Where are you Stalin?

 Dark days ahead

The ongoing attacks on the Chinese by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the powerful bloggers who are allied to him are picking up the pace. Although the Malays and the Chinese are not yet at war with each other, don’t be too hopeful that such deliberate mischief will just fade away without consequences to the state of race relations in the country.

This development reminds me of Russia’s infamous leader Joseph Stalin and the false accusations he made against the Crimean Tartars 90 years ago. Stalin justified their forced deportation from Crimea during the Second World War because they were supposedly aiding Germany, Russia’s wartime enemy.

Stalin conveniently forgot that Crimea was then being occupied by both Russia and Germany, and naturally the occupying forces had forced the Tartars to enroll in their respective armies in the war effort. Only a few thousands joined the Germans while more than 30,000 joined the Russian Army.

It did not matter to Stalin that the Tartars were forced to take sides. He ordered their immediate deportation, which saw some 300,000 men, women and children bundled into trucks and trains to Central Asia.  Almost half of them perished along the way, which was deemed to be fitting punishment for their supposedly traitorous behaviour.

Leaders who are evil and cruel do not rely on the facts of history—neither do they care to understand the underlying reasons why people act in a certain way. Such leaders only want excuses with which they can justify their actions.

Hitler blamed the Jews for many of Germany’s problems, although it was ridiculous to blame one group of people for the problems of the Weimar Republic. His obsession with the purity of the Aryan race had no basis in science and was not justified on any moral grounds, but he persisted with this mad idea of eliminating the Jews nonetheless. Evil leaders are like that. They are beyond comprehension, are more interested in causing harm and destruction and are moved to act in ways that are devoid of morality or common sense.

So I will not try to understand the thinking or reasons behind Dr Mahathir’s attacks on the Chinese.

At the same time, the dangers of this new development must be taken seriously by the people of this country. We cannot afford to view the dangers posed by this kind of hate speech lightly. It would be tragic if right-thinking Malaysians failed to do something together to show the world that we reject this attempt to instill hate and fear among the various races. Malaysians must remain united and steadfast in rejecting racial hatred.

I am also surprised that Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his Press conference this morning did not see fit to condemn the observations made by his former boss or to reject such views.

Although Dr Mahathir is not in the Government anymore, he is still in Umno and should be more responsible in what he says. At the moment ethnic rivalries are just too sensitive for national leaders to ignore.

It is important that the Malay leaders in the Pakatan Rakyat show some solidarity with the DAP, and not just leave it to Lim Kit Siang to fend off the attacks on behalf of the Chinese community. Solidarity in the PR must transcend helping each another during the General Election—it must embrace defending the core values of our people.

If Dr Mahathir is using these hysterics to galvanise his forces for the upcoming Umno General Assembly, he is wasting his time. Umno leaders may be persuaded to be angry with the Chinese but they will not abandon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Self interests and self preservation hold sway deep in the recesses of the Umno mind, now and forever. Party members know that Najib will win regardless how much bad blood is poured into the arena, and they know that Najib is adept at taking care of them, just like he did with the electorate during the General Election.

In any event, the more hawkish the right-wing elements become, the more reasonable Najib and his team will appear. I believe the majority of Umno members will go with the moderate views of the Prime Minister. The country will not be governable any other way. - July 29, 2013.