The Malay dilemma: Concerning UMNO, Malays and minorities

About Politics, ALL ARTICLES | September 7, 2005

By THE PIANIST

We are all Malaysians. But when a question of authority comes into being, a particular lot will be Malay-sians.

It is true we are all equal — but Malays are more equal. There are times when we all cuddle under the blanket of our flag. But when a situation gets tense, Malays pull rank.

In 1970, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad wrote a book that explored Malaysian history as well as politics in terms of the Malay race, and their upsides and downsides. This book was thus given a fitting title, which expounded on “The Malay Dilemma.”

I, of course, stole this idea. In a series of write-ups, I will attempt to define, dissect, and explain what the Malay dilemma really is. We shall begin with examining several key factual events and players that are pivotal in this story.

Back to the said book, you’ll have to remember that this was the 1970s and the place was Malaysia — a time when such a book would be very controversial considering that a major racial clash only happened a year ago.

This really blew it into the public’s eyes. UMNO then had Mahathir expelled from the party. Bizarrely, two years later Mahathir’s Malays-should-rule rhetoric sunk into the minds of other UMNO members and they readmitted him in 1972.

This begs the question: Why the love-hate, or in this case, a hate-love, relationship between party and the party black sheep?

To answer this question you would have to revisit 1969. At this time the three major races in Malaysia, the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians, were still segregated according to sectors of the economy – Malays in agriculture, most associated with crops in the countryside, Chinese in mining, banking and businesses in the towns, and Indians in the vast rubber estates.

Our history books teach us that this was a ploy created by the British in the early 1900s to ensure that each race remained interested in the affairs of their race and would not unite against them.

This device failed, which is why we attained our independence, but its repercussions manifested itself in a vague racial tension that ultimately led to the 1969 racial riots between the Malays and the Chinese.

Only after this event did the government receive a reality check on the true “racial harmony�? in the country. Therefore, it needed to show who was boss, or rather, which race was boss.

It received its new found understanding from Mahathir, who was at that time UMNO’s upcoming star. Mahathir’s proposals on fixing the problems associated with the Malays along with the newly launched New Economic Policy, the brainchild of the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, set the stage for UMNO to flex its muscles through cleverly implemented policies from these well-thought theories.

UMNO found a suitable candidate to execute this tour de force — Mahathir. The political party introduced him to the expectant audience of multiracial Malaysians in 1981. He became the prime minister of Malaysia.

UMNO’s new leader was now in the position to field strong pro-Malay policies as well as play up Constitutional powers granted to Malays — the one that mentions about how “no other race has the right to question our (Malays’) privileges, our religion (Islam) and our leader (the King),�? as so eloquently defined by Badruddin Amiruldin, UMNO’s Deputy Permanent Chairman.

Also, Mahathir was now in the position to ensure that he and his people stay in power. Among Mahathir’s more well known actions include pacifying public uproar by removing the royal veto and royal immunity from prosecution, after an infamous incident in which the Sultan of Johor threw a golf club at a caddy.

He also enforced the Internal Security Act (goodbye, habeas corpus), and curtailing freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

Mahathir also:
1. Engineered the dismissal of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abas, and three other supreme court justices who tried to block the misconduct hearings concerning UMNO leadership.
2. Ousted former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim after he and his flock challenged the traditional structure of UMNO.
3. Imposed heavy censorship of the media and freedom of speech, thus negating the possibilities of whistleblowers to publicise corruption, money politics, etc.

By now you should have a rough idea of the power play that occurred: the quashing of rivals, the ousting of potentially “problematic�? individuals and restraints on the public.

This brought about a well-regulated environment in which Malaysians are bred to be submissive and obedient and should know better not to bother, much less challenge, the government and its policies.

This was a slick method of deterrence in which people were made aware of the consequences of questioning and exposing dirty tactics — do this and you’ll be jailed, do that and you’ll be arrested under the ISA.

Like a pair of strict disciplinarian parents, UMNO had the power to decide for its Malaysian children what they should or should not watch or listen to, and set strict boundaries on their behaviour — or they’ll be spanked.

And when these children grow up and become desperate for a little leeway, they conveniently blame the West.

This was not limited to politics alone, for the education system in Malaysia was also affected from the spill over of UMNO influence.

Point in case: the Malay language has been used in national schools for a good 30 years now, thanks to the efforts of Malay nationalists who harped non-stop on the importance of communicating in Malay to maintain a Malaysian identity.

Yours truly is not saying that the Malay language is not important in our culture but the over-emphasis on Malay usage over the past decades has cost us dearly.

It is only as late as 2002 that the government realised that the said over-emphasis has birthed generations of students who are ill-equipped to communicate proficiently in English. So they launched a long overdue countermeasure to teach Science and Mathematics in English.

Kudos to the government, since Malaysians converse about scientific matters and mathematical problems daily.

