YOURSAY | Nothing wrong with non-Malays heading local govt

YOURSAY | ‘It is a problem for those who look at everything through racist lens.’

Umno will never allow local council election - Lokman tells DAP

Newday: Wouldn’t expect anything else from Umno supreme council member Lokman Adam, Umno Veterans’ Association chief Mustapha Yaakub and Perikatan Nasional lawmaker Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal. All are birds of the same feathers - ultras.

It is not the federal or state government we are discussing but the local government. Yes, some areas are majority non-Malay, but the majority of local areas are not.

It all comes down to who is willing to put their hand up to seriously work for local communities.

At the moment, it is most difficult to do anything unless you have specific connections to the local council. What does this arrangement breed?

Lots of local council annual reports are glossy and pretty, but provide little detail to understand how funds are spent.

Local councils essentially do their own thing and work with their favourites. There is no accountability to the rakyat.

At least we get a voting choice in state and federal elections.

Kilimanjaro: One would be prompted to say that Umno never learns from its past mistakes and continues to pile up its liabilities and baggage.

Umno's views are quite unnecessary. Even its party members seem not to be listening to the grand old party and have abandoned it by the thousands.

This sort of reaction from the Malay parties only elicits anger and frustration.

It is a cardinal principle of democracy that taxpayers or ratepayers be given the choice to elect their representatives.

This gives away that perhaps it is Umno who is running the government.

Umno has stalled the progress of reforms, and today it insists on continuing along the path.

Umno's future revival lies in its ability to position itself as a party that endears all Malaysians.

Its stumbling-block attitude cost its non-Malay votes and reduced the MCA, MIC and Gerakan to rubbish and consequently diminished Umno's position to lead.

Other parties within the unity coalition risk a similar fate if Umno persists in a regressive attitude.

That will accelerate its ultimate demise. The sharpened knives are with other Malay parties and not the non-Malay, but with this kind of attitude, it is stretching its bad luck.

Its mouth is its enemy. Their reckless rhetoric during an Umno assembly that was telecast live cost them a 2/3 majority in 2008.

There is no love for Umno among the non-Malays. It needs to regain the confidence and trust of the non-Malay, but it doesn't seem to care.

It is still hoping for its lost glory but with an attitude that wants to be king without the people to support it.

Vijay47: You never fail not to surprise me, Lokman.

Perhaps that talent arises from the fact that you are so immersed in Umno and its symptoms.

It is quite obvious that you were looking for a reason, any reason, to play to the racist gallery you seek to serve and instigate.

Your statement is a classic example of the crude cunning that politicians of your breed excel in.

Save for heroically stating that “Umno will never allow local council election”, you never gave a single reason to support your stand.

On the contrary, you used some inane non-existent matters to incite extremists, lustily crying out “Man the ramparts! Raise the drawbridge! DAP, the Chinese, and the non-Malays are coming!”

With the inevitable, incendiary finale, “We will fight to the end!”

Going by the records, Lokman and your stablemate Wan Fayhsal, your nightmarish terror seems to be fuelled by the possibility that the local council election might see the Chinese “governing” major cities.

What of it? If the Chinese form the majority in particular areas, why shouldn’t they administer them?

After all, the Malays seem to be ruling every square inch from city to kampung.

VioletOrca0545: Lokman, let me get this straight.

Are you worried that a city with a non-Malay majority that is run by a non-Malay city council will neglect the minority Malay Muslims?

So a Malay-Muslim city council that runs a city with a Malay-Muslim majority is fine, and the non-Malays won't be neglected? Only the Malay Muslims are fair and capable?

Or is it you who is worried that you can't appoint your political friends to these posts any more?

In the article, you were quoted as saying, “For sure, if such elections are held, Chinese representatives will easily win in areas where they are the majority.”

What is so wrong with that? Are you saying the majority shouldn't govern areas where they live?

So, should non-Malays not govern Malaysia as well?

Or regardless of which position, only Malays can hold power? Are all the other races just there to support the Malays?

What about a township in Sabah and Sarawak that is filled with local natives?

At-Sixx: So Umno is not a believer in democracy.

They can't care what system is used so long as Malays occupy all positions of power, even in non-Malay areas.

They basically won't even allow Malays to elect non-Malays through a democratic process.

If that isn't racism, I don't know what is. Malaysia sadly cannot progress. In Sarawak, they are progressive-minded, and they're indifferent to the issues in Peninsular Malaysia.

They do not want outsiders meddling in Sarawak affairs. The peninsula and Sarawak will evolve very differently. One day it might be as different as Iran and Dubai.

Beman: What do the Malays living in a certain area have to lose if a non-Malay Malaysian who is capable and has the best interest in the area in mind and heart is elected? Nothing.

It is a problem only for those who look at everything through their racist lens.

Apanama is Back: Now let me guess what Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will say. Here are a few possibilities:

1) We do not want to repeat what happened in the French Revolution. Not sure whether the French had a local council election during that revolution.

2) We may lose the general election due to a 'social contract' kind of thing. The same answer he gave to that poor girl.

3) We do not want to dismay certain communities who are still in the infancy stage even after 67 years.

4) The Kuala Lumpur mayor who is appointed is doing a good job. Kuala Lumpur will be cleaned up soon and the flood mitigation project is still on the way (for the last five years still can’t find its way, lost the compass!).

5) With the appointment of a new minister, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mutafa, we do not need a local council election.

6) We will think about it. They are thinking from 1963, for the last 60 years, and still thinking, maybe for the next 600 years.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.