Will DAP dominate PR?

A close UMNO friend asked me this question. If PR takes over, wouldn’t it lead to DAP dominance over PR? Wouldn’t the Chinese be in control? Just take the example of Nizar when he became MB of Perak by courtesy of DAP.  He has given out land to the Chinese because DAP must have pressured him to.

DAP has become the favorite bogeyman that must be attacked from all possible angles. Lim Kit Siang was behind the May 13 incidents ignoring the records which showed that Kit Siang was in Sabah at that time. Lim Guan Eng who was 8 years old at that time, was also instrumental in creating the racial clashes. DAP has never detached itself as a proxy to Singapore’s PAP. The list of wrongs is seemingly bottomless. And now, a specter is haunting Malaysia. The DAP shall dominate PR government.

I have long wanted to answer this anxiety. Apparently this is the propaganda being sold by UMNO leaders all over the country. It’s simply called scare mongering. It indicates that UMNO is scared. Its other component party members which are essentially stooges of UMNO are now irrelevant.  It has also shown that UMNO now realizes it can lose power.

Let us dispel the myths before we answer as to what Nizar has actually done.

First of all, DAP will probably contest 52-53 parliamentary seats. Even if it wins all, the number is not sufficient to allow DAP to form a government on its own. It will become a formidable force. And that is not because the members are Chinese. It becomes formidable because it has so many high quality MPs.

Non DAP will still dominate the numbers. So, forming a government with DAP dominating is out of the question. Why should any Malay fear DAP dominance? Only mediocre UMNO leaders do. The good Malays in PKR and certainly the very able people in PAS can stand as equals to DAP legislators. But these Malays don’t quarrel with DAP people on trivial things like low quality UMNO MPs.

The area in which DAP has dominated appears to be in the intensity of their resolve to fight for causes. Why should that be feared? It must be emulated. Can’t UMNO offer the voters higher caliber people who can walk and chew gum at the same time? Instead it takes the populist approach choosing people whom it sees as winnable and armed probably with fake degrees they bought.

The other big issue I wish to address is this. The same friend asked. Wouldn’t it be like what happened in Perak- Nizar became a front for DAP and he has only implemented policies that benefited Chinese in Perak.

Nizar governed Perak for a period of 11 months. He was kicked out of office by way of a coup detat involving also the Perak Royalty. We must now remember always, that people are always more sovereign than Kings and Rulers. I hope this is taken in good spirit. Nobody wants to demolish the Royal Houses provided there is mutual respect. The adulation and reverence of the people to the Royal Houses must be reciprocated with the utmost respect for their sovereign wishes. The overriding wish was to have a legitimately elected government which cannot be broken up with extra judicial means. Collectively the will of the people is as sovereign as the Malaysian Monarchy.

During the 11 months Nizar served as MB, his government approved 314 housing lots for Kampung Tersusun  and for 134 new villages. These lots were given out to applicants who have been waiting for over 30 years to get land titles.  These people were denied or refused approval by the UMNO/BN government. What is so difficult about giving out land titles? During by-elections, titles could be given in a week’s time.

95% of the residents in the kampong tersusun have been denied titles for over 30 years. All they asked was a housing lot of about 3200 square feet. So one can imagine how `big’ a house that can be constructed on such a lot size. The whole house is smaller than the bedroom size of some people I know.

How many of these were issued by Nizar?  He gave out 102,000 lots involving 7500 acres.  Most of these recipients were Malays. Again? To Malays.

What about the new villages or Kampung Baru? We know from experience most dwellers in Kampung Barus are Chinese. Indeed 97% of these are Chinese many of whom have not received titles for as long as 80 years. What’s the land sizes are they looking for? The average size is 1125 square feet (25’ x 45’). That is the size of a garage. 47,000 lots were issued to applicants involving 1250 acres.

Kampung Tersusun( the dwellers are mostly Malays) got 7500 acres while the Chinese new villagers got 1250 acres. If I were to ask an MCA friend citing the above examples, can he/she tell me, in giving out land for housing, which race has benefited more from Nizar’s actions? The Malays got more land, and the Malay has a bigger lot measuring 3200 square feet compared to the Chinese new villager who got 1125 square feet.

Did Nizar victimize the Perak Royal house as far as land is concerned?  Well, judge for yourself. During the tenure of a former UMNO MB, Ramli Ngah Talib, there was a verbal agreement to award the Perak King a land totaling 600 acres located in Tanjong Tualang. But the land was not transferred by the UMNO government.

This was what Nizar did.  His EXCO confirmed the verbal promise made earlier by an UMNO MB, to vest the land with the Perak King. The transfer of the title was made in the name of a nominee of the Perak King to one individual named Pak Tok Khair.  The nominee completed the transaction, paid the necessary premiums and the land was formally transferred.

What UMNO failed to do to the King, Nizar succeeded.

In another instance, a religious teacher who runs a religious school ( pondok) Tok Guru Pak Teh applied for land for cattle grazing in 2004. He applied for 45 acres. But each time his application was rejected by the UMNO government. Again what the UMNO government failed, the PR government under Nizar who was supposed to be dictated by DAP approved the 45 acres to the Tok Guru Pak Teh. To add security, the area was gazetted as grazing land for the benefit of POndok Tok Guru Pak Teh permanently. For that Nizar received a personal note of appreciation from the Tok Guru who has since passed away.

In addition, Nizar has approved small lost ranging from half an acre to 3 acres to operators of state land. The approval was justified on the grounds that the operators have worked the land for a very long time.

That was all Nizar did. UMNO goes to town accusing Nizar of selling out to the Chinese.

Now let us see what UMNO, the party that fights for Agama, Bangsa dan Negara did during their tenure. Let’s go back to see what UMNO did before PR took over Perak.

1.     22,000 acres belonging to PKNPk in  Lekir Manjong planted with oil palm were pledged to KLK which is owned Tan Sri Lee Oi Lean. He is a Chinese.

2.     500 hectares of Malay Reserve land in Padang Rengas (Nazri Tan Sri Aziz’s seat) together with a cement making factory jointly developed by PKNPk and Hanjoong of  Korea was sold to YTL. Now, the present Perak UMNO government is busy acquiring more Malay reserve land as they see fit.

3.     The UMNO government has given 1300 acres of land to Tan Sri Ling Liong Sik in Kampar to construct the biggest UTAR College.

4.     The UMNO government gave 15-30 acres to each farmer in the areas between Bikar and Bidor and Teluk Intan. Most of these farmers were Chinese farmers.

Now let’s see what Zambri did when he took over as MB. He sold off the Casuarina Hotel belonging to the state government within 2 months of assuming office. He sold it to the Perak Sultan’s son in law, Tengku Farouk for only RM48 million. Nizar has steadfastly refused to sell even when commanded by the Sultan. That hotel belongs to the state and the value of the strategically located land in terms of market price was then around RM94 million.

Under Zamry who has a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies, quarry land, timber concessions, mangrove concessions, are being distributed to UMNO cronies wantonly. It’s like there is no tomorrow for these people.

Zamry has approved 1100 acres to the Brazilan firm Vale, for the purposes of setting up an iron ore plant. The award was given when Zamry was in office.

Now, who has actually betrayed the Malays? UMNO or Nizar? UMNO has sold out to the Chinese more than anyone else can.