Home Minister and UMNO vice president Zahid Hamidi called on Malays of all political stripes to band together and defend Bumiputera special privileges in Tumpat, Kelantan last night.
Speaking ahead of the hotly-contested Pengkalan Kubor by-election this Thursday, Zahid told an assembly of supporters that the division among Malays, which he described as reflected by the rivalry between BN’s UMNO and PR’s PAS Malay-Muslim parties, has made the enemies of the Malays “big-headed” and has emboldened them to question the special privileges of the Malay community enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“We must unite. If we are divided we will be trampled on… we must protect our rights and tell them if you want to take it away from us, over our dead bodies,” he said, as reported by Syed Jamal Zahiid of The Malay Mail Online.
He said the Perak constitutional crisis in 2009 was an example of how Malay divisions led to the DAP, which he called a predominantly Chinese party, to play the two halves against each other.
Zahid also said the Malays had become so politically divided that it was willing to insult the Malay Rulers, a symbol of Malay sovereignty in Malaysia.
“I remember during the Perak crisis, they were protesting (against the Barisan Nasional takeover) at the time, they tried to block the entrance to the state building. You know who were the ones lying down on the streets? All Malays.
“Where were the DAP people? They were throwing stones at the Raja Muda… they also threw stones at my car. I was there. When they were doing this, those lying down on the road were all Malays,” he said.
In 2008’s 12th General Elections, PAS along with its PR partners DAP and PKR wrested control of the Perak state government for the first time since Independence, only to have the tables turned on them with the defection of two state assemblymen, triggering the constitutional crisis.
“I say enough is enough PAS and Umno, let us unite… you can do this first by backing BN on voting day,” Zahid said.
The Pengkalan Kubor by-election is a three-way race between UMNO’s Mat Razali Mat Ail, PAS’s Wan Rosdi Wan Ibrahim and independent candidate Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary.
PAS has been sticking out in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition as being standing increasingly apart from the position of its partners of late. The recently-concluded Selangor Menteri Besar crisis saw PAS not toeing the coalition line in its refusal to endorse the nomination of PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the post of MB, to replace Khalid Ibrahim in Shah Alam.
UMNO seems to be capitalising on PR’s internal rift by making overtures to PAS leaders and supporters to support a more “unified” Malay front moving forward.
