In apparent response to recent opposition demonstrations, a Malay group with links to the United Malays National Organization (Umno), the dominant partner of Malaysia's ruling coalition, is planning a large gathering in the capital this Sunday afternoon, February 4. 

The group calling itself the Malay Action Front (BBM) says the aim of the rally is to promote Malay unity and that it would be peaceful and apolitical. The rally bears the theme "Tak akan Melayu hilang di dunia" (The Malays will not disappear from the Earth). 

Organizers say they want to gather peacefully "for the Malays to realize their rights and privileges" and they hope to draw a crowd of 10,000. The group has invited all Malay political leaders, including those from Malay-based opposition parties, and non-governmental organizations to the gathering. 

But observers have pointed out that the logo of the gathering - an outstretched hand holding a "kris" (the traditional Malay dagger) set against a red backdrop with the words Melayu Bersatu (Malays Unite) brings back disturbing memories of 1987, the last time ethnic tension gripped Kuala Lumpur. 

That year, the youth wing of Umno held a rally to forcefully assert Malay supremacy in the wake of protests against corruption and controversial government policies, including those related to Chinese education. Some 15,000 Malays packed a stadium voicing threats and militant action against the political demands of non-Malays. The turnout fuelled enthusiasm for an even bigger protest - a "unity rally" - to more strongly assert Malay political dominance. But the authorities used the mounting ethnic tension to justify a sweeping crackdown against dissent and to call off the rally. 

The opposition Free Anwar Campaign has condemned the use of the kris in the publicity posters for Sunday's gathering. Its website says an unsheathed kris symbolizes war or attack. "In the late 1980s, the Umno Youth leader then warned the Chinese that Umno's kris 'will be soaked in Chinese blood'," says the website. According to Malay folklore, the kris, the centerpiece of Umno's flag and emblem, is also associated with supernatural powers. 

Opposition activists have already lodged a police report against the gathering, saying that it would jeopardize national integration. The report alleges that the use of the kris in the publicity posters reveals the extremist stance of the organizers. "This attitude can create a tense situation and panic among the other races," it says. It adds that the problems in the country are not caused by Malay disunity but by corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement. 

The venue for the gathering, Kampung Baru, seems an unfortunate choice. In 1969, Kampung Baru was at the epicenter of ethnic riots that broke out between Malays and non-Malays following a general election result that saw Malay political dominance eroded. 

Umno has been trying to shore up waning support among the Malays since a by-election setback last November in Kedah, the home state of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. That defeat shook the party and prompted it to organize "Malay unity" talks with the opposition. But the National Justice Party (Keadilan), headed by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, turned down an invitation to take part in the talks, arguing that it was a multi-ethnic party. The Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) wants the talks widened to focus on national issues and said it would not take part if Umno expects it to join the ruling coalition. 

Critics say Umno's focus on Malay unity is aimed at derailing the broad-based multi-ethnic "reformasi" movement that has demanded an end to corruption and abuse of power. "Any campaign to 'unite' the Malays at this stage could well undermine the larger quest for justice and fair play within the community itself," says academic Chandra Muzaffar, the deputy president of Keadlin. 

Many Malays, including the majority of the Malay middle and even upper classes, he claims, have become very conscious of injustices within the community perpetrated by a section of the Malay elite. 

"For the first time in modern Malay political history, a lot of Malays who would otherwise be regarded as beneficiaries of the 'New Economic Policy' and the Umno-led government are critical of the abuse of power, the corruption, the authoritarianism and simply, the arrogance associated with the Mahathir regime." 

Chandra says the growing political consciousness "can develop into a mammoth force within the Malay community to incorporate sectors which hitherto have not been touched by the reformasi struggle and expand beyond the community to embrace the Chinese and Indians on the peninsula and the Kadazans and Dayaks in Sabah and Sarawak as well, within the next two or three years." 

The opposition win in the November by-election, Chandra maintains, was evidence that this was beginning to happen, but he warns that such a multi-ethnic movement for social justice could be checkmated through appeals to ethnic unity, using "the emotional pull and power behind the idea of Malay unity". 

And that appears to be exactly what Mahathir is attempting. 

(Special to Asia Times Online)