PETALING JAYA: Umno does not play the race card in elections, says an Umno minister. That’s not true, says an opposition MP.
Both Nazri Aziz and Mujahid Yusof Rawa, however, agree that race politics will no longer work. PKR vice-president Tian Chua also shares this view.
They were responding to a report on predictions by analysts that the 14th general election would have serious racial overtones and that Umno would bank on the racial card more than ever.
Umno supreme council member Nazri said the idea that Umno would use the race card to win the next general election was completely “off the mark”.
“That is rubbish,” he said. “You must remember that we have friends in Sabah and Sarawak and there are Bumiputeras who are not Malays. If we play the race card, they will detect it quickly and withdraw their support. So I can safely say that it will not happen.”
He said Umno members who might think otherwise were “naive” because they had not contested in elections.
“I’ve been in the last five elections and those of us who contested and are experienced know that it is suicide to play the race card.
“Analysts have never put themselves up as candidates. So they can analyse as much as they want, but they do not represent our thinking,” Nazri said.
However, Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa accused Umno of harbouring the desire to see racial polarisation prolonged and, thus, of betraying Malaysia’s founding fathers.
“We’re becoming more polarised not because the people want it that way, but because of the actions and behaviour of those in racist parties such as Umno who do not want Malaysians to move away from racial politics.”
Mujahid told FMT Umno needed to be reminded that Malaysia’s founding fathers intended for the country to be one day free of racial politics.
“To build this country as a multiracial country and to aspire to a Bangsa Malaysia in 2020, we need to tell Umno: ‘Look here, let’s go back to what our forefathers intended.’”
Mujahid said Umno was making a “grave mistake” in assuming that the Malays harboured communal sentiments and would, therefore, not support the opposition.
“If you look back at the 1999, 2008 and 2013 elections, when the racial card was repeatedly played, you can see that it did not have that much of an effect on the Malays, especially those with access to information and those who had experienced economic desperation and seen the way the government was managing the country and the corruption of those in power,” he said.
“You cannot underestimate the Malay voters and believe that they will buy into racial rhetoric.”
Mujahid alleged that the intensification of Umno’s racial rhetoric became starkly obvious after the 2008 general election, with its manipulation of the “Allah” issue and its attempts to convince the Malays that the Chinese wanted to take over the country.
He said the tactic nevertheless failed to win votes for the Barisan Nasional in 2013.
Meanwhile, Tian Chua agreed that it was unwise to underestimate Malay voters.
“Saying things like ‘the Chinese are taking over the country’ will not work any more,” he said.
“China is buying up everything in the country and I don’t think rural folks are blind to the fact that the current government is depending on China to bail us out of a lot of scandals.
“These crude statements will not work and we just have to be patient in rebutting them.”
However, he said, Pakatan Harapan would not deny there was a disparity in income between the Malays and other ethnic groups. “We must acknowledge there are issues that will cause concern and insecurities. Therefore, we need to be careful of what we say.”