The real significance of Ahmad Ismail
Does Ahmad Ismail represent a huge swath of Malaysian society, or is he a lone ranger?
Examining this question may yield important answers about the current state of Umno in Malaysia.
After Monday’s incident which included infantile supporters ripping up pictures of Koh Tsu Koon, we can expect some further shows of support for Ahmad by a few individuals and groups.
It is worth recalling the NEP protest in Penang and Selangor soon after March 8th, as well as the UiTM protests more recently. These gatherings, numbering usually in the low four figures or so, should have us questioning just how deep and wide the fears of Malay Malaysians currently run.
Concerns about uprisings were indeed widespread in early March, where many feared the period when Umno-led ultranationalists would have had the most reason and impetus to display extreme displeasure with the election results.
That cloud passed without a storm, a fact which left a distinct impression amongst Malaysians that we had come a long, long way in our fifty years of existence as a nation.
Legitimate Malay concerns
The passing of this storm should not be taken to mean however, that widely felt, legitimate concerns amidst the Malay middle ground do not exist.
In an era where globalisations swallows cultures whole, and amidst a global backdrop where Islam appears constantly under siege, it is undeniably understandable to fear the loss of one’s identity.
Thus far, that risk is in Malaysia offset by truly painful, back breaking governance by the incumbent ruling coalition as well as the existence of a currently acceptable alternative. That said, the concerns that communal dignity and identity are at risk remain and people will continue to watch closely.
Luckily for Malaysia, the current willingness to take a chance on a new government goes hand in hand with a lack of appetite for destructive behaviour on a mass scale. Malaysians have proudly shown that they love their families and their neighbours too much to visit violence on one another in solidarity with a party that has done more than anyone else to frustrate its own stated aims.
We now face the possibility of another major political shift, and are once again faced with the same questions of whether a major uprising of discontent is in the books.
My feeling is that if it didn’t happen in March, it will not happen in the event of a change of federal government. A number of observations inform this view.
Umno no longer trusted by Malays
Firstly, we must not underestimate the power of a simple truth: that Malays have been betrayed not by any ‘kaum pendatang,’ but by Umno itself.
The last few decades have seen damage done by Umno to itself and to the Malay community that can only be described as irreparable - a term not used lightly.
With the centrality of image to politics, the typical mansion-dwelling, Mercedes-riding Umno leader who built his or her fortune on the back of poor Malays is an enduring liability, as is its role in creating an increasingly dangerous and widening gap between the Malay poor and the Malay rich. Pakatan Rakyat’s constant reinforcement of this image has certainly hurt as well.
Umno’s stewardship has by its own admittance failed to realise the goals of policies such as the NEP aimed at raising the standard of living in the Malay community. Raised keris in one hand, the other hand has stole everything of worth from Malays and Malaysians. Fortunately, Malaysians can now see in the cold light of day what been done time and time again by those hidden hands.
As a party, Umno has clearly degenerated from a service oriented institution to a patronage based one. While this may have been vaguely, if immorally, sustainable with a totalitarian idealogue at the helm during good times, it is certainly not surviving inept leadership and even more severe levels of graft. Ahmad’s defiance is also clearly symptomatic of the dangerous power vacuum left behind in the leadership crisis currently affecting Umno and BN.
In short, with ever dwindling public support - especially in urban areas - Umno is indeed a sinking ship. Take away the myth of invincibility, as was done in March, and very little of substance remains.
Last ditch efforts by Umno dependents
This is not to say that the Umno hardliners are without any support whatsoever. Yes, there is a section of society - from all ethnic groups - who are simple, hateful racists. I don’t think they number greatly though; the group we should watch is far more sophisticated and dangerous.
We must remember that many, many people got rich via Umno connections - connections that soon stand to lose essentially all their worth (except perhaps if you live, say, in Johor).
In other words, there is a massive amount at stake.
The priority of those who stand to lose so much is, obviously, to retain power at all costs. For Umno, means of doing or so are limited by at least two impossibilities: moving towards true integrity, and moving out of a race-centric framework. The former would defeat the entire purpose and the latter, the raison d’etre of race based parties.
