YOURSAY | ‘Blame Umno and Mahathir for the brainwashing that has spanned nearly five decades.’

Survey finds Malays more receptive to Guan Eng, but not AG and CJ

Malayan Boey: The Ilham Centre survey results reflect the reality on the ground among the Malays. Words of assurance will not be enough to convince people with irrational fears.

The economy must grow quickly so that a larger pie may be shared. Education must be vastly improved to bring critical thinking to the fore against irrational beliefs.

Training of youths should meet the requirements of the job market, not the fancies of academic professors.

AnthonyChan: The sample size of 125 in the survey is too small to reflect the overall population of Malay Muslims in the country.

Ian2003: No doubt, the survey is based on sampling but these are proven statistical probability, and if the survey is done independently, then Pakatan Harapan must take heed to approach these target areas and to explain and to change their mindset, meaning more groundwork – its grassroots need to work harder - and more importantly, implement projects which are beneficial to the Malays and cater to their needs.

A good example is the need of the fisherfolks of Johor - if no action is taken, then this would be a one-term government.

To those Malaysiakini readers who complained about this report, please do not blame the messenger if you do not like the news.

David Dass: The attorney-general (AG) and chief justice are lawyers. They are trained in the legal method.

They do not make law. Parliament makes law, the AG advises on the law as the government's chief legal adviser and the chief justice interprets the law.

It does not matter if you are Malay, Indian, Chinese, Kadazan, Iban or Dayak or Melanau - if you are a good lawyer, you will interpret the law in accordance with the statutory rules of interpretation.

It is possible that two lawyers can arrive at different interpretations as to how a particular law is to be interpreted and understood. But all laws have to be interpreted in accordance with certain rules of interpretation.

In the end, a judge will decide on what is the true interpretation. So it is nonsense to suggest that a Malay judge will interpret laws to favour Muslims and Malays, whilst a non-Muslim judge will not.

They are to act strictly in accordance with the law as they find it. And as Parliament formulated it. Even ambiguity must be resolved in accordance with universally accepted principles.

The race and religion of the AG or a judge will not determine how a law is construed. They should not.

FairMalaysian: In short, does this mean that most Malays are not interested/do not care for good governance?

The race between Umno and PAS to prove who is more Malay/Islamic had created so much of confusion and problems for this country.

Turning this into a Malay/Islamic political tool has potentially become so divisive that the now Umno and PAS are using to the hilt to create chaos by playing into the emotions of the Malays.

Governing a country in such a divisive landscape has posed quite a decent amount of headaches for the Harapan government.

The myth of calling itself a moderate Muslim country was shattered when these two political parties and some NGOs aligned to them mercilessly slaughtered International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), earning the unworthy accolade of being only one of the two Muslim-majority countries that have rejected Icerd, despite the fact that Indonesia, with the largest Muslim majority, and Saudi Arabia, the seat of Islam's holiest sites, have ratified Icerd, albeit with certain conditions.

New Horizon: You cannot in the short-term change the perception of the Malays as a whole after 60 years of ketuanan Melayu propaganda. More so, when the losers in the GE are trying to stir up racial and religious fears of the Malays to stay relevant.

However, only the good performance of the Harapan government in terms of the achievement of the economic well-being of the rakyat, especially those economically disadvantaged (of all races, but particularly the Malays) and good governance without fear or favour will help to change Malay fears and perception.

Continuing Umno policies and the pandering to Malay extremist politicians by Harapan leaders will eventually worsen the position.

TehTarik: Blame Umno and Mahathir for the brainwashing that has spanned nearly five decades. Don’t blame the average Malay who is the victim of this brainwashing.

Decades of indoctrination via Biro Tatanegara (BTN), RTM, TV3, Utusan Malaysia, school curriculum, political speeches and mosque sermons has created a whole group of people who believe in racial and religious supremacy.

They have been repeatedly told that they are the masters of this land and the others are pendatang (migrants). That it is their birthright to be given all the top positions in the government, civil service, government-linked companies (GLCs) and public universities.

That it’s their birthright to be given special privileges, including handouts. That the minorities should be ever grateful for being given citizenship in return for acknowledging that the majority race is the master.

Sadly, in this narrative, even the indigenous non-Muslim bumiputera of Sabah and Sarawak have been lumped into the same category as the Chinese and Indians.

The Malays are as much the victims of this brainwashing as the Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, Chinese and Indians. The culprits are Umno and its leaders, including former premiers Abdul Razak Hussein and Mahathir.

Anonymous_1546043747: Indeed, it is going to take decades to achieve total unity among all races after all the rot over so many years and a lot depends on the new government's policies.

Certainly, there can't be an overnight change and to assuage the concerns of all races, the government has to tread carefully and care for everyone's sensitivities.

But it can't please everyone all the time. Surely there will be elements out there who will oppose change. A good education system has to be in place with teachers at school playing a key role.

I’m not optimistic to see much change in my lifetime but the government of the day and all politicians need to strategise for the long term, giving priority to the rakyat's interest and putting aside their political games.

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