Umno wants Malays to remain poor,
ignorant
By Chua Jui Meng
Chua delivering his ceramah in
Mersing Kanan on Nov 11, 2012.
AS LONG as
Malays remain ignorant and poor, they will be dependent on Umno.
That has
been one of Umno’s main strategies in its divide-and-rule policy to remain in
power for 55 years.
That is
also the reason why wages and salaries have remained low compared with our
closest neighbour, Singapore, under the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
The cat
was let out of the bag by former Biro Tata Negara (BTN) director Johari Abdul,
who quit the BN-Umno regime, to join PKR.
Johari was
elected Sungai Petani MP in 2008 by toppling then Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin.
BTN or the
National Civics Bureau is BN-Umno’s brainwashing operative to misinform and
mislead the people to serve Umno’s agenda to remain in power.
Sections of the 1,500-strong
majority Malay crowd in Mersing Kanan.
Johari had
revealed that civil servants were told to promise Malay villagers anything they
want when they go to the ground to campaign for BN-Umno.
However,
they are not to fulfil their promises because as long as the Malays remain
ignorant and poor, they will continue to be dependent on Umno.
This is
what Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wants to overcome and remedy as fast as possible.
We want to
alert Malays to stop allowing themselves to be perbodohkan (made a fool) by Umno.
Umno fears
wise, intelligent, independent and informed Malays. Instead, we have no fear of
that and we want to raise the thinking capacity of all Malaysians, especially rural
Malays.
The Najib
(Abdul Razak)-led BN is only interested in propagating falsehood through its
control of the media and to disunite Malaysians via racial and religious
issues.
When it
comes to really important matters that affect the people, they lose all their
courage and do the disappearing act.
The
tabling of Budget 2013 is testimony of BN-Umno’s gross irresponsibility.
The
cowardice of Najib and all his Cabinet members, including deputy ministers, created
parliamentary history by being absent on the day Opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim kicked off the budget debate.
Not a
single one of them had the courage to face Anwar that day to defend their Budget
2013. That is the quality of BN MPs today. What a shame and an act of betrayal
to their voters and country.
The land
grabs by state governments nationwide, especially in Johor, are also clear
examples of Umno making fools out of Malays.
Mahathir
Mohamad, in 1991, amended the Land Acquisition Act 1960, to enable state
governments to legally rob people of their land and then alienating the land to
their cronies for property development.
Chua having a serious discussion
with Mersing community leaders in a warong
(eating stall) after a successful ceramah in Mersing Kanan.
We already
know the massive land grabs of native land in Sarawak. But this has also been
happening in Johor – Pasir Gudang, Denga Bay, Gelang Patah and now Pengerang.
Thousands
of Malay villagers have been evicted from their customary land under this Act. This is the nasib of orang Melayu under Umno
(This is the fate of Malays under Umno).
All
natural resources in the country belong to the people and country, not to any
individual or organisation.
What has
happened to Petronas’ trillions of ringgit in oil revenue? Why is the
government in heavy debt?
Has anyone
seen the accounts of Petronas, other than the prime ministers?
Anwar, as
deputy prime minister and finance minister, has never seen the accounts. Not
even Parliament.
What have
the last three prime ministers – Mahathir, Abdullah Badawi and Najib – been
hiding?
You must
also consider our socio-economic development policies and strategies contained in
PR’s Bukit Jingga and its alternative Budget 2013.
Unlike
BN’s Budget 2013 containing one-off cash give-aways aimed at buying your votes
to remain in power, we have proposed many macro-economic measures that benefit
the people directly and indirectly every day of the year.
We promise
to reduce the retail price of petrol and oil because that will help ease your
pockets and also bring down the prices of essentials because of lower transport
cost.
We promise
free education up to tertiary level for all Malaysians. We promise to set up
trust funds to look after and help the need of individuals, families and the
welfare of women, thereby recognising their critical role in family
institutions.
We also
promise to abolish road tolls.
These are the
many issues and questions that Malaysians, especially the rural Malays, must
consider carefully when they go to the next national polls.
