> > Can't trust those rootless cosmopolitans, can you?
> >
> > Doug
>
> Mahathir, remember is a raving homophobe, having concocted a case against
a
> former V.P. of his regime for sodomy and putting him in prison for a long
> term. Homosex is nothing but Western, white capitalist decadence. M also
> has a mutual admiration society w/LaRouche,
Right and if scapegoating the "international jew" or "gays" doesn't work, then the ruling UMNO may always start lynching ethnic Chinese, as it did in 1969. Under govt policy Chinese-owned businesses are required to have a bumiputra (lit. "son of the soil") as partner. Chinese also face discrimination in education.
c.f. this 1998 article in Asiaweek, where the leader of the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, Lim Kit Siang,says:
"The government has tried its best to frighten the Chinese community by playing up the Indonesian riots [when ethnic Chinese were targeted by mobs] and making people believe they will meet the same fate unless they support the government," he says. Some officials have also played on the discomfort many Chinese have with Anwar's Islamic links. The tendency to stick to the familiar may be a factor as well. "The Chinese don't want to take any chances," says a leader of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, part of the ruling coalition.
It would be misleading, however, to label the Chinese community as predominantly pro-Mahathir. Those most supportive of the PM are older generations belonging to the upper middle class. They recall the 1969 race riots, and have the most to lose from political instability and ethnic conflict. Thus, they are anxious to see the continuation of the status quo. A veteran ethnic Chinese editor in Kuala Lumpur says Mahathir has won over support from upper middle-class Chinese and the business community because he has been able to convince them that the recession was the result of an international conspiracy between Western powers and Anwar.
To this segment of society, Mahathir is good for business while Anwar and his rabble-rousing supporters are not. "Most of my friends don't care about reforming the system," says the editor. "They only worry about the stock market. And right now, they know that Mahathir is the only one who can boost the stock market." Mohamed Ezam Noor, Anwar's political secretary now in self-exile, goes one step further, painting pro-Mahathir Chinese as cronies who are closely connected to the establishment. "The most vocal supporters of Mahathir have been the Chinese towkay [bosses] who have benefited from privatizations and contracts," he says. "The poorer or middle-class Chinese are pro-reform, because they know that Mahathir favors big business only."
THE CHINESE CONNECTION It has a bearing on UMNO's standing By Assif Shameen http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/1204/nat8.html