Are we there yet?

The Malaysian Obama

By Wong Chin Huat, The Nut Graph
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 22:37

COMMENTING on Barack Obama's presidential victory, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi assured Malaysians that anyone can become prime minister of the country. But one wonders if anyone actually believes him.

Just two time-zone-adjusted days before Obama's election, the New Straits Times's Syed Nadzri reminded us that our sixth, seventh and eighth prime ministers could incidentally be the sons of the second, third and fourth prime ministers, respectively. You can't rule out that possibility if Umno wins the 13th general election.

In other words, in an Umno-ruled Malaysia, there is not even a question of whether any non-Umno Malay Malaysian could have the chance of becoming prime minister. And for now just forget about non-Malay Malaysians, the functional equivalent of African Americans.

The question now is, can any Umno member whose father, father-in-law or uncle was not prime minister become the premier?


Legal and non-legal obstacles

Is there any obstacle in the country's or the party's constitution that bars a non-prime minister's son from becoming prime minister? Of course not.

Similarly, the question of whether we can have a non-Malay Malaysian prime minister is not a legal but political one.

As we all learned after 8 March, the legal obstacle on ethno-religious grounds does occur for the office of menteri besar in the Malay states. One can therefore see the federation as a more inclusive entity than some of the Malay states.

The political obstacles can be analysed from three dimensions: the executive electoral system, the extra-constitutional challenge, and the social cleavage.


First obstacle: Indirect election

Some think it is easier for an ethnic minority candidate to win the office of chief executive in a presidential system, like in the US. It would be more difficult in a parliamentary system, like in the UK and Malaysia.

For example, UK Equality and Human Rights Commission Chairperson Trevor Phillips made an interesting observation about what Obama's chances would be like in the UK. Apparently, someone as brilliant as Obama would be unlikely to "break through the institutional stranglehold that there is on power within the Labour Party."

By constitutional logic, a presidential system maximises separation of powers by having separate elections for the chief executive (president) and the legislators (senators, representatives). Technically, a presidential candidate only needs a slight majority — in some cases a mere plurality — to win the election. If the candidate first needs to win the nomination from a major party, then he or she would similarly need only a slight majority from party members or delegates.

Assuming a two-party system, as with the US and some Latin American presidential democracies, the support needed from the electorate for a candidate's entry to the highest office can be as low as 25%.

Obama won only 48.1% of the popular vote in the Democratic primary, which translated into 53.6% of the delegates' vote. He went on to win 52.5% of the popular vote, which translated into 67.7% of the electoral college vote.

And Obama was not the first ethnic minority who has ever won an executive presidential office. Ethnic Japanese Alberto Fujimori won the Peruvian presidential elections in 1990, and ethnic Hungarian Nicolas Sarkozy assumed the French presidency in 2007. France is a semi-presidential system, but the above logic still applies.

In contrast, a candidate would need to first win a parliamentary constituency and then win the support of fellow parliamentarians before becoming prime minister in a parliamentary democracy.

In a parliamentary system, it does not matter whether the party leader's position is formally elected by members, delegates or parliamentarians. Take this first scenario: a prime minister needs the support of parliamentary colleagues to form a cabinet and can be toppled by a no-confidence vote. And then take this second scenario: a president can appoint anyone to his or her cabinet and is not so easily impeached by Congress. Clearly, the prime minister needs more collegial support compared with the president to strengthen his or her position.

Hence, if there is institutional racism amongst the party elites, it would be harder for a capable ethnic-minority politician to move upward in a parliamentary system. Because of this, an ethnic minority prime minister like India's Manmohan Singh should have raised more eyebrows than Obama, at least for citizens of Asian and Commonwealth countries.

Mind you, based on the size of its population, India is the world's largest democracy. The US is only the most powerful one. And India's ethnic problems are certainly no less complex than those the US confronts.

Just 22 years ago, one of India's most powerful prime ministers, Indira Gandhi, was killed by her two Sikh bodyguards after her bloody crackdown on Sikh militants. (Gandhi's daughter-in-law still controls the ruling Congress Party.) In 2004, however, the Congress Party had no qualms in appointing a Sikh to run the country. Neither did the largest opposition party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), protest that the Congress Party had sold out the Hindus.

