16 September, or Malaysia Day, was declared a new public holiday by DS Najib soon after he came to power. It was supposed to be a sign of solidarity with Sabah and Sarawak that the day we supposedly joined as one nation should be commemorated in this way (the 2 states gained independence on different dates, but in Najibite politics, who cares?!). It turned out to be a popular move, but till today this blogger wonders if this was more because we Malaysians got a new public holiday rather than what it was supposed to commemorate!
This year, a section of our community has decided to redefine Malaysia Day as a day to celebrate Malay Unity, Solidarity, Dignity, Power, ... all sorts of things Malay! I understood originally it was an idea of some Silat groups to do some sort of gathering partly in response to the Bersih 4.0 rally on Merdeka eve, with red being their preferred colour. However, the 'RED-shirt' movement was soon hijacked by elements of UMNO, led by Dato' Jamal Yunos, Head of UMNO Sungai Besar Division in Selangor and famous for his Sekinchan Ikan Bakar chain!
Since then, the 'red-shirt' movement has evolved into new heights of confusion. It is understood that the police have forbidden the 'red-march' from taking place, especially with its rather provocative plans to march from Low Yatt Mall at Bukit Bintang, recently a scene of racial tensions and typically dense with foreign tourists! However, the original silat groups involved are claiming that they were not planning any marches, but just gathering at Padang Merbok and performing activities there!
At the same time, adding to the confusion as is the norm of late, according to DS Najib, whilst UMNO's leadership is not supporting it, it has no objections to UMNO members joining it! So, I suppose UMNO's leadership is agreeing with the police... but they just don't mind if their members join the 'red-march'! The UMNO President's opinion on this may change though if rumours of #UndurNajib red-shirts being distributed like hot-cakes for the 16 September march rings true! And what if Tun Dr M decides he wants to join the reds at Padang Merbok?
Of course, RED is not your only option if you want to make a fashion statement on 16 September. Last week, a new group emerged, protesting against continued demos happening in KL, citing the negative impact to hawkers, small businesses, daily affairs of city-folk and the national image. They are now calling for ALL MALAYSIANS to wear BLACK on the 15th & 16th September in protest of these demos, especially the reds! It was interesting to note that this group is also led by Malay grassroots leaders from their own NGOs!
Not to be outdone, this blogger has seen yet another social media message doing the rounds citing a man with a family concerned about the state of the nation and his future descendents, wanting people to wear WHITE on 16th September! In the meantime, someone from among the Silat groups planning to gather at Padang Merbok is now claiming there is no colour code! i.e. they will be multi-coloured in their gathering!
Ironically, with the Haze, besides the risk from breathing, one should be worried about visibility when going around the city. And any Health and Safety professional worth their salt will inform you that the safest colour to wear in situations of poor visibility is... YELLOW! So will we see safety conscious Malaysians wearing yellow as well in the Haze if it persists to 16 September? Of course, 'safety' in wearing yellow on the day may be relative...
So, we appear to have choice in what we can wear in KL on Malaysia day... Red if you wish to champion or celebrate Malays or if you support #UndurNajib (arguably the same thing!), Black if you wish to protest against demos, with a bonus that you can start wearing black on the 15th, White if you are worried about your kids' future, Yellow if you wish to be safe... or unsafe... depending on where you think the danger may be coming from, or just wear anything you like even if you wish to join the gathering at Padang Merbok!
Much as we would like all this colour to mingle, or not, in good fun on 16 September, one fears the propect of Dato' Jamal's reds and the #UndurNajib reds actually clashing on on the day, bringing to life the 'Melayu bunuh Melayu' fears of ANY Malay community leader, turning the city streets red... with blood! At the same time, if the reds descending on 16 September are a nasty lot, maybe we should wish the Haze on them... not so they would choke to death... just so they get lost in it with screams turning into fits of coughing!
As an aside, science-fiction fans would be particularly alarmed by the presence of so many red shirts, knowing the fate that befalls most of these characters!
