Desperate for Chinese and Indian votes, former backdoor Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has suddenly shifted his “Malay First” to “Malaysian First” stance to hoodwink non-Malay voters. On the other side, UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh, desperate for Malay votes, has declared he is “Malay First” rather than “Malaysian First” in his attempt to hoodwink the Malay voters.
A few days ago, Muhyiddin said – “I once said I was Malay first. That’s no longer important. I am a Malay who cares about all Malaysians.” While we know he declared in 2010 that he was “Malay first” while he was the deputy Prime Minister under Najib Razak government, nobody knows when he actually stopped being “Malay first”. The educated guess is he changed his stance only recently.
Actually, Muhyiddin did not specifically say he is now “Malaysian first”. He just said that being “Malay first” is no longer a top priority, at least for now. His utmost priority is to pretend to be a Malay leader who cares about other minority races as he realizes the Perikatan Nasional coalition he currently leads will be insufficient to win the next 16th General Election – despite having 80% Malay vote bank.
Yes, the reason why power-hungry Muhyiddin suddenly ditched his racist bearing is because the next national pollscould be held as early as next year (2026). Hence, he badly needs to impress upon the critical non-Malay voters that he isn’t a racist. His Malay-centric party – Bersatu or Malaysian United Indigenous Party – lacks Chinese and Indian votes to return to power.
On the other hand, Akmal’s Malay nationalist party – United Malays National Organization (UMNO) – is still struggling to convince its traditional Malay supporters to return to UMNO ever since they abandoned it in the May 2018 General Election. Therefore, racist Akmal wanted to project an image that he’s more Malay than Muhyiddin by mocking the ex-premier for abandoning his “Malay first” stance.
To show that UMNO is a bigger Malay hero than Bersatu, Akmal has also claimed that Malaysia belongs to only Malays because the country will forever remain “Tanah Melayu” (Malay land). What is so great about Tanah Melayu when Kelantan, populated with 95% ethnic Malay, is plagued with poverty, underdeveloped, lack of jobs, and recorded a 22.3% rise in underage sex and incest cases?
More importantly, where are all the Malay heroes like Akmal, Muhyiddin, former premier Mahathir Mohamad and all the PAS leaders when “Ketuanan Melayu” – the ideology of Malay supremacy espoused by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) under the Mahathir leadership during his 22 years iron-fist rule (1981 – 2003) – is under attack by the United States?
On April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on all imports into the U.S., but Malaysian exports were subjected to a 24% tariff. Trump then announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for most countries to allow negotiations. Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz led the three-day mission to Washington that began on April 24.
After a preliminary negotiation, the U.S. has made four demands to Malaysia. Hiding details, Zafrul has merely summarized the demands – non-tariff barriers, trade deficit, safeguarding U.S. technology and investing in American industries. The focus should be on the “non-tariff barriers”, which Zafrul played down as halal certification process that takes longer than other types of certification.
Had Malaysian ethnic Chinese or Indian raised displeasure about halal certification, all hell will break loose. The minority race would be condemned as anti-Malay, anti-Muslim and anti-Islam. Racist Malay politicians would have made thousands of police reports, organized mega rallies, and police would be mobilised to arrest and charge those who dare to touch the sensitive issue.
Hilariously, when the White House demands that the halal certification process be reviewed, all the so-called Malay defenders – Akmal, Muhyiddin, Mahathir, Hadi Awang, and all the UMNO, PAS, and Bersatu Malay hypocrites – are as quiet as a church mouse. How dare the Americans interfere and lecture Malay-Muslims on how to run the business of halal certification in the country?
But halal import restrictions was not the only issue raised by the Trump’s team. Bumiputra equity in foreign-owned companies was another issue flagged by the U.S. As we had published (read here), the U.S. was upset with Malaysian government procurement, where foreign companies are required by law to take on a local – Bumiputera (indigenous ethnic Malay) – qualified partner before tenders will be considered.
Likewise, the country has procurement preference for locally manufactured pharmaceutical products, which discourage the use of imported pharmaceutical (sector which Trump will hit next). Additionally, there are “unfair high tariffs” disguised as excise duty, import tax and sales tax that the U.S. has long complained – import restrictions on automobiles under the Malaysian National Automotive Policy to protect “national car” Proton.
Limiting foreign banks to eight physical branches, restrictions on foreign business of reinsurance, foreign ownership requirements through a 70-30 equity split between foreign investors (limited to 70% ownership) and ethnic Malaysians (must have a 30% stake) are just some trade barriers which Trump deemed unfair practises that Malaysia must fix.
For decades, minority Chinese and Indians have been bullied, threatened, intimidated and suppressed into surrendering at least 30% stake in their business to enrich the Malays, most of whom have political connections. While the minorities cannot do anything to resist, the government is now panicked when Trump administration has unleashed its powerful weapon – tariffs – to fight the discrimination and unfair pro-Bumiputra policies.
Zafrul, who had earlier said that he had no idea how Trump cooked up the 24% tariff figure, deliberately hides the U.S.’ complaint about Bumiputra equity in foreign-owned companies for obvious reasons. Anwar government hopes the sensitive issue, which could backfire on his already small Malay support base if not handled properly, could be swept under the carpet after negotiations.
Not only Minister Zafrul has to explain whether he has lectured the White House that Malaysia only imposes 5.6% tariffs (which he previously insisted) on American goods, but all the Malay champions must reject and resist – even take to the street – any demands by the U.S. to change the pro-Bumiputra policies, regardless how discriminatory or unfair they are.
For a start, Akmal should take in boycotting American products, including iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Boeing, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson, Levi’s, Timberland, Hollywood movies, Tesla, McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Burger King, A&W, Pizza Hut, American Eagle, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Nike, Guess, Coach, and the list goes on.
Likewise, 99-year-old son of Iskandar “Kutty” Mahathir, who claimed there were only spoonfuls of Indian blood in him and who has criticised Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s pro-China foreign policy, claiming they would harm Malaysia’s image as a non-aligned country, should protest against the U.S. demands to scrap Bumiputra equity in foreign-owned companies.
Even though Muhyiddin has abandoned his “Malay first” stance, he should not pretend as if nothing has happened as Donald Trump is trying to dismantle the “Ketuanan Melayu” supposedly had existed in “Tanah Melayu” since the Stone Age. In the same breath, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang should invoke some Jihad against the Yankees, or at least spew some anti-America mantras in his version of Islamic teachings.
Source : Finance Twitter
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