However, this is the norm today, Hanif lamented, no thanks to the "alternative media phenomena", community leaders and a "small group of people" who give no second thought to how much this hurts the Malays.
"The feelings of the people, especially the Malays and Muslims, are no longer considered. My retiree friends and I are very sad about this and sometimes wonder where this country is being led to, especially now when there are Muslims who even consider themselves prophets or god.
"By
God, it is as if there is a grand design in place that can lead to the
country's destruction, if not carefully managed," he said. Haniff was addressing the Selangor Sultan at a tea party with government retirees in conjunction with the Sultan's birthday last Sunday.
The text of his speech was released to media today.
In his speech, Hanif also said that alternative media has eroded the credibility of the traditional media.
He said these new media were also being used to "spread slander and lies without shame or the fear of Allah".
"There are also leaders who travel from one country to another to speak ill of their own country to gain international support.
This is unlike in the US or other Western nations, where political differences end at their shores and are not brought internationally, for the sake of national unity, pride and dignity," he said.
'Demonstrations hurt the economy'
In his speech, provided to media by the Selangor government, Hanif also traced the nation's history from pre-Independence time to the communist insurgency and to today.
Among others, he expressed regret that PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu could say that police officers who died when the Bukit Kepong post was attacked by communists were loyal to the British.
Hanif claimed that this was untrue because the British never actually colonised Malaya, and were only administering the federated and non-federated Malay states on the consent of the Malay rulers.
Even the British government, when faced with the suit against 24 people killed in the Batang Kali massacre, argued that Selangor then was a sovereign state and not a British colony.
Moving forward to the "third phase" - the post-1998 Malaysia - he said this era was plagued by street demonstrations that "affected the nation's development".
"If
in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, demonstrations only involved pro-communist
Chinese youths, today this phenomena is anchored by all youths and
Malays," he observed. Although Malays now make up about half of urbanites, Hanif said, they were in the lowest economic ranking compared with their fellow urban-dwellers from the other races.
"All these have their own ramifications and have to be dealt with through long-term vision," he said.
Hanif was the federal police chief from 1974 to 1994, making him the longest-serving head of the force.
He took charge at the age of 35, following the death of then inspector-general Abdul Rahman Hashim, who was shot dead by communist insurgents.
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