KUALA LUMPUR — A new red-yellow divide is emerging, but this time it's not in Thailand but in Malaysia and there is a danger of a destructive conflict along racial lines.
Former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya on Saturday warned that rallies based on racial identity would only lead Malaysia down the path of war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq.
"Don’t turn the rallies into an ethnic question. That would be dangerous. We’ve seen this in Iraq, in Syria. Please, I beg all of you my dear Malaysian friends," Mr Kasit said in the keynote address at a conference on liberalism, organised by think-tank IDEAS.
He made the comment days after thousands of ethnic Malays took to the streets of the Malaysian capital to voice support for the government of embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The rally by the red-shirted protesters followed earlier gatherings by the yellow-clad Bersih (Clean) movement, whose members want Najib to step down for alleged corruption.
Mr Kasit urged the leaders of the conflicting sides to govern responsibly and practise "politics of compromise".
"That’s very important. If anything happens to Malaysia that would be the end of the Asean community," he was quoted as saying on the Malaysian Insider website.
Mr Kasit's message came a day after Najib reportedly defended the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu (United People's Rally) movement as a manifestation of Malays defending their dignity.
Najib said Malays had been "slapped" multiple times and that the community would rise up when their pride was scarred and their leaders humiliated.
Wednesday's rally featured racially charged remarks and placards, with tense moments when participants were upset over questions posed by some journalists. Riot police finally were forced to use water cannon to stop rowdy protesters.
Najib has been under increasing pressure to take responsibility for the mismanagement of the indebted state investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). As well, critics have demanded that he properly explain US$700 million in donations to his personal bank accounts.
The governing coalition in the last two national elections has lost the support of most ethnic Chinese voters. Najib pledged earlier to start dismantling the long-entrenched system that favours ethnic Malays in areas from government employment to state contracts and university places. However, he has not kept that pledge.
Rafidah Aziz, a veteran member of the United Malays National Organisation, the main party in the coalition, also expressed dismay at the racial overtones of Wednesday's rally, even as some of her party colleagues tried to defend it.
"I felt sad for my many non-Malay, especially Chinese friends, many from my primary school days, when I saw videos and photos berating the Chinese community," the former trade minister wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.
“We all have friends of all races and creeds. We feel for them, especially when, just like us, they are trying to make a life for themselves and their families in their country ... Malaysia."
Mr Kasit, who served as foreign minister in the Democrat-led government in Thailand from 2009-11, said he was all too familiar with the conflict between red shirts and yellow shirts in his own country.
He was also an active participant in the yellow-shirt protests that led to the seizure of Bangkok's airports in 2008 and the subsequent resignation of the government linked to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
But he said that he did not want Malaysia, which he described as his second home, to be preoccupied with ethnic strife.
He said Malaysia was already "too bogged down" by domestic issues, adding that it would have a ripple effect on the entire Asean community.
Pro-government "red shirt" protesters clash with police during a rally in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. (EPA Photo)