New Quakers in Malaysia

I am sure you have heard of The Renaissance Man of Asia, wakakaka.

But there is a real renaissance developing in DAP, a renaissance of awareness by independent minded Malaysians of all ethnic groups, but specifically and specially Malays.

The word ‘renaissance’ in this post means a renewal of interest, rebirth, revival and even vigor in the politics of DAP, in other words a political renaissance for DAP.

OK, ‘renaissance’ has been defined well and good, but pray tell what significance does it have?

If there is a renewal, it must mean there was something in the first place, something that existed long ago, but is now re-awakening, being reborn and revived. Basically, there were already Malay members in the DAP ages ago, people like Ahmad Nor, Che Rose, my Penang kinfolk Zulkifli Mohd Noor, and several others.

In other words, while DAP should be elated that high profile Malays like Aspan Alias, Mohd Ariff Sabri, Hata Wahari, Tunku Abdul Aziz, Zairil Khir Johari and others have joined the party to promote, project and push policies of good governance a la C.A.T, and justice and freedom for all, it must not forget those Malay pioneers in DAP, and not just the equally high profile ones like Ahmad Nor but also those old timers like my Penang larng Zul Noor and more so, those who valiantly struggled against the UMNO juggernaut in earlier years and even lost their candidate deposits, like Che Rose of Perak and company.

DAP, while cherishing the present members and nurturing the future ones, please remember and respect the party Malay pioneers.

Now having saluted the DAP pioneers, on to the current ‘renaissance’ - recall my recent post UMNO fears DAP beachhead where I narrated UMNO’s alarm of today's DAP to such an extent that it has now re-classified the Rocket Party as its principal foe, when once in its heydays of unbridled powers and take-Malaysians-for-granted arrogance, it sneeringly dismissed the DAP as only a kutu irritant and a MCA/Gerakan’s problem.

Now, it trembles in shock, anger and fear as it seeks to destroy the unprecedented DAP's beachhead in the heartland.

And as proof of this new UMNO fear, Aspan Alias wrote in The Malaysian Insider (TMI) that:

Khairy Jamaluddin, Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia, telah meminta DAP mengeluarkan senarai ahli-ahlinya dari kaum Melayu jika benar DAP sekarang sedang mendapat sokongan dari kaum Melayu.

[my translation, dodgy one lah wakakaka]: KJ, UMNO Youth Chief, demands that DAP releases a list of its Malay membership to prove it has the support of the Malays.

Khairy berkata setakat tiga orang Melayu yang menyertai DAP itu tidak melambangkan yang parti itu sudah diterima oleh orang Melayu.

[again my dodgy translation]: Khairy says 3 Malays joining DAP thus far don’t translate into the DAP being accepted by the Malays.

Aspan Alias (probably with a wry chuckle at the cacing called Khairy kena ABU (pun deliberatedly intended wakakaka) replied in the TMI’s article Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP — Aspan Alias:

Saya tidak yakin kenapa penyertaan orang Melayu di akhir-akhir ini menjadi isu dari Sabah hingga ke Perlis.

[my very loose translation]: Why make such a Malaysian mountain out of a molehill about Malays joining DAP recently?

Aspan continued: Saya hanya hendak memberikan komen yang pendek terhadap cabaran Khairy ini dan saya rasa boleh memberikan jawapan kepada kenyataan Khairy itu kerana saya adalah salah seorang dari orang Melayu yang telah menyertai DAP baru-baru ini.

[kaytee’s translation]: I only want to provide a brief response to Khairy’s demand. I believe I can answer him because I so happen to be one of those who just joined DAP.

This was where Aapan drove the stake kau kau into the vampire's heart wakakaka.

Untuk pengetahuan Khairy DAP tidak membuat pengasingan ahli-ahlinya mengikut bangsa dan agama. Di dalam borang permohonan menjadi ahli tidak ada petak yang bertanyakan dari kaum apa pemohon-pemohon tersebut kerana sebagai sebuah parti yang memperjuangkan untuk semua tanpa mengira kaum dan budaya. Bangsa dan ethnik ahli-ahli tidak menjadi perkara penting.

[translation]: Khairy may wish to know that DAP doesn’t differentiate/segregate its members into classes in accordance with ethnicity or religion. The DAP’s membership application form doesn’t have a field [box] to indicate the applicant’s race, for the bloody* reason DAP is a party which represents and fights for all regardless of their racial origin or culture. The ethnicity of its members is no big deal.

* not Aspan’s word; just kaytee taking blogger’s licence to spice it up a wee bit wakakaka

Bravo Aspan, you have hit the DAP nail of steel squarely on its head ..... right into Vlad Dracul's black heart, wakakaka.

However, I have to admit Aspan’s brief to Khairy wasn’t brief at all wakakaka. He went on to advise Khairy to mind his own (UMNO) store, especially his own constituency in Rembau where there's trouble a brewing, instead of fretting over DAP’s Malay membership, hence his article's title of Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP wakakaka!

But Khairy’s attempt to disprove Malay acceptance of DAP has unwitting reveal the deep fears of UMNO vis-à-vis the new kid in the (Malay) Heartland. They know the disciplined, ascetic-inclined and Spartanic DAP isn’t like other parties and thus difficult to attack with UMNO’s usual tactics of sex, sleaze and slime.

Thus UMNO quakes with fear.