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Malaysia: Chinese No Longer Afraid Of An Islamic State Says Leader
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - While the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is still quibbling over the surprise defeat in a by-election, the Islamists of the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) have been given an unprecedented boost.
Chinese leaders in Malaysia are openly saying they are no longer afraid of an Islamic state under the PAS, which they say has done a lot for the community in Kelantan, and recently in Terengganu.
"PAS is said to have another vision that is different to that of the ruling coalition. The Chinese seem to have understood that this vision was not detrimental to the community’s future in the country," a Chinese trader said.
She was commenting on the report that Tew Nee Mei, a Chinese community leader in Kedah, said that in the two PAS-led states, Chinese were allowed to rear pigs and land had been allocated for Chinese schools.
Betty Weng, who sells computers in the affluent Bukit Bintang area in Kuala Lumpur, told IslamOnline that the PAS has never in reality done anything that might have alienated the Chinese.
"All that we know is that the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), which is a partner in the ruling coalition, always insisted the PAS was fundamentalist and would convert all the Chinese to Islam" she said, adding that Tew Nee Mei was right that the PAS had never hurt the feelings of the Chinese community.
Mei said Mahathir likened Suqiu, a Chinese lobby group of over 200 organizations, to communists in his recent Independence Day message.
Observers in Kuala Lumpur believe that Mahathir’s comment hurt the Chinese. They also say an editorial in the Utusan (Malay language daily), which heavily criticized the Chinese community for voting for the opposition in the by-election in Lunas, was racist.
The Chinese community angered Mahathir over a proposed plan to adopt a modern concept of schooling under the Vision School project. He said the government of Malaysia had, at heart, the well-being of the nation and would not disrupt any community’s right to their own languages.
However, his message seems to have been understood differently and the Vision School project became the battle cry for radical Chinese leaders. The events that followed November 1999’s general elections did not help to change minds within the Chinese community in the country.
The leading Malay party in the ruling National Front (NF) coalition, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has been criticized for its actions against the Suqui movement.
The UMNO staged demonstrations outside the Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur, something not expected by the Chinese who massively voted the UMNO into power in 1999.
The Chinese community today blames MCA leaders for their inaction towards UMNO youth leaders who voiced their despise towards the Suqui, who wield considerable influence among the Chinese, an observer told IslamOnline.
Mei added that the Chinese in Lunas did not believe in the MCA's call during the by-election campaign when they said a vote for PAS was a vote for an Islamic state. "We are not afraid of Islam," he added.
Some analysts said the cooperation between the Chinese and Malays in the Lunas by-election, which is persistently dominating the news in Malaysia, could become the blueprint for a change of heart of the Chinese on a national level
Barisan Alternatif (BA) candidate Saifuddin Nasution Ismail won the by-election in Lunas on Wednesday with a narrow 530-vote margin, denying the Barisan Nasional (BN) a two-thirds majority in the Kedah state assembly. PAS holds 12 of the 36 seats in the assembly.
Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the Chief Minister of Kelantan, repeatedly said the Chinese community in his state was happy with a PAS-led administration. He said Chinese community leaders in Kelantan make it a point to invite Chinese from other states to see for themselves how the PAS treats non-Muslims.
The Alternative Front (AF) slammed the local daily Utusan for questioning the trust and loyalty of the Chinese community whom the newspaper said voted for the opposition in Lunas.
DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said Utusan Malaysia should apologize for the "inflammatory and unwarranted attack on the Chinese community" in an article entitled “Politics of the Chinese in Lunas”.
"They should apologize, just as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should heed the voice of the Lunas people," he said in a statement.
The Utusan Malaysia questioned whether "Is it true that the Chinese voters in the country cannot be trusted anymore? Going by the figures polled by NF and AF, particularly in Chinese-majority areas, the most accurate answer would be yes."
Lim said that Mahathir should drop the Vision School plan, end politics of ingratitude and apologize for the many unwarranted slurs on the Chinese such as "extremist, chauvinistic, terrorists and ingrates".
Lim said that unless Mahathir apologized, the NF must expect to lose even more Chinese voter support both in future by-elections and the next general elections in 2004.
This was not because the Chinese in Malaysia were untrustworthy or disloyal but because they cared for their dignity and fundamental rights just like the other communities, Lim said.
Lim said MCA president Ling Liong Sik and Gerakan president Lim Keng Yaik should strongly protest against the article, which he (Lim) felt was "very dangerous for a multi-ethnic society like Malaysia".
He said the two leaders should also get Mahathir to stop what he considered as "anti-Chinese attacks by UMNO leaders and UMNO-controlled media".
"UMNO should respect the constitutional rights of the Chinese voters to elect Saifuddin as the new Lunas state assemblyman.
"Let it not be said that under NF rule, the people's right to vote is only confined to the right to vote for NF," said Lim, adding that if that were so, NF leaders had a lot to learn from the United States presidential elections.
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