Police and authorities must not allow the “spiral of violence” to begin and continue as this is the second stage of those who want to create the conditions for another May 13

Despite my Second Open Letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet yesterday, the third Cabinet meeting of 2014 was a great cop-out, with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers failing to fulfill their commitment and responsibility to face the quintuplet of national crisis squarely and courageously to end the government drift and the leadership, clueless and rudderless Najib administration.

Worst of all, there was no word or acknowledgement let alone leadership to end the systematic campaign by a group of irresponsible and reckless elements out to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension to create another May 13 situation to destabilize the country, to achieve their petty, selfish political ends.

All right-thinking Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation must deplore in the strongest terms the gross abdication of responsibility of the Cabinet yesterday to put a stop to the continued incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension as well as to all the saber-rattling to create another May 13 situation.

I agree with former MCA President Ong Tee Keat who recently warned that Malaysia will be left in tatters if the Prime Minister continues to ignore the raising issues that divide the country.

Saying that the escalation of polemics, hatred and threats is getting out of hand and is causing great concern among the public, including himself, Ong said:

“We can ill afford any form of auto-piloting by whoever in the driver’s seat. It is now time for the prime minister-cum-BN chairperson to intervene before our fragile racial harmony is thrown into tatters.”

Although Ong also chided the MCA leadership for remaining silent in the face of public racial threats, I am not interested in the convoluted and disgusting high-level MCA politics.

The question is whether Ong’s warning will be heard by Najib when nobody in the MCA leadership, whether Liew or Chua camp, are bothered about the quintuplet of national crisis in the country to even dare to requisition an emergency meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to address the raging national, racial and religious issues in the country.

The Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council yesterday has offered an olive branch to the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional leadership, for a Summit Meeting of BN and PR leaders to assure Malaysians that all actions would be taken by Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to ensure that there could not be another May 13 riots, as some irresponsible and reckless quarters are conspiring for.

If the BN and PR coalitions are united to ensure that there would not be another May 13, who in Malaysia could conspire and create the conditions for another May 13?

The Pakatan Rakyat offer from PKR, PAS and DAP leaders stem from their love and patriotism for Malaysia. Can we expect reciprocal love and patriotsm for Malaysia from Barisan Nasional leaders to respond positively to the Pakatan Rakyat overture?

Or is there no need even for the convening of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to consider and decide on the PR overture, as it is enough for the Prime Minister himself or the UMNO leadership to decide for the entire Barisan Nasional leadership?

While we await the BN response to the PR proposal for a BN-PR Leadership Summit to assure Malaysians that there could not be another May 13 racial riots in the country, the police and authorities must not allow the “spiral of violence” to begin and continue which is the second stage of those who want to create the conditions for another May 13.

The first stage of those who want another May 13 are speeches and threats of another May 13, most of which were made by UMNO leaders before the 13GE on May 5, 2013, specifically warning that there would be another May 13 racial riots if UMNO is defeated and the Malay lose political power.

This is a gross fallacy for the Malays will never lose political power even if UMNO is defeated, for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition of PKR, PAS and DAP is a formula which will ensure that there will be no loss of Malay political power.

Another fallacy is to equate UMNO rule with Malay power, when it is the UMNO Baruputras (a term most aptly coined by commentator Mariam Mokhtar) who stand to benefit in UMNO Baru rule and not Malay interests in general.

The second stage of those who want to create the conditions for another May 13 is to start and continue the “spiral of violence” – to translate from general threats in speeches and statements to physical action through demonstrations to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension with inflammatory and incendiary slogans and banners, even based on lies and falsehoods, as those staged by Penang UMNO and their allies over the weekend over the “kangkung” furore.

In the second stage to spark off “the spiral of violence” to create the conditions for another May 13, the May 13 conspirators hoped to see a further destabilization of the situation with the public losing confidence in the double-standards of the police and the authorities – as granting impunity and immunity to those responsible for demos which incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension while immediate police action are taken against those who do not incite racial or religious hatred, tension.

An example in hand is the case of PKR Machang Bubuk Assemblyman Lee Khai Loon who is hauled in by the police for investigation for criminal defamation while UMNO leaders like UMNO MP for Kepala Batas Reezal Merican Naina Merican and UMNO state secretary and Bukit Mertajam chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir are treated with kid-gloves by the police although guilty of the most seditious offence in inciting racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension.

Yesterday’s deplorable thuggish behaviour by Penang UMNO members of violence against Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) enforcement officers is another chapter in this escalation of the spiral of violence intended by those who wish to create the conditions for another May 13.

Are Najib, the Cabinet and the police going to continue to give blank cheque for the irresponsible and reckless elements, many of them from UMNO and its allies, who want to continue to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension to destabilize the country so as to create the conditions for another May 13.

Are Malaysian patriots and moderates who love unity peace, harmony, tolerance going to be cowed and intimidated by the traitors out to destroy plural society with their continued incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension so as to realize their objective of creating another May 13?

These are questions awaiting urgent answer.