KUALA TERENGGANU, June 14 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the Malays were in crisis and risked becoming marginalised like “Singapore Malays” because of political divisions.
He told a rally of Malay NGOs here today that Malays could end up as a minority in their own country.
According to the ex-premier, the community had become divided by political parties selling them out for power.
He then blamed PAS and PKR, instead of Umno, for the predicament he claimed Malays were now in.
“The Malays make up 60 per cent of the population. However, the percentage of Malay voters are smaller today because 20 per cent each is given to the three [Malay] political parties, including Umno.
“And they will fight each other, [and this will cause] the community to become a minority. They (PKR and PAS) only want to grab power. Their priority is not race and religion but power.
“They are willing to do anything to become prime minister,” he claimed when addressing Gertak’s rally at the state’s indoor stadium here.
Gertak means “to intimidate” or “to bully” in Bahasa Malaysia, but organisers have denied that today’s rally was meant to intimidate non-Malays.
Dr Mahathir said that community was in crisis and must act before it shares the same fate as its southern neighbours.
“If we do not think deeply about the future of our community then there is a possibility that we can become [like] the Singaporean Malays and have no power.
“We would have to bow down when facing other races. It’s not that we want other races to bow down to us but we want fair distribution of economic and political power,” he said.
However, he said Malays would only have themselves to blame for this downfall.
“We must not fault anybody but ourselves. We, as the majority in the country, have become the minority.
“And in a democratic system, the minority will not be in power. We have lost the chance to be in power and we [need to] regain it back,” he said.
He also criticised the younger generation for not fully appreciating the gravity of this scenario.
“Maybe younger Malays believe that there is nothing wrong if we are not in power. Believe me, that they will not look after our interests when we are not in power,” he said.
Dr Mahathir went on to claim that meritocracy would not empower the community but would instead hamper its progress.
“Meritocracy does not see religion and race. I feel that the Malays will not be successful if we distributed the country’s wealth according to meritocracy.
“If we are not in power then we will not be able to help our own people. This will be the downfall of our people,” he said.
The Gertak movement was founded earlier this year, shortly after the controversial “Allah” judgment.
In a landmark ruling on Dec 31 last year, the Catholic Church won the right to use the word “Allah” to also refer to God outside of Islam, shattering a long-held view among many Malaysian Muslims who considered that the word was reserved for their community.
The movement’s purpose was to unite the Malay community, which today is split over issues of religion and race, Gertak chief Razali Idris said.
An initial rally scheduled for May 13 had been cancelled after authorities stepped in out of concern the event may trigger memories of the racial bloodbath from 41 years ago and reignite tensions between Malaysia’s diverse ethnic groups.
Dr Mahathir warned Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak not to repeat the mistakes of the former’s successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“Since 2004, we have seen our economy at a stagnation and our leadership prioritising their family, then religion and race. Our relationship between the different races have also worsened and our party has become weaker.
“In 2008, we established a weak government, and a multi-racial country needs a strong government. We are willing to listen to the demands of other communities because [we] want support for the election but that will only make us weaker,” he said.
He added that the New Economic Model would not be able to bring the Malays out of their economic plight.
“We are requesting what is ours and not denying what belongs to the other [communities]. We just want a fair distribution of economic wealth,” he said.
The former prime minister then went on to dismiss perceptions that the “Melayu Bangkit” rally was provocative in nature, due to the rally’s original May 13 date.
“It was only a coincidence that the rally was planned on May 13. However, there were strong accusations that we wanted to incite racial sentiments. But must we forget our history? When we forget our history then we will risk repeating our mistakes again,” he said.
May 13, said the nation’s longest-serving premier, was relevant to conception of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and should serve as a reminder to the community.
“The bloody incident of May 13 was used as a guideline by the country’s leadership in finding the economic disparity between the poor and the rich, and between the different races.
“Through the NEP, we must remind ourselves that we won’t let this happen again. That is why I am of the opinion that we must not forget the dark chapters in the country’s history,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said that the NEP was important because it allows for a fair distribution of the country’s wealth among the different races.
“Why [do] we want to reduce poverty? Because we do not want to see only one race that is rich and another that is poor,” he said.