Race-based parties still relevant, says Tengku Razaleigh

Diyana Ibrahim Alfian Z.M. Tahir Diyana Ibrahim, Alfian Z.M. Tahir Updated 5 years ago · Published on 19 Sep 2020 12:57PM · 5 Comments

Umno is the biggest Malay party in Malaysia. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, September 19, 2020.

THERE is nothing wrong with race-based political parties as long as they are committed to work for the people and country, said Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

The Gua Musang MP said race-based parties such as his own Umno are still relevant.

“It is our right to form our own political party. When Umno was created, it received the blessings of the sultan of Johor at that time.

“It is still and will always be relevant as long as we put the people and the country first.

“But we must also take the current scenario into consideration so we will not be left behind in any of our actions,” Tengku Razaleigh, who is Umno advisory chairman, told Insight Talk.

Back in 1988, he had broken off from the party to establish another Malay party, Semangat 46.

While identity politics have always been popular in Malaysia, it achieved higher prominence when the country’s two largest Malay parties, Umno and PAS came together in Muafakat Nasional to bank on race and religion to win support.

Another Malay party, Bersatu, recently joined MN.

All three of them are also the backbone of the ruling Perikatan Nasional government which replaced Pakatan Harapan in March.

Prior to that, Umno and PAS had played up racial issues to whittle away at Malay support for PH, claiming the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration had failed to protect Malay and Muslim interests.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says Umno was created with the blessings of the sultan of Johor in 1946. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, September 19, 2020.

Tengku Razaleigh said even though Umno had undertaken to safeguard the welfare and interests of one particular ethnic and religious group, other races had never been neglected.

In fact, he said Umno was born to fight for independence.

“Umno did not move because of race or descent. Our form of struggle was a nationalist struggle to fight for independence.

“We have done a lot for Malaysians. We built roads, not for the Malays only but for everyone. We built schools not for the Malays only but for every child,” he said.

Umno was founded in May 1946 by Onn Jaafar.

The party opposed the Malayan Union but did not rebel against the British, unlike other left-leaning parties in the country which demanded absolute independence.

Umno’s reign as the main ruling party came to an end with the fall of Barisan Nasional in the last general election.

Nearly two years later, the party is back in government but no longer in the leading role, which has been filled by Bersatu.

That has not curbed Umno’s ambitions to take over the reins, which it is confident of doing once more in the next polls.

Nearly all political parties in Malaysia are race-based except for a handful which are multi-racial, such as PKR, Gerakan and PSM. – September 19, 2020.

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Comments

  • Ku Li is thinking and speaking like a dinosaur that lives in a tempurung in Gua Musang. No wonder he no longer has relevance in Malaysian politics.

    Posted 5 years ago by Rupert Lum · Reply

  • And 'you', as in umno, build all those infratructure with your own money and not money from govt collection of which you are the custodian by virtue of being the ruling party? What utter nonsense.

    Posted 5 years ago by A Subscriber · Reply

  • Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the relevance of any kind of party race-based, state-based, youth-based etc. Voters will decide, provided the elections are free and fair. Politicians propose, voters dispose.

    Posted 5 years ago by Anak Kampung · Reply

  • Podah...

    Posted 5 years ago by Thomas Samuel · Reply

  • Common Ku Li. We've heard of Berjuang untuk ugama bangsa dan negara since the beginning of time. Where does it take us to? Way behind Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, UAE, Qatar etc. If you're still with kleptomaniacs and cronies of former PMs, ministers, and division heads who have become exceptionally wealthy because of favouritism Malaysia will remain undeveloped.

    Posted 5 years ago by Zainuddin Yusoff · Reply