JULY 14 — The speed with which the Low Yat Plaza episode turned into a race war should be taken as a grave indication. It tells us that we are in a very precarious situation (telur di hujung tanduk, as the Malays say) — one short social media blitz with false information can bring out the ugly racism which lurks beneath the surface. It is like dropping a lit match. If you drop a lit match on concrete, no harm done. Sadly, Malaysian politics is not so innocuous. It is more like dropping a lit match on an oil spillage, the resulting explosion will be extremely destructive.
To take our analogy further, who can be blamed for this oil spillage? The blame must go to UMNO for its decades of racial politics and more so, if it is ineffective in punishing the culprits of this riot. UMNO is indirectly complicit in this shameful episode from a number of angles.
The first — direct links with those involved in the riot. One particular person, the so-called Ali Tinju has shown great disrespect with an obscene gesture to Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan a few years ago. More recently, according to Tun Mahathir, he caused the cancellation of the ‘Nothing2Hide’ event as well. This person has pictures linking him with top UMNO personalities and has been caught on video stoking racial sentiments for this riot. If UMNO does not wish to be associated with him, it must denounce him very quickly.
This is also true with PEKIDA’s involvement. PEKIDA has been said to have links with UMNO. There was actually a seminar in an Australian university which discussed this! The Prime Minister’s attendance at their event and his promise of government aid was actually criticized by the former opposition leader. UMNO Youth leader’s silence about PEKIDA’S involvement in the Low Yat riot is also deafening. Once again, UMNO must sever ties with this thuggish organization quickly.
Secondly — direct links with the alleged instigator. The blogger ‘Papagomo’ (Wan Mohd Azri Wan Deris) is currently being investigated for spreading false rumours regarding the Low Yat incident. The IGP has announced intent to arrest this threat to national security but Papagomo’s links to UMNO top brass is undeniable. UMNO must now publically dissociate from this person and if he is found guilty, ensure that he serves the appropriate jail time.
Thirdly — ideological links with other instigators. ISMA, a racist and Islamofascist organisation, has published an essay by one Azmi Arshad under the heading ‘Low Yat is only a gentle reminder’. In that essay, Azmi made libellous claims against various opposition leaders and social activists, claiming that they are ‘among those who insult and provoke Muslims’. This is patently untrue. If anything, those activists are striving for a free and democratic for all. Nevertheless, given Azmi’s readership, his lies may instigate extremists to harm these individuals.
Azmi further states that ‘If the bangsats continue to provoke then they are going to get whatever they deserve whether under the law or by those taking the law into their own hands. Hopefully the former.’ This is a poorly disguised way of insinuating that even those ‘taking the law into their own hands’ will also give the aforementioned people ‘whatever they deserve’. As such, it is a cleverly worded threat. UMNO must denounce the words of this individual and ISMA as a whole. ISMA is far too similar with UMNO in terms of ideology and UMNO is not a stranger to more literal versions of keris-brandishing itself. Given this fact, UMNO must show itself to be for national unity as a whole.
The Low Yat Plaza incident is not a random occurrence. The threat of racially-motivated violence will always loom over us if we keep tolerating racism like the above. Malay racism is now a mini industry with its own entrepreneurs. If UMNO is sincere in wanting to improve this situation, it must take action immediately or risk being tarred with the same brush. Given that the approval ratings for UMNO is at an all-time low, this is its chance to redeem itself before being shown the exit by the Rakyat.
* This is the personal opinion of the organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
