Barisan Nasional has finally recovered from the shock of the March 8, 2008 general election. Okay, it took one month, but at least they finally recovered, whatever it may be.

As soon as the full results of the general election came in, I remarked that the earthquake has hit Malaysia (some call it a Tsunami but it was actually more than that). My wife, wise as she always is, commented that the earthquake is not what brings the building down. The aftershocks will. So wait for the aftershocks, said my wife.

The last few days, we have been seeing the aftershocks and I told my wife that she was right. Now we are seeing the real damage of March 8, 2008. Again, in her wisdom, my wife remarked that we are yet to see the full blast of the aftershocks. This is only the quivering. The crash is yet to come. Wait for it, she said, Aiyah, susahlah married to such a smart wife.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been making his rounds to meet Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders on the ground. On April 10, he was in Penang and Kedah. Before that he went to Sarawak and Sabah. On April 11, he was in Johor. And currently, even as you read this, he is in Selangor. And the message he received from the ground is all the same. He has to personally take responsibility for the general election debacle and must resign his post.

The people up north told Abdullah in no uncertain terms that he must go and the government has to be handed over to his Deputy, Najib Tun Razak, with Muhyiddin Yassin as the new Deputy. Heavens! In that case I would rather have Khairy Jamaluddin as Prime Minister. At least he is young, brilliant, and has a vision for this country. I mean, if it is going to be just replacing one Umno slimeball for another, then it might as well be an Umno slimeball who has brains (unless we can kick out Umno altogether and put the lovely Dr Wan Azizah as the new Prime Minister).

Umno Johor told Abdullah that he has to go. There are no two ways about it. Again, my wise wife said the night before that Johor will be the real test for Abdullah. Johor is Umno's kubu (fortress). If Umno Johor stands behind Abdullah, then he has a good chance of fighting his detractors. But if Umno Johor too turns on Abdullah, then he is finished.

And on April 11, Umno Johor told Abdullah that they want him to officially announce his resignation. They left it to him when he will do that. They gave him an ultimatum but did not insist on a timeline. However, it should not be too long into the future. That's it. Umno Johor has abandoned Abdullah. And, without Johor, Abdullah is dead meat. There is no way he can continue clinging onto power. Umno Johor wants him to openly declare his exit plan with a succession plan attached.

MCA is the true running dog of Umno. Sabah and Sarawak won 54 Parliament seats but they were offered only seven Cabinet posts, five mere Deputy Ministers on top of that. MCA, however, won only 15 Parliament seats but they were given 13 Cabinet positions. Another two and all the MCA Parliamentarians would be in the government.

In the meantime, Umno and MCA have embarked on a psy-war campaign. Gerakan and MIC are running around like headless chickens and have yet to decide what to do. There is a good chance Gerakan, together with a couple more Barisan Nasional component members, might consider leaving the ruling coalition and join Pakatan Rakyat. But talk is still ongoing and no decision has been made yet. Gerakan, just like PPP and MIC, were practically demolished in the recent general election so they really have nothing to offer the opposition. At least MCA has 15 Parliament seats - and that is half the 30 that Pakatan Rakyat needs to form the new federal government.

Okay, back to Umno's and MCA's psy-war campaign. Umno is going around telling the Malays that "Malay states have fallen to Chinese governments". This is meant to play on the sentiments and raise the anger of the Malays. Umno even went so far as to say that the March 2008 general election is a repeat of the May 1969 general election - so maybe a similar aftermath of the May 1969 is required this time around as well.

Aiyah, why is Umno talking about May 1969 being the same as March 2008 and that the same aftermath is needed. Okay, this statement may be veiled or disguised. But is it not dangerous to put ideas like 'same as May 1969', 'same aftermath required', and so on, into the heads of the Malays? Is all this 'same as May 1969' talk aimed at provoking the Malays to rise or is it meant to put fear into the hearts of the Chinese?

At first I thought this was merely meant to get the Malays to rise up in anger. But then the Malays of today are not even close to the Malays of the 1960s. So I did not think the instigation would work. Then it came to me. All this loose talk is not targeted at just the Malays. It is aimed at the Chinese as well. And this convinced me even more when MCA started talking about Islam.

