Conversation: Exposing the Minds of A PR-Leaning Non-Partisan Vs Puteri UMNO Hardcores Without Fail

Below is a cut-and-paste of a Facebook conversation that I had between myself and two sisters who are hardcore Puteri UMNO members. D, is myself (no, not Diana Danielle), while H and N are the sisters. What's below is almost 100% verbatim, except for some irrelevant jests and jokes that I removed for the sake of privacy, so please don't mind typos and grammatical errors in the England (yes, England, if you don't get the joke, you PHAIL (yes, PHAIL, if you don't get the joke... oh well...)).

I'm posting this to show the stark difference in perspective. It's not our place to judge people by political beliefs alone, so please don't. In the context of this conversation, my own opinion is that if the majority of UMNO members and supporters are thinking along the same line as these Puteris, then I don't see how their cause can appeal to fence-sitters, middle-grounders, Malays and Non-Malays alike, except maybe for the very young idealists and very old loyalists. And I'm interested in what my Putera/Pemuda brothers have to say about it, if they will say anything at all.

*** START ***

D: salam sis. just want to have a civil discussion with you since you are a hardcore BN supporter without fail. :)

what's your opinion on our current economic situation? our current 'management' doesn't seem to be handling it well enough. do you really believe that the current team can lead us out of this mess, or do you think this team needs replacement, not necessarily from PR but from within BN itself?

H: What can your uncle anwar do if he rules?xcukup ke memecahbelahkan perpaduan rakyat?what i dared u,u haven't agreed..masuk umno,pg tgk ceramah,u argue there..maybe u can be that person to correct BN from within..xkan kugadaikan islam mcmana KHALID SAMAD telah buat pd Negeri selangorku yg tercinta ini..kenapa ek org melayu,cina n india lebih nampak ... yg xelok dpd yg elok..nanti ek..aku akan smpan tape ceramah org tu,n send to u..u just wait.n i will answer ur question..cubala u fikir kenapa ANWAR buat all this

D: see sis, you are arguing on the basis of emotion. i asked one question, and anwar was not even in the sentence. i wasn't even trying to argue with you. the question was, do you support the current team, or do you not?

H: addition-at least more investors will come if malaysia aman like it used to..kalau pkr,pas n dap punya agenda berbeza beza,boleh ke aman?skrg guna kalimah allah pun pemimpin pas duduk diam..apa ronnie liew sebut bastard2 pasal islam tu betul ke..n excuse me,economy is not bad in malaysia only..if u didn't notice..

N: The current economic problems does not come from Malaysia within but Malaysia and other countries are facing problems just like any other countries because of the global economic recession, is that right mr shahrazie?

H: i always will..whatever will be..but think of what i wrote..do u agree with khalid samad?or u just want to be like him?

 

jawab mr shahrazie..n one more question..what do u look for in a country u live in?

D: correct, ladies. economic crisis is a global event, but we are not addressing it as effectively as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Singapore. FDI is not coming in not because of political turmoil, for example, Thailand was in a deep crisis when Thaksin was in power, yet their FDI increased. Toyota, Chevrolet, opened up manufacturing plants regardless of the political situation. our problem in Malaysia is that we lack accountability.

what i want from my country (taken from Hannah Yeoh):
* free of corruption;
* lower costs of living ie. I don't have to pay so much for monthly car and house installments;
* efficient public transportation, having a car will then be an option and not a necessity;
* my children-to-be will be known as Malaysians only and not be identified by their race;
* quality public education for them when they're young and the opportunity to study whatever course they so desire at a local university, one that adequately prepares them to compete globally;
* affordable health care and quality public hospitals;
* true freedom of worship;
* able to trust what I read in the newspapers daily;
* have confidence in the democratic system, the judiciary, the police, the MACC and other agencies;
* safe environment : no fear of being robbed or houses being broken into and able to walk on the streets freely without grabbing my handbag tightly.
 

on issue Allah, does it occur to you that both arguments are not necessarily right or wrong? one side argues from the perspective of Aqidah, while another have taken a perspective of Dakwah (and the bigger domain of Siyasah Syar’iah – Politics from the prism of Syariah), notwithstanding the importance of the earlier. (quoted from Dzul Ahmad's blog)

anyway i'm not interested in the Allah issue. we do not have enough ilmu to debate theologies, so better leave it to the ulamas. politicians should never have meddled in.

addendum. kenapa nak benci sangat PR based on what you listen to ceramah dari org org yang anti-PR? aku tak support BN bukan sebab aku benci pun kat BN tu, and rata rata my peers also is the same. we read, and we do not shy away from listening to UMNO's arguments and blogs. tell me, how many PR-supporter blogs do you follow, or do you just base your hate on what people tells you? rilek le. anwar tu dalam 10 tahun lagi mati le. but the question is, who after Anwar? who after Mahathir and Nik Aziz? kita pun ntah dalam 10 tahun pun jadi makanan cacing, so is it worth it to hate something/someone so much?

