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Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah argues that UMNO is not racist and he accuses its critics of manipulating the liberties afforded by democracy by making unfounded accusations against his party. To Tengku Razaleigh, where UMNO has failed, it is in its inability to intellectually demolish the criticism of its detractors.
According to reports, Tengku Razaleigh defines racism as ‘where one race advocates hatred against the other and its actions underpin it’. His example of racism is the likes of the Nazis who executed the Jews. Typical of politicians who are thrifty with the truth, Tengku Razaleigh is only partially right as the Nazis were indeed racists who were but the most dangerous of a kind that indulged in ethnic cleansing. Tengku Razaleigh and his fellow supporters should take heed from the lessons of the last two elections in Malaysia this year that Malaysians today are a lot more enlightened and responsible such that we will never allow any politician to take this country anywhere near Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Indeed, as Tengku Razaleigh acknowledges, were it not for UMNO’s short of intellect in analysing issues, UMNO would realize that the subsequent actions of Jews colonising Palestine and creating the state of Israel to create havoc and inflict suffering of the most brutal kind on Palestinians is a direct consequence of Hitler’s actions against the Jews in Europe. Tragically, today we Muslims and Palestinians in particular are paying the price for Hitler’s vengeance. Such is the disastrous consequences of racism as it breeds retribution where the subsequent victims will not necessarily be the original perpetrators such as is being witnessed today in Zimbabwe through Mugabe’s politics. So can Tengku Razaleigh deny that UMNO, if not through policy but at least through the actions of its leaders and members advocates hatred against others? One could right chapter and verse on all sorts of actions by UMNO folk, from its President to ordinary members of countless instances of reported intimidations and insults of the non-Malays in this country in all sorts of forums be it parliament, the UMNO general assembly, UMNO local meetings and just about in any other daily interaction with people. And that is just reported instances and it does not take much imagination to surmise that the actual extent of this violation of the dignity of non- Malays by UMNO is much more widespread. In fact it appears that one could get away with all sorts of seditious statements in this country so long as it is preached in the context of upholding ketuanan Melayu. And our incumbent prime minister can so irresponsibly dismiss all these sort of statements as something not coming from the heart and souls of the assailants but rather an outburst in the heat of the moment like kids fighting in the playground. To the prime minister, these assailants do not deserve the might of the law on them but a gentle reminder over a cup of tea is all that the crime deserves. The belated apology by the deputy prime minister is an after thought as it has come after much clamour from the public, something which should not have been necessary in the first instance if only UMNO has a culture where any member who crosses the red line on inciting racial hatred is dealt with promptly. It appears that there are more important matters of state for the prime minister and his cabinet to attend to, such as how to deal with the likes of Raja Petra. The preaching of hatred in UMNO is not the monopoly of village bumpkins in some far flung kampong who could be at least forgiven for their inability to grasp the social graces of living in a multi racial community and respecting the rights of others. What is alarming is that it prevails across UMNO right down from the supreme council to its ordinary members. In fact, one can even say that it has come to the dangerous situation where it is acceptable for significant number of people in Malaysia, irrespective of political affiliation to hurl racist remarks and treat others as second class citizens. The case of the school teacher abusing her Indian students is unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg as there are countless cases that just go unreported as the victims are so powerless to act and seem destined to accept the reality that getting abused is part and parcel of the imagined social contract. I have no doubt that the founding fathers of UMNO had any intentions of creating a party that would be so blatantly contemptuous of other communities in Malaysia. Neither is it the nature of Malays to be intolerant and abusive of others. Rather it is the current leaders of UMNO who through selfishness and dereliction of duty have enabled the spread of racism which is growing roots and tentacles in Malaysia rapidly. - By Sheperd
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