Either way, DS Najib's apparent indifference, bordering on subtle support to the reds on 16 September have the hallmarks of another failure of leadership; with the risk of the day turning from a day of commemoration raised by him as a public holiday signifying national unity, into a potential black date on our history much like 13 May! And even if it does turn to bloodshed, will the man finally realise that it is well past time for him to resign? ... one despairs...
15 comments:
GO TO HELL BERSHIT IS THE BETTER NAME NOT BERSIH
You, Mr Blogger, should wear a jumpsuit and go for exercise. You are too fat.
Ceritanya begini.
Ada seorang pencuri, dia pandai mencuri.
Satu hari pencuri itu kena tangkap, dan dalam begnya ada beribu-ribu ringgit.
Ramai yang menangkapnya orang melayu.
Jadi, si pencuri ini pandai. Bila dia kena tangkap, dia kata ada satu cina di rumah sebelah kurang ajar kepada orang melayu.
Jadi itu, naik marah orang yang menangkap pencuri itu. Disebabkan terlampau marah, dilepaskan pencuri itu dan pergi ramai-ramai cari orang cina itu.
Bila dah terlepas, pencuri ketua terbahak-bahak dan balik rumah cerita dengan kawan pencuri yang lain.
Itu aje cerita dia, takkan lah itu pun tidak nampak.
Ada 2 perkara, 1, benci kepada orang cina dan 2. Jadi bodoh.
Orang melayu kena bezakan 2 perkara ini,
Kalau nak benci kepada orang cina pun, takkan lah nak jadi bodoh sekali.
Kalaulah perkara-perkara ini tidak nampak susahlah orang melayu, ashik nak kena tipu memanjang.
The corrupt leaders need to keep the citizen of Malaysia divided, this is an age-old "divide and conquer" tactic. With the different ethnic groups up against one another, the corrupt government can divert the attention away from their greed and corrupt practices.
Malaysians need to unite and not be misled.
Najib thinks his Rent-A-Crowd worked?
Tell that to the 2 injured cops, and the many PRDM members who were rudely shoved aside when the Rent-A-Crowd went into areas that were explicitly prohibited by the rally permit.
Anyway, the likely thing is that Mr PM's approval rating has plummeted after this unruly fiasco.
Meanwhile, he was saying this:
"We succeeded in forging an identity as a prosperous nation made up of different cultures and traditions. What other country has united multi-racial communities like Malaysia? We have Malays, Chinese, Indians, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Kadazandusun, Bajau, Murut and others. Our differences have not stopped us from living in harmony," said Najib.
"Moderation", "harmony", "transparency".
He's a master of meaningless, insincere phrases.
3:14 p.m,
Ko selalu kena tipu ke? Aku dan lain lain Melayu tak.
Kami mahu maruah Melayu mana yang dah di sentuh di tebuskan. Nijak gambar2 pemimpin Melayu tuh biadap dan kangjor. Mcm Naib Pengerusi DAP Tengku Aziz kata kpd Lim Guan Eng masa dia cabut keluar daro DAP.
I support 319's views. Wanna add:
The diversion now is to ensure lessening of the hitting on the you know who.
I also agree with 3:22 p.m.
Not only "He's a master of meaningless, insincere phrases", he is also desperate in maintaining his position and has not much other things than saying those.
Unity is not by the way he rules. The DAP has been known as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and caused the race riots of 1969. Those often biadap and kurang ajar, ultra kiasu, ungrateful ingrate blokes need to be well controlled. Yet he threw away ISA and decided to discard the Sedition Act but the Ketua2 Bahagian, Pemuda and Wanita UMNO raised their objection in public and he flip flopped.
Tuan Admin,
Harap ada post baru, minat nak komen dlm blog tuan nih, pos pos yang lalu saya minat.
Kalau ada pos baru bang seminggua dua sekali, saya ingat nak "park" kat blog tuan nih keluarkan pendapat mcm yang 3 di atas tuh.
Wassalam.
All these Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts don't augur well for the state of affairs of the nation. Racial polarization to a high degree. Events that could spark another race riots.