 

N: Politicians are arguing in terms of the stability of the country. In terms of safety for us and our family and children. Look what happened when the Herald Tribune used the word Allah in its article. People show all sorts of reaction. All this while be no use. The transportations, developement and etc if the country is not at peace.

i beg to differ. not taken from anywhere. just my 2 cents

 

D: and how many actually knows about the Herald Tribune before the mass media made such a big fuss about it? now, since its blown out of proportions, ramai org nak baca Herald Tribune tu. it is unnecessary free publicity.

N: It is not ur concern that the word Allah is used as people pleases? I believe the press did not 'blow it out of proportion" as a 'press'. but as a muslim .

 

D: again, i'm not going to argue about isu Allah. kita ni bukan jurusan agama, so we listen to ulamas, and kita ikut yang mana yang kita setuju provided it's backed by Quran and Hadith. let's keep Allah out of this discussion shall we? :)

 

N: I do agree though that we need to revamp our team of economic experts. but in order to bring more people in to invest, we need stability.

I go for what Quran teaches us. Menuntut ilmu sampai ke negeri China. THEN only , with knowledge we can have a head start.

oh, congratulations on ur masters degree :D. 

 

D: menuntut ilmu sampai ke negeri China tu hadis kategori dhaif. you can look for it on the internet. the point of the hadith is good, but the originality of the exact saying is questionable.

ok, no more theological talk please. thanks for the well wishes.

 

H: oops..terlewat coz i nd to do the dishes..thx nwl my secretary..bro-i don't hate anyone..but i just want to make things clear and tell people where i stand..did i say i hate anwar?do u want to wait till anwar dies,then u want to act?umno-melayu-islam..still can't see..cheap publicity u say?hmmm,so when we keep quiet,people say that we're ignorant,but when we voice out opinion n standing,some people would say we want cheap publicity..so what would u do.ignore until many n many muslims mislead?

 

D: please, no more arguments on Allah issue.

its plain from your writings that you do hate Anwar Ibrahim. you see him as pemecah belah orang Melayu, but his supporters see him as penyatu bangsa Malaysia. so its a matter of perspective. that is why i stress again and again, internet ni free, so baca la pandangan dari semua side, sebanyak yang mungkin. jangan la sebab kau supporter BN, maka apa apa yang PR buat semua salah and apa apa yang BN buat semua betul walaupun enjin jet hilang etc. currently i keep about 100 blogs and news site, most on politics just because i do not want to let my bias rule my judgment. can you afford to do the same? among BN blogs that i follow are hardcores like A Voice, Syed Akbar Ali, Khir Toyo, Khairy Jamaluddin among few... can you at least follow blogs from Hannah Yeoh, Nik Nazmi, or Nurul Izzah for a change? takyah masuk parti politik mana mana pun.

H: i will stress once again..kalau xmasuk,xda siapala nk perjuangkan UMNO..umnola juara rakyat..hidup UMNO..pstt,jet hlang kita rugi duit..tp tanah melayu hilang nak duduk mana cik abg oi..i xnak jd mcm palestin.. I don't hate anwar,but i dislike him coz he's selfish..using non malays to his advantage..i knew a few blogs.just don't spend much time since i have more important things to do..but demi umno,i will start blog surfing again..tp dlm blog azmin ali,knp dia sndiri condemn dap ek?

 

D: see, that statement from you is exactly why UMNO is losing support from fence-sitters, Malays and non-Malays. hardcore UBN like you sees non-Malays as the enemy with some sort of hidden agenda to wrestle the country out from Malay hands. tell me, if there is such a grand scheme by the non-Malays, why hasn't proof of it spread through the internet like wildfire? instead we have leaked BTN curriculum which confirms to the non-Malays that the Malays are plotting against them.

tell me, how many non-Malay friends do you really have? do you go to meals with them, discuss politics with them? can you argue politics with them the way you argue with me now or do you have to skirt around the issue? i talk politics with the non-malays all the time, and when we do we talk about good governance, about rising cost of living, about how we can make enough money to save for children education... we don't talk about how we can get Anwar to be PM, or how my race is superior than yours. hardcore UBN like you refuses to acknowledge that the non-Malays do contribute to the growth of this country, and the Malays can never do it on our own. to you, let the country go bankrupt as long as Malays retain their elusive power over the non-Malays.

please do not equate Malays to Islam, because Malay is just one of many races in this world, while Islam is all but one. if UMNO is so protective of the Malays, then why marginalize opposition states in Federal funds? who killed Ustaz Ibrahim and his non-armed followers in Memali, was it the non-Malays? who sits in the board of directors of Carlsberg, Anchor beer factory in selangor, do you need me to name them? who is the Director of San Migel brewery, is he not a Malay? look at nightclubs in KL, is everyone there non-Malay?...

the political landscape in Malaysia has changed. shoving Malay-ness and Islamic holiness down our throats will no longer win you that many supporters.

on Azmin Ali condemning DAP, well, they do it all the time. the difference is PR leaders are ok with difference of opinions. where you see disunity, we see freedom of expression, and they are not afraid of showing it in the open. as long as they are able to work towards the same framework, and that's what matters.

 

H: mr ajie.. Did i say i hate the non-malays?i go to gym with my pk who is a non malay ok..i think ure the one accusing us anti non malays..there are things that we don't talk about in the open.. cuba fikir siapa yg started all the tension btwn the races?

 

D: who? anwar ibrahim? its convenient, isnt it, everything something happens that 'threatens' racial harmony, blame it on Anwar. but at the end of the day, the core issues of marginalization of the minority stays unsolved. to me, anwar is just a figurehead. in 10 years time he will die.

why cant you talk about your politics in the open? if you feel so strongly about it, and feels that it is right, then why cant you boldly pronounce it to your non-Malay friends? dont you think that it is fundamentally flawed to force superiority of one race over another?

 

H: melayu telah lama bersabar... dan melayu sentiasa tolerate ... but to some extent melayu need to act .. this is not about hating anyone ... this is about our right ... our dignity .. my non-malay colleagues are government servant .. they would not talk so much coz they're not the type to talk about things that can decrease the unity we already have...what everyone needs now is respect for each other ... yang salah tetap salah ...

regarding anwar : politic is dirty .. mereka yang bercakap lebih mengenali anwar daripada kita .. anwar dah lama dgn umno ... dan org2 umno yg terdahulu lebih mengenali anwar... darah yang mengalir dalam badan hang jebat tak sama dengan darah yang mengalir dlm badan hang tuah ... compare ibrahim ali dgn anwar .. what's the difference ??

addendum : pembinaan kuil di selangor menggunakan wang yang tidak diperuntukkan kepada mereka .. dah cukup baik kan ? so apa lagi ... jgnla mengeruhkan keadaan .. kalau nak bergaduh , xkan kita ada satu malaysia ... fikirlah wahai en shahrazie zainal .. jangan kerana nyamuk ,kelambu dibakar ...

 

p/s ajie ... do u know the poilitical preferences of people who go to nightclubs? do u think they're umno people? i knew a few who aren't .. haha

 

D: adoi... kena argue pasal Anwar lagi ke? what if Anwar is not the factor? take Anwar out of the equation. let's say Anwar is dead. will that solve our problems? when you say that Melayu dah lama tolerate, dah lama bersabar... on what issue? hak hak melayu dah ada dalam constitution, nobody can deny that. Agama Islam agama rasmi, perdana mentri mesti melayu, bahasa melayu bahasa kebangsaan. nobody in PR is trying to change this. kalau ada, show me kat mana kau jumpa.

the way i see it, UBN politics focuses on how different we are from each other, while PR politics try to achieve the same goal despite having differences.

anyway, i'm not trying to get you to change your political party ke or anything like that. i'm merely stating that you don't have to restrict your perspective only towards your own bias. open up, it doesn't cost you a thing to know the other side of the story. then maybe you will be more thoughtful when you criticize every single thing that PR-side is doing.

 

H: Hmmm,if u read my status,in the first place,i didn't say that i wanted to be bias or say who's right or wrong..whoever wants to agree,can agree..like my chinese friend said today..u can't change a person's political beleif if the strongly beleif..but my intention is good..to achieve unity..maybe pr too..but we have different approaches,n we have different other aims as well..apapun,i don't think u can find a common ground if ur ideologies are bagai langit dgn bumi..even my chinese colleague says so.

 

D: i guess this is the end of this episode. thanks for being civil enough, and i hope you wouldn't mind this conversation being on my blog. don't worry. no names.

 

*** END ***

My conclusion: UMNO is the protector of Islam, Anwar Ibrahim is the devil incarnate who is responsible for every ills in the country, the non-Malays seems to have a hidden agenda to takeover 'Tanah Melayu' from the Malays, and the Malays have tolerated the non-Malays for so long (on what, I'm not sure... ), so the economy can go bankrupt as long as Malay rights are protected (Malay rights are not protected enough?). Sighs... really, 1Malaysia at its best?