In Umno, this means that as far as strategies go, they are back to square one: defending Malay supremacy against the “evil machinations” of non-Malays.
I think it is wisest to view this desperation coldly. Rather than rush to defend the dignity and rights of non-Malays, which is all well and good, we should be thinking about how to manage any potential impact the rhetoric of Umno leaders like Ahmad Ismail may have.
Fortunately, it is unlikely to achieve much mileage or gain traction on its own merits, for the simple reason articulated above: people no longer trust Umno leaders - not even to defend Malay dignity.
That said, we should both expect and not be surprised by some level of support, recalling again that many individuals and their dependents (who provide bodies and numbers when called upon) rely on Umno not for the dignity or prestige of their ethnic group, but for the size of their wallets.
We should also not take this threat for granted, but manage it wisely.
Sound and fury
Fluster, bluster, sound and fury will amount to very little. At the end of the day, the best defender of non-Malay rights is a Malay, and the best defender of Malay rights is a non-Malay.
It is thus the duty of myself and many reading to reinforce the notion as publicly and as often as possible that the central tenets of Malay economic well being, culture, religion and way of life will always be held sacrosanct in this land and never, ever sacrificed to posterity or allowed to assimilate excessively and fade away.
The rest, I leave to my Malay brothers and sisters.
The clock ticks for Malaysia; race-based politics has been the biggest structural impendiment to true Malaysian harmony by far, and the time has come to leave it far behind in the dust of history.
Im a malay, and im utterly ashamed with this ape called ahmad ismail…
malaysia is a nation of immigrants, be it malays, chinese, indians etc…hell, even the orang asli’s ancestors must have come from somewhere thousands of years ago…didn’t you read the results of the genome project?
apparently, some 50,000 years ago, the first community (or shall i say, the first human being) was said to originate from the continent of africa…from there they migrated to every nook and corner of this beautiful earth…
our DNA says some where along the line of thousands of years of human history, each and every single one of us is actually interconnected..
my point is, it’s completely ridiculous to suggest that certain groups of people are a bunch of immigrants to a certain piece of land…i mean, if we start saying, “hey, my nenek moyang got here first than yours, hence this is our land” , where and when will it end?
in the end, we are all immigrants, and nobody shall claim this beautiful land called malaysia their sole right property…
peace!
(im a malay, yet i hate those who judge people from their colours, beliefs, or anything…and yes, i detest monkeys like ahmad ismail and ameno speaking on behalf of me…)
Nat, I truly enjoy reading your articles and mulling over your insights. You present well-thought through perspectives on the current despairing local landscape very eloquently. Keep it up, my friend!
nat: humble thanks boss, you’re too kind!
UMNO showing their true color?
What is PM doing?
ISA only for opposition?
Why this is not a head news of Utusan?
MCA remain silent? busy with party election??
MIC don’t give a damm?
Where is PPP?
well done UMNO!!!!
Whether U like it or not - to many Malay M’sian, May13 marked the day of change! The beginning of the glorious Ketuanan Melayu. The true & the real facts of the M’sia nationhood are not important!
So much so that they silently ‘revered’ this black chapter of M’sia history. The umno politikus know this to their hearts. So time & time again May13 will be re-surfaced to remain ‘the pendatang’ who is the boss of the land.
The general Mat Joe M’sians are easy meat. Years of BTN indoctrinations & lousy world-views due to skewed religious teachings has produced the Malay M’sian’s mentality of ‘herd amokism’. Hence the ‘herd-amokism’ is an unique Malay character! Easy to manipulated via the twin ‘drugs’ of race & religion, most of the Mat Joe M’sian just responded impulsively & positively!
All one need is a demagogou, hiding behind religion & race, to repeat this Black M’sian history.
Thus the second-coming of May13 is real! No thanks to the Mat Joe M’sian of the urban, who has the most to lost due to the way they obtain their current standard of living. Many, via umno connections, have enriched themselves nefariously. There r a lot to loss for them!
