Was a top 30 hit in 1987 for George Harrison. The lyrics goes something like this :
Back then long time ago when grass was gree
Woke up in a daze
Arrived like strangers in the night
Long time ago when we was fab(Fab!) Back when income tax was all we had
Why does this song remind me of Malaysia? Once we were known as the Tiger of Asia. Once our stock exchange volume could surpass that of Dow Jones . Once our football team was feared in Asia. Once we were a united nation, a land blessed with milk and honey. God's Own, blessed with the most strategic sea routes, rich in palm, tin, rubber and oil.
So what went wrong. Why are we once FAB? Has the PAS _UMNO deal pushed Malaysia to the edge? Will this nation now be about Muslim versus non muslim? Will fellow Malaysians boycott products of their fellow Malaysians?
Will we spit towards the sky to only see it fall on our face? Will corrupt leaders use religion as a reason to return to power? If that were to happen will they mend their ways or go on a corrupt rampage?
The answer is on the shoulders of every Malay. Malaysia's well being will be decided by the Malays especially in West Malaysia.
That is the narrative, which we are hearing and reading. But is this the TRUE narrative? Or merely one built on hype?
There is no heavyweight greater than Muhammad Ali. But when he faced Larry Holmes, he was passed his prime.
It could well be, the Malay populace have decided sometime back to turn UMNO into the new aging Muhammad' Ali.
UMNO was mostly great when it lasted, but the cooperation with PAS is the clearest signal yet that it no longer is able to stand on it's own feet.
Its leaders, are facing massive corruption charges, hence the need to become the new Ultra. While it may find hay in some quarters, the Malays by nature are not extremist.
The UMNO _PAS pact has effectively returned Malaysia to its status que. Not Many realise that since 1957, the Malay votes have been split equally between PAS and UMNO.
Now it that split is between UMNO/PAS and BERSATU/PKR. To win a general election, these parties will require help from their Chinese and Indian counterparts.
DIVIDED we FALL. UNITED we stand a fighting chance not to sell our homes to wealthy mainland China nationals, not to sell our identity cards and identity to a foreign nation, not to be led by leaders who had sold Malaysia, in what is acknowledged as the biggest CBT and fraud this world has ever seen.
Hence, the Chinese and Indians have a great responsibility. Don't judge and push your Malay friends into the arms of people and political parties they have rejected.
Don't look at them suspiciously, nothing has changed. UMNO is making its last stand. What Mahathir did not do, make UMNO irrelevant ,Zahid Hamidi is doing, coz for him and Najib Razak, the stakes are more than political office.
It's their liberty at stake