KUALA LUMPUR – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is trying to instil fear within the Malay community by claiming the eventual demise of the race to stay relevant, an Umno leader said.
Umno Veterans’ Club secretary Datuk Mustapha Yaakub disagreed with the two-time prime minister’s latest racial remarks, this time warning the Malays that they might become extinct in a decade if they are not united and do not address their “subjugation”.
“He realises he is no longer relevant. To stay relevant, he has raised tales of Malays losing power,” Mustapha told Scoop, adding that the 98-year-old leader is driven by “revenge politics”.
Mustapha was commenting on Dr Mahathir’s remarks at a forum at the latter’s Perdana Leadership Foundation on Saturday, where he said the Malays could face extinction in ten years if they do not unite.
Mustapha rubbished the claim that Malays would become extinct, noting that the ethnic group exists “all over Nusantara as a major race”.
“Malays include the Bugis, the Javanese, and the Bajau – even Arab (nations) and Pakistan have Malays.
“Only Dr Mahathir is different. He originates from India and is not a Malay,” Mustapha said, adding that the nonagenarian leader “did not read up on history”.
Dr Mahathir’s remarks on supposed Malay extinction come about a week after he riled up many with his claims that Malaysian Indians are less loyal to the country because they did not assimilate with Malays.
In Saturday’s forum, Dr Mahathir said action must be taken and more Malays needed to be “awakened” to their “subjugation”, which he illustrated by saying that voter turnout by Malaysian Chinese in elections was higher than Malays, according to news reports on his remarks.
The country’s longest-serving prime minister also claimed that Malays would be enslaved if no one was concerned about their fate, and that Bangladesh nationals who come into the nation are more hardworking while Malays often refuse jobs.
Mustapha said it was possible that the elder politician was attempting to divert attention from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into his son, Mirzan, and his ally, former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.
Meanwhile, PAS spiritual leader Datuk Hashim Jasin took issue with Dr Mahathir’s remarks that Malays were less hardworking.
Hashim said there are plenty of hardworking Malays – many of whom do labour-intensive work “in the fields and mud in the countryside”.
Political analyst Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, took Dr Mahathir’s remarks as those of a frustrated politician who has lost power.
This is because, although many Malay votes moved to Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the last general election, the coalition did not manage to form the government.
“(He knows) that to be in the government, Malay votes alone cannot be depended on. But under the present circumstances, it is difficult for PN to gain support from non-Malays and Sabah and Sarawak voters,” he said. – January 22, 2024