MCA Youth is not only engaged in self-deception but also mass delusion by accepting the kris as a symbol of protection for all Malaysians and might as well adopt the kris as its party symbol

Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Friday): MCA Youth is not only engaged in self-deception but also mass delusion by accepting the kris as a symbol of protection for all Malaysians. MCA Youth President Datuk Liow Tiong Lai even said that it was the trust (amanah) of Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein of not using the kris against other races but to protect all races and to protect the nation. Not a single non-Malay would believe Hishamuddin.

Hishammuddin’s act of wielding and kissing the kris at the Youth assembly last month caused unease among non-Malays, who saw it as a call to arms by Malays against other groups. For Liow to claim that the kris was to be used to protect all other Malaysians and not harm other non-Malays is a classic demonstration of Ah Q mentality because Liow ignored the inflammatory speeches by UMNO delegates during the UMNO General Assembly. Perlis delegate Hashim Suboh asking, “Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris, kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham when is he going to use it?” No Malaysian would believe that the kris is to be used to protect all races!

Liow claimed that there is a cultural background to wielding the kris that is not to be used in violence against one’s enemies. Is Liow behaving like the Ah Q when a reading of Malay history would teach him that the kris was the symbol of Malay warrior and sign of manhood. When a kris is used, it is only in an act of war and violence. If not, why then were Hishamuddin’s speech followed up by extremist speeches promoting bloodshed and racial hatred against non-Malays.

How can the keris be used as a symbol to protect non-Malays when the delegates threatened violence, bloodshed and destruction of Kuala Lumpur into ruins? Whom is the kris to be used against if not non-Malays? Worse no action was taken against these UMNO delegates for sedition showing that UMNO is above the law.

Hishamuddin said Umno had borne the "cost" of such rhetoric in the hauling up of the three speakers by the party management committee for an explanation. Is this verbal warning adequate punishment for threatening violence and bloodshed?

MCA can accept UMNO delegates threatening to harm Malaysians and destroy their property but I believe this is not accepted by the majority of Malaysians, including MCA members. What happened to MCA Youth’s members desire for UMNO Youth Deputy President Khairy Jamaluddin to apologise for saying that the Chinese community would take advantage of any split within UMNO.

Clearly MCA has sold out on its principles by bowing down and submitting to UMNO from its opposition to Hishamuddin wielding the kris because it threatens non-Malays to a meek acceptance of the kris as a protector of not only Malays but all Malaysians. Such reasoning is irresponsible and despicable because MCA leaders’ love for their Ministerial position allows them to ignore the threats made not only against non-Malays but also BN component parties during the UMNO General Assembly. MCA Youth has reversed its position to now supporting the kris as a protector for all Malaysians. MCA might as well adopt the kris as its symbol replacing its yellow star.