stupidity of these guys that they portray a prayer session in Penang with a few DAP politicians as oath-taking. Just a pointer: the only oath that Christians take is to our Lord and Saviour. Therefore, we obey God and not men.
The bloggers hope to persuade Malay/Muslims that Christians are working with DAP to push for a Christian prime minister. I suppose these blinkered souls forgot about the Federal Constitution.

They also forgot to tell their readers that Chinese or Christians (who by the way are mostly non-Malay bumiputeras) are not interested in political power but are interested in good governance, fairness, integrity, rule of law and equal opportunities.

And before we believe that this strategy of divide and rule has not got the blessings of the top Umno leadership, we should think again. The policy of hammering Chinese/Christians and demonising DAP is state-sponsored.

Just listen to Muhyiddin Yassin and other Umno leaders. Of course, Najib Razak plays the good cop but he has stayed silent as Utusan Malaysia slams Chinese.

Instead of worrying what kind of a country he will lead, he has chosen to look the other way as Chinese and Christians are painted as usurpers of power.

One lesson I suppose we can take from this is that Umno does not want or need the support of Chinese or Christians. So much for the Rukun Negara or 1 Malaysia.