Reuters) - In Malaysia, there are very few public meetings where
people can turn up with a weapon -- but the nation's largest annual
political gathering is one of them.
For the past three years, a leader of the main ruling party, which
represents the ethnic Malay majority, gets the party's annual
assembly underway by drawing a 2-ft-long (60-cm-long) ceremonial
dagger, kissing it and then brandishing it in the air.
And each time, hundreds of party faithful inside the assembly hall
have erupted into a cheer while, outside, many in Malaysia's large
ethnic Chinese community have quietly cursed, convinced that the
knife is metaphorically pointed at them.
"I don't think you bring in a weapon of war to a meeting where you
claim to want to discuss and deliberate on nation-building policy,"
opposition politician Lim Guan Eng said after the latest
knife-kissing episode on Tuesday.
"It has been used to threaten non-Malays."
The traditional Malay dagger, or keris, is a symbol of the United
Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which leads the multi-racial
coalition that has ruled since independence 50 years ago, but it
has also become a symbol of racial tensions.
Though Malaysia has been free of major race riots since 1969, when
hundreds were killed, ethnic Chinese still flinch when they see a
Malay politician waving the keris, rarely more so than at last
year's assembly when its appearance stirred up hot words.
After UMNO Youth leader Hishammuddin Hussein unsheathed the keris
last year, live on national television, some delegates urged him
loudly to use it and some fiery speeches ensued.
One delegate was reported to have said by the Singapore Straits
Times: "UMNO is willing to risk lives and bathe in blood to
defend the race and religion. Don't play with fire. If they mess
with our rights, we will mess with theirs."
CALM BEFORE ELECTION
This year, as the coalition strives to show unity in the run-up to
possible early elections, things have gone differently.
First, UMNO's assembly is not being televised live.
And there were no such incendiary remarks on Tuesday when youth
leader Hishammuddin, also education minister and chief keris-waver,
pulled out his weapon, which had been paraded into the hall on a
red cushion by men in Malay warrior costume.
"Don't worry about symbolism. Don't get carried away by racial
extremism...," he said after lifting the keris skyward.
He described the ceremonial keris as a symbol of culture,
sovereignty, power, dignity and even unity among all races.
"A keris is drawn to defend the race and the interest of the
country, not only for the Malays but also to defend others in the
country," he was quoted as saying by state news agency
Bernama.
"No one should feel nervous or panicky...."
But many ethnic Chinese would prefer the keris stayed out of
politics.
"It's not a symbol of justice as he claimed but a symbol of war to
threaten the non-Malays," said Lim, secretary-general of the ethnic
Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party.