"Overwhelmingly Chinese", according to one observation of the Yellow Shirt Bersih participants. And the Red Shirts were of course practically all Malays. And Bersih demonstrated the following features as well: illegal street demo, hard-headed stance, not bothered with Police advice of demo-ing elsewhere or on a later date, attended mostly by DAP members and supporters led by no less than old man Kit Siang and son Guan Eng. When that happened, the demo was perceived as anti-establishment to the extent of being accused as an attempt to unseat the duly elected Malay-led government by other than the ballot box.
All appeared ok at first. But when photos of Malay leaders were strewn about the places and stomped upon by what appeared to be the "anti-Malay, anti-Islam and causing the race riots of 1969" DAP blokes and bitches, the racist element came to the fore of many Malaysians' thinking.
I agree with the view that the Red Shirts rally - duly allowed by the Police as they complied with the requirements of the Peaceful Assembly Act - was at first meant to celebrate Malaysia Day, then hijacked by anti-Bersih and apparently Najib-supporting Jamal Ikan Bakar and finally well reacted to by Ali Rustam who announced that it will be known as a Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu sponsored by his Silat NGO.
All told, I think the Red Shirts did put across the message that the maruah or dignity of the Malays must not be touched, far from being trampled upon, by the non-Malays in this country.
"And even if it does turn to bloodshed, will the man finally realise that it is well past time for him to resign?" -
If it turned into bloodshed, likely to be be of 13 May 1969 proportion, the Military will be out assisting the Police control peace and order, and will be in charge of the situation until order will be fully restored. And the country will be ruled by a Director of Operations, like during the 13 May 1969 period. And not likely for Najib to be the Director of Operations. Also like the 1969 period.
But Sept 16 did not result in bloodshed. Now the question uppermost in very many people's minds is still: how to get Najib to resign.
Najib appears to be getting bolder. More desperate, according to some people. He's letting the AG (some may ask whether it's the "hidden hands" instruction) use SOSMA, the enactment meant for terrorists, on Khairuddin and Mathias Chang who were alleged to have sabotaged the economy of the country.
But what's revealed in the charge published so far is that they bad-mouthed Najib at several places in the West and in Spore and Hong Kong. No details given - what exactly they said that justified the charge.
And Tun Dr Mahathir had called for a press conference, attended by TS Muhyiddin, Ku Li, DS Shafie Afdal and DS Ooi. Highlighting the abuse of SOSMA by Najib and his government. Sure there would be more of such hitting at Najib in the coming days and weeks leading to UMNO General Assembly in December. We wait for the effects that may appear at the PAU.
Tun Dr Mahathir has said in his blog that DS Najib once told him that "Cash is King". It is now believed that Najib uses that as a guiding principle in his politics. The 1MDB, the RM2.6 billion credited into his personal accounts may be manifestations of that.
Ketua Bahagian UMNO Johor Bahru, Shahril Samad, publicly acknowledged that he received RM1 million from the party President, supposedly for his Bahagian's running expenses - a huge sum by any standard. The Ketua Bahagian UMNO Pontian, Ahmad Maslan, was said to have received RM2 million. "Hugher" still, favouritism, too. RM1 million here, RM2 million there, allegedly as payment for loyalty.
Very unhealthy practice. Very dangerous trend. It destroys the moral fabric of society. Especially coming from a PM. It will become a norm of behaviour for subsequent party Presidents if not checked and stopped. UMNO must replace Najib especially for this.
If most, if not all, of those in UMNO who matter on the subject of replacing Najib had received the alleged payments, the question will linger on and on - how to get Najib replaced. Maybe Tun Dr Mahathir has 1-2 silver bullets for use nearer to the PAU.
Oooooo, forgot to mention that among those at Tun Dr Mahathir's Press Conference to denounce the abuse of SOSMA the other day was TS Sanusi Junid, a loyal Mahathir's ally, Secretary General of UMNO for a few years during TDM's time, also a Cabinet Minister for several terms and a Menteri Besar of Kedah at one time.
Correction to comment at 3.13 pm:
The former MCA strongman DS Ong Tee Kiat was the one present at the PC, not DS Ooi.
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