Quite profound, isn’t it, that certain UMNO politicians have come out once more with their blazing and piercing insights about so-called ‘extremist Chinese’ in our midst. Surely this has to be a serious warning to these unreasonable Chinese to stop being so pushy and out of the mainstream.
For starters, surely you see the trouble that the Umnoputeras have with these extremist Chinese who expect to be treated like any self-respecting Malaysian would want to be. How can these Chinese expect to be considered as equal citizens to other Malaysians, and especially the Umnoputeras? So what that they are through-and-through Malaysian in every sense of the word. So what if their ancestors have graced this land for generations and over the course of centuries?
Can’t these extremist Chinese understand what it means to be a pendatang? Yes, as the Umno ideology goes, so long as you’re Chinese, remember that you’re a pendatang, and don’t you forget that. It does not matter if your ancestors have a longer and deeper history and connection to this land than many of the pseudo-Malays, many of whom may be barely second generation Malaysian or whose parents and relatives might have even entered the country illegally. And imagine the audacity of these extremist Chinese to refer to these newly minted, self-proclaimed so-called Malays as pendatang.
Surely you can understand the anger and desperation of these Umnoputeras who want to make a big stink about such extremist Chinese. What are we going to degenerate into if these Chinese start to expect that they be treated with dignity and respect for their constitutional rights? I suppose the next thing you know they’ll want to have tv programmes to discuss and report on issues such as quotas, government discrimination, and scandals. Imagine how ungrateful these extremist Chinese can be, thinking that we ought to have such a thing as press freedom and non-governmental manipulation and censorship of the media.
After all these years, haven’t these extremist Chinese gotten it into their heads that they should not doubt that Umno is deeply committed to moving the country forward for all Malaysians? I mean how many more speeches laced with overt and covert threats do these Umnoputeras have to deliver before these Chinese will realise that if you do not support MCA and Gerakan in order to perpetuate Umno-style patronage politics, then you are an extremist Chinese? As a Chinese, if you question Umno’s failed policies and pathetic record of scandals and abuses, then you’re of course an extremist. What is so difficult to understand about that? If you support the opposition, then you’re a genuine ‘extremist Chinese.’ Simple.
Of course, if you follow Umno’s propaganda, you will notice that for many of these Umnoputeras, so-called extremist Chinese often become a real problem whenever Umno itself seems to be floundering, divided, or losing credibility among a large segment of Malay and non-Malay voters.
But while some foolish people seem to think that is Umno’s most basic modus operandi and that Umno’s relevance and ultimate raison d'être is intimately tied to creating and demonising these so-called ‘extremist Chinese,’ this is not the case at all.
You may think it’s a familiar ploy and sadly, one that has worked wonders for Umno, it’s really nothing of this sort.
We really do have to be vigilant against extremist Chinese. After all, we can’t risk tolerating these extremist Chinese, who might make us a less racist and more democratic country, can we now?
G. Krishnan
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