Another manifestation of UMNO influence was the development of quota systems that required a certain percentage of Bumiputera students to be part of tertiary education institutions in Malaysia. This means that universities could be more lax on the admission requirements of Malay students to fill the quota at the expense of admitting more qualified non-Bumiputera students.

Though I am aware that a merit system is now implemented, it was not earlier than 2000 that these quota systems were removed. The same goes for the percentage holding of equity in companies for Bumiputeras which is now abolished.

However, the point is that these quota requirements in the education system and business world were blatantly biased towards Malays for several decades and went unchallenged and its supporters not held accountable for any repercussions that stemmed from it.

The thing that irks me about all this is how the Malaysian government likes to use words like “Muhibah�? and “Bangsa Malaysia.�?

But really, we shouldn’t be that naïve to buy into such ideologies.

In the real world a Malay is accorded more aid financially, and opportunities as well as stand a one in 16,250,000 chance (assuming that 65 percent of Malaysia is Malay as per 2005 estimates) of becoming Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This is something no one of another race will have the opportunity to enjoy in this lifetime. Evidently, Malays have empowered themselves to conduct this concert but have every other race parts to play — to pacify them - at the same time ensuring that they will always remain second fiddle.

DISCLAIMER:
The writer’s opinion does not reflect the views of theCICAK webzine and team. theCICAK editors understand that this article is very controversial, progressive and liberal. However, they acknowledge the importance of free speech.

theCICAK encourages conservative readers to comment or submit articles refuting the writer’s argument. Your opinion means a lot to theCICAK. Send your articles to:
write4thecicak@gmail.com

—
THE PIANIST is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

He is an aspiring writer and full-time student. In his free time, he enjoys writing and reading, and when he’s occupied he’s either reading or writing. To unwind, he fancies some Chopin or Debussy, or a cold Heineken with a good game on the idiot box.

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29 Comments so far. Post your own comment

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Two questions we should ask :-

What is it (specifically) that Malaysians hope to change in the current situation?

How can they bring about such changes, given the current situation?

and also, a third one, lest we seem ungrateful :-

With the way things are now, what are we happy with?

Comment published by jason on 7 September 2005.
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i’ve been in california , one of the most liberal states in the US for almost 2 years now and everyday i see more and more how wonderful a country malaysia is. so the non- Bumi’s don’t get equal treatment… im writing this with the events of hurricane Katrina going on where ppl are ‘forgotten ‘ by the federal government because of the color of their skin (african-american).

i was watching the news and someone commented ‘ would the handling of the situation be different if it was an affluent WHITE community what was affected’? everyone in the US knows the answer. and most ppl aorund the world know the answer. most ppl think that the US is a place where u are given equal treatment despite the color of your skin. well, it takes living here to know that thats not the case. even getting into uni is a matter of ur ethnicity.

its true that the minority get preferencial treatment but its only because they’ve been persecuted for many years by the ‘white man’. if u look at most high-ranking jobs, its mostly the white’s that hold those positions. u will almost never see a white person behind the counted of a mcdonald’s here.

and i have never, i repeat never seen a white person with a black person. and im in one of the most liberal and culturally diversed states mind u. no need to mention the racial discrimination that goes on in a predominantyly white state. u might be asking what this has to do with whats going on in malaysia, but the way i see it is racial discrimination goes on everywhere. it exist in every continent in every part of the world. when the genocide in rwanda happened, the UN didnt go in and rescue anyone cos they were black. and think about it, if malaysia doesn’t give the Malay’s prefrencial treatment, who is?

Malaysia is the only country in the world they fit in. the indians always have india, the chinese always have china. and think about how hard it is for a muslim to get anywhere in the world now and how much easier it is for a non-muslim, no need mentioning the reason here.

im not saying whats going on in malaysia is right, im just saying ppl need to stop whining about it and try to see things from a malay’s point of view. can u imagine what would happen to them if they didn’t have the quota system for university’s? im sure a huge percentage of the enrollement will be indians and chinese. and with malays being the dominant race in the country, what would happen then?

it would probably be May 13th all over again. its important to remember who were the freedom fighters for malaysia. who fought for independence. and also remember that malaysia is one of the few countries in the world where a multitude of races exist in harmony. lets not spoil that just because a few ppl out there have it a little better than us. and i’d like to see the US have a BLACK president for a change. not in this lifetime i think. btw, im INDIAN and im coming home to malaysia next year

Comment published by karen on 7 September 2005.
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You have some interesting stats there on the financial aid accorded to Malays, as well as some quotes. Do you have sources for where you obtained these?

I would agree with Jason in asking the question of how we can chance things the way they are. Granted, discourse is important, but when people are afraid to lose their cushy jobs and comfortable subsidies, what can we do to encourage them to change? I would be interested to hear your input on this.

Comment published by falcons84 on 7 September 2005.
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ever since discussions like this started, my eyes seem to be widening read after read =). And it’s getting bigger.

Anyway, karen, I can see your point. Regarding malay’s place in the world, I agree that bumiputeras should have special rights, however I also feel that after all these years, the kind of help have to change. Because now it is not helping bumiputeras anymore, instead it’s destroying them. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for life.

