1Malaysia not about racial equality, insists Umno sec-gen

By Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Not only has Prime Minister Najib Razak made a complete U-turn from an earlier attempt to distance his Umno party from ultra-Malay rights group Perkasa, his trusted lieutenants now even say Najib’s prized 1Malaysia plan is not about racial equality.

The latest comments from Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan were immediately denounced by Pakatan Rakyat leaders.


“This must surely be the biggest joke. Najib. Tengku Adnan and Nazri Aziz are now the 3 Malay stooges while MCA, MIC and Gerakan are the 3 non-Malay stooges. This is BN – forever racially divided and dominated by Umno to the extent that it can anytime slap Soi Lek, Tsu Koon and Samy in the face and yet the three will still bow and say 'thank you, one more time please',” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

He was referring to MCA president Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and MIC chief S Samy Vellu.

Explain 1Malaysia, demands Perkasa

Najib’s furious backpedalling follows a demand from Perkasa to explain what 1Malaysia was or face losing Malay support for Umno and BN in the coming general election.

Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali

“Perkasa is very worried that if there are not enough efforts to explain the 1 Malaysia concept, it will cause certain communities to reject Umno and BN. Perkasa has feedback from the Malay grassroots that this concept is still confusing,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali was reported as saying.

“Among some non-Muslim communities, Perkasa finds that they believe the 1 Malaysia policy is an effort to equalise all races in terms of sharing the nation’s wealth and no race is given special treatment. All races are considered the same.”

Indeed, the brouhaha over Perkasa intensified when a day after Malaysia Day, Najib moved to deny that Umno was cutting its ties to Perkasa. His excuse – which is now being seized on by Umno leaders to help him save face – is that Perkasa is an NGO and not a political party.

“Nazri should accept that Perkasa is just an NGO. The Malays know how to differentiate between political parties and NGO,” wrote the Awang Selamat editorial entitled Alahai Nazri in the Umno-own Minnguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan.

“Awang is not surprised the Chinese press have gone all out to condemn Dr Mahathir. This is because the Malay leaders themselves paved the way for them to do so.”

1Malaysia not about racial equality, answers Umno

Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Aziz had backed Tengku Adnan, who publicly rejected Perkasa and its president Ibrahim Ali just days before Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Nazri had also attacked Utusan for refusing to support Najib’s 1Malaysia and instead siding with Mahathir’s Perkasa.

Tengku Adnan

Meanwhile, Tengku Adnan has denied he had said Umno would cut ties with Perkasa.

“I didn’t even ask members of Umno to relinquish their relationship with Perkasa. It was totally blown out of proportion by Ibrahim Ali,” The Malaysian Insider reported Tengku Adnan as saying on Sunday.

“When we had a meeting with BN secretaries-general, we never talked even a little bit that we wanted to distance ourselves from anybody. Our policy is to be close with everybody. We should even go and approach opposition members and explain what our policies are because they are misguided.”

Tengku Adnan also said that the 1 Malaysia policy was not about racial equality per se but about the welfare of poor people across the racial groups that had to be taken into account.

“1 Malaysia is not about equality. You need to look at the poor Malays, poor Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans and Muruts. How do we help them? How do we ensure they can earn a living in the country? That is what 1 Malaysia is all about,” fudged Tengku Adnan.

Sandiwara to deflect attention on corruption revelations

Najib, Dr M, Pak Lah - the Umno elite

Pakatan Rakyat leaders have from day one warned that Umno was staging a drama or “sandiwara” to deflect public attention from a string of billion-ringgit corruption cases involving Najib, Mahathir and another former premier Abdullah Badawi.

They pointed out that Umno leaders have themselves acknowledged that the Malay vote was matured and would not swing much and that being attached to Perkasa only robbed the BN of the non-Malay vote.

"Najib's numbness to how his 1Malaysia is being made a mockery of by a mere NGO is sufficient proof of what a puppet he is. Malaysians should not feel any sympathy for him. He has wasted our time and should never have been allowed to become PM because of his personal baggage. It is obvious his attention is not on the country but on what he can get out of it for himself and his cronies," Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.