Vote Malays in Johor call by Mahathir receives backlash from netizens

MALAYSIA: Despite a fall and a long period of recuperation, Tun Dr Mahathir has not stopped his online postings, and this time he made one of the most criticised statements about how the Malay voters should vote in the Johor elections.

“If you are a Malay, vote for a Malay,” he wrote.

He meant to say that Malay voters should vote only for Malay candidates in upcoming elections, regardless of which political party they represent.

In a Facebook post, Mahathir said that the choice of Malay voters at the ballot box would determine the country’s future. He constantly says the country is going to see a toppling of the Malays as the ‘dominant force’, politically speaking.

“If we want this country to remain as ‘Tanah Melayu,’ then vote for Malays regardless of your loyalty to political parties or NGOs. The loyalty of the Malays should be to the Malays. If our loyalty is given to a particular party or faction, then we will lose ‘Tanah Melayu’, and without ‘Tanah Melayu’, we will lose the Malays in this world. The Malays would be a stateless people,” said the former Prime Minister.

However, netizens poked holes in his arguments, with many saying that if you are a Malay and can only vote for Malays, what happens if Malay candidates are competing against each other?

Besides the sarcasm, online users also have some serious comments about Mahathir’s statement.

One said this is an example of polarism that is unbecoming of a former PM.

“Polarisation at its worst. Unbecoming of a former prime minister. Should help to unite the country instead of continuing to create divisions among the populace.”

For another, Mahathir won elections with the votes of non-Malays too, saying Mahathir is always a forgetful person.

“This old man… He became PM not only from Malay votes, also from Chinese, indians, others. He’s a good example of forgetfulness.”

Some thought the mindset of Mahathir was very different from that of the Chinese community, where one said, “Wow…This mindset is really different from what we Chinese… In Chinese, we have a word saying “we don’t care whether you are a white cat or a black cat, as long as you can catch the mouse, then u are a good cat.”

Many other users attacked Mahathir for his ‘racist’ statement, but Mahathir, being who he is, will never stop creating chaos on social media.