(Penang, Saturday): The warning by UMNO Youth at the UMNO
General Assembly yesterday to the Chinese education movement
Dong Jiao Zong that they would face similar action to that of Suqiu if
its persisted in its campaign for the maintenance of Chinese schools in Malaysia
must be condemned by UMNO, MCA,
Gerakan, SUPP, PBS and all other Barisan Nasional parties and leaders as
downright provocative,
irresponsible, unacceptable and intolerable in the democratic politics of a
plural Malaysia.
Was the UMNO youth spokesman, Dr. Zamri
Abdul Kadir who proposed the motion on education at the UMNO General Assembly,
threatening a repeat of the
uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric UMNO Youth demonstration
outside the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in August 2000 over the Suqiu
election appeals, displaying inflammatory and
racist placards and threatening to burn down the building?
Malaysians
have not forgotten that the Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, who was
Umno Youth exco member at the time, also said that
the Malays were willing to “bathe in blood” to defend their privileges.
It is shocking that the UMNO Youth’s
uncivil, gangsterish and even
barbaric demonstration outside the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in August 2000
is paraded as a badge of pride by
UMNO Youth leaders when it should be regarded as a blot of shame
in decent and responsible political behaviour in a multi-racial Malaysia
– just like the previous blots in UMNO Youth history, such as the lawless and
gangsterish UMNO Youth break-up of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on East
Timor (APCET II) in Kuala Lumpur in November 1996 and UMNO Youth’s escalation
of racial tensions in 1987, creating
the conditions for the subsequent Operations Lalang Internal Security Act
mass arrests. The Government White Paper "Towards Preserving National
Security" tabled in Parliament on 22nd March 1988 referred to an UMNO Youth
Rally on 17.10.1987 which displayed "banners bearing strong
words", including "May 13 HAS BEGUN" and "SOAK IT (KRIS)
WITH CHINESE BLOOD".
In
January last year, the secretary of the Suqiu Committee, Ser Choon Ing, lodged a
police report that he was threatened by a group of four or five men outside his
house in Petaling Jaya, when one of them shouted at him in an intimidating
manner: "Eh, Suqiu! Kurang ajar. Jangan awak ganggu orang Melayu."
The UMNO Youth threat to Dong Jiao Zong
confirmed my judgement three days ago that UMNO Youth
has yet to prove that it
could keep abreast with the changes
and challenges of the time, rising to become an all-rounded Malaysian
nationalist movement, recognizing that the single biggest problem facing Malaysia in
the era of globalislation is not
competition between bumiputras and non-bumiputras but Malaysia and the rest of
the world.
What is worse, it has also proven that
some of the leading UMNO Youth leaders have not outgrown the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric complexes of the
disgraceful 1987 pre-Operation
Lalang, 1996 APCET II and 2000 Suqiu episodes and therefore pose the greatest threat to the healthy development of
democratic politics and a vibrant civil
society.
If UMNO Youth and Zamri are really
convinced that Dong Jiao Zong and Chinese schools in Malaysia are stumbling
blocks to Malaysian nation-building and national integration – which is a
short-sighted and baseless viewpoint – they should have the courage of their
convictions to engage in a dialogue with Dong Jiao Zong instead of threatening a
repeat of the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric demonstrations and
outbursts as with Suqiu in 2000, APCET II in 1996 and during pre-Operation
Lalang in 1987.
Or have UMNO Youth and Zamri no confidence that they could put up a persuasive let alone an overpowering case in such a dialogue that they can only think of threats of uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric conduct?
I
call on UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, PBS and all other BN parties to condemn and
dissociate themselves from the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric
UMNO Youth threat to Dong Jiao Zong to repeat another Suqiu, and to
demand that Zamri should tender a public and unqualified apology
for such irrational and unMalaysian threat.
UMNO Youth and Zamri’s threat at the
UMNO General Assembly yesterday have only undermined public confidence in the
assurances given by the Barisan
Nasional Government, in particular MCA and Gerakan, that Chinese schools are
permanent and integral parts of the national education system and will not be
forcibly closed down – as well as strengthen concerns and fears that the
national education policy has the “final objective” to eventually have only
one single medium schooling in the country resulting in the closure of Chinese
primary schools and independent Chinese secondary schools.
The Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa
Mohamad, should make a Ministerial
statement in Parliament on Monday on the government’s stand on UMNO Youth and
Zamri’s threat and the implications involved.
(22/6/2002)