THE Malay Proclamation – brainchild of the frustrated former prime minister (PM) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed – has been signed by several PAS leader recently.
The proclamation is a 12-point programme to save the Malays in the country. In effect, it calls for the unity of the Malays for their emancipation.
Ironically, the person who is the source of this proclamation and those who signed it are leaders who have miserably failed the Malays over the decades.
Dr Mahathir despite his two-term as PM never really uplifted the social and economic status of the Malay community.
However, the rhetoric of race and to some extent religion – the whole world knows – was used and manipulated by Dr Mahathir for the enrichment of his family members and his cronies.
If Dr Mahathir and PAS leaders are so gung-ho about uplifting the Malays, what were they doing all these years?
Dr Mahathir was the PM with virtual dictatorial powers for more than 22 years. Why didn’t he do something impactful to lift the social and economic status of the Malays?
Why bemoan and cry now? What is then his real ulterior motive? Is it to bring down the legitimate unity government headed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim?
PAS, the sanctimonious party – holier than thou – has been the ruling party in Kelantan and Terengganu for decades. How come the Malays in these two states are so poor that they have to migrate to bigger cities and even to Singapore for better paying jobs?
Even basic facility such as adequate water has not been secured for the people in Kelantan. For PAS, under its supremo Tan Sri Hadi Awang, religion is just way to ensure it remains relevant to the Malays.
Minus the religion, PAS is no different to other political parties. In the past, it sought to eschew race from its political ideology but then given the primacy of race, it has sought to embrace both race and religion again.
Gone are the days in which it sought to eliminate nationalism from its political ideology. It is just another hypocritical political party that seeks power and positions.
The Malay Proclamation might be all about saving the Malays from oblivion. However, on closer scrutiny, it is not about saving the Malays but how to bring down the unity government under Anwar.
Mahathir thinks that he is gift to deliver the Malays from oppression and tyranny. But he conveniently forgets – sometimes deliberately – that he is the leader who failed to unite the Malays.
PAS has a major share in disuniting the Malays. In this respect, Dr Mahathir and Hadi are hardly fit to talk about Malay unity or to uplift the Malays.
The Malay Proclamation is nothing but a political propaganda to garner Malay support to undermine and bring down the unity government. Dr Mahathir cannot stand the idea of Anwar Being PM of the country.
This is Dr Mahathir’s main source of irritation. But he forgets that Anwar’s unity government is no push over compared to the earlier Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or the subsequent Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Both Dr Mahathir and Hadi can keep on repeating the mantra of the collapse of the unity government. It is their right to do so.
However, by repeating the mantra of a collapse of the unity government, they are inadvertently driving home the point about the puerile nature of the Malay Proclamation.
The proclamation is all about bringing down the unity government and nothing remotely related to uplifting of the Malays. – May 4, 2023
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the DAP state assemblyman for Perai. He is also Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main pic credit: PAS’ Facebook page