Now, if an African American had assassinated a US president in the past, could Obama have stood a chance to win the election? During the recent presidential campaign, Obama was already troubled by the "radical" views of his black pastor, Jeremiah Wright.


Second obstacle: The extra-constitutional challenge

Elections are but a part of the bigger picture. You may get elected to the highest office but you may not last long. For Obama, the threat of assassination is real. But he does not need to worry about a hostile police force or civil service sabotaging his administration. He need not even worry about a coup by a hostile military — the most integrated institution in the US, as a matter of fact.

Fiji's first ever ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was not so lucky. His Fijian Labour Party won 37 seats in the 71-seat parliament in 1999 and led a multiethnic cabinet, with 11 out of 18 ministers being ethnic Fijians. However, his government was overthrown in a coup led by a corrupt, bankrupt businessperson proclaiming to champion ethnic Fijians, who was later supported by a faction of the military.

The sustainable presence of an ethnic-minority chief executive therefore hinges on the de-ethnicisation of unelected institutions such as the military, police force and civil service. If vital institutions like the military see themselves as ethnic champions, no Obama can rule well whether the system is presidential or parliamentary.


Third obstacle: Social cleavages

However, whether an ethnic-minority politician can win office and survive depends much on how social cleavages translate into party competition.

If either the Republicans or the Democrats saw themselves as exclusive representatives of the whites, it is unlikely the election campaign could have been fought with such limited ethnic messaging.

And back to India — what has prevented Congress or BJP politicians from making a big fuss over Manmohan's faith?

The answer may lie in the founding ideals of the US and India — their "social contract" if you like.

While many of the US founding leaders were slave-owners, their Declaration of Independence states: "[A]ll men are created equal"(though not all persons), instead of "All white men are created equal."

India was similarly intended to be a multiethnic and secular state, not a Hindu equivalent of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In other words, citizenship in America and India is based on equality and inclusiveness. The seeds of Obama's and Manmohan's rise were planted therefore in the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru.

In this sense, whether Malaysia can have an Obama, or more relevantly a Manmohan, is a false topic for debate. Let's talk about equal opportunities in citizenship first before the equal opportunity for premiership. After all, if we are all treated equally as citizens, does it matter what our prime minister's skin colour or faith is?

We clicked so you're good

There is a very thin fine line between doing a good job and doing a great job. I’ve worked for 20 years now and probably will for another 20 years or more. A good worker may not necessary be the ideal worker if his/her views of a fair system differs to the point of confrontation. I’ve had my fair share of differences in the way things are being done with my past bosses and somehow managed to stand my grounds to still come out triumphant. Even so, it is no easy ride thereafter as far as human emotion is concerned.

No matter how result oriented we like to be in our work, teamwork of course is crucial, for our principle and integrity of things acted and done, the idea of a performance based society in Malaysia is camouflaged by popularity and assimilation to a common value of respectability. As to which direction of respectability, that is for you to judge.

Cabinet may be more receptive to JAC now

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 - The proposed Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) could face an easier passage through Cabinet now that it has been tweaked and its main promoter – Datuk Zaid Ibrahim – is no longer a member of the administration.

Highly-placed sources told The Malaysian Insider that several Umno ministers – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Datuk Rais Yatim – rejected the first draft of the Bill on the JAC because they did not agree with the size and composition of the commission and were concerned that the powers of the Prime Minister to make appointments to the Bench would be usurped.

Since the first draft was rejected, and Datuk Nazri Aziz’s appointed as Zaid’s replacement as the de facto Law Minister, several changes have been made, including reducing the size of the JAC from 13 to a more manageable nine members. Also, some changes to the composition of the commission have been proposed by Nazri.

Various stakeholders, including the judiciary and Bar Council, have been consulted on the changes to the first draft. The Malaysian Insider understands that Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi favours the setting up of the body to advise the PM on the selection and promotion of judges. Under the present system, the PM makes appointments to the Bench after being advised by the CJ.

But this system relies too much on the views and input of one individual – the CJ. Only the intervention by the Malay Rulers Conference blocked the promotion of a judge who had not written judgments for years. Also, testimony presented before the Royal Commission on the V.K. Lingam video clip confirmed that constitutional processes were not followed in the appointment of some judges during the Mahathir years.

Government officials believe that the Cabinet will approve the tweaked JAC Bill, which is likely to be presented to the ministers in several weeks.

