Giving the Chinese what they voted for

In a democracy, citizens are free to choose. The Chinese have chosen.

Since they have made their democratic choice, Najib Razak as a democratically elected prime minister should try his best to give the 51-percent majority of Popular Voters what they voted for.

Any 90 percent threshold is a convincing referendum. So Najib Razak must learn to “listen, listen, listen”. The 90 percent Chinese have spoken loud and clear at the ballot box. Please hear their voice.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2013/5/7/nation/13075961

What are the Chinese chambers complaining?

The 90 percent Chinese who supported the federal opposition swear that first and foremost they voted in colour blindness for Bangsa Malaysia candidates to represent their fellow “MALAYSIANS” strictly on the basis of Malaysian Firstness.

So how come MCA and Gerakan have been hinting that they’re both willing to U-turn on their earlier rejection of government posts?

These whiny party leaders are just so divorced from the reality on the ground, which is that the Chinese masses have wholeheartedly embraced Malaysian-ness. So they do not need MCA to look into “Chinese issues” any more. ‘Race’ concerns are so passe.

They did not vote along racial lines in GE13. PKR’s Rafizi Ramli won in Pandan over his MCA opponent, and DAP’s Sakmongkol won in Raub against another MCA opponent. Since Rafizi and Datuk Sak are Malay, it only proves the Chinese have successfully transcended race-based politics.

These Chinese voters who have put Rafizi, Datuk Sak and other Malay opposition in Parliament have signalled their staunch belief that Malaysian Firsters are capable of representing ALL Malaysians regardless of race at every level of government.

Hence it becomes pointless for Najib Razak to reserve any portfolio in his Cabinet – the Transport Ministry is still vacant – for an ethnic Chinese office holder. This race consideration is sooooooo racist!

The message transmitted through GE13 is that the Chinese are NOT racist. They believe in Malaysian Malaysia, and that Lim Guan Eng, for example, is chief minister for Indians, for Malays, for all Penangites.

Thus there is no reason for Najib not to appoint a Dayak as Transport Minister. A Sarawak native can easily be a minister for all Malaysians whether they are Chinese, Punjabi, Bengali or Tamil.

And there is no reason either for Najib not to apply this policy of Malaysian First across the board for all other government appointments.

The Malaysian Firsters would surely applaud such a noble initiative and Najib himself for personally spearheading the implementation of a non-racial policy.

What is Dong Zong complaining?

The Chinese educationists are unhappy with the appointment of Paul Low as Minister and Mary Yap as Deputy Education Minister.

Their objection is to Paul and Mary’s lack of fluency in Mandarin.

Sigh. This Dong Zong is as “easily confused” as those woolly headed Muslims who might mistake a Rumah Allah (church) for a mosque.

Presumably the Dong Jiao Zong members did not vote for all those fluent Mandarin-speaking MCA candidates who lost in the GE. Ergo, Paul and Mary must be exactly what 90 percent of the Chinese electorate desire.

Well, not that they voted for Paul and Mary specifically to be ministers but they did indeed vote in support of the concept of Malaysian Firstness.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/5/8/nation/13081227&sec=nation

What is The Star complaining?

The Wong Chun Wai article written in the aftermath of GE13 said, “It does not augur well for the country when a mainstream Bahasa Malaysia daily took on a racial slant in its edition yesterday (May 7).”

Chun Wai’s May 8 article said that Utusan had sent an “intimidating message”.

With regard to the viral meme ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’, The Star commented: “In a highly-charged political atmosphere, racial remarks such as the front page headline in yesterday’s Utusan Malaysia can be easily magnified and should be avoided.” — see screenshot above

The Star group editor reminded his readers: “It is one thing to analyse how the voting patterns went and how the different ethnic groups voted, but it goes against the grain of democracy when voters are blamed and threatened.”

Analysing how the voting patterns went, the DAP election strategists find that BN (mostly Umno) won the smallest parliament seats (“small” in terms of population size) in mainly the rural areas.

DAP the Urban Tsunami party mocks Umno as a kampung party and DAP supporters mock Utusan as a kampung newspaper.

This is largely true if we look at the Malay broadsheet’s circulation and distribution (see table) as compared with English tabloid The Jerusubang Star‘s urban reach.

To paraphrase Wong Chun Wai, Utusan by blaming and threatening [Chinese] voters, is going “against the grain of democracy”. Utusan had upset The Star and Scissorati by asking what more do the Chinese want.

See Star headline — ‘Win them over, don’t blame them’ (screenshot above).

What Utusan needs is more urbane polish in its approach. So instead of “blaming” the Chinese, what Utusan should do is encourage the government to give the Chinese what they voted for.

The Chinese electorate voted for the DAP’s Malaysian First policy, as explained above. The Star are the best people to explain this to Dong Zong which appears still unclear on the concept.