[Mahathir sedar beliau akan kecundang besar tanpa sokongan masyarakat Cina dalam pilihanraya umum nanti kerana majoriti masyarakat melayu sudahpun bermati-mati menolaknya. Anwar Saga telah menyebabkan orang melayu sudah tawar hati dengan Umno biarpun beliau terpenjara seribu tahun. Tanpa isu Anwar semua perjuangan parti BA akan kelihatan tawar. Inilah realiti dan hakiki masakini. Selagi isu ini tidak diselesaikan Umno akan semakin kepupusan sokongan. Kedegilan Mahathir untuk membenarkan Anwar dirawat semakin mencederakan sokongan buat dirinya dan Umno.

Langkah mengambil hati kaum Cina sekarang ini bertujuan untuk menyelamatkan diri sehingga terdesak membuka ruang untuk kaum Cina dalam parti AKAR sebagai ahli Umno. Begitu juga dengan keputusan menerima kemasukkan beberapa pelajar Cina yang berprestasi tinggi ke IPT baru-baru ini setelah riuh seantero negeri. Mahathir kini mengambil pendekatan timbang-tara yang mengusik ketuanan yang kununnya diperjuangkan dan perlembagaan yang kununnya diluhurkan. Tindakan drastik itu semua menunjukkan dia menggadai semuanya untuk memegang kuasa berpanjangan.

Umno kini menjadi mangsa politik sempitnya yang sudah ketinggalan zaman. Walaupun pelajar cemerlang Cina itu sudah diterima, sistem kuota masih dikekalkan. Ada sesuatu yang janggal di sini. Umno telah menampar muka sendiri sambil semua orang melayu (yang cerdik) memerhati.... Lama-kelamaan Umno akan menangis sakit sendiri. - Editor]

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Mahathir will need to do better for Malaysia's Chinese

Development: Mahathir Mohammad, the prime minister of Malaysia, has said that due to overwhelming demand his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) will admit Chinese members from Malaysia's Sabah state.

Assessment: Chinese parties and groups have long served in the 14-party National Front coalition, but this is the first time they have been invited into UMNO proper. The ruling only applies to Sabah and is primarily designed to lock in members of the now-dissolved Parti Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat, a former coalition member.

But the move is also of wider significance. Mahathir knows that Chinese support will be vital at the next election in 2004 and it looks as if it will be a more open race than any election for a long time. The crucial changes that have made this possible are the division of the Malay vote and discontent among certain elements of the Chinese community. Mahathir, if his UMNO party is going to remain dominant in any coalition after the next election, will have to pull off a careful balancing act between these various conflicting groups.

Recently there has been frustration among students of Chinese origin who have been denied access to tertiary education, in spite of better grades, because of the system of reserving places for Malays. However, many places reserved for Malays are not filled, and with increasing competition for jobs, as well as global economic pressures, supporters of abolishing the quota system argue that it is out of date.

In spite of all this, Mahathir has supported the maintenance of quotas. Bringing Malaysians of Chinese origin into UMNO is a costless gesture for the prime minister, but groups calling for change and others calling for the preservation of existing privileges will begin to force choices on the prime minister of a more substantive nature, and these may well overthrow the social consensus of the last generation and the current coalition with it.