Utusan Malaysia calls for the assassination of Teresa Kok?

With three legal suits for sedition amounting to RM41 million already knocking on their door, Utusan Malaysia played it safe by taking a different approach in propagating their political beliefs to the public. This time around, columnist Chamil Wariya (image) wrote a short fictional story about a female politician in his attempt to dodge any legal proceedings whilst sharing his point view on politics.


The link to the literature can be found here (in Malay).
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Here is the synopsis of the short story written on October 12:

The story tells of a Chinese politician by the name of Josephine who is seen as anti-Malay and anti-Islam by the Parti Orang Melayu (Malay People's Party). In other words, Josephine is seen as a racist by the Malays. Nonetheless, she is confused over her notorious image and sought the opinion of her Malay chauffeur, Ahmad regarding the matter.

Ahmad calmly explains that though Josephine might argue that she is representing Malaysians of all races, her actions have proven otherwise. He relates to her recent removal of Jawi texts on roadsigns and replacing them with the Chinese language. Such action, Ahmad says, is disrespectful to the Malays and only favours the cause of the Chinese community. Ahmad also recalls his father's accounts of the infamous May 13 racial riots which was said to be have been instigated by the Chinese in their crusade to deny the rights of the bumiputras in this country. Ahmad expresses his fears that such terror may happen again.

Josephine is also a public figure who believes in the '"New Malaysian Politics" agenda that does away with race-based politics and foresees the future of Malaysia devoid of racial discrimination and segregation. However, Ahmad says not every Malaysian, including among the Chinese community, is not prepared to embrace such "radical social reforms."

Upon Josephine's arrival at a political gathering, she is greeted by a multitude of people, comprised mainly of Chinese students. Among the 500-strong crowd, there is a man who does not agree with her policies and decides to take matters into his own hands. The man rushes up on stage and extends a handshake. Josephine, excited from seeing a fellow Chinese supporter greeting her enthusiastically, reaches out with a wide smile without thinking any suspicion. The man then draws a revolver and fires several bullets ruthlessly at Josephine. She falls dead.

In the midst of panic and confusion, the man shoots himself. The police later finds a note on the Chinese man, saying:

MP Josephine is a threat to peace and harmony. It is better for her to die so that the people of various races in this country can live peacefully in this blessed land. I've sacrificed for the future.
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It was said that the writer intended to target Seputeh MP Teresa Kok who has a fair share of run-ins with the government and UMNO Malay supremacist lately. Teresa herself was alleged to have been anti-Malay by recently questioning City Hall's decision to replace major signboards in Kuala Lumpur with the Jawi text.

Josephine sounds awfully similiar to the real-life Seputeh MP, Teresa Kok.

The moral behind this fictitious account of an assassination of a Malaysian Chinese politician is ambiguous. Was the author naive enough to imply that a death of the female politician could truly restore racial harmony and peace in this country?

The author, Chamil Wariya might also imply that not all non-Malays disagree with the racist ideologies of UMNO by attributing the murder of the fictional "pro-Chinese" politician in his story by a member of her own race; apparently in the name of racial harmony. But who is the author to speak for the non-Malays about their stand on racism?

Of course, in the name of free speech, anyone is free to write anything. However, free speech should be practiced responsibly. Chamil Wariya may be safe from a sedition charge simply because his story was fiction. Nonetheless, the cowardice approach by Utusan Malaysia is making a mockery of journalism.

Why not also write another fictional story about a keris-welding politician who gets shot on his way to the mamak? Or of a Penang politician who gets murdered by a group of illegal immigrants from China while taking his bath?

Utusan Malaysia may be playing safe this time by cooking up a fictional story in order to avoid any legal complications that may arise from a direct commentary on racial politics. But if Chamil Wariya's story was not meant to call for the death of a certain female politician the name of racial harmony, then what was it intended for?

Perhaps, the moral of the story was:
Never be in a room with 500 Chinese students. One of them may have a gun.

Even that is racist.