Racism will not cease to exist for a long long time. Because, there’s no way to stop the birth of bigots are there? As you said about America, their history of racism is far more extreme than in M’sia. But their legal laws ( i presume, i’m not an law student, correct me if i err) does not discriminate colour, religion etc. the rest, depends on the people themselves.

Comment published by willowhippo / gN on 7 September 2005.
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Hi again. Been absent from posting comments, but nevertheless i’ve been actively reading articles here,almost on a daily basis.

Karen, I would not say that your views are incorrect. Just a bit broad and wide-sweeping, that’s all. I’m interested to know how often you travel around California and around the other States in US to make your claims substantially credible. I’ve Malaysian friends in the States and their account is diametrically opposite of yours. Then again, there is always room for personal opinions.

The claim that racial discrimination happens everywhere is somewhat true. There seems to be something inherently racial in one’s genes to render one’s inability to completely accept someone from the other ethnic groups. The upper limit to tolerance is usually that “I can take what you do, and I can live with it. But do not expect me to naturally practice what you do”. However, I have to agree about there being exceptions to the rule.

However, racial discrimination and the use of NEP/affirmative action policies have to be taken in the proper context. Help can be given to the disadvantaged. Proper help. For instance, training, education and exposure are some tools with which to escape poverty. On the other hand, subsidies per se, are not really a help at all, in the long run. And what’s probably worse, the loopholes and the lack of effectiveness in the policy framework and implementation, contributes to gross waste of tax payers money. What’s probably worse, the de jure beneficiaries of the discriminatory policies (eg. Malays) do not really benefit at large, even after 20+ years. The AP debacle is but one example where the majority’s welfare have been hijacked for the benefit of the few.

Again, putting racial discrimination in proper context, help to the needy must also take cognisance of the recognition of merit. One cannot possibly aid a group at the expense of those who are affected by discrimination. While discrimination is present in US, it’s still very much a receipient of “brain gain”, Malaysia on the other hand, is a victim of brain drain. If discrimination were to lead to such adverse consequences in the era of globalisation, then one must start doing some serious thinking. My point is, if poverty reduction is a seriously pursued objective, then policy makers should seriously pursue it with integrity, transparency and honesty. The dissatisfaction with the powers-that-be is suggestive that some things are not being done right. What’s worse, nobody in the “mainstream” can voice it out.

At this time and age, the socio-economic background and profile of race groups have changed to a large extent. There is an emergence of a middle class consisting of all race groups. Hence, poverty no longer hits one particular race group as hard as it did just right after independence. There are increasingly marginalised Indians as well. And what about the Orang Asli…the concern here is fairness and justice in helping those who really need help, not to help the middle class and rich become ever richer…hence, disposable income may be a more significant indicator of poverty than race.

The political system and culture in the country is very much polarised. And it’s not comforting to learn that the leaders lead by example. If there is so much racial posturing, and if such activities were tolerated in the first place, the perception of racial discrimination filters down to the common folks. One is in theory, free to talk about discrimination in US. But try doing the same thing here….and one will end up in Kamunting prison.

In your last paragraph, you did mention racial harmony. In fact, the projected image of harmony is not entirely an honest one. There won’t be true harmony as long as politicians take advantage by playing the race card. And many Malaysians living in Malaysia know that every dimension of life here is racially politicised.

Comment published by hc on 7 September 2005.
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In response to “jason”:
This write-up is in fact a part of a series of editorials that I will be writing. This particular one was more of a “backgrounder” on the situation at hand. I will address (and was already meaning to, prior to this) questions like the ones you asked in future columns.

In response to “karen”:
1) I am bumiputera. My father is Bidayuh, and so am I. He was raised in a rural village outside of Kuching. He made it through, without any of the bumi-biased aids in question and at one point worked for a multi-national organisation. I have never requested for or used any educational aids. It is foolish of me to speak out against a system that would benefit me–but I still choose to do so. My point being is that bumis can make a difference if they are willing to work hard. Remember, there hardly is any substitute to success other than through good ol’ fashioned hard work. Mahathir himself spoke out against the Malays and said that they were lazy and laidback.

2) You said that Malaysia should help Malays “because it’s the only place in the world that they can fit in”, that the “Chinese have China�? and “Indians have India�?. As far as Chinese Malaysians and Indian Malaysians are concerned, they are Malaysians. Neither China nor India is going to dish out a single yuan/rupee to help them. Don’t forget that they are Malaysians. Thus, where will THEY fit in? Indonesia?

3) Why do you have to bring Islam and Muslims into the picture? Is it because Malays are Muslims? I’m talking about domestic affairs, not foreign policy.

