Thursday, November 16, 2006

UMNO Can't Count

Ah... the Penang Malays marginalisation debate is back. Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin said a "clear message" was delivered to Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon during the wing’s annual meet.
He was responding to the remarks made earlier by Umno Balik Pulau Youth chief Shahaedan Ayoob Hussein at the Umno Youth general assembly regarding the problems faced by the Malays in the Gerakan-controlled state.

"I am confident what Shahaedan said is important in showing Tsu Koon the plight of the Malays in Penang. The message is clear enough. If it is not clear, I don’t how it can be better delivered."
Not too long ago, he raised this same issue about alleged marginalisation of Malays in Penang to become a Penang Malays' hero. And the fault is with the non-Malay led Gerakan government. Hence the repeated calls for the Chief Ministership to be rotated. Let us look at the simple statistics.

Poverty incidence, according to the statistics provided by the 9th Malaysia Plan in Penang is only 0.3%. It is by far the lowest in the entire country!

Now, if Malays in Penang are marginalised, then Malays in UMNO ruled states are even more marginalised with poverty incidence 6.3% in Perlis, 7.0% in Kedah and 15.4% in Terengganu!

Worse, Sabah in which UMNO wrested the Chief Ministership position, initially via a Chief Ministership rotation policy has ironically the highest poverty incidence in the country at 23.0%! That's practically 76 times higher than in Penang. In fact, UMNO should offer Gerakan the Sabah chief ministership to teach them how to drastically reduce poverty incidence in the state!

The Government statistics doesn't lie, or so I'm told, hence UMNO must be not telling the truth. Why do they want to do that, besides just posterior talk? Well, I can only imagine that the UMNO state leaders in Penang cannot wait for the day they could strip the assets accumulated in the state for their own personal and crony interest.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh God, I wish I could do something to make Malaysia a better place to live in (from the minority perspective)...

Anonymous said...

We all know this is just irresponsible hypocrisy by KJ. The issue is not whether what he says has any validity, the issue really is it acceptable today for UMNO to continue these kinds of postering. Its manipulation of the weak minded and generous.

The only justification for allowing these kinds of talk is to hold on to some semblance of free speech. That is why we let him he gets away with it because deep down we want free speech and be able to speak like he can. Unfortunately, free speech is only for them, not the rest of us.

What does it mean? It means that everything he speaks like that, he makes everyone feel unfairness has been heaped upon them. Do it often enough and people will stop caring about being fair - to be out for themselves - destroying the very character of Malaysianess.

The arrogant young man does not understand he taking what has been built for granted. Take what he does is not without cost and consequences. He is taking the reserve of goodwill for his own personal gain and that is just not the kind of leaders we can count on for the future. No this man is not good enough for higher office. He is mediocre to the core...

What A Lulu said...

gosh... this "chinese-led" state has the lowest poverty level?
adnan picked the wrong bone
but khairy's picking the wrong state.
he has made gerakan look like the heroes of malaysia.

Anonymous said...

Guys,

Pls come and visit Penang someday. See by yourself the whole environment. Ask around. Your eyes will never lie to you.

Do marginalizing only refer to poverty. I beg to differ.

Anonymous said...

It's not about poverty, nor is it about marginalisation. KJ, like many UMNOcrats, speaks without critical analysis. I spoke to a penang Umno leader not so long ago and it was clear that Malay politics is so greatly manifested on a perceived idealism called Ketuanan Melayu. Believe it or not, many in UMNO still feed on the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu ideology that Malays are only rightful owners of their land. Many believe the social contract leading to independence only came about because non-Malays wanted to stay. Singapore's exit served to reinforce the idea that non-Malays made a choice, one which binds them into accepting Malay supremacy. Change in mindset will come the day Barisan's social contract is debunked. It looks impossible because UMNO's philosophy so greatly operates on a social-conflict theory, hence continually justifying affirmative action. The "perjuangan" is an endless one, for the day the fight ends, UMNO will lose relevance.