KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3, 2014:
Former de facto law minister and political pundit Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said Malaysians should be careful of what they wish for.
Posting on his blog today, Zaid said many Malaysians were happy with the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the progress being made towards becoming a developed economy.
BR1M cash payments, he wrote, were talked about as a token gift from a generous and cash-rich government rather than a financial supplement for low-income workers, while Malaysians hoped for annual or even biannual payments.
The lawyer turned politician said the people got their wish when BR1M became a permanent feature.
Unfortunately, he lamented, the people had to pay for their desires as nothing came free ”except wishful thinking” and the people would continue to endure a high cost of living with desperately low wages.
“The people will have to pay more for tolls, for insurance and transport, for medical fees as well as for housing.”
Reminding that Malaysians had wished for Sabah and Sarawak to become part of the Malay empire 50 years ago, Zaid said the price of that was Project IC, resulting in Filipinos now making up 800,000 or 25% of Sabah’s population.
Many more millions of Filipinos living in Mindanao, the former Kota Baru lawmaker said, harboured hopes of joining their kin and friends who were already in Sabah, both legally and illegally.
“Our security is now breached regularly, and the last incident in Kudat and Sampoerna cost us more than RM200 million and many lives. We should be careful what we wish for.”
Zaid said Umno Malays had wished to rule the country without much fuss from the Chinese and the Indians parties.
This led to Umno becoming the only party that counted for in the Barisan Nasional structure and this gave rise to Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam, he argued.
The obvious consequence, he pointed out, had been the non-Malays withdrawing their support from BN, of which subsequently led to the loyalty of the non-Malays being questioned.
“That’s why sedition charges are plentiful now and will not disappear any time soon. We should be careful what we wish for.”