4) I’m glad you know what is happening in Malaysia “is not right�?. However, you are wrong when you say that we (me included) don’t see things from a Malay’s point of view. I can see things from a Malay perspective by virtue that I am in the same position as them to get all the Bumi aids I want. People like me “whine�? about this position because of blatantly obvious bias. To stop whining when things are obviously biased will serve to make the government less accountable to the public. Remember, pro-Bumi policy has been around for decades, not days. The “backward�? Malays should have been already on their feet by now—if not highfliers themselves. The FELDA settlers who became overnight millionaires when they sold their precious land a couple of years ago squandered their wealth and withered away. I say enough of this. Moreover, about the quota system: if Malay entrants are not qualified to enter the Unis and students of other races are, don’t let them enter! That will force them to study harder to EARN their way in. If our tertiary institutions compromise as per your suggestion, what we would have are mediocre tertiary institutions that may go as far as lowering the passing mark so that more of these non-deserving students may pass. This will only degrade the Malaysian education system further.

5) If you imply that May 13th will occur all over again just because the Malays can’t earn their way through things this will show who the real whiners are.

6) Please do not compare Malaysia with America. America probably will not have a Black President in this lifetime but the way things are Malaysia will not have a Chinese prime minister in ten lifetimes. And why is your answer even inclusive of the situation in America? Do you also realise that since you (a) hail from “the most�? liberal state in America and that (b) the American press is very liberal and that (c) Bush is a Republican-Conservative therefore (d) the media would obviously try to link the fallout from Katrina to Bush and try make something his fault and spice up the news by implying that racism has something to do with this? Just maybe? Are you sure you should believe everything you read? Furthermore you may have never seen a white person with a black person. Well maybe the black person was with a Malaysian person. Or an Eskimo. Or an European. Or a Singaporean. Just maybe.

DISCLAIMER:
My opinion does not reflect on this website’s management and staff. Furthermore I am actually very conservative, but I’m not some mollycoddled, complacent Malaysian either, therefore I rant and “whine�? a lot. Please note that I am not finished with what I have to say yet. There are other articles coming, and I will delve deeper into The Malay Dilemma.

Comment published by The Pianist on 8 September 2005.
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the biggest problem we will face in trying to change this legal racism is trying to convince the bumis themselves. secondly, increasing public awareness is a major issue as many youths (as you said) are so confined by censorship and spoonfeeding that they remain unaware of and nonchalant about important issues such as this.
i think your article is excellent, however i’d like to know what you would suggest as a solution to the ‘malay dilemma’ so elequently phrased.

Comment published by ying on 8 September 2005.
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i think to question it the way the writer has done is the best thing..although, reading karen’s post did give me a great feeling to be Malaysian..i love my country to death, i am patriotic to the core but i dont believe in the constant help the Malay’s are given..i also dont believe in the Malay rights ideology..therefore, i agree with the writer, that if a Bumi (or Malay) student was not good enough to be in the college or uni, so be it..why should there be a Quota? if they dont deserve it, then they should not be given it over anyone else just because they’re a Bumi (or Malay)..i agree that the government should help deserving families with financial backing to send their children to sound financial institutions..and yes, i admit, a good chunk in that respect COULD be Malay..but what about the Indians? or the Chinese? why are Malays allowed more leeway when we should all be treated as equals? why do you see a lot of Malays in local universities driving Kancils and Satrias bought with their financial aid? why were they even given financial aid even though their parents drove Camrys and Volvos..? as a friend’s father told her, “just try..” this from a Malay family with 3 cars….

i applied for financial aid, and was granted it..gladly, my Chinese friend was also granted hers..
and yes, im Malay..

truthfully, i dare go as far as to say, im harshest against my own race..

Comment published by bahir. on 9 September 2005.
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My point is that the malays, chinese and indians, etc is too much in their “comfort zone” and neither one is doing their contributions to build up the nation.chinese indians have always been complaining about malays visa versa.

We need to understand that we are Malaysians, NO OTHER COUNTRY will want us not india, china or indonesia. If we go to war, we will fight because our home, our country is at stake. Even thought you think our army is made mainly of malays and indians, rarely chinese, but when the enemy is at your doorstep, will you not fight to defend? a chinese saying that goes ” Without homes there will be no country”

Remember, you have the luxury to sit at home watch astro and have water, eletricity, have a job, car, road and all, even is not as good as other country, is nonetheless, our own. want it to improve, WORK your way to improve it. don’t point your complains to anyone. Don’t bother trying cuz you never going to get it done ? then don’t bother complaining either. The main enemy and the main competitor is always the man in the mirror. over come him and you can change the world.

Malaysia will never have a Chinese prime minister, that’s true but since liberation in 1957, we never had one, what makes u think chinese prime minister is going to do a fantastic job? nobody knows.

Disclaimer:
My thoughts at this moment is this. It might differ tomorrow, it might not. But i never meant to point it at any races for i am a malaysian myself. intentions to speak my minds to leave a certain burden of thoughts i had for so many years. I certainly hope malaysians quickly realise this.

Comment published by Terry on 9 September 2005.
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Karen,

I do not agree w. your comparison btw US & M’sia. U have not seen white & black 2gether? Mayb US have changed the last 10 yrs but in the 80s there was an xplosion of black culture and it was vogue to hang w. black bros esp. fr glamour girls & collegue guyz. I personally had many friends w. mix parentage. But we were in different state mayb. The discrimination in US might b on a personal basis but M’sia have law that legitimize bigotry but thats another matter. As for the chinese have China and indians have India, that was very insulting and uncalled for as we view ourselves as M’sian!!!

What u fail to realise is that most ppl here r not critical of the NEP but the way its been abused and how its been used to cripple our malay brethen into thinkin that they cannot stand up on their own (w/o UMNO & subsidy) I think most of us would agree and support some broad based affirmative action that helps the rural poor regardless of race or affilliation.

Comment published by rakyat on 9 September 2005.
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Just wanted to say that lowering entry requirements in local Unis will never help the bumis. Letting them get a degree simply doesn’t make them more employable, in contrary, it makes non-bumi more employable. For example, lets say you are the HR directer of a MNC in Msia: You have a choise of 2 potential employee which lets assume, equally capable. Surely you will chose the one discriminated against because only the best chinese or indians manages to enter local U while its not the case for malays. Its not fair to the malays who are as good as the others but this happens due to adverse relation. People that don’t know them well will judge them according to university entree conditions.

Comment published by salvation on 9 September 2005.
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(continued)thus defeating the original purpose of positive discrimination.

Comment published by salvation on 9 September 2005.
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I am suddenly reminded of the recent Petronas advertisement for Independence Day… haha. true, true. I also believe it’s about time the bumiputras stepped out of the comfort zone. I’m not saying that because I’m not getting those advantages as a non-bumi, but the truth is, when the government offers such assistance specifically only to the Bumis, it breeds a sense of complacency. so instead of achieving what this special ‘treatment’ intends, it goes toward its opposite end.

Comment published by Zhi Wei on 9 September 2005.
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karen:
“u will almost never see a white person behind the counted of a mcdonald’s here”

Probably because you’re located in California where the population of white American’s are considerably lower than other parts of America. I’m living in a town where 55% are caucasian, 40% are black and the rest are other minorities, and white people are everywhere from Mcdonalds to Arby’s! AHhahaha!

But what you are saying is true, Baton Rouge was where Jim Crow’ism was the rule of law during the early 1900’s… But to compare Malaysians to what the African American people have been through would be akin to comparing Ice-Cream to Grilled Salmon! California liberal? I hope you have not forgotten about the L.A. Riots that occured as a result of Rodney King being brutalized by the L.A police? 1991.

Racism occurs in every part of the world whether you like it or not, believe it or not you, I, and everyone else who’s reading this is guilty of being racist.
Complacency is as guilty as participation.

If you really believe that racism is a problem you have to fix then fix it! Stop labeling every single person who doesn’t get ahead of the game as being a VICTIM, because the only person who can victimise us is ourselves.
If the minority of non-bumiputera’s aren’t getting ahead of the game, then maybe they need a new manual?

Just a thought…

Comment published by Deviant on 9 September 2005.
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Contrary to the popular belief on this commentary…Karen, I actually agree with what you have to say. I am not pro-bumi or pro-non-bumi but I think there is a point here that everyone seems to miss. There is a vast difference between middle-upper class malays and the rural malays and I think everyone seems to fail to distinguish it. Lets face it, if this was a competition between a middle class malay and middle class chinese then, yeappp by all means- merit system all the way. After all a merit system can only properly function when there are equal oppourtunities.

But the fact remains is this- the ones stuck in poverty and backwardness is the rural malays. And it is not due to laziness that they stay this way. I have met many bright young rural malay kids but the reason why they stay where they are is usually due to family responsibility (ex: adik beradik 7 and they are the eldest and the total income of the father is RM800) and also due to the middle-upper class malays monopolizing of most of these rights. How many anak tansri/datuk etc have benefitted from a scholarship as compared to the normal, no-named malay?

In any case, i think what karen was trying to say was that if they couldnt rely on malaysia for help, who else can they rely on. After all, we do not want to see what happened in Indonesia, S.Africa and Zimbabwe to happen in Malaysia. Where the minority owns something like 80% of power and wealth in the country. Even we know that such situation deals an even graver injustice to the current injustice. After all, that is why NEP was born- a response to the May 13th incident.

Personally though i agree with ‘rakyat’ that aid should be given on a means test of income instead. Instead of having NEP or the ‘new NEP’, why not put up welfare aid for the underprivileged? This way race stops being mentioned, and the malays would not be at a disadvantage since the vast majority of the poor are malays. Also, such aid would be of much help to poor chinese and indians too. Thus making it a fair deal to all

Comment published by sowat on 10 September 2005.
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Sowat said: “Contrary to the popular belief on this commentary…Karen, I actually agree with what you have to say. I am not pro-bumi or pro-non-bumi but I think there is a point here that everyone seems to miss.

hc says: i don’t think I missed the point here. why not? read on…

sowat adds: “There is a vast difference between middle-upper class malays and the rural malays and I think everyone seems to fail to distinguish it. Lets face it, if this was a competition between a middle class malay and middle class chinese then, yeappp by all means- merit system all the way. After all a merit system can only properly function when there are equal oppourtunities…”

“But the fact remains is this- the ones stuck in poverty and backwardness is the rural malays. And it is not due to laziness that they stay this way. I have met many bright young rural malay kids but the reason why they stay where they are is usually due to family responsibility (ex: adik beradik 7 and they are the eldest and the total income of the father is RM800) and also due to the middle-upper class malays monopolizing of most of these rights. How many anak tansri/datuk etc have benefitted from a scholarship as compared to the normal, no-named malay?”

hc says: I have mentioned the following in my post (comment no. 5, parag. no. 6)- “At this time and age, the socio-economic background and profile of race groups have changed to a large extent. There is an emergence of a middle class consisting of all race groups. Hence, poverty no longer hits one particular race group as hard as it did just right after independence. There are increasingly marginalised Indians as well. And what about the Orang Asli…the concern here is fairness and justice in helping those who really need help, not to help the middle class and rich become ever richer…hence, disposable income may be a more significant indicator of poverty than race.”

In other words, not only do the rural Malays suffer…the Orang Asli…the rural Indians…etc are denied the opportunities too. Poverty is race-blind. My point was, it’s no longer a race issue. It’s a class issue. While neither Karen nor Sowat is wrong, it’s still important to realise that the “crime” of UMNO was to make it all seem as if only the Malays are at the worst end of development. This is a half-truth that must be de-mystified. Perhaps they were right about this 30 years ago. But not now.

Again, the grouse (ok, Karen calls this a whine) is not so much about dissatisfaction with a group of poor Malaysians who get “welfare assistance” but rather the rich guys who benefit disproportionately more than the poor guys. This is a social injustice that needs to be addressed.

Hope I did not ruffle anyone’s feathers. Again, no hard feelings please.

Comment published by hc on 10 September 2005.
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OKAY, though i didn’t read every single line BUT I just couldn’t sit there and don’t do a thing bout it!

Karen, you have your point BUT I don’t agree with everything!!! You said you have been in the most liberal state in the STATES, well, how sure are you that the other non-so-liberal states do not have the WHITES and the BLACKS mixing with each other? You do not prefer where you are living so are some of us here. And though we are not in the same situation, but the core problem is the same! So pleaseeee don’t say the STATES is worse than MALAYsia. Mind you, NOT Malaysia, BUT MALAYsia!!! OUr country has never been a true Malaysia!

I feel INSULTED when you said “the Indians always have India, the Chinese always have China”. It hit me right in my eyes, my heart and my soul! Are you trying to say, “Hey, you noisy Indians and Chinese, not satisfied? Go back to where you belong!!!”. Well, then isn’t it the same as “Hey you BLACKS, ask Africa to help you!!!”.

Let me tell you, Who are Malays? Can’t they just be some people that came from Indonesia long time ago? Or some Arabians/Egyptian from Middle East centuries ago? They do not necessary originate from Malaysia! Malaysia could be part of Indonesia! Or Thailand! What that is in the History book does not necessary be the whole truth!!!

Even if it may be the truth, mind you, WE should not be differentiated as Malay, Chinese, Indian or any other races! WE ARE ALL MALAYSIANS! AND ALL MALAYSIANS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS ONE, EQUAL RIGHTS & EQUAL STANDARDS! We are not WHITES,BLACKS,BROWNS,YELLOWS OR PINKS!!!

So, as we fight for the rights in our country don’t make it as if we are demanding when we already have more than enough! No we are not! Are you a Malaysian? If not, come here and see things through our mind and understand our dissatisfaction!!!

Comment published by Adam on 10 September 2005.
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I agree with what sowhat suggested, instead of having an NEP, there should be a policy or programme that aims to assist rural Malays who are economically disadvanteged. Sadly, most of the money for ‘affirmative policies’ are hoarded by a section of corrupt elite malays who only enrich themselves.

For this self-defeating racially discriminatory system to be removed, we as ordinary malaysians play a role by creating a Malaysian consciousness - a consciousness of the common causes and interests as Malaysians, which in this case would be the backwardness of rural Malays.

The starting point of this Malaysian consciousness must begin with the non-Malays, who instead of ‘talking up’ the respective racial interests, should take up the interests of the disadvantaged of the other races and speak of these interests as Malaysian interests. In short, non-Malays need to show Malays that UMNO is not the sole guardian of the malay race, but other Malaysians are equally concerned as Malaysians about their fellow Malaysins, who incidentally happened to be Malays. The same goes for MCA and MIC who are part of the ruling coalition, to begin a change in the old mindset where the needs of one race is separate and indepedent og the other races, hence encouraging the formation of a common indentity, goals and interests as Malaysians. If we let those sectionw of UMNO elites to perpetuate the idea of separate interests based on race, things will never change, for both non-Malays and Malays.

Let those of us who are non-Malays then begin this Malaysian movement by taking this difficult path and burden of actively engaging the Malays despite our current situation to show that we are all indeed Malaysians.

Comment published by dreamer idiot on 10 September 2005.
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hahaha! dreamer idiot- you got the point exactly! It’s all branding… and who is really taking the real interest in MALAYSIA while at the same time making sure grassroots malays do not think that their interest is being compromise as yet. In the meantime with this new branding, give it 30-50 years… we might just have a malaysian identity.

Adam- you are right, it is sad that there is no MALAYSIA as you put it but like anything else that involves social economic change- it takes time to change a nation’s mentality. A non-malay PM is not going to happen within our generation i can guarantee you this BUT lets try changing the mentality from the grassroots upwards. Lets try to work at this MALAYSIAN identity. After all, the french had 300 years to make democracy/ equal opportunities to work and they had HUGE hiccups. the period of terror, Napoleon’s coup de tat and of course the period of imperialistic warfare. I know you are unhappy but thou must be patient. Such changes cannot be seen in one’s lifetime but for generations to come- in history books to come.

hc- sorry mate- in essence i agree with what you say but my comment was meant in general response to the people at large. But yes it is a class issue.

Comment published by sowat on 10 September 2005.
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oh yeah and hc, dont apologise for your opinion
‘Hope I did not ruffle anyone’s feathers. Again, no hard feelings please. ‘

dude- your bloody well entitled to it and you will definitely offend someone. So no point apologising for something you believe in which will definitely offend some people somewhere. Its bound to happen. Mwahahahah!

Comment published by sowat on 10 September 2005.
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what is wrong with saying that “he is a malay, you’re a chinese, and i’m an indian”? aren’t we supposed to ‘celebrate our differences’? a malaysian identity ultimately constitutes myriad descents; it is up to us to acknowledge, understand and accept this as a starting point for any ‘malaysian identity’. because tolerance isn’t unity; acceptance is. only when we become mature enough to talk about race, religion and culture without ruffling ’sensitive’ feathers, can we claim to have achieved a ‘malaysian’ identity.

Comment published by zh on 10 September 2005.
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I remember watching a documentary on ancient Japanese culture.

In Japan, The Samurai and the Businessmen are always in some sort of tension because Samurai have power but they are not wealthy, the businessmen have money but they possess little power.

Same as Malaysia, one group of people has wealth with limited privilage and chances and the other group has privilages with limited wealth.

the non Malays feel like they earn money, and the tax they pay goes to Malay, and not to the country directly. what an unhealthy one way flow.

Comment published by Life Feel on 11 September 2005.
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Response to Karen:
I am a New Zealander. My ancestors came to New Zealand less than 200 hundred years ago from Britain, Holland, Germany and the Mid-East. But I don’t identify with any of those places — I am a New Zealander, it says so on my passport. Most Malaysian Chinese and Indians have a connection to Malaysia that far out-dates my connection to NZ… so I can’t imagine how one could say that Chinese Malaysians should identify with China and not with Malaysia, or Indian Malaysians should identify more closely with India. If it was natural to go to such extremes then why not just make us all citizens of Africa and be done with it?

Racial harmony in the absolute is an impossible goal in any culture because perfection is unattainable, and it is human nature (as a generalisation only) that a person is more likely to help or identify with another person who looks and acts in a similar way or has similar moral and cultural beliefs. But one of the main purposes of any legal system is to prevent the positive aspects of this human trait (charity; identity; community) from giving way to the negative aspects of it (racism; fear; exclusivity). When racial inequality such as this is enforced in law rather than addressed by it, that is a problem for all involved.

Response to The Pianist:
Thank you for your thoughts. I find them very informative. Raising political issues which you feel should be addressed for the betterment of society and the world in general is not whining in my view.

Comment published by Mark on 12 September 2005.
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Hello to all. First of all, sorry for my low class English.

As Malay like me, this might be a hurtful discussion. But I believe that this has nothing to do with racism but all are about the betterment of our nation.

But some sentences do hurt us Malay lot. Most of opinion given is from those who never know about the history of this land before their ancestors arrive. The phrase Malay belongs to Indonesia is the naive statement ever comes from Malaysian who knows well about the region history. Don’t they realize that it was not Malay who belongs to Indonesia, but the whole Malaysia was technically belongs to Indonesia.

Before 1824 London Treaty that made between the Dutch and the English after Napoleon War, Malaysia and Indonesia are single entity called Nusantara or Malay Archipelago. The ‘Malaysia’ name itself are used by Western anthropologist to refer the whole archipelago hundreds years before its official registration as a name of a nation in 1963.

Hence, efforts are made to reunite this divided territory to form one single independent nation since 1930s. But it was Tunku who realize that the different administration system applied in English territory and Dutch territory made it impossible to reunite this two region.