Their optimism is also anchored on a less tangible factor – the individual who is promoting the legislation. Nazri enjoys a closer working relationship with the Umno ministers and is viewed as one of the boys. In contrast, several Umno ministers were unhappy that Zaid was appointed a Senator by Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and then anointed as the reformer while they were painted as stodgy obstructionists.

A government official said: “To a certain extent, the lack of chemistry between Zaid and some of the Umno ministers made it difficult for anything which he proposed to be pushed through. There was envy and a feeling that only one person was enjoying the glory as a reformer. After a while, it became a battle of personalities.’’

Still, it will not be a walk in the park for Abdullah and Nazri. Anecdotal evidence suggests that conservative forces in Umno – serving MPs and former ministers – are still against the setting up of the commission, believing that it will cramp the ability of any PM to make important appointments to an important institution.

These forces also think that the setting up of a JAC will vindicate critics of the government who have lampooned the state of the judiciary.

Thoughts blocked? Then blog!

Windmills of political change
9 11 2008
By SUHAINI AZNAM (The Star)

Since ‘serious’ bloggers are also socio-political commentators, any change in the political seascape will also mean a shift in bloggers’ orientation.

BLOGGERS are the windmills of political change, shifting with political winds. When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that he was no longer going to defend his post as Umno president, he took the wind out of the sails of his sharpest critics.

One such is Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, 38, of sheih kickdefella fame, who now has to “do some soul searching”. Before the March 8 general election, bloggers were either outright pro-Opposition or pro-establishment but against the Pak Lah administration. The latter “had such a huge impact that they swayed the final majority,” said Sheih.

In 1999, those who opposed Dr Mahathir had not had such great an impact because they were preaching to the converted.

“Blogs then were just to update. The DAP and PAS had only 500 to 3,000 hits per day. They did not appeal to the masses,” added Sheih.

Former New Straits Times journalist and editor Ahirudin Attan, better known as Rocky of “Rocky’s Bru”, concurred. In March, “all three categories were blogging for change”.

But “almost overnight, post March 8, all bloggers who had been critical of the Government, toned down.

“We are seeing the true colours of the socio-political bloggers,” explained Rocky.“ There is a change in attitude. Bloggers are shown to be political activists.

“Those claiming they are for change are not walking the talk,” he said, citing the Selangor Government’s stand on the latest temple demolition. People are rearranging their hierarchy of trust. Before, trust was very high. Now we are slipping very fast.”

“I used to support Pakatan,” declared Zainol Abidin, 50 (aka Mahaguru58). “I felt we needed a change. I expected change. Now they have taken over five states and there is no change. So I am aligning myself to no one, not the Barisan, and I will whack Anwar (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) left, right and blue!”

Former journalist Nuraina Samad, whose 3540 jalan sudin has over a million hits, was more philosophical. The Government had come under “unbridled attack and some people now feel that enough is enough”, she said.

“Umno lost because a lot of Malays voted for the Opposition,” observed Nuraina.

“A new group of bloggers, more pro-Barisan, emerged because a lot of people realised that maybe it was not such a good idea to vote the PKR. These were people trying to go with the renewal of Umno and trying to counter Opposi tion bloggers like Elizabeth Wong and Jeff Ooi.”

Before March, a lot of MPs and politicians who blogged were from the DAP, PAS, and the PKR. After Abdullah said the Barisan must counter this trend, several Barisan politicians answered the call, “opening Facebooks and using the tools that were said to have given them a miserable time”, said Rocky.

Jebat Must Die, Demi Negara, Chedet are all very influential, he added. Even Abdullah’s warkahuntukpm was launched after the general election to deal with thorny issues and people’s complaints.


Divided for change

Bloggers are very political now, on both sides of the divide, said Nuraina. “Bloggers during the general election were for change,” she noted. “We walked together many times: the penguin walk, freedom walk, yellow march.”

If after the election, the PR had expected bloggers to continue with this line, they were disappointed. “We can’t attack the DAP, Anwar, Teresa,”said Nuraina.

When bloggers try to point out corruption in Pakatan-held states, they become very combative and go on the offensive.

“Those Opposition bloggers even view neutral ones like me as pro-government. I am accused of not being supportive,” said Rocky.

If readers have noticed a slight change in his stance, particularly after Abdullah said he was stepping down, Rocky maintained that “bloggers are divided more by political agenda, beliefs, than who they are rooting for as prime minister.”

With the changing of the guards to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the future of bloggers actually depends on Najib’s strategy in the local mainstream newspapers. Najib already has his own people who manage blogs for him, said Rocky, citing Najib’s 1malaysia, launched last September.

Already, the pressure on Pak Lah has eased, agreed Sheih. “Bloggers who endorse Najib will monitor him but won’t be that critical of him. The ball will be in Najib’s court”. Speaking of NST and Berita Harian, how they will behave under Najib will depend on whether the Government changes its old ways in terms of media control, said Rocky.

“If the Government can show it is more liberal – meaning if they put me there (laughing) – intervention is vastly reduced, the relevance of blogs will be severely tested. It has been proven that “wherever the media is most free, blogs are dependent on crumbs”, hoping for that one big scoop a year, he noted.


The future

Rocky remains the bloggers’ favourite, as “Rocky’s Bru” not only has the numbers – a total of seven-going-on-eight million hits – but it also enjoys peer acclaim. Rocky, how ever, feels he has reached optimum point.

“Bloggers like me are finding that there are limitations to what a blog can do. At the rate I am doing (working alone), I get 30,000 unique visitors per day. Chedet gets 60,000 to 70,000 per day. To go beyond that is perhaps not possible,” he admitted.

He thinks the logical next step would be to “turn blogs into news portals, add new features, thereby increasing readership, while maintaining Rocky’s Bru (which would) occupy a small corner on the news portal.”

He thinks chedet.com, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s immensely popular blog, would also go the same route, and may be enhanced with a photo corner of his life’s experiences.

“This solo act is very tiring,” sighed Rocky, referring to the tremendous effort involved in researching and writing, plus sifting through the comments of their fans and detractors. “I can’t go on like this.”

What then drives bloggers in the absence of monetary rewards?

Whatever their political stripes and personal idiosyncrasies, bloggers are crusaders.

Dr Mahathir’s daughter Datin Paduka Marina (rantingsbymm) feels that “blogs grew exponentially because of people’s almost uncontrollable need to speak out. People were bursting to express themselves.”

Pride in growing their blogs is another motivator, and certainly there is idealism.

In April 2007, Rocky set up the National Bloggers Alliance, which has yet to be registered. It is being managed by a pro-temp committee of which Rocky is president. The Alliance is non-partisan and is intended to protect bloggers and promote responsible blogging.

A year ago, Zainol formed the Muslim Bloggers Alliance “to pool together the thoughts of Muslim bloggers, safeguard the good name of Islam, clarify and teach about Islam and to correct misconceptions about Islam, especially online”.

Applications for membership have flooded in but Zainol is careful. He vets through their blogs and has pared them down to a select 93. Once registered as a mutual benefit society, its monthly contributions will go to a trust fund to take care of legal fees and dakwah activities.

Political affiliations can also be ideals. A new, small grouping called the Barisan Rakyat bloggers, born during the March general election, became most prominent during the Permatang Pauh by-election in August.

Bernard Khoo (blog name Zorro Unmasked), Harris and Raja Petra Kamarud din (Malaysia Today) were all either “inspired or sponsored by Anwar”, said Rocky.

“It gives more variety, choice. It is good for the three to finally declare where their allegiance lie.”

Nuraina noted that “a lot of racialism has reared its head since the general election”. Like other responsible bloggers, she would edit for sedition and slander.

She steers clear of race and religion because “I might have to be brutally frank”. If commentators to her blog are racist or slanderous, she would have to address their issues.

For others, ideologies had emerged from blurred racial lines. Sheih has about three million plus hits, mostly from non-Malay and non-PAS visitors. “The majority read me for my stand on a few things like justice and equality.”


Span of influence

Public Relations consultant and The Star guest columnist Raslan Sharif feels that although most bloggers, especially those from Umno, may be younger people, their target audience are not necessarily so. “They just target voters, irrespective of age. And more people in their 40s and 50s are also getting tech savvy.” Even among those who are not, “a lot of the issues I hear in the kedai kopi were (first) brought from the blog,”said Raslan.

The trend-setters, however, are not the socio-political bloggers but the personal bloggers, lifestyle, entertainment and business bloggers who form the bulk of the community. And while lifestyle bloggers are known to sell space, socio-political bloggers blog for free.

“We make the noise and they make the money,” said Rocky flatly.

“Lifestyle bloggers like kennysia.com have a huge following,” noted Raslan. “They are an advertising goldmine since readers are mainly in the 25-35 age bracket who tend to spend. In Kenny’s case, ad space would earn him about RM10,000 per month.”

It is a time-consuming task for “a serious hobby”, said Nuraina. “When bloggers carry google ads, you are not in control of what comes out,” even though you appear to have endorsed the products.

Being original is tough work and only the best succeed in stamping a distinctive mark. “Most socio-political bloggers pick their topics from the newspapers, then dissect, deconstruct the report and analyse or comment on them. But their primary source is the newspapers,” said Raslan.

But Sheih, who does “not see bloggers as reporters, they are columnists, they analyse. People read them to see how they view (events)”, said he seldom picks items from the newspapers, preferring to go to “the source itself, my “informers”, people who e-mail me something”.

He would not, however, call his blog neutral. “They (readers) want a bit of emotion.”

The return of the King

After 56 days in ISA detention, released on 7 November 2008, Raja Petra Kamarudin posted his first article on this day 9 November 2008. Like many, probably the die-hard fans, were eagerly waiting for his first posting and to continue with the cult status of this writer who constantly pokes criticism at the government at their shortcomings without a shred of restrain on his raw phrasing and facts. His website Malaysia Today under his own blog section, No Holds Barred, is like a cyber concert with massive frenzy comments each time a new posting appears.

I may not agree totally the manner in which he presented his thoughts in all his postings, which borders on insult and condemnation to it’s lowest point, still, this is a man who generated so much public interest that the government considered him to be a threat to national security.

If one were to read his entire context of his posting, he is neither apologetic nor forgiving in any aspect of his thoughts and conscience. His views of things went wrong all narrowed down to the very establishment rather than the religion or practices and the process of implementation which deviated far from it’s intended objectives all smoothened over with political rhetoric by our politicians. The very establishment that serves it’s subject and to uphold the fundamental freedom of equality and well being.

No one can deny that he is a well learned person capable to capture an entire nation imagination, open up their eyes, ears and minds of the many, many shortcomings of our government. Or to put it bluntly, exposing the government in as reckless a way as possible to drive home the message of corruption.


I AM MALAY, AND PROUD OF IT

Raja Petra Kamarudin
Malaysia Today

Religious superstition and persecution never ceases to amaze me. Take the case of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow of Mogadishu, Somalia. On 27th October 2008, 13-year old Aisha was killed. She was killed when 1,000 people stoned her to death. And she was stoned to death because three men had raped her. She was raped, so they accused of adultery.

Imagine a 13-year old girl killed in a most brutal manner because she was raped by three men. Should it not be the three men who should have instead been stoned to death? And do you not wonder why Islam suffers from a serious image problem? Muslims should take stock of what they are doing and understand the disservice they are doing to Islam.

Our religious rehabilitation by the Kamunting detention camp started on the Tuesday after Deepavali. The highlight of the sessions was the “nasi tomato” and the chicken wing in a plastic bag that they served for lunch, courtesy of JAKIM but paid for by the Malaysian taxpayers, 90% who are Chinese.

The JAKIM ustaz told us that Islam is the true religion and that all other religions are false. We were reminded not to believe in or follow other religions, which are not accepted and recognized by God. Only the Koran is the true Holy Book and was sent to us by God through the Prophet Muhammad. All other books are false and were created by man and did not come from God.

We must also not copy or ape the non-Muslims as that will lead us astray and we will become an apostate if we act like the kafir. He did not, however, give any examples on what would be considered acting like a kafir.

In the meantime, in another incident that happened outside the Kamunting detention camp, an UKM lecturer explained that Muslims should not do yoga or meditate, as the origin of this is Hinduism. Muslims who do yoga or meditate would be led astray, argued the wise man from UKM. He then asked the religious scholars to come out with a fatwa or decree banning Muslims from doing yoga or meditating.

It is ironical that the JAKIM ustaz who visited Kamunting chose that subject matter to kick off our religious rehabilitation program. The article that got me into trouble with the government and which resulted in my detention under the Internal Security Act said exactly the same thing.

