Ex-judge warns Chinese of Malay backlash for betrayal against BN

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah today warned the Chinese community to prepare for a backlash from the Malays for their alleged "betrayal" against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in Election 2013. At a forum this afternoon, the high-ranking judge reportedly accused the Chinese of plotting to "seize political power" from the Malays, despite already having benefited economically from the "Malay's hand of friendship".
"For the Malays, the 'pantang larang' (taboo) is to be betrayed, because when they are betrayed, they will react and when they react, their dendam kesumat tidak tersudah-sudah (wrath will be endless).
"When Malays are betrayed, there is a backlash and the Chinese must bear the consequences of a Malay backlash," he was quoted as saying on independent news portal Malaysiakini today at the forum titled "GE13 post-mortem: Muslim leadership and survival" organised by the UiTM Malaysia Alumni Association and Gabungan Melayu Semenanjung.
To stress his position, Mohd Noor, who currently sits on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) complaints committee, said the Malays have always been on the defensive but if the community were to move to the offensive, they should demand for the creation of more Malay rights, including larger reserve lands and a higher Bumiputera equity target.
"The nice term would be called 're-organising society' but the crude term would be for Malays to emigrate into the cities so that we will own the houses together with others and not only be able to just look at them."
"Arrange it in such away, that from today on, every businesses would have a 67 percent share ready for Malays to be taken up at any time," he was quoted saying.
Post-Election 2013 has seen scores of BN and BN-friendly leaders take pot shots at the Chinese community for their clear backing of federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) during the tumultuous polls last week.
But while they argue that it had been a "Chinese tsunami" that had cost BN to bleed seats, analysts and PR leaders have denied this, pointing to the 51 per cent in popular vote that the opposition had won against BN's 48 per cent.
Instead, they have argued that the vote trend did not reflect a Chinese vs Malay contest but rather an urban vs rural divide that has resulted in the emergence of two Malaysias.
Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia has been pushing the view that the election results had been because the Chinese had voted against BN, publishing daily news and editorials to expound this point, which has been backed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
After its controversial "Apa lagi Cina mahu (What more do the Chinese want?)" headline earlier this week, the paper continued again today to question Chinese voters over their switch from BN to PR in last week's polls, claiming that they had been cheated by DAP, which it labelled as the country's "most racist party".
The Umno-linked daily's editors wrote today that most of the Chinese community had rejected BN in Election 2008 despite controlling the country's economy and purportedly being the richest ethnic group in Malaysia.
"In the 13th GE, the Chinese community once again chose to trust DAP more, which plays up thick racial sentiments. The Chinese tsunami is larger this time," the editors going by the name of Awang Selamat wrote in a weekly analysis carried in the paper's weekend edition Mingguan Malaysia.
"As far as Awang knows, the Chinese are not easily fooled repeatedly. But why allow themselves to be cheated by DAP that is the most racist party," the editors wrote.
They further claimed that the Chinese community appeared to be giving their blessings for the "extremism" displayed by DAP leaders, alleging that some Chinese employers had threatened their staff to support DAP.
Najib had used the term "Chinese tsunami" after the results showed that the BN retained power but had its worst showing in elections, winning only 133 federal seats after it ceded an additional seven seats to PR.
Last night at the 67th Umno anniversary celebration last night, the Umno president defended his party against accusations labelling it as racists.
He also appeared to blame the DAP for the loss of BN seats.
"Umno was not defeated, in fact it added more seats. If not for some quarters playing race issues, we would have won more seats."
"We are not a racist party, we are a party that is moderate. We have been serving other races for a long time," Najib said yesterday.
The incessant play on racism and apparent blame on the Chinese for causing BN's loss of seats last Sunday has raised concerns among the country's second largest ethnic community of further racial polarisation in multiracial Malaysia.
The opposition and thousands of largely urban and middle to upper-class Malaysians have expressed their disdain for the racial slant to BN's dissection of Election 2013's results, turning up in droves to protest against the polls outcome at two rallies so far - in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday and last night, in Penang. A third rally will be held in Perak tonight.