Zaid torches Utusan for stoking racial flamesJun 1, 09 7:00pm
Malaysiakini.com
Zaid Ibrahim has lashed out at Utusan Malaysia for playing up racial sentiments.
He said the articles which appeared in the daily's Sunday edition reminded him of how far removed the paper is from the reality of life in Malaysia.
"This is probably the reason why its readership is on the decline. It's theme and main plot is race, race and race," he added in a blog posting.
Zaid cited a particular article with the heading 'Melayu dikhianati?' (Malays betrayed) penned by Awang Selamat.
In the article, the former Umno leader said, the writer lamented that he is hurt by the demands, which reek of racism, of the non-Malays since the last general election.
"In other words, Malaysians must not hurt the feelings of Awang Selamat because when Awang Selamat is hurt, Umno is hurt and when Umno is hurt, the Malays are hurt.
"This is the logic of Awang Selamat," he added.
Zaid said the writer made no mention of the 'extreme' demands made by the non-Malays in his article.
"If they (the non-Malays) are asking about scholarships, land allocation and employment opportunities, can't these questions be addressed rationally and based on facts?
"Why get hurt so easily?" he asked.
Are all their demands baseless?
The former de facto law minister also questioned if all the demands of the non-Malays, whose rights are enshrined under the Federal Constitution, were baseless?
According to Awang Selamat, he said, this appears to be the case because "50 years ago Umno and the Malays were generous enough to offer citizenship to their (non-Malays) ancestors."
"Since Umno had been gracious in according them citizenship, their descendants should never make any demands because they must always be grateful to Umno," he added.
Zaid pointed out that this is the exact mindset which is no longer viable and has been rejected by all races.
When a citizen, be it a Malay, Chinese or Indian, asks for something, he said it is the duty of the government and the media to evaluate it in order to grant the request.
"If the demand is excessive, explain but don't raise history to cover up shortcomings. Do not get angry always, threaten and dish out pieces of incomplete history for political mileage," he said.
Zaid also reminded that the country obtained independence because the British agreed with the alliance on the terms. "When we agree, we must honour the agreement," he said.
In view of this, he said there was no reason to state that "we were being generous in granting citizenship to the Chinese and Indians."
"The fact is, that is the term we agreed to. At the time, it was impossible for the British to relinquish Malaya if the issue of citizenship for Chinese and Indians was not resolved.
In view of this, he said there was no reason to state that "we were being generous in granting citizenship to the Chinese and Indians."
"The fact is, that is the term we agreed to. At the time, it was impossible for the British to relinquish Malaya if the issue of citizenship for Chinese and Indians was not resolved.
"The British were strict on this issue and Umno agreed. That is the price which the Alliance accepted with an open heart. Does Utusan have different historical facts?" he added.
Zaid said even if one went by the perception that Umno was generous in giving citizenship to non-Malays, there is still no room for Awang Selamat's 'feudalist mindset' in a modern nation.
Those with 'blind hearts'
Meanwhile, he said another article by senior writer Zulkiflee Bakar had advised Utusan readers not to be 'historically blind'.
"I suppose Malays like myself are historically blind. But history is not difficult to learn and I am interested in knowing more.
"However, the most unfortunate people are those whose hearts are blind. When our hearts are blind, no amount of facts or knowledge can fill the void," he added.
Zaid said instead of stoking racial sentiments, Utusan should help the prime minister find ways to develop the economy via pragmatic and just policies.
"To Utusan, the Malays fail because of the Chinese and Indians. Wake up Utusan, non-Malays and Malays themselves can tell the difference between the Malay race and Umno, they know that when an Umno policy is criticised, it is not challenging the Malays but Umno.
"Much effort is being put into creating friction between the Malays and Chinese. Believe me, racial flames will not burn as brightly as before," he said.
"The Malay mindset has changed. They know the challenges that lie ahead in the world and the changes which they must make. Only Utusan has not realised this," he added.
Source: Malaysiakini.com
Also read: Dari Lensa Zi
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Whatever Awang and his Utusan says, it must be intended to represent the Malays as all Malays are deemed to be represented by Awang.
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The Whites and Blacks and all those who migrated to USA, Britain, Australia, etc, must also be grateful to the ... uh, still the Whites, who after all are now the legitimized originator.
Oh, we Malaysians must also be grateful to the British to grant us Independence and citizenship.
Oh, we must also be thankful to those who allowed and granted the British control over us.
Oh, we must be thankful to Awang for generously giving citizenship to Filipinos and Indonesians who came here as illegal immigrants working in the Plantation and Construction Industry and ultimately acquiring the citizenship to boost the electoral lists.
Oh, we must also be thankful to Param (the man called Parameswara).
We are after all thankful.
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Oh, we Malaysians must also be grateful to the British to grant us Independence and citizenship.
Oh, we must also be thankful to those who allowed and granted the British control over us.