Why many of non-Malay said that Malays are belongs to Indonesia and claiming this land was owned by orang asli? Orang asli are proven as the direct ancestor of Malays that came here more than 10,000 years ago from Africa during the time when this archipelago are floating as a vast continent. So if the Malays are from Indonesia, where was the Indonesian are came from as the whole region are belong to the pre-historic human being? Where the Chinese come from as if the mainland was supposedly belongs to the ancient homo-sapiens.

I bet those naive opinion contributors are those who never knew about Ibrahim Yaakob, Burhanudin Helmi, Abdul Rahim Kajai etc. Who are these people? These people who have a good deal with the creator of Indonesia, Soekarno, to merge the whole Nusantara into one single nation called Indonesia Raya. The merge of peninsula into Indonesia that being granted independence by the Japanese in 1946 was the designated starting point of bringing by hook or by crook, Sarawak, Brunei & Sabah into Indonesian Borneo territories. But this has been wisely avoided although those coward Brits are taking too much precious time to regain control over this country after they left it as a looser in 1942.

It wasn’t a minority of Malays who supports this idea but fortunately, Tunku’s option has been the choice of most Malays as willingness to share this country with another half number of populations who are people from other region, are bailed with the special rights. This happens less than 60 years ago. It wasn’t the Malay who easy to forget, it was Malaysian who are.

Imagine if the social contract wasn’t the priority of the constitutional frame? Without anything that today’s noise makers can do, most Malay will opt for Indonesia and all us are forced to assimilate into an alternate reality of Indonesia Raya. And all the national type school and funny pronunciation of Malay language of Malaysian will be something that never existed.

Rome wasn’t built in one day neither in one century. Here in this Malaysia, vast demographic change happened in about 50 years just some 100 years ago. Don’t have to mention what makes it changed. Ironically, with implausible tolerance, a racial segregated nation was born and as some has predicted, there will be noise in future from those who lacked of historic knowledge of this country beside the tranquility that today we can determine it as fake! I mean it. It shows by inadequate national history in most of Malaysian today especially in those who apparently existed at the edge of the nation’s age. No hurt feeling. (As simple as it can be written in past articles)

I did felt the lame of being pampered and felt sorry for the Malay leader acts all these while. Nevertheless, I’m not urging for those noise makers to felt guilty for themselves. I just want them to learn more about the chronological history of the land they claimed their nation, EVEN, before their ancestor arrived rather than being worldly wise about the history of places they aren’t belongs to.

Born in 1978, I can feel that this issue can’t be in this right time to be handled in total liberate. Just hope that it will be handle in words of love rather than words of hate. Unfortunately, what I see are just another effort to deteriorate this nation’s fate. Not all things can be granted for those who coming late. Unless high level integration and total realization has been made. Today we can see that the result is far below great. And temptation on these provocative topics is only inviting mess that we can’t rate. Believe me mate!

So please handle this fragile nation with care.

Disclaimer : I never meant to offend the reputable coalition that was the key of Malaysian achievement today. I just dedicate this article to those who lack of nation’s history and those who scores A in History by memorizing the whole book for examination.

Comment published by Ipohite on 16 September 2005.
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this reminds me of a KFC advertisement on the radio about a student who was about to leave home and his relative said something about not getting a foreign wife. I think that kinda sums up the Malay mentality. I will refrain from commenting further

Comment published by senbai on 18 September 2005.
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I’m a Form Three student and i recently sat for the PMR examination..the thing that really bugs me is that in our sijil kemasukan..it was stated that u were eithera non-muslim or muslim…
I know that its a sensitive issue..but arent every malaysian suppose to have the equal rights at education.
In PMR or any official exam,we dont write our names..we r jus identified with a code..so why is it so important if u are a muslim or a non-muslim?

(if tiz offends anyone i’m sorri..)

Comment published by Deppressed Gal on 7 October 2005.
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Well said, zh. We should celebrate our differences. We should be proud of ourselves for our differences, be it malays, chinese or indians, or muslim, christian, buddhist etc, national vs national type shcools etc. We should develop our diversities and differences to the fullest, but I am all for getting rid of this NEP nonsense. By all means help those disadvantage bumis to help themselves instead of spoonfeeding them. I want to see bumi grow but the NEP things is sucks.

Comment published by jt on 26 October 2005.
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Hail Tunku Abdul Rahman for his vision of Malaysia!

Comment published by Lodos on 26 November 2005.
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Dear Karen,

You have many good points which I agree with.

But this is more complicated than just “co-existing in harmony with the supreme race”.

These are about cronyism, corruption, outright violation of what is enshrined in the Constitution and so much more which I really cannot care to write down.

It is true that racism exists in every country, hell, it even exists in my backyard. Let the malays have their rights. No one is asking to strip them off it. But why cant the nons at least be given a slightly competitive edge and not be shoved into the pits?

Comment published by Judas on 1 January 2008.
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