Not May 13 looming, but class war among Malays’

‘Not May 13 looming, but class war among Malays’

It has almost been half a century since the May 13 racial riots took place, but some politicians continue to raise its spectre, hoping to spook Malaysians with it.
            
And the latest being Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng (left) said that while a recurrence of such a riot is a "very long shot", he toldMalaysiakini that if a clash does recur, it would not be an ethnic riot.

On the contrary, he warned that it would be an intra-ethnic riot involving the Malays along the lines of class between the haves and have nots.

And if that happens, Khoo said the blame would fall squarely on Umno.

"Post-May 13, many things were done to help the Malay community. We have the New Economic Policy, and Umno has huge control over the administration.

“If the current situation still merits a May 13, the failure will be on Umno for failing to deliver," he said.

As for the 1969 race riots, Umno leaders or those from right-wing groups have raised the incident time and again, claiming that the position of Islam and the Malays is being challenged by other Malaysians.

And as always, it would invite a river of criticism from DAP, the party which Umno blames for the bloodletting.

Commenting on this, Khoo said: “DAP is the construct of the old political system. It is a party that has (May 13 incident) embedded in it because it was directly involved when the incident took place.”

“This automatically generates a reaction (when May 13 is mentioned). This is old... but this is also pointless as evidenced by the last two general elections,” he added.

He pointed out that despite bringing up the issue now and then, BN hardly used May 13 as a mainstay in any general election campaign since 1990, so the issue was “as good as buried”.

“I don’t think it is productive for DAP to react in such a way. But we can understand why they react so - Lim Kit Siang, the DAP leader who witnessed the riots, is still around in a key position in the party,” he said.

Some politicians stand to benefit

Meanwhile, a fellow analyst from the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Wan Saiful Wan Jan, said if May 13 happens again, “some politicians would stand to benefit”.

But he noted that the situation on the ground differed from what is being painted by these politicians.

“If we go by sentiment on the ground, it is unlikely to happen unless someone deliberately does it,” he added.

Wan Saiful said that the rhetoric of May 13 is mostly coming from the “same side”, referring to the ruling coalition and NGOs linked to it, and not the opposition.

“By giving this warning, Muhyiddin Yassin is not really helping the situation,” he added.

On July 5, Utusan Malaysia reported Muhyiddin warning that another racial riot could happen amid the recent rise in racial tension.

Now  it is up to the moderate Malays, the have-not Malays, the underprivileged Malays, the poor Malays to realize that they are the ones who lose out as the NEP was meant to benefit them all, but instead only benefited the elite, Umnoputras, and their cronies, whereas the Malay man-in the-street or layman was supposed to gain from the NEP, but have gained next to nothing except the discount given them when or if they can afford a new home. Of course they also gain in the ASB schemes, that is provided they have the money to invest.

Next year with GST, electricity tariffs hike, inflation, they are going to lose more even with the BR1M money given which would be a pittance, when they will spend it all in a flash with all the expected price hikes.

These Malays should voice out to the the Umno/BN govt., Isma, Perkasa, etc., that they are being marginalised by their own kind.

They should follow these Isma, Perkasa people and attack the Christians, non Malays, and other non-Muslims as this is only a diversionary tactic to deflect the main cause of their sufferings, and shortcoming.

May God open their eyes to see the real situation in this country.