UMNO's race card in Penang - worthwhile?

As we’re all too well aware, UMNO and its henchmen (whether civil servants of unprofessional caliber or plain politicians or wannabe politicians) have been tearing into Penang CM Lim Guan Eng, accusing him of oppressing Malays in Penang. Even the DPM and Utusan Malaysia have taken part in UMNO’s racist labeling of CM Lim as being anti-Malay.

For example, the Komtar issue regarding Malay hawkers being prevented from setting up stalls at that location during Ramadan has been identified as a plain case of the wannabe ethnic hero, who had blamed Lim for penalising Malay hawkers, not paying up the stall fees to the Komtar management even though he had collected the fees from the hawkers.

Yes, poor CM Lim was blamed as being anti-Malay for the bloke not paying up the fees collected from the hawkers.

As they say, UMNO’s apparatchiks would never allow facts to stand in the way of a good racist labeling, to either frighten the heartland or to make them hate the Paktan people, in particular the DAP.

Given all these incidents of UMNO and its mouthpiece Utusan playing the race card, UKM’s Professor Agus Yusoff told The Malaysian Insider that UMNO should instead focus on winning the support of the non-Malays that it lost in Election 2008.

He said: “Penang is a non-Malay-majority state. If UMNO wants to hold weekly demonstrations, for example, it will backfire.”

What he was pointing out was that UMNO has been thrashing the very people they should be wooing. He believed there’s no political profit for UMNO to continue singing out Lim as being anti-Malay, because most Malay voters are already committed supporters of either UMNO or the Pakatan Rakyat parties (PKR and PAS). Thus, why waste time singing and dancing to the converted.

He summarized: “The Malays have made up their mind who to vote for. They are very compartmentalized. There will be no significant swing to the other side. The real issue for BN is to win back the support of the non-Malays. They have to find ways to get their support, fanning racial sentiments would not help.”

Upsetting the non-Malays – shades of 2008? It seems that some don’t learn from history, and history may repeat itself.

Indeed, Prof Agus noted: “But looking at the current development it is still very hard for BN to get back their support.”

Thanks to UMNO’s racial gambit, MCA and an already dead-in-Penang waters (and land) Gerakan may yet be resoundingly walloped in the next election as they were in the last (which incidentally they have UMNO to thank for too).

However, unlike the politically astute Prof Agus, his colleague Prof Samsul Adabi Mamat, no doubt an UMNO man, supports UMNO's 'Malay unity' call, despite PAS rubbishing it as sheer chicanery.

Instead of providing good advice to UMNO as Prof Agus did, dear Prof Samsul insisted that the issue of ‘Malay unity’ must continue as the aim is not so much to win Malay votes but to alert PAS members. He believes there is a strong basis for this concern [ie. lack of Malay unity] as bumiputeras only form about 56% of the Penang population, where an UMNO-PAS division would affect the Malays.

Essentially he supports UMNO in continuing the racist card game.

Excuse me, but on Malay unity I seem to recall one Chinaman going to jail for fighting for the rights of an under-aged Malay sweetie who was (statutorily) raped by an UMNO man. I also recall the parents of that sweetie stating they’d always be grateful for the Chinaman’s willingness to stand up for their daughter. Did any UMNO bloke or woman stand up for the Malay sweetie?

I wonder who that Chinaman is?

Now, who do you think woudl be the professor who benefits the UMNO Emperor more, the man who offers the naked Emperor at least a cawat (unpleasing but correct analysis and useful recommendation) or the man who praises the Emperor's 'no cloths' as beautiful (to continue the useless political tactic of playing the racist card)?

Poor quality seeds invariably produce poor crops. So UMNO has to reap what it sows!