A note to my late father about UMNO Leaders, The Malays, NEP and the 30% Bumi Quota.

Omar bin Sheikh Isa my late father passed away of cancer on April 10th 2003. He was 73.

I am not an UMNO man, my late father was. Many times my late father was a little upset with my politics. This usually happened when my ideas are not in line with UMNO’s politics. One such example was when I suggested that all MARA schools and ITM be opened to non-bumis too during an interview with The Star back in 1996- an idea PKR leaders like Dato Seri Anwar and Dato Khaled find currency today (refer below for the press article and my nerdy picture back then!!!).

My suggestion was not base on politics. My reasoning was and still is, opening them to all will work better for everyone not just the Malays and Bumiputeras, but also the Chinese and Indians as many Malaysians have their first real experience of knowing and sharing between races when they share a room together in campus. Taking that away from young people who will have to deal with a multi-cultural nation and business society and more so a globalize world will just delay an experience to learn about each other to years later.

While my late father was sometimes upset with my politics, he was never troubled as he knew that his son has the humanity, nation and everyone regardless of race at heart. He also knew that I valued UMNO’s position, contributions and especially in many ways the UMNO leadership. I once told him that I hope UMNO some day will be able to become United Malaysian (as opposed to Malay) National Organization and my believed that well before any other parties become truly multiracial – UMNO would.

In fact it was the members of UMNO and the Malays in large numbers who since the first election willingly voted in nonracial lines – voting Chinese and Indian leaders in MCA and MIC. Without this willingness, Chinese and especially Indian representation in government would be almost impossible. It was this same kind of people who decided in March 8th to vote the opposition including the DAP. (DAP should take note of this fact, or you may just have only one term in Penang!)

My late father also knew that I give credit when it is due and I have a heavy dose of respect to UMNO leaders, the Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein and of coz Tun Dr Mahathir - although I was rather critical of some of Tun Dr Mahathir’s actions.

My late father also knew that I am not pro or against UMNO or its leaders in toto. For example while I was critical with Tun Dr Mahathir’s handling of the judiciary, I was all for his idea of capital control and telling the IMF to screw off! While I may not agree in the way Dato Seri Anwar’s sodomy case was handled, I agree that as PM and the boss he can sack Anwar for consistently contradicting him in the nation’s policies (read here http://letusaddvalue.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-i-think-of-anwar-ibrahim-has-not.html ).

If my late father is still alive today, he would be very concern and upset with the current attacked on the NEP and 30% Bumiputera quota by the oppositions and especially the member parties within the Barisan Nasional. He would be very dissapointed and probably even angry with those UMNO members or Malays like Zaid Ibrahim whom he will see as ' kacang lupakan kulit'. He would say something like this in Penang dialect, " Zaid ni, dia dulu jadi kaya pasai UMNO la... la ni apa dia nak bising pulak? ". He and I would have had an interesting discussion. He would have wanted to know what i think...

Here are my tots... Yed (that is how we call him, Yed is the shorter version of Waled – father in Arabic.) I communicate with Yed in Penang Malay, so I hope you readers can make sense of the dialect.

Title – Depa Ni Yed (These fellas , Yed)

Yed,

Depa ni Yed, tak nampak orang Melayu ni minta 30% saja. Dulu masa lepas May 13th bila Tun Razak ambik alih tempat Tunku, dia tak gelojoh. Dia boleh nak ambik 50% lebih… tapi dia mintak 30% saja.

Depa ni Yed, tak paham. Bila Tun Razak jadi ketua Mageran atau NOC dia ada kuasa penuh. Dia tak mau bagi balik kerajaan ke tangan rakyat pun boleh – terus control saja pun boleh. Tapi tak … tak sampai 2 tahun dia bagi balik secara sukarela dan buat balik demokrasi berparlimen. Depa tak nampak semua ni Yed. Benda macam ni tak pernah jadi kat dunia ni Yed. Orang kalau dapat kuasa macam tu… dah buta kuasa, simpan sampai mati. Tun Razak sebagai pemimpin UMNO cool Yed, dia bukan darah dictator.

Depa ni Yed, tak nampak yang elok kalau ada kat pemimpin UMNO, depa nampak tang kotok saja…tula anas dok bilang dari dulu dah… anas tak macam tu Yed. Yang betul kita support, yang salah kita tak support. Bila Tun Razak jadi ketua dia tak ambik semua kuasa, dia pi panggil banyak-banyak orang, banyak parti sampai lebih dari 10 parti … lepas tu dia share dengan semua, Melayu, Cina, India, orang Sabah dan Sarawak.

Depa tak nampak Yed, bila pemimpin UMNO dapat kuasa almost mutlak, depa pikiak macamana nak menyatukan balik rakyat… bukan tukak road sign nak tunjuk-tunjuk depa terror… tak ada klas langsung… Melayu kata.. macam kera dapat bunga… depa macam budak-budak. Yed

Depa ni Yed, tak nampak ka… Melayu ni suka kongsi, semua depa nak share… rakyat lebih dari 50% tapi nak minta 30% saja…pelik kan .. tu lah Melayu Yed..

Depa ni Yed, tak tau apa depa nak… jadi depa nak tentang semua… bila suka depa support seratus peratus…. Bila tak suka depa bantang seratus peratus ...Tak reti jalan pertengahan.... takda orang yang seratus peratus baik... tak dak yang seratus peratus buruk... smalah parti -parti politik..

Depa ni Yed, tak nampak NEP ada baiknya ada buruknya. Yang baik banyak orang miskin dah selamat dari kemiskinan… macam kita sekeluarga. Yang silapnya banyak orang-orang bukan golongan Melayu dan bumiputera terlepas – ada banyak orang Cina yang miskin dan tambah-tambah orang India Tamil dan Serani yang kita lupa tolong. Itu salah… tapi NEP mesti ada…untuk nak tolong semua yang miskin… semua yang perlukan pertolongan

Depa ni Yed, tak reti… kita mau Development, tapi kita tak mau Corruption. Kita nak “ Development Minus Corruption”. Bila NEP di salah guna untuk corruption kita tentang. Tapi kalau NEP buat pertumbuhan kita support. Memang tak patut banyak yang kaya terang tang tang… tak buat apa pun yang bawak hasil… dapat duit atas angin … yang tu duit haram Yed! Depa yang jadi kaya raya duit masuk poket tapi apa pun tak dak…

Depa ni Yed, ingat depa pandai… depa tentang 30% nanti Melayu minta 50%... nanti baru terkelam kabut… terkejut tergempak! Siapa rugi… depa rugi jugak ..semua kita rugi… pasai kalau tak ada balance … semua orang rugi… nanti tambah berkelahi… semua kita rugi…

Depa ni Yed, maunya bagi pi lah 30% …bukan mintak 90 ka 100 ka … 50 % pun tak… 30 % saja… bagi pi lah… tapi corruption dan duit atas angin, kontrak tanpa hasil tambahan … dapat duit macam tu saja… kita tak boleh terima … yang tu kita bantah …

Macam tu la Yed, selagi tak kecoh, depa ni tak senang … depa ni Yed, mungkin tak paham…mungkin tak nampak… apa nak buat Yed…