COMMENTARY
SEPT 8 — The right thing for the police to do tonight is to lock up Datuk Ahmad Ismail and charge him with sedition when the courts open tomorrow morning.
The best thing for the rest of Malaysia to do is not take the bait of this bigot, chauvinist and scare-monger and start talking about May 13; them versus us; Chinese versus Malays and all the hate-filled garbage that was spewed out by the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief at a press conference in Penang today.
He had one aim in calling a press conference today – his second since he set off a political maelstrom by describing Malaysian Chinese as immigrants on the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election. It was not to diffuse the racial tension as requested by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but to incite more anger among the races and stoke the fire of resentment among Malays.
Emboldened because the prime minister and Umno president had not pulled him up and believing even this latest infraction would go unpunished, he set out to taunt the Chinese by telling them that they would never attain political power in the country.
For good measure, he then referred to the black mark of Malaysian history – May 13 1969 – warning anyone against provoking the Malays.
When he completed the task of trying to instill fear, he then attempted to play the role of inciter, urging the Malays to stand firm, not back down and attend a convention in a show of force.
During the press conference, he was flanked by Umno muscle and a sprinkling of party officials who tasted defeat in Election 2008. They cheered him on and even provided a defining moment of the event, pulling down an old photograph of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and tearing it in a show of disgust against their Public Enemy No 1.
And because a few photographers missed the destruction of the photograph of the former chief minister of Penang, the party musclemen were willing to pose for the shutterbugs.
What Ahmad and his ilk are seeking to do is create enough hatred between the races and hope that groups go outside the bounds of democracy to settle issues. They want street demonstrations. They want mob rule.
Why? Because since March 8, they have become political nobodies in Penang.
No positions. No stature. Zilch. They cannot accept the fact that Pakatan Rakyat rules the state, the beneficiary of support from Malays, Chinese and Indians. They cannot accept the fact that they don't command respect outside the confines of their own party. They cannot accept that Umno is now the subject of ridicule and condemnation.
They want a return to the old days. And they only know one way of achieving that goal – by stoking trouble between the races.
No reason for the rest of Malaysia to follow their game plan.
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Please don't create false enemy between different races. We are all Malaysia and we love each other.