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RACIST CULTURE ENGRAINED: For Umno, nothing to lose if Chinese offended - Rafiizi
Since the 2008 general election, it is an open secret that Umno is particularly vexed by the Chinese community which has cast their ballots overwhelmingly for the opposition.
And the situation exacerbated after the last national polls where despite Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s repeated attempts to win over the Chinese minorities, the votes did not return.
From this vantage point, Rafizi Ramli is not surprised with Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s call for the Malays to boycott Chinese traders.
What left PKR vice-president slightly puzzled is that it took so long for an Umno leader to fire such a broadside.
With the Prime Minister’s Office having cleared the minister, Rafizi said this confirmed that Umno has removed all restraints when it comes to disparaging the Chinese community.
“So Ismail's outburst is just a continuation of Najib’s tirade (‘Chinese tsunami’ in the wake of 2013 elections). It was not the first and certainly won't be the last.
“Expect more to come because in Umno's view, not only is it politically advantageous to run down the Chinese community (hoping that it will attract more Malay support), the Chinese community has been reduced to be politically insignificant that Umno no longer cares of the political cost of offending them,” he told Malaysiakini.
Despite Ismail’s Facebook post urging the Malays to shun Chinese traders, the PMO claimed that the minister was reprimanding errant traders of all races who refuse to lower the prices of goods.
Rafizi claimed that there was already a pervasive silent campaign within the Umno grassroots to demonise Chinese traders.
“I had forewarned this almost a month ago - that Umno should stop the silent campaign against the Chinese. So it was a surprise that it took a month before a minister echoed what generally is the feeling among Umno members.
“And that's the crux of it - what Ismail said echoed a widespread feeling among the Umno grassroots because Umno has veered too much to the right.
“Since 2008, Umno has almost given up on a vision of multiracial Malaysia. It has been Umno's strategy to consolidate Malay votes hoping that Malay votes alone can retain them in power,” he added.
Rafizi pointed out that Ismail’s outburst was not only rude and dangerous, it will also not solve the problem.
“Ismail should have known better (being a former domestic trade and consumerism minister) that the real root cause of price hikes is not a simplistic ‘selfish Chinese traders’ as he claimed, but prices are entangled with a cost structure that have been subjected to cost increase across the value chain over the last one to two years.
Rafizi has previously cautioned against such a “trigger-happy attitude” in raising fuel prices as every time fuel prices go up, other costs will go up as well.
“Some of these costs - for example, manpower - cannot come down once it is increased. You can't tell staff that their salary is revised downwards each time crude oil comes down.
“But it is expected that Umno will resort to this (blaming Chinese traders) rather than explaining the real root causes because it fits into their political strategy.” - M'kini
Since the 2008 general election, it is an open secret that Umno is particularly vexed by the Chinese community which has cast their ballots overwhelmingly for the opposition.
And the situation exacerbated after the last national polls where despite Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s repeated attempts to win over the Chinese minorities, the votes did not return.
From this vantage point, Rafizi Ramli is not surprised with Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s call for the Malays to boycott Chinese traders.
What left PKR vice-president slightly puzzled is that it took so long for an Umno leader to fire such a broadside.
With the Prime Minister’s Office having cleared the minister, Rafizi said this confirmed that Umno has removed all restraints when it comes to disparaging the Chinese community.
“So Ismail's outburst is just a continuation of Najib’s tirade (‘Chinese tsunami’ in the wake of 2013 elections). It was not the first and certainly won't be the last.
“Expect more to come because in Umno's view, not only is it politically advantageous to run down the Chinese community (hoping that it will attract more Malay support), the Chinese community has been reduced to be politically insignificant that Umno no longer cares of the political cost of offending them,” he told Malaysiakini.
Despite Ismail’s Facebook post urging the Malays to shun Chinese traders, the PMO claimed that the minister was reprimanding errant traders of all races who refuse to lower the prices of goods.
Rafizi claimed that there was already a pervasive silent campaign within the Umno grassroots to demonise Chinese traders.
“I had forewarned this almost a month ago - that Umno should stop the silent campaign against the Chinese. So it was a surprise that it took a month before a minister echoed what generally is the feeling among Umno members.
“And that's the crux of it - what Ismail said echoed a widespread feeling among the Umno grassroots because Umno has veered too much to the right.
“Since 2008, Umno has almost given up on a vision of multiracial Malaysia. It has been Umno's strategy to consolidate Malay votes hoping that Malay votes alone can retain them in power,” he added.
Rafizi pointed out that Ismail’s outburst was not only rude and dangerous, it will also not solve the problem.
“Ismail should have known better (being a former domestic trade and consumerism minister) that the real root cause of price hikes is not a simplistic ‘selfish Chinese traders’ as he claimed, but prices are entangled with a cost structure that have been subjected to cost increase across the value chain over the last one to two years.
Rafizi has previously cautioned against such a “trigger-happy attitude” in raising fuel prices as every time fuel prices go up, other costs will go up as well.
“Some of these costs - for example, manpower - cannot come down once it is increased. You can't tell staff that their salary is revised downwards each time crude oil comes down.
“But it is expected that Umno will resort to this (blaming Chinese traders) rather than explaining the real root causes because it fits into their political strategy.” - M'kini