Whatever Umno says will no longer work. They can talk about May 1969 and whatnot. But as long as it is the Malays who are doing the talking, Malays tak peduli [do not care] and will remain calm. But if it is the Chinese who whack the Malays, in particular whack Islam, then that is another thing altogether. That can make the Malays angry.

Barisan Nasional realises that Umno can keep talking but the Malays will just turn a deaf ear. So now they are getting MCA to do the talking. And MCA is touching on an issue worse than race. They are talking about Islam. Religion is worse than race. Religion can even make people of the same race kill each other like in India, the UK, etc. So it would be more effective to whack Islam than to raise the issue of race. And if it is non-Muslims who whack Islam, then be ready for blood on the streets.

MCA is the true running dog of Umno. Sabah and Sarawak won 54 Parliament seats but they were offered only seven Cabinet posts, five mere Deputy Ministers on top of that. MCA, however, won only 15 Parliament seats but they were given 13 Cabinet positions. Another two and all the MCA Parliamentarians would be in the government. So MCA has almost as much to lose as Umno and they would be very prepared to assist Umno in this race-religious divide game just to protect their positions in the government and to remain the deputy taiko (boss) of Barisan Nasional.

I, for one, do not want a May 1969 'solution'. Most Malays, if not all, don't as well.

Yes, we can see Umno's sins. We can see how Umno plays the race card. We can see how Umno plays the dangerous game of racial politics. But what we don't see is MCA also playing the more dangerous game of Islam whacking.

If there is one thing Muslims will not tolerate is insults to their religion. All you need to do is draw some cartoons of the Prophet and millions of Muslims all over the world will kill and burn. Hundreds of lives will be lost and hundreds of millions worth of property destroyed. Religion is certainly more volatile than race.

MCA had better get a grip on things. If Umno wants to talk about March 2008 being the same as May 1969, let them. Even if they want to suggest that the same 'remedies' as May 1969 are needed for March 2008, also let them. Malays can handle this. Malays can remain calm. Malays will not bite the bait. But stay off Islam. Whacking Islam is utmost dangerous. The Malays are capable of losing their minds and will go berserk, as Muslims all over the world have proven whenever their religion is challenged.

Okay, call the Malays irrational. Label Muslims as unreasonable. Never mind. I will agree with all that and will not dispute or rebut it. However, if you know all that, then why jolok sarang tembuan? There is no reason to whack Islam. PAS has already dropped the Islamic State issue. They have declared it is no longer on the agenda. They have stopped talking about it for four years now since the fiasco of the 2004 general election.

PAS needs to keep talking about Islam to their own supporters to rebut what Umno is saying about them: that PAS has 'betrayed' Islam. So let them talk to their own supporters or else Umno will be 'proven' right and PAS' relevance will be questioned. But MCA should not raise this as if an Islamic State equates to a Pariah State, which they very well know will rub the Malays the wrong way.

The Chinese should speak up. The Chinese should tell MCA to shut the **** up. The Chinese should tell MCA that they trust PAS and are confident that PAS will not betray this trust. The Chinese should scream at MCA and tell that party that fights for Chinese rights that with a mere 23 seats in Parliament there is no way PAS can turn this country into an Islamic State when even Umno can't with almost 80 seats.

Yes, Umno can't get the Malays onto the streets. Umno can't trigger a May 1969 'solution' to the March 2008 election. So now MCA is trying to do that. Let us pray that these MCA agent provocateurs rot in hell for seven generations. And if anything adverse does happen, let us hang the MCA people from the highest tree and leave their bodies to rot in the sun.

I, for one, do not want a May 1969 'solution'. Most Malays, if not all, don't as well. And we Malays curse those MCA Chinese who are prepared to see this country burn and lives sacrificed just so that they can win back ground they lost on March 8, 2008.

Note: The above article was posted on www.malaysia-today.net (Your source of independent news). Raja Petra Kamarudin started the Malaysia Today website and his blog to facilitate open discussion on Malaysia's political and social scenes. A relative of a former Malaysian King from Selangor and known for his hard-hitting commentaries, which are often infused with humour, Raja Petra is also the author of When Time Stood Still and From Prince To Prisoner.

Other articles by Raja Petra:

Magic, Sheer Magic
Ku Li or Anwar? The Race Is On
The Countdown Begins
Between Reality And Perception
The Aftermath Of The 'Bloodbath'
Why We Are Voting Tomorrow
Guarding An Empty Field