IPCMC assumes racial hue

Three Youth groups of the Barisan Nasional (BN) condemned the police threats to the government on the matter of the IPCMC as unacceptable. The police had unbelievably threatened to allow crime to rise if the establishment goes ahead.

The MCA Youth had even demanded an apology from the police, which the latter had casually ignored. The reason for the police dismissal of the MCA Youth's demand will become clear shortly.

The following are two viewpoints of Malaysiakini’s readers on the Youths’ support for the IPCMC.

Idealist: Frankly, I welcome the statement made by these three BN Youth components. But without the participation from UMNO Youth, I doubt if the police would take it seriously. Worst still, these three BN Youth wings may soon realise they are too outspoken and idealistic, and eventually will have to retract their statement.

K Narayanasamy: It is very disturbing that the support for IPCMC and the opposition to it have a distinctive racial bias. The ruling coalition's racial partners show it very glaringly. As it may be considered very sensitive to discuss this further, you can make your own interpretations.

They have captured the crux of the whole matter succinctly. The IPCMC has been cleverly converted by the police into an issue with racial overtones. Obviously UMNO Youth has been convinced that the IPCMC, in posing a threat to continuing unfettered police powers, will in turn affect its own position of power, which is vital for its exercise of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy).

It's not unlikely the other Youth groups in the BN may one day be forced to swallow their pride and retreat from their support of the IPCMC.

UMNO Youth and opposition party PAS have one thing in common - both are courting the police, attracted like flies to the enforcers' strategy of 'divide and conquer', which has been to divide the stupid power-crazy politicians and conquer, without those idiots' realisation, their political powers.