Tribalism in Malaysian politics

On Thursday, I read fairness and good advice in a Malaysian Insider’s editorial titled Malaysia is far from a mature democracy — The Malaysian Insider … indeed, how true!

The article discussed the terrible behavior of a group of some 30 UMNO Youth members mobbing Karpal Singh as the DAP MP was about to enter Parliament.

With UMNO youth, one is never quite sure what the issue had been about … whether it was about defending the Sultan of Perak … or Malay rights … or the position on Malaysia as an Islamic nation … or … whatever then is the vogue pahlawan bull.

Now, I support Karpal’s constitutional right to say what he has said about suing the Perak Sultan, based on what he (Karpal) believes to be a gross error on HRH’s decision on the Perak power grab by the BN.

Remove the bigoted ethno-religious emotions, and one would see that thus far, Karpal hasn’t said anything illegal in his criticism of the decision by HRH Sultan of Perak.

In fact I would say he has shown enormous courage for calling a spade, royal Silver as it might have been, nothing but a spade.

He has been vindicated by many legal experts in his criticism of the royal constitutional bungle (a generally agreed opinion within the legal community).

In my previous post, I had highlighted former Judge NH Chan’s succinct conclusion that HRH had gone beyond his constitutional role because of a desire to exercise a show of pretend-power.

NH Chan had described HRH’s sacking of MB Nizar as ‘… no more than a pretended show of power when, in fact, there is no such power …’ – see my earlier post All that is Silver does not glitter.

As for the celaka comment I concede Karpal might have been provocative in using that unpleasant word and also in accusing UMNO Youth of sending him the threatening letter with bullets. But one doesn’t bash or bully a person, especially more so when he’s a disabled senior citizen, just because one takes offence at his words.

We are supposed to be a nation governed by the ‘rule of laws’ – remembering that Rukun ke-4 is KEDAULATAN UNDANG-UNDANG.

Besides, he made those comments in Parliament and it’s up to the Speaker, and certainly not a pack of thugs, to deal with their substance. Karpal has to answer for his comments made under privilege, but to Parliament.

Contender for the UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin had indirectly recognised Karpal’s parliamentary privilege when he challenged Karpal to re-state his remarks outside Parliament. And I have been pleased to read that KJ had frowned upon the hooliganism of his Youth members for their shameful behavior, a terribly disrespectful act within the sanctity and hallowedness of Parliament.

However there are important issues to raise from that unpleasant incident.

Why has there been such a show of disgraceful conduct by young members of a major political party in Malaysia, where they demonstrated they were no matter than Mat Rempits?

I reckon the following factors may possibly explain:

(1) The Malaysian culture of tribalism – I posted on this in Ijok - where Malays are even more tribal!

The tribal nature of the Malays made those hoons see Karpal as an enemy against the Malay tribe. But those idiots may be divided into three groups, as follows:

(a) Those who took offence against Karpal because they really did believe he was anti Melayu, or anti Sultan or anti Islam … (as I've said, you can’t tell which would be their cause, because this group would be like lemmings, easily roused and led, just like the anwarista hardcore elements).

What about the Chinese? In my post 'Xcuse, we're DAP, we don't plot coup d'état! in mid-2008, I mentioned a Malaysiakini columnist Manjit Bhatia … who lambasted the Malaysian non-Malays (mainly Chinese and Indians) for paying only lip service to their support for the opposition.

As an example of their alleged 'apathetic' political commitment, he singled out the general lack of non-Malay participation in the Anwar Ibrahim inspired street protest, the so-called reformasi revolution, that was launched after the former DPM was sacked from UMNO.

I replied to Manjit in a letter to Malaysiakini, where I said:

... the non-Malays, particularly the Chinese, wouldn't want to take sides in what was basically a tussle between two Umno factions - Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s and Anwar Ibrahim's?

That one side lost was inevitable and certainly not the concern of either the Chinese or Indians. That the loser suffered all the subsequent nastiness is regrettable but hardly made that bloke a political reformist.

Unless the Chinese are young and idealistic (most of whom would probably be in PKR already), they are too sceptical (of bullsh*t), cynical and in many ways, too calculative to be so idiotically led. Mind you, this is not a compliment to the Chinese but a statement of fact.

And until Hindraf came on the scene, the Indians too were apathetic to the twists and turns of Malay-dominated politics.

(b) Those UMNO hoons who know what they were going to do to Karpal would be unlawful, but rationalise internally that they had to do it untuk bangsa, agama dan negara.

They are no different from those PKR people who had idiotically rationalised that Anwar’s frog hunting has been reformasi itself, or that the 916 collapse was in reality a clever Anwar’s strategic intention wakakakakakakakaaa.

They had the nitwit nincompoop-ish nerve to explain they couldn't 'afford' to wait until 2013 to gain majority rule, while in the same f* foul fetid breath, claim to be better than UMNO, standing for democratic reforms.

But these half-clever self-rationalising people are the more dangerous because they are clever yet at the same time easily chong-ed or want to be chong-ed because that suits their hopes or rather, fantasies. In fact they would be more fanatical than Group (a) who are just blindly loyal and easily influenced.

(c) Then there’s the cunning group, those who don’t give a shit about HRH or Malay rights or whatever, other than their own political interests. Sometimes they could be the self-acclaimed ‘patriots’ who are really the instigators, agent provocateurs, exploiters – or what we commonly know as sh*t-stirrers - leaders who say ‘charge’ but won’t themselves. They exist on both sides of the fence.

(2) The second factor would be the behaviour of those leaders from Group (c) above.

Look at Khir Toyo who said that he couldn't conceive of non-Malays being on par with Malays, or Hishamuddin still insisting on defending the 30 UMNO Youth members despite their thuggish conduct in mobbing Karpal in the lobby of Parliament. What messages were they sending across (beside the one that they are ethnic heroes)?

Virtually most UMNO leaders including Anwar Ibrahim, Najib, KJ, etc had at one stage or another, resorted to bangsa, agama dan negara.

These so-called leaders, in promoting themselves as ethnic guardians have condoned, or even fostered such unlawful tribal behavior - recall the crude brutish bouncer-like conduct of Anwar's bodyguards?

Hasn’t Hishamuddin's shameful declaration to stand by those 30 thugs been a loud message to the clowns that their criminal misconduct were okay because it was for bangsa?

And hasn’t Anwar’s refusal to punish the Kulim Wonder been a message as abysmally shameful as that of Hishamuddin, where by exploiting the name of Islam (part of the bangsa, agama dan negara mantra), PKR members could do what they want, including crash gating like gangsters into a Bar Council or any forum, exactly like what had occurred at Apcet II?

Read also:

(1) UMNO suspended Ahmad Ismail - PKR mollycoddled Zulkifli Noordin

(2) Who was in charge when Apcet II was attacked by thugs?

Put the police and other civil servants into any one of the above groups, and you’ll understand why they had stood silently by while the UMNO youths harassed a MP in Parliament’s lobby, but why they had the swiftness of action and audacity to question Sivakumar, the speaker of the Perak State Assembly on state assembly matters – a gross misconduct and abuse of police powers which must be censured in no uncertain terms by both federal parliament and the state assembly …

… but which, rest assured, neither AAB nor Najib nor Syed Hamid will ever do.

And it sure as hell doesn't help when PAS Pak Haji Hadi Awang voiced (again) his willingness to form a (chiefly pan-Malay) unity government, a concept previously proposed in clandestine talks between UMNO and PAS - see Malaysiakini Ku Li backs Hadi's 'unity govt' call.