DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang blogged on Sunday that two racist books were distributed in the Bagan Pinang constituency that incited communal hatred and animosity against Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
Kit Siang said scurrilous and baseless allegations were directed at Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for purportedly sidelining and betraying the rights and interests of Malays.
Employing black propaganda – or in Kit Siang’s words “racist muck-spreading and mud-slinging??? – is hardly a new tactic. Earlier this year, Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau came under attack for his speech at the state assembly, a segment of which touched on an ‘apartheid’ analogy. Predictably, the mainstream media were malicious and provocative in playing up his views as a ‘sensitive issue’.
Dr Boo has characterized the flak directed at him back in March as political opportunism by the Umno-controlled media that would inevitably demonize any Pakatan Rakyat politician who threatens to undermine Umno’s race ideology. This is regardless of whether it was a Malay, Chinese or Indian who questioned the underpinnings of Umno hegemony.
His speech was strategically thought out to raise awareness on the failed economic polices of heavy governmental interference in the state, Dr Boo said, adding that in the case of the “mishandling??? of Dana Johor, investors who suffered were overwhelmingly Umno members.
Extract from Dr Boo Cheng Hau’s speech on Feb 26, 2009 at the Johor state assembly – translated from Malay by CPI.
YB Dato’ Speaker,
The problem besetting Dana Johor shareholders is still unresolved. Dana Johor shareholders have complained they sold back their shares to Permodalan Johor Berhad at the cost of 50 sen per unit compared to RM1 per unit of Amanah Saham Johor. This difference in price has upset those who invested in Dana Johor. YAB Menteri Besar had promised during the sitting of this august House in the previous term that the Johor state government would offer the same purchase price for both ASJ dan Dana Johor, that is, at RM1 per unit of share.
This promise has not been fulfilled.
YB Dato’ Speaker,
What has upset Dana Johor shareholders is the discriminative treatment by Permodalan Johor Berhad which extended a clearly different buyback price to Amanah Saham Johor. The difference in purchase price between ASJ and Dana Johor can be said to be an apartheid economic policy because of the difference in the treatment given two groups of Johor citizens.
YB Dato’ Speaker,
Skudai [Dr Boo’s constituency] has been informed that Dana Johor shareholders borrowed from banks that charged two different interest rates, that is for ‘Members’ (Bumiputera) and ‘Non-Members’ (Bukan Bumiputera), where non-Bumiputera borrowers were charged a higher interest rate without taking into account their socio-economic status. For the information of this august House, such an economic policy is not affirmative action based on the socio-economic status of those who qualify for aid, but it is, in fact, apartheid based on racial politics where instead financial aid is given the dominant group.
YB Dato’ Speaker,
Apartheid is not only to do with the physical aspect where there is segregation in the use of public transport based on skin colour and native status. The worst aspects of apartheid are the socio-economic, education, culture and language deprivation predicated on the supremacy and native claim of the Afrikaner. Afrikaners are white South Africans of Dutch descent who said they established the First Civilized Government in the country.
For the information of this august House, apartheid was initiated to ‘help the poor white natives’. It is disappointing that certain Malaysian politicians still hold to Bumiputeraism or Nativism as a yardstick for the government to grant absolute preferential treatment even though Bumiputeraism is an apartheid ideology based on the prejudice that certain races have special rights which cannot be disputed.
________________
Dr Boo’s explanation of apartheid in the Malaysian context can be read in CPI’s condensed version of his original write-up.
Related articles: