Umno’s doses of venom
Malaysiakini.com
Nov 21, 2006

Pak Lah labelled Tun M's criticisms as ‘small doses of venom’. However, what spewed out at the Umno meet last week were lethal doses of self-destructing cyanide.

On 'Umno willing to bathe in blood'

Ushiv: The recently concluded Umno circus was extremely entertaining and it has helped the opposition cause immensely. Pak Lah is going to lose a huge chunk of votes from his last massive win. The guys going to be butchered are the MCA, MIC, and Gerakan as their leaders were ridiculed and humiliated by uncouth Umno nobodies.

They should have had the guts to leave the ruling coalition but how could they? They survive on the crumbs thrown by Umno. And without these, they and their cronies will go hungry. When the Yang Berhormats come begging for your votes in the next election, you should know what to do.

Pak Lah labelled Tun M's criticisms as "small doses of venom". However, what was spewed out at the Umno meet last week was lethal doses of self-destructing cyanide.

Ah Chong: How can the other component parties remain silent is beyond understanding. Umno members have made it clear that the enemy are those who raise issues about NEP, Malay rights and those who discuss issues involving Article 11. There were many racial statements which should be considered seditious but allowed to go unchecked.

In the meantime, Malaysia faces the threat of being overtaken by all other Asian countries in terms of competitiveness. Malaysia is becoming less attractive as an investment destination. The world is shrinking, and borders and trade barriers coming down everywhere.

The Malay leaders do much injustice to their own people by not focusing their energy and attention on being more competitive globally. Instead they choose to bicker and take issue with the other races and their rights in Malaysia. It is truly sad that Umno has failed to see this clear and present danger in the horizon and to move the Malays and Malaysia as a whole towards a more competitive economy.

On Umno may pull plug on live telecasts 

KSN: The DPM has identified the cause for the unrest and discomfort of non-Malays - it was the live telecast, not the speeches! What a strange and amazing logic, which only an Umno leader can think of.

So there will be no more live telecast but Umno can carry on with its "hiburan” (entertainment) as Dr Lim Keng Yaik said, regardless of the irreparable damage the venomous uttering cause to national unity. Umno should be congratulated, no rewarded, for their contributions towards nation-building.

Sangkancil: Many Malaysians were shocked to hear the racist views voiced by some of the immature political opportunists in Umno. They used to blame the press for distorting the facts when things go wrong. Yet a prominent politician still blame the press for providing viewers exactly what had transpired. Hey give us a break! It was telecast live and we are not idiots to be lead by the press reports. I thought we have the Sedition Act. But wasn’t it not relevant here?

To a certain extend, I can understand the young turks making extreme/racist comments, but what was really sad was that none, and I mean none, of the seasoned Umno members came out to shut them up. Even the chairman of the assembly did not seem to bother stopping them. I am really sad there seem to be so much hatred in Umno for the non-Malays.

Our nation need to move forward as a united nation and not a divided nation.

On Umno Youth leaders tick off Mukhriz

Raj: I don’t see how Mukhriz Mahathir had shown disrespect to the prime minister by criticising his speech. Disrespect was shown by Umno Youth to their party president when the latter had clearly issued a reminder to delegates to be cautious of the feelings of other races in the country while debating at the ruling party assembly.

And who else do we get to start the ball rolling other than the Umno Youth chairman and his deputy. Now if that is not disrespect, what is? If action should be taken against Mukhriz then Hishammuddin and Khairy should also explain their actions.

Please BN, come election time don’t start singing a different tune, about unity and solidarity, about being fair to all races, and about Bangsa Malaysia and how we are going to achieve it...

We definitely want to see Hishammuddin with his "keris" in his Johor constituency at the next elections. As for Ong Ka Ting and Samy Vellu, you should both be transformed into decorative vases or grandfather clocks...

On Fresh demands for Suu Kyi's release 

Mike Slade: Well done, Malaysia and well done Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Thank God that someone has the courage to stand up for this wonderful and brave woman Aung San Suu Kyi. We in the UK are very ashamed of our government and Tony Blair who copy the US and they too have done nothing to support Aung San Suu Kyi.    

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