IPOH, Dec 14 — The recent spate of racial politicking allegedly instigated by non-Malay politicians in the Opposition, seems to have triggered an internal war among the Malay community, creating a widening rift between two factions — the pro-Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Malays and the pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) Malays.
The chasm was further proven today when, in a press conference at the Perak DAP headquarters this afternoon, ousted Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin (picture) came to the defence of his non-Malay comrades in the PR and condemned the concept of “Malay Supremacy”, adding that it was an “un-Islamic” ideology.
He also urged his fellow Malays to open their eyes and see the BN's or Umno's ploy in using the concept to create a wave of protest against the PR alliance.
“As far as we in PAS are concerned, the entire concept is utter rubbish. There is no such thing as Malay supremacy but what it really is is Umno supremacy,” he said.
He said that PAS, even as an Islamist party, had never been an advocate of such a concept and this stand had been undertaken by the party's spiritual adviser Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat many years ago.
Nizar added that “Malay Supremacy” was anti-Islam and that any Muslim who committed treachery against Islam would be punished in one way or another.
“They will not go unpunished,” he said.
The Bukit Gantang MP added that the Umno Malays were presently attempting to distort all statements and actions taken by the non-Malay politicians in the PR, in order to create a false impression that they were “anti-Malay”.
“They are doing this everywhere and trying to get the Malays to believe them.
“Look at the incident of the frog doormat — they claimed that it was an act of the Chinese stepping on the faces of the Malays,” he said.
In the incident, the Perak DAP had been criticised for stepping on the pictures of PR defectors Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Hee Yit Foong during its annual convention in Ipoh recently.
Nizar was speaking out for his non-Malay colleagues in the PR — Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming and Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran — both of whom had come under fire lately for allegedly making “racial” statements in Parliament.
In Kulasegaran's case, the DAP national vice-chairman had said that the New Economic Policy and the concept of “Malay Supremacy” were obstacles in the quest to achieve racial unity in the country.
Nga, on the other hand, became the recipient of severe criticism when he spoke against the BN government's generous allocation for the construction of mosques in the country.
He had said that between the years 2000 and 2008, the government had spent RM748.26mil on the construction of 611 mosques but had failed to build any churches or Chinese and Indian temples in the same period.
Nga's statements had irked many negative responses especially from the Malay community and a series of police reports lodged against him as well as bad publicity in the local mainstream Malay media.
One particular newspaper has come under intense scrutiny by the Perak DAP secretary however — Utusan Malaysia — and Nga today lodged a police report against writer Awang Selamat and the publication for disseminating false information.
In his report, Nga used the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 506 of the Penal Code (criminal intimidation) against both parties, saying that the accusations made in the articles were baseless and grossly untrue.
He scoffed at the quality of the Malay daily and called it mere “toilet paper”.
“A newspaper without integrity is as good as toilet paper. They seem to have allowed themselves to enjoy this reputation,” he said, during the press conference alongside Nizar today.
Nga's report today was over an editorial by Awang Selamat published yesterday, which claimed that the DAP had plans to oust the Malay Rulers and turn Malaysia into a republic.
The article also accused the party's leaders of challenging the position of Islam as the country's official religion and claimed that they were attempting to rewrite the Constitution.
“He (Awang) also urged Kulasegaran to go back to India where he belonged and me to go to Singapore, Taiwan or Hong Kong,” said Nga.
The enraged Pantai Remis assemblyman said that such views were not representative of the entire Malay community, which he said were generally a friendly lot.
“I firmly believe that they are not qualified to represent the Malays. To the best of my knowledge, the Malays are well-natured, friendly, peace-loving, grateful and hospitable people.
“But these chaps in Utusan and in Umno, those who urinated on posters of us, they are not qualified to represent the general Malays. They bring shame to Islam,” he said.
Nga urged the Malay community to rebut the actions of their pro-BN brethren so that no more acts that tarnished the name of Islam as a religion would performed again.
Nga also said that he would initiate legal action against Utusan Malaysia and file a defamation suit soon.
“Should the case be won and damages be awarded to me, I will donate everything to the construction and refurbishment of mosques in Perak,” he said.
His suggestion was lauded by Nizar, who went further to suggest that any extra could go towards the construction of a mosque bearing Chinese architecture.
Nizar also added to the media conference that Nga was not a person who would criticise Islam or question the rights of the Malays.
“He is in full support of the construction of mosques and his only contention was on the point that fair consideration should be given to the construction of places of worship for all other religions.
“I myself have always been a believer of this,” said Nizar.
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