(Petaling Jaya, Monday): The Cabinet must decide on Wednesday whether it is going to stop or condone a reckless and ruthless UMNO campaign to escalate ethnic tensions over Suqiu to restore Malay political support, utterly heedless of the harm to national and international investor confidence, the 43-year nation-building process, Vision 2020 and the Bangsa Malaysia concept.
UMNO involvement in the campaign to escalate ethnic tensions is very evident, as in the statement of the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Wira Ali Rustam in his capacity as Gerakan Belia 4B Malaysia President that Belia 4B supports the extremist 100 demands of the Federation of Peninsula Malay Students (GPMS) and would send 10,000 members to the protest rallies planned by GPMS in each state as well as the 100,000-people Malay Protest Rally at Bukit Jalil Stadium.
Although the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday called on all groups to immediately stop making "unbridled demands" and confronting each other on the rights of different communities, expresssing his concern at a situation which was "growing increasingly unhealthy and was seriously jeopardising national unity", and urging "an end to this play-acting once and for all", the question is whether he could stop UMNO and UMNO youth leaders like Ali Rustam from such "play-acting".
Or are we returning to the pre-Operation Lalang period of 1987 where the country also saw a similar scenario of deliberate escalation of ethnic tensions, with UMNO Youth holding a public rally in Kuala Lumpur displaying highly racist and provocative banners, to be followed by a 500,000 UMNO rally at Merdeka Stadium on November 1, 1987, with the then UMNO Secretary- General publicly calling on Malays "to prove to the world" that the Malays were united, telling them "Go back to your kampongs and spread the word that all Malays must come to the rally whether they have to travel here by car, bus, train or plane".
At that time, there was also a public call for good sense to prevail by the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Ghafar Baba, specifically calling on leaders of Barisan Nasional component parties, including those in the youth wings and the branches, to abide by the directive to stop making "controversial" statements - but this did not stem the deliberate escalation of ethnic tensions and the ensuing Operation Lalang mass arrests.
Is it going to any different this time between Abdullah’s statement yesterday and Ghafar’s abortive call in the pre-Operation Lalang period in 1987? Just as the script for an Operation Lalang in 1987 was directed by higher quarters, is the script for a second Operation Lalang also being directed by higher forces?
Yesterday Abdullah claimed that "Both groups are stoking the fire of intolerance and acting selfishly to the detriment of a strong, peaceful and united Malaysia" and stressed that "This is not the way to build a Malaysia for all Malaysians".
Abdullah is right that what happened in the past week starting with the GPMS extremist demands "is not the way to build a Malaysia for all Malaysians", but he is wrong and being most unfair in blaming Suqiu, as its 83 demands were in line with Vision 2020 and the Bangsa Malaysia concept. How could anyone sensibly claim that the 17-point Suqiu threated racial harmony in the country when its basic thrusts were on the creation of a united, democratic, just, progressive and equitable Malaysian nation?
It is evident to all, whether inside or outside the country, that it is only one group and not "both groups" who are "stoking the fire of intolerance and acting selfishly to the detriment of a strong, peaceful and united Malaysia".
In fact, the unhealthy deterioration of the political situation as the result of the reckless and ruthless attempt by UMNO to escalate ethnic tensions in its effort to restore Malay political support was a matter of grave concern at the DAP National Leadership Conference in Port Dickson over the weekend, as it should be the concern of all patriotic Malaysians who want Malaysia to be the model of inter-racial peace and harmony in the world.
The time has come for Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday to prove that they could put Malaysian interests above their respective political agendas, put an immediate halt to the irresponsible campaign to escalate ethnic tensions and make it very clear that the country is not careening towards a repeat of Operation Lalang 13 years ago - which can only plunge the country into a new abyss of the protracted multiple crisis of confidence afflicting Malaysia.
(18/12/2000)