The Malays roared and I had been oblivious

I had never wanted to turn this into a politics-dissecting blog, but as they say, it's easier on the ego to criticize others than to clean your own backyard. And then they also say to cut one's nose to spite one's face. I have been really impatient about the way UMNO is running the country. I personally wanted to tell Sibu folks of their stupidity had they lost the recent by-election. I ought to go down to Hulu Selangor and tell the Indians there, I told you so! To the Borneons who rant about how Peninsular raped and pillaged their land to prosper this side, they had not been playing their role of influencing the voters to seek the alternative view anyway. You should have done your part. You should care enough for your state to seek to change your way of life.

It is true about the Law of Attraction - when you seek you are given. In 2009 I read a blog about why this lawyer thought that Melayu tidak bacul and I wondered aloud if the majority of Malays were like him. It is the silent majority who give de-facto power to the small population of ruling party members. If we have an open dialogue or open blogs-of-opinions such as this, then everyone would start to see the common cause, common grouse that they all had been having all along. So ever since then, I have started to notice more and more Malay bloggers who oppose UMNO. And that is a great sign!

Similarly, it is important for the non-Muslims to speak up about issues that they oppose, such as whether Chinese are supporting PAS for their own interests. Or on the issue of a non-Muslim Prime Mnister. Yes, that is why I wrote a piece on how annoyed I am with some Chinese-educated people. Have you read the fervent defence of Gerakan supporters of UMNO in the comments section of a number of political blogs? How is it that when the bigger evil is your parent, you harp on the juvenile evils of Pakatan Rakyat states? A wrong is a wrong no matter what side you are on. Even better is if you don't take sides, then you can bash both parties the way Pete does.

When I read Pete's gameplan for Zaid Ibrahim and a few intellectual Malays to join DAP, I felt repulsion. It's the same way I had to find a Malay exco member for my university's society committee - it's purely window-dressing. I'm glad Zaid Ibrahim chose PKR, because to join a Chinese party is like an acting puppet - I could imagine the lack of sincerity when PAS would be a better common cause. It is better to form the non-Muslim PAS supporters group, and I am sure I will join the group. I've not attended an Opposition ceramah ever since my first voting right, but I'll support PAS anytime over Gerakan, which again are puppets.

According to Pete, the Malays woke up in the 1998 REFORMASI movement. I was never aware of that. In Pete's book, he said that BERSIH showed how non-Muslims protested alongside Muslims. I was totally oblivious to the impact of BERSIH until I saw some photo-grabs of the protestors. In contrast only 600 Muslims attended a Perkasa gathering on 13 May. Again a good sign!

In his parting words, he said that Malays should stand up to defend their non-Muslim brothers and sisters when UMNO tries to start racial riots. He said that non-Muslims could not be expected to take the lead. I could not imagine being defended by Malays, but what if it does happen? I have no close Malay friends, only a few Malay acquaintances from school. I agree I'd defend any friend I knew if I saw a stranger wielding a parang trying to hack my friend, but we're talking about a stranger Malay fending off an attack on a stranger Chinese. I can't believe it, we can finally become a country like Singapore (which is a better thing than Malaysia). I'm actually looking forward to the political climate change.