Politics
Our leaders have failed to acknowledge that we are on the verge of a new beginning for our country. Not a new dawn, a crossroads, a new juncture, the beginning of an end – Artificial Racial Harmony.
This superficial peace that we enjoy is under serious threat from what I deem as "terrorists and extremists". This kind of terrorism is more dangerous than the AK-wielding cavemen. These ‘terrorists’ are singing beautiful songs about rights and justice for all Malaysians. We see these songs are even sung in rhythm with Negara Islam, Middle Malaysia or even 1Malaysia. While all those concepts were designed with the best interests at heart, these ‘terrorists’ use it as a mask to propagate their own agenda: power.
I do not place any faith in these beautiful slogans simply because the leaders under these banners would eventually fail to live up to it. Leadership by example - the quality first brought into our world by Moses, Solomon and Muhammad S.A.W cannot be seen in our leaders. Expecting them to follow the steps of prophets would be too much, but they are well within their powers to do much better.
The failures of our political leaders on both sides has given birth to extremists and populists. Their mistake was a failure to set leadership by example. Instead the time spent bickering and trading political barbs have resulted in the emergence of radicals aiming to fight for the rights of their respective races.
What is worst; these "terrorists and extremists" are recruiting members at record speeds, exposing claims by analysts, politicians and even the man on the street that March 8th is not the day that Malaysians woke up. It confirms my belief that the rakyat are not participating in a mature democracy, but still living under the shadow of race-based politics.
If we choose to blame politicians for propagating these beliefs, we are on the wrong side of the road. Politicians operate on a road travelled by the rakyat. If the majority of the rakyat wants intellectual discussion and debates in parliament, then only the brightest, most charismatic and competent politicians will rise up.
However, that is far from the case. People love scandals, revelations, sodomyy, implications, statutory declarations, party-hoppers, C4 explosions, corruptions- stories that excite.
How many politicians are interested in setting up a task force, poll surveys or even forums to answer our concerns about the implementation of a Goods and Sales Tax? We are still busy on deciding minute issues that don’t affect the rakyat as much.
Brilliant politicians have realized this and seek to capitalize on that existing mentality. Meanwhile, kudos must be given to young MPs who didn't get trapped but remained focus on serving their constituents.
How would all the above relate to the race problem? All extremists need to do is inject the fear of loss and a sense of urgency to certain groups in society who are already fired up by racist sentiments or plagued by fear – a lost of status quo, trampling of minority rights, unfair distribution of wealth and so on.
Economy
This is a subject that has already been discussed by many. Recently, our beloved Deputy Prime Minister expressed a firm belief that in Malaysia, the distribution of wealth is fairer than a lot of developed countries. Statically speaking, he wasn’t lying.
However, the fact remains that 66.7 percent of Malays and Bumiputras in this country do not hold more than 20 percent of the "cake".
In my view, the distribution of wealth is equal by taking the amount of effort Malays put to improve their station in life into account. Their children prefer cyber cafes operated by non-Malays (by races that their PERKASA-driven fathers might be wary about!) than enrolling in a tuition class to improve their grades. I firmly believe that while it is unfair to judge results and effort side-by-side objectively, it is still a definite marker for success.
I spoke with a taxi driver who got his permit via a connection and he leased it back to others drivers, mainly foreigners. He is acutely worried about the plight of Malays and has already registered as a member of PERKASA.
I interviewed a young factory worker who refused to do overtime or enroll in night school but whines about marginalization of the Indians with Hindraf.
I met a phone seller who refused to hire anyone but Mandarin-speaking only. He is very vocal - he thinks the government should help the Chinese more and firmly believes DAP has all the answers.
These are real people with real problems and real excuses. Yet, with so many ways to improve themselves, they opt to not to travel down that path.
They have clearly lost grasp with a fundamental capitalist notion and have opted to use democratic and equality arguments to make them feel good about themselves and at the same time convince themselves that the government is not doing enough to protect their interests.
Have they learnt John Kennedy’s famous quote? "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for the country”.
Social
The number of Malaysians migrating is worrying. They are not useless bikers, drug pushers or repeat offenders but qualified professionals that play a big role in realizing the vision of our Prime Minister – for us to become a high-income nation.
Yet the same people, even after migrating abroad, still rant in blogs and emails about how undemocratic Malaysia is. They’ve made some ridiculous claims on how heavenly life is abroad and how difficult and restricted their life was in the past.
These cowards have no right to moan about Malaysia. I wouldn’t dream of smearing my country in another country’s Parliament. A radical activist wanted an audience in the British Parliament about the plight of marginalized Indians in Malaysia.
Has no one knocked his head and asked him to channel a substantial amount of his living costs in London to the poor and marginalised Indians? Organize a programme to help young Indians by enrolling them in vocational or technical courses. That’ll work a lot better than what he’s doing right now.
Let's just terminate his citizenship, and put him on the defectors list so that any attempt to return to our beloved nation shall be treated as an offence against the Yang Dipertuan Agong.
Conclusion
When we talk about race, we need to talk about the social contract.
What is the social contract? Why would and should it matter to the present generation?
My Chinese friends are not immigrants. They are born on THIS LAND. This is their country. Not India or China or Hong Kong. They can't simply be expected to adhere to a contract that was set up before they were born. It is not only unfair, it is grossly unjust.
But, our generation still has the obligation to respect Malaysia’s rich culture and adhere to the law here.
I've met several insensitive people who can’t be bothered to know Muslims that do not drink alcohol. I've met Muslims who’ve failed to remember that their Indian friends are not to be served any beef.
Malaysians who refuse to improve his/her command of Bahasa Malaysia on the grounds that the language is beneath them is insensitive. We should have cases where one speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, Javanese or even Dayak to converse with each other knowing that another person present can’t understand a thing. That can only spark more prejudice and future mistrust.
I am embarrassed to see Bangladeshis and Pakistanis who came to Malaysia recently speaking very good Malay although many non-Malays don’t work to improve their command of the language despite decades of formal education.
This contributed to the formation of PERKASA, Hindraf and Suqiu. The root to this language problem is simple – if you want this country to treat you as a Malaysian, please start behaving like a true Malaysian. Learn the language and the culture.
The blame game continues, but if we’re looking for someone to blame, we only have to look in the mirror.
"Kuman seberang lautan nampak, gajah depan mata tak nampak"
*This piece is the personal opinion or view of the writer. The NRC11 does not endorse this view unless specified.
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