KOTA KINABALU – Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has taken a swipe at Malay political parties proclaiming “Malay unity”, saying the elites are only making false promises at the expense of ordinary Malays.
The former Sabah chief minister said that Umno, Bersatu and PAS have failed to form a stable government, and are still operationg on the belief that the majority of Malays live in rural areas when, in fact, they don't.
“About 70% of Malays, and 80% of Malaysians, live in urban areas. They (Umno, Bersatu and PAS) will soon find a revolt of urban Malays who will return to the ‘kampung’ to vote.
“The old, male-dominated elite, especially among Malay-based parties, are leaving a huge vacuum in Malaysian politics,” he said.
“The Malay unity rhetoric has proven to be a false promise. The Malays themselves suffer when the powerful Malay elites subject ordinary Malays to one set of rules while they enjoy a different set of rules.”
Shafie said the three parties’ ideology is similarly dismissive of youth and women, who form a large block of voters.
Additionally, it has also ignored the needs of non-Malays.
“Worse, they see multiracial Sabah and Sarawak as ‘outsiders’ in their power game,” he said during the online Regional Outlook Forum 2021, organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, on Thursday.
On Malaysia’s political outlook, he said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin now has only two choices.
Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president, can either arrange a “ceasefire” with both Umno and the opposition, or call for a general election in tandem with the Sarawak election in the June-August period, he said.
The latter would mean massive politicking among parties in the months to come, he added.
Shafie added that Malaysian politics should now move beyond the personal politics of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and current opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also PKR president.
“There should be a new movement of all Malaysians to unite against the old, male-dominated elite parties, and to give space and room for everyone to find their voice and unleash their potential.
“There is no place left for racial and religious politics. Unity needs to be the bedrock for reform, through a participatory democracy, one that is fully represented across key stakeholders – old and young, urban and rural, liberals and conservatives – through a values-based system of governance that transcends race and religion.” – The Vibes, January 9, 2021
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