Are UMNO Youth leaders for real?

WoW! WoW! WOW!Don't play
racial card

Blares the news headline in the Star's frontpage this moUrn, which is a day of Woe traditionally for
WedNURSEday Childe.

Wow1: I thought it was a true season of Springtime of Press Freedom that The People's Paper
was practising giving specail treatment to perhaps a keADILan leader like Dr Syed Husin Ali his more than usual two sen worth.
Wow2: I thought we are really on the path to a Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020 finally.
WOW3: Now SENSE has prevailed over Idiocy, Morony and Oligarchy in NegaraKu, Praise be to the Almighty!


BUT...

Bowed:

No, Heaven on the Good Earth was not to be!



Wednesday November 15, 2006


Don't play racial card

KUALA LUMPUR: Opportunistic leaders who stoke the “fires of disunity” have no place in Barisan Nasional, warned Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

The Umno Youth chief said Malaysia could not be moulded by the narrow-mindedness, chauvinism and extremism of those who play the racial card in order to emerge as champions of their race.

“We know who they are, where they are and what they are saying. We will be fearless in confronting these leaders.

“We will not compromise our country's future,” he told the Youth assembly yesterday.

Hishammuddin, who also heads Barisan Nasional Youth, said he really appreciated the support and trust given to him by the Youth wings of the component parties.

Even though at times the strength and unity among them were tested, trust, understanding and sincerity always prevailed because the existing ties had been built over a long time.

He also reminded Umno Youth not to engage in the “game of the politics of hate.”

The movement, he said, was currently in a very strong position and it could no longer merely play the role of a spokesman or pressure group.

“Now is not the time to seek recognition or go against the flow. What we need is dynamic leadership and a readiness to spearhead renewal,” he said.

With this, he added, came responsibility.

Voicing concerns over how certain groups were taking advantage of the new openness and transparency of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration, he believed that some were testing the Government's tolerance.

“Race and religious issues are being discussed without considering rationally the impact they will have on race relations in the country.

“What should have been constructive criticism has turned out to be vindictive, a venting of anger and hatred, malice and envy,” he said.

He warned the Article 11 group to steer clear of Article 11 and Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution and not to question the rights of Malays and the position of Islam, as this could stir up Malay and Muslim emotions.

Matters relating to Islam should be decided by the Syariah Court, not the civil court, he said.

Umno Youth, he added, wanted the Government to continue to reject the setting up of the Inter-Faith Commission.

Hishammuddin also said the Malay Agenda spelt out under the Ninth Malaysia Plan was a national mission and not a zero-sum game which would only benefit the Malays and cause the non-Malays to lose out.

“The non-Malays should be brave enough to admit that they have benefited either directly or indirectly through many projects carried out during the duration of the National Economic Policy,” he said.

He also labelled as absurd the controversial Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute report, which claimed that Malay corporate equity could have reached 45%.

In an obvious reference to Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Hishammuddin said Umno Youth was really angry over his baseless remarks on Malaysia and its policies.

“The irresponsible comments discrediting our policies are actually made to cover up their own weaknesses,” he said.

He cited a report in an issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review last month which stated that there was blatant discrimination against the non-Chinese in Singapore, even in the field of education. According to the article, he said, from 1966 to 2005 only 14 or 6.2% of the recipients of the President's Scholarship were non-Chinese.

“It is clear that the discrimination he claims exists in this country is much more serious in his country.

“We would like to tell that leader to be careful when making statements. It is better that he looks at his own country instead of meddling in ours,” he said.


Turn to page N8:



Khairy hits out at call to abolish NEP


KHAIRY Jamaluddin hit out at Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for saying that the New Economic Policy (NEP) was no longer needed.

Without naming him, the Umno Youth deputy chief said there was a former deputy president who had said in an interview that the NEP was bad because only the cronies and the “Umnoputras” became rich from it.

“Pandai dia cakap (What cheek he has to speak). He was the greatest Umnoputra of all and a very rich one too,” he said in his winding up speech.

Since his release from prison, Anwar has said in a number of interviews that the NEP should be abolished and that all races should be given equal opportunities.

Khairy slammed the Asli (Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute) report that claimed Malay corporate equity had reached 45%.

“They are manipulating figures. If we want to use the Asli figures, let’s set a new target. Let’s make it 70% for the Malay equity,” he added.

He also slammed some government-linked companies (GLCs) which were said to treat Umno Youth members as beggars.

He told reporters later that the statement by a Penang delegate (that the Penang Malays are being neglected) was important for the Penang government led by Gerakan deputy president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to take stock of the situation and address the problems faced by the Malays in the state.

“The actual message is that the Malays are feeling dissatisfied in Penang and they have the right to express their feelings,” he said.

DESIDERATA: just about one year ago, at the previous UMNO YOUTH ASSEMBLY at the same venue (PWTC where the Epic Sandiwara is going on, or have you forgotten?), these same TWO UMNO YOUTH LEADERS were brandishing "THE KERIS" -- the symbol of Ketuanan Melayu. If that was not "playing the race card", Messers Hishamuddin and Khairy, what is?

Or the two are expecting all Malaysian common citizens to suffer from amnesia, or selective memory, like them when they take to the PWTC Stage?


Or mayhaps it's Leadership by Example?


A wellknown fact of history, and well documented in the Wikipedia ~~ my fellow Bloggers and some EsteemedReaders say it's the most reliable online Encyclopaedia ~~ just in case some top leaders wished we forever are indeed suffering from Amnesia and some encyclopaedia are churning out Fiction, not Fact!:(

***At a rally held in a stadium in Selangor then UMNO Youth Chief Najib Razak threatened to bathe a keris (dagger) with Chinese blood ...****


FOOD FOR BRUNCH-PONDER, mGf?
And at every General Elections the past 20 years -- except for the 2004GE, thanks to Pak Lah, this tactic was not so blatantly abused! -- the Barisan Nasional government never failed to involke the BOGEY OF MAY 13, 1969 VIA ELECTION CARITURES AND SLOGANS with blatantly brazen threats of bloodshed if the electorate do not vote the Dacing....-- If this was not playing the Racial Card, what is?