I pointed out that the Friday prayer sermons run down the other religions. I also argued that we are told not to ape the non-Muslims or take them as our friends as the non-Muslims are sworn enemies of Islam and can never be our friends. For that I was detained under the Internal Security Act and my first lecture happened to be the very thing I said and which got me detained.

There are in fact many things which Malays do and which originated from Hinduism. Take the stringing up of coloured lights as one example. Seven days before Hari Raya Malays would string up coloured lights around their home, sometimes even on trees like they do during Christmas. This is a throwback of the old days when they used to use kerosene or oil lamps. And this was a custom borrowed from Deepavali because the Arabs do not do this.

So, the next time you pass by a Malay house during Hari Raya and you see all those coloured lights you can smile, knowing that the occupant of that house is borrowing a Hindu ritual -- only that he or she does not know it.

If we really want to go into the long list of Hindu customs and rituals that the Malays have borrowed the list would be endless. We should not ape the kafir, the religious scholars tell us. If not we would become a kafir. Well, what about wearing a tie, coat and pants? Is this not a kafir attire?

How many Malays go about wearing a robe and turban? Even that UKM lecturer who wants a fatwa issued banning Malays from doing yoga or meditation wears kafir clothes. Look at all the Malay government officers. They all wear kafir clothes and sometimes a tie as well. The security forces all wear kafir uniforms with a kafir hat on their heads.

We count our days using a Christian calendar. I am facing various charges for crimes I committed on certain days of the Christian calendar. What was the day of the Islamic calendar, the Hijrah calendar, that I committed my crimes? The charge sheet does not say.

I am facing various charges in a kafir court. The charges I am facing are crimes according to kafir laws. I was also under detention without trial according to a kafir law. In fact, according to Islam, I have not committed any crime. And Islam does not allow for detention without trial.

For that matter not only have I not committed a crime, according to Islam, but what I have done is what Islam has actually made mandatory. Islam makes it mandatory for all Muslims to perform “Amar Makruf, Nahi Munkar”. This means to uphold good and oppose evil. All Muslims must do this without exception. Not doing it, according to Islam, makes you an extremely weak Muslim.

I, however, am now facing trial and was under detention without trial for performing my Islamic duty. And kafir laws, not Islamic laws, are being used against me. Kafir laws are being used against Muslims for doing what Islam has made mandatory.

And what is the reaction of Muslims to all this? What is the UKM lecturer doing about it? Is he up in arms about the kafir system being implemented against Islam? Is the Member of Parliament for Kulim demonstrating on the streets and screaming, “I am a Muslim first I don’t care about other people’s opinions”?

Okay, the UKM lecturer wants yoga and meditation banned and the Kulim MP wants to shut the mouths of anyone who wants to talk about Islam. But that is about it. It never goes beyond that.

Sometimes the Malays can be amazing. Okay, not sometimes, most times. Now UMNO wants Zaid Ibrahim sacked as a Malay. Can any Malay actually be sacked as a Malay? I wonder, but UMNO thinks it can be done. UMNO says that Zaid would be nobody -- he would not be a lawyer of the biggest law firm in Malaysia -- if he was not a Malay and the country did not have Ketuanan Melayu and the New Economic Policy.

Zaid thinks that that is an insult. He would like to believe he is what he is because he is Zaid and because he is smart. If he would instead be a simple fisherman in Tumpat, Kelantan, without the benefit of Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP, then this means Zaid is actually quite stupid.

I share Zaid’s view. I also would like to believe that I am “somebody” and “special” because I am Raja Petra. If it is because of Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP, and if not because of that I would be washing cars in Bangsar, then this would certainly make me very unhappy.

Yes, Zaid and people like him do not need crutches. Only losers need crutches. And that is why UMNO wants these crutches to remain, because they are all a bunch of losers. I would like to believe that I am what I am because of who I am and not because of Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP. I take pride in that. I would hate people saying, “of course Raja Petra is successful. He is a Malay and Malays have Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP to help them. Malays need crutches to get ahead.”

It is time the crutches are removed and the Malays learned how to walk with their heads held up high. Malays have to be made to believe that the Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP is an insult and that it suggests Malays are weak creatures. Malays must be proud of their achievements and not credit their achievements to the protection and special privileges they enjoy because they are Malay. The Malays used to be a proud race. Now they are no longer proud. They accept that they are weak. So they demand protection to compensate for this weakness.