The fear of Allah will keep those rural Mat Joe M’sians to behave. Moreover, all these calls of religion & race are really hollow to them. They have nothing much to lose, unlike their urban cousin.
So the call of PAS to protect the Non-Bumi, Non-Muslim, plus the rise of the creditable Malay M’sians to counter this undercurrent from further building up is of up-most important.
Umno is a cornered animal. Umnoputras are the wounded monsters that will take anything to fight for their claimed to power. They have the most to loose, as without political power, they will simply vanished due to their im-competitiveness in a challenging world. Their rent-seeking, cronyism & corrupt way of livings are just not able to keep them alive without political manipulations.
Why is this Ahmad still walking freely and causing further damage.
He is up to no good
If another person were to do even a little than what he has done he would have been ISAed, so why dont the police arrest him and the govt ISA him.
I suppose iSA is meant only for non Umno/BN people.
MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!
Can you see his evil rings? Malaysian Lord of the RIngs！
haiyaaah…. instead of thinking soundly about all this, can’t we just kick the fella in the head?!?!?
nat: hahaha, sedition! sedition!
At the end of the day, the best defender of non-Malay rights is a Malay, and the best defender of Malay rights is a non-Malay.
That’s the best statement of the day! To change something, it’s always love and a non prejudicial perception of others!
Dear Nat,
I’ve found your blog to be very informative. Keep up the good work :)
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve added you to my blog links section as well.
Rgds
The Ahmad Ismail saga leading to the fracas yesterday is a deliberately orchestrated drama to put pressure on Badawi to resign. When the leadership is weak, the second and third level members will flex their muscles, especially with the coming umno assembly. Cheap publicity!!!
Do you notice :
1. He dared not call the Indians ‘pendatang’ because if you
look at the pictures, many of his so-called supporters are
pendatangs from India, especially the one tearing up
KTK’s photo. Won’t be surprised if you look into his
roots he would have some kutty blood running in him.
2. His comment about the ‘Chinese emulating the American
Jews…….’ is to provoke malay sentiments of hate.
3. He is a pathological liar with his denial of responsibility :
“I didn’t do anything wrong, it’s the Sin Chew reporter…..”
“It’s not me, it’s KTK who caused the racial tension….”
“I have no role in it, I didn’t ask him to tear up the photo…”
“I don’t have to apologize, KTK should apologize…….”
And Badawi’s pathetic comment ‘I am UTTERLY unhappy!’. He wants Ahmad to meet him and explain!! Oooooh…. who is shivering in his shoes???
Where are the police in their balaclavas and handcuffs. This bigotted racist baboon should have been arrested (evidence taped, recorded and shown over NTV7, what is Bukit Aman waiting for?), stripped of his datukship, charged with ISA and sedition and locked up in Kamunting!
crap.. i was just thinking about this last night - must be channeling you heh heh :)
You’re spot on, in my opinion. UMNO’s only recourse is to revert to its race-based roots and attempt to bring things to a head by escalating racial sentiments. It got out of a loss of 2/3rds majority in 1969 because of the riots - I shall remain silent about the cause and point to Dr Kua’s book on May 13th.
The point is, this ploy could work again.
If Wanita Gerakan, MCA and the rest don’t keep their collective traps shut, things are bound to ratchet up several notches. It’s best to leave a dying UMNO to flail about and try not to become collateral damage.
In the meantime, I don’t know how Anwar’s going to avoid doing something drastic about the entrenched interests in the civil service and the private sector. By drastic I mean not just the removal of partisan appointees but nationalizing whole sectors.. I’m thinking about the media in particular, and next, transportation.
In any case, I also agree with c53k - PAS must make a public stand, once and for all, about Ahmad Ismail. They have the requisite moral authority, and they are appealing to religion rather than any racial arguments (I know, simplistic, but well…).
The problem of wielding religion in such a fashion recalls Dr Farish Noor’s warnings on the matter. It’s a minefield, ain’t it?