Oh, we must be thankful to Awang for generously giving citizenship to Filipinos and Indonesians who came here as illegal immigrants working in the Plantation and Construction Industry and ultimately acquiring the citizenship to boost the electoral lists.
Oh, we must also be thankful to Param (the man called Parameswara).
We are after all thankful.
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14 comments:
Dwelling in the past is one of the strongest causes of not moving forward. In the case of this daily, the editorial team is contributing to this stagnation.
Itulah kehebatan Utusan Malaysia yang mempunyai ramai tukang karut yang mahir menyimbah minyak pada bara api. Dia ingat hanya satu bangsa sajakah yang pandai membaca bahasa melayu ke.
Tukang karut inilah penyebab utama pemerintah kalah teruk pada setiap pilihanraya kecil ditempat yang banyak berlonggok Utusan Malaysia.
Tukang karut inilah yang menyebabkan kesemua 50 tahun kebaikan yang dibuat oleh pemerintah dikeji.
Tukang Karut ini juga yang menjadi dalang utama kepada kesemua rakyat berbilang kaum hilang kepercayaan kepada intitusi kerajaan dan pemerintah.
Percayalah wahai kaum pemerintah, jika kamu ISA kan setengah dozen tukang karut ini pada masa adanya pilihanraya kecil, kamu akan menang.
Percayalah, kalau pemerintah bijak dan inginkan sokongan tak berbelah dari kaum india dan cina, sumbatlah tukang karut ini sebulan dua dibawah ISA.
Penyokong ISA.
The world change. More and more people realize they are not alone, especially in the history path.
The different between human and animal, are human try to learn mistake from history.
What worried Zaid Ibrahim are people inside entity like utusan that selling their humanity and soul in order to gain short term benefit. Worst, they drag along other innocent people with them to fulfill their ego and benefit.
This happens in history before. That's why people inside utusan FALSIFIES and define their own history.
Utusan defines the "truth" they want for the Malays, regardless how the world has changed. The Utusan team personifies the Malay proverb "Katak di bawah tempurung" with a malicious twist, a selfish and short-term one.
"Utusan Malaysia's credibility as a newspaper has come under fire from many circles for its blatant practice of double standards in its reporting, especially with regard to politically-related news.[1][2] Statements by Chief Ministers in Opposition-held states have been taken out of context, manipulated, or otherwise downright fabricated and also regarded as the voice of ruling party Barisan Nasional (BN).[3]".
taken from from WikipediaMoo T,
History? UM does not value history, its reputation / credibility nor readership intellect.
Utusan is one good reason why the non-Malays don't trust UMNO.
Utusan will close shop sooner or later. Fanning of racist and racial views are a no no to the younger readers.
Wht doen't Utusan report this truth?
Manohara and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, took to Indonesian television to tell a horrific tale of intimidation and torture including having her breasts sliced with a razor, forced drug injections and other abuse.
"Sexual abuse and sexual harassment were like a daily routine for me, and he did that every time I did not want to have sexual intercourse," she said. "I could never think a normal man could do such things."
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1904&Itemid=202
pundek, and this is najid 1malaysia ke?
nowadays only a small handful of rakyat reads Utusan Malaysia. myself havent touch it easily more than 10 years or so, knowing it only publishes rubbish that cannot even be recycled.
well, someone has to be benggap in umno huh!
Utusan dares to go on a rampage like this with racially slanted articles becos they got away scot-free when they did it last time!
The world has changed but Awang Selamat chooses not to see.
In the USA, there is a black man as President (and possibly could have had a woman as President).
In a majority Islamic country like Pakistan, there has been a woman as President as has been in majority Hindu India.
In Peru, a man of Japanese descent has been President, while in the state of Louisiana, the governor is of Asian Indian descent.
Malaysia is remaining one of the few bastions where positions of power are based on ethnicity.
Dear purple haze,
I doubt that your comment can be natural because it seems racist to me. If you are not racist, you would not bring up the issue of which race should rule which country, would you? Hence, your opinion is deemed racist indeed.
I wonder because whatever comes out from Zaid's mouth is considered as gospel of truth by the people here. He can't even get his history right.
The British has colonised this country long enough and sucked up the natural resources as they wish. They did not know what to do with the abundance of the immigrants those days. The British requested the founding fathers to show proof that the three main races can work together after they achieve independence. Because, if they couldn’t work together, there will be chaos soon after independence was given and the British will have blood in their hands. Hence, the Alliance Party was established and it took part in elections in 1952 and 1955. Since the three races can become allies and can work together and know their place in this country, the immigrants were given citizenships. Hence, we can read what Tun Sambathan and Tun Siew Sin had said in the parliament as mentioned by Awang Selamat.
From the record of those, why would anyone of us want to dispute the facts? Even Kua Kia Soong distorted the history to fit his own agenda. But he is forgiven by many here because everyone here can't accept facts and truth. To many here, truth is not backed by facts but rather by choice. You would rather accept lies as truth because truth by facts hurts.
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