‘Malays don’t need Umno’

A former Umno state assemblyman cites two areas which received 'least attention' to explain why Chinese will not vote for Barisan Nasional

COMMENT by Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz
Why would the Chinese give up their freedom to pursue their self-interest for ‘interferences’? The great advances achieved by the Chinese as a whole happened when there was least ‘interference’ from the government and its little and not so Little Napoleons.

Let me give you some examples. Every town and city in Malaysia displays the same characteristics. I am most familiar with my hometown, Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur. In Kuantan you have a section of town dominated by Chinese (Ayer Puteh) and in Kuala Lumpur you have (Old Klang Road).

In my schooldays, these two areas were and are still dominated by the Chinese.  Both these areas enjoyed least attention from the government in the past.

If you visit Ayer Puteh in Kuantan today, you will be almost convinced that it’s a city in itself. Ayer Puteh developed on its own, on account of the vibrancy of the people pursing their economic interests with the least interference and meddling from government. It has achieved this status with lesser interference from government.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Old Klang Road area has developed into a commercial behemoth that it’s almost fair to say, it has developed a parallel economy rivaling what the official government can do. And Old Klang Road has achieved that without the excessive interference of government.

In other words, it’s absolutely hogwash to say, we depend on the government for our livelihood.

Cocky Umno

Now lets look at the Malays. We have millions of Malays in rural areas who can do better if they have what? They can do better if they have capital, accessibility, education and technical skills. Now this is truth.

Malays need capital (capitalism), they need accessibility (freedom) they need education (self-interest). None of these are in any way synonymous with Umno.

Let me repeat this statement. The Malays need capital (yes), they need freedom (yes) and they need to pursue their self-interests?  Now tell me, if I were to purse this extreme logic, do the Malays need Umno?

They don’t because their advancement is not absolutely dependent on whether it’s Umno that provides capital, freedom and creates the environment that enable them each to purse their self-interests.

So when former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the Malays need help, where does it say in the world, that that HELP comes in the form of Umno?

So before Umno goes to the polls, I hope they get rid of this cockiness and self-conceit that the people need us. They don’t.

This is an excerpt of the writer’s article in his blog sakmongkolak47. The writer is an FMT columnist