Dear Nat,
I’ve found your blog to be very interesting and informative. Keep up the good work :)
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve added your blog to my blog links section.
Rgds
pernah dgr cerita “katak di bawah tempurung” versi baru..?
Seekor katak bernama Ahlamad ingat dunia ni seluas kawasan dlm tempurung dan ingat dia saja maha kuasa di dlm tempurung ni..asyik-asyik nak halau hidupan-2 lain dlm tempurung ni..mana tau satu hari hidupan-2 lain tak boleh tahan lagi…terus hentam dia kuat-2…wahai Ahlamad yg bodoh sombong….keturunan kami sudah ada di sini sebelum u punya nenek moyang bertelur di sini…u punya nenek moyang pun tak mungkin lahir secara spontan dlm tempurung ini….u juga pendatang…cuma u size besar sikit saja…sila jgn kurang ajar…baru semua boleh hidup bersama-sama dgn aman dan damai. FAHAM kah?
sekian terima kasih…
When the so called ‘ketuanan melayu’ in Umno are threatened, they will not be shy to use the race card, to secure their position. They are rather political opportunists benefited from the cover of NEP…Ahmad Ismail is the typical case.
Sadly, there are many more ‘pretender’ defenders of Malay rights, lying close to the surface of a dirty pond, ready to re-surface and mount racial disturbances, just an excuse, to regain the fertile loss ground, where they harvest their ill gotten wealth.
It is also pleasing, to see many of the younger generation, especially the malay, no longer buy this old tune, packed with lies.
A change is needed to dispose not individual racists but, the whole UMNO party that preaches racialism. The moment of truth is within sight, tread on it carefully, the mission to establish a new fair and just govt can be accomplished. A new Bangsa Malaysia will emerge to build a better, a more forward looking nation…where politic of race is no longer an issue.
gambar di atas macam bagi amaran….”aduh! jgn main buntut saya lagi…sakit nya!”….mesti la….org ni gatai dari atas ke bawah….no wonder asyik-2 nak cari pasal…tunggu org “scratch” dia ..kan?
I agree with your analysis that it is UMNO that appears to have gone off its mooring. From a party of high ideals to a party of avaricious and self-interested leaders. That also describes all the component parties of Barisan Nasional.
51 years of political dominance has led to a form of political in-breeding that has sacrificed vision and replaced it with myopia. In the same 51 years they failed to improve the multiracial discourse and promote integration. As a people, we have regressed within our invisible ethnic boundaries. We look at each other no differently than humans looking at animals at a zoo and, vice versa.
We need to parlay this episode into a cry and action for real integration. Intelligent analysis like yours will certainly nudge the Malaysian community towards greater goodwill.
I concur with your views 100%. I hope your article will bring awareness to those who have been hoodwincked by UMNO rhetorics, that umnno cared so much about the malays that only umno can defend the the malay rights. To begin with one should not talk about Malay right or Chinese right or Indian right. The point to begin with is Malaysian right. Any right based on race is defective and is racist.
By the way Nathaniel Tan, I just want to tell you that I admire your maturity and excellent mind. You are barely 28, yet you write with such excellent talent. God bless you
Why does anyone want to open the Pandora’s box
Or to openly stir the proverbial hornet’s nest?
Unless the foolish one is ever ready to box
Thinking in this whole world he’s the best
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 090908
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Tue. 9th Sept. 2008.
Sir
Thank you for your comments. I must say that I find racism to be endemic in Malaysia and it is literally built into the constitution. This is a sad state of affairs when the rest of the developed world (and much of the developing world) is leaving racism behind it. I find it especially disconcerting that many of the concepts employed by mainstream politicians in Malaysia are similar in nature to concepts used by Nazi Germany (e.g. Ketuanan Melayu = Master Race?). The European experience of racism had its logical conclusion in the Nazi gas chambers. Although we are still far away from such an outcome in Malaysia the intellectual building blocks are already there in the public sphere.
