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Since the establishment of Barisan Nasional, racial issues have been the propelling force for UMNO politicians to move higher up in the party. If they stay away from racial issues, they may lose their ground within the party. By TAN POH KHENG/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily
While BN and Pakatan Rakyat supporters were launching a by-election warfare in Permatang Pauh, Wanita Gerakan chairman Tan Lian Hoe tossed a bomb out of the blue towards BN, suggesting that her party should pull out of the ruling coalition. The impact of this outburst has not only rocked the BN leadership, but also stirred up powerful reactions within the Chinese community. Nevertheless, just as many were showing their thumbs-up to Tan, who is also the deputy information minister, for her fearless remarks, she was immediately seen turning towards UMNO president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to clarify her points, accusing the media of having misquoted her. Her drastic change in attitude took many people by surprise. If, as Tan has clarified, that was the proposal passed by some 80% of Perak Wanita Gerakan delegates to pull out of BN, then it was not her fault, as Wanita Gerakan chairman, to express the delegates' will to BN. If UMNO was still fiddling with the racial issues, was it necessary at all for her to clarify or explain to Abdullah and Najib? If those holding high posts do not have the courage to accept the truth, then they shouldn't be aspiring to become national heroes. This incident has opened our eyes to the fact that since independence, UMNO has been fearlessly manipulating racial issues and pointing fingers at its allies in the coalition, because some of the MCA and Gerakan leaders have not been bold enough to voice out even though they have not been treated fairly, and this has boosted the UMNO leaders' arrogance. Since the establishment of Barisan Nasional, racial issues have been the propelling force for UMNO politicians to move higher up in the party. If they stay away from racial issues, they may lose their ground within the party. The rejection of the proposal of opening up 10% of UiTM's admission quota to non-bumiputras by higher education minister Mohd Khaled is one such typical example. Since Gerakan Rakyat under Dr Lim Chong Eu formed the coalition state government with UMNO in Penang back in 1972, the party has been working with UMNO for 36 years now, long enough for Gerakan to see UMNO's arrogance and high-handedness. Over these years, how many of UMNO's leaders, young or old, has not at least once betrayed the rights of its allies in a bid to gain a stronger foothold in the Malay community? Even harsher ethnically inspired remarks have been uttered every now and then. Under the leadership of Lim Keng Yaik, how many times has the party stood up to redress those haughty chaps in UMNO? In the annual meeting of Bagan division last month, Gerakan acting president Koh Tsu Koon still insisted that the party should stay in BN to redress the haughty and arrogant attitude of some UMNO leaders. In other words, playing with racial issues has become part and parcel of UMNO's culture. After suffering a major setback in the March elections, Gerakan and MCA have been even more confined in voicing out their opinions. It is therefore within everyone's expectations that UMNO will keep on fiddling with racial and religious issues. Many will be taken aback if Gerakan takes this as the principal reason to "blackmail" BN of pulling itself out of the coalition. Judging from the situation Gerakan is in today, it is understandable why the party has brewed the idea of quitting BN in order to find itself a new way of survival. Even though the party has eventually opted to leave, there must at least be a better, more forward-looking reason instead of taking a 36-year-old cultural phenomenon as an excuse to pull out of BN.
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