How do we prevent such an outcome? We must deconstruct and challenge the set of assumptions and opinions that go to make up Malaysian racism. As Malaysians we have a long way to go on this front. To pick one example, we Malaysians tend to conflate race, religion and culture.
The ideal situation would be for a person not to be treated differently on the basis of their race either in private or in the public sphere. As soon as someone is treated differently in private or under the law on the basis of their race, then you have implicitly accepted racism as an ideology. To me and to much of the rest of the world (outside of Malaysia) this is both unacceptable and repugnant. You state in your comment:
“It is thus the duty of myself and many reading to reinforce the notion as publicly and as often as possible that the central tenets of Malay economic well being, culture, religion and way of life will always be held sacrosanct in this land and never, ever sacrificed to posterity or allowed to assimilate excessively and fade away.”
If you mean by this that a person’s race will be a distinguishing factor for differential treatment under the law and by public bodies in perpetuity, I cannot disagree with you more. To me this is just pandering to racism.
Whimpering MCA, Gerakan and MIC Leaders Wilt in Face of Big Brother UMNO!
So, the BN component parties have agreed to allow UMNO to decide on any action to be taken against that unworthy recipient of the Datukship title Ahmad Ismail, for uttering racist remarks against Chinese.
What a useless bunch of leaders we have in MCA and Gerakan and MIC. This Ahmad goes round openly flouting the ISA and Sedition Act and what not, yet MCA, MIC and Gerakan do not demand at the BN Supreme Council meeting today that such a seditious utterer be charged under the existing laws. How they can delegate the actions to be taken against Ahmad, to UMNO solely, is beyond comprehension. Should not the law of the country apply to Ahmad instead? Should the police not take steps to charge Ahmad instead? How is it that the MCA, MIC and Gerakan leaders do not insist at the BN Supreme Council Meeting that the law be applied to Ahmad, instead, they are preferring internal UMNO party procedures take precedent over the laws of the land?
If this is the case, then it is best that ISA and Sedition Act be abolished altogether, for it seems that the present government is indulging in selective prosecution yet again. And in fact, this is our stand, that the ISA and Sedition Act are draconian laws that should be abolished for it is increasingly appearing to be as a tool to be used only when convenient. If UMNO procedures can take precedence over these laws, then there really is no point in having these laws.
Utterly Useless Whimpering MCA, MIC and Gerakan leaders!
http://www.mca74justice.blogspot.com
“At the end of the day, the best defender of non-Malay rights is a Malay, and the best defender of Malay rights is a non-Malay.”
Couldn’t have said it any better. This is surely the essence and solution to the racial problem. You’ve hit the nail spot on!!
Nat, well said..
UmiQ(colorblind)
Ahmad Ismail should apologise on what he said..otherwise he will be purnished by Allah!!!
Even Allah also not agree on what you did!
FuCk you Ahmad Ismail!
Kenapa baru sekarang hendak bercakap tentang nasib Melayu ? Why not before this fiasco ?
Ini adalah kerana dahulu terlalu sibuk ‘ membesarkan temolok dan perut masing2 ‘.
Pergi jahanam lah !!!
Regards
Dear Ahmad & the gang,
Saddened to hear that you yourself have make a total joke outta yourself…this is not to criticise as we all do mistakes in life but you yourself have proven to the society that you’re a freaking racist…
i agree with the term “katak dibawah tempurung” by one of the poster… kalau u nak bukak mulut besar2 dan cakap kaum lain macam tuh, you takde beza dengan benda lain.. kita kan dah macam satu family, abis tuh kenapa nak cakap yg bukan2? ko ingat dah pandai sgt ke?
gosh, i guess Malaysia is a laughing stock on how we use to watch tv and laugh at other countries like taiwan throwing chairs all over making them look liek some uneducated fellas out there…. guess we are the same especially having a representative like ahmad.. thank god he’s not the PM else he’ll hv his own cooking shows like thai’s PM.. no pun intended!!!
Where does this fellow come from, he is also a penumpang!!!
KETUANAN SINGH !!!!!!!