Malays must be brave & come out from under the shell!

Prior to the attainment of Merdeka (Independence) and up to the point and until Tunku Abdul Rahman was the prime minister, Malaysians enjoyed a certain camaraderie till the May 13, 1969 riots caused the shift in power towards Abdul Razak.

With Razak assuming power, his stance as a Malay chauvinist went into action by the quick but hastily-conceived implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP). But while Razak most likely meant well for the Malays and other bumiputras, he failed to take a gaze into the future to see how the NEP will evolve.

This was the failing of the NEP and Razak which is to be now blamed as root causes for the factionalism and strive that is occurring among the Malays in this country which is why, since the advent of the NEP till now, the Malay community has most likely emerged as a wounded civilization.

Evolvement of the Malays as a race

While tracing the root causes of the general unhappiness, discontent and strive within the Malay community now is difficult, as this involves the complicated and daunting task of going through seamless and vast decisions that have been made for them since Independence, the fact that they are now splintered and disunited is obvious.

While UMNO, often chided as the acronym for “Uniting Malays Not Over” is besieged by the task of having to try to get the Malays to reconcile their differences and be united to be a bigger and stronger voice in this country, the reality on the ground is that UMNO has failed to do so.

Malays have never been more disunited and at loggerheads with each other since their arrival to the Malayan peninsula. What is more worrying is that the Malay race for long has caused the disunity among them to fester and foment which is why they have become by now a wounded civilization.

Ironically, it is the well-meaning NEP, an affirmative-action plan to assist bumiputras that can be pin-pointed as the main trigger cause of creating misery and disunity among the Malays all throughout the thirty years of its tenure and even till today.

Perhaps if Malay leaders back then had stuck to the Tunku’s ideals and practice of meritocracy and decided to play by the rules of the game, Malays would have fared much better now. By not dealing with them with the stick, and to worsen the situation by dangling the NEP carrot to Malays, the community now lacks the resilience and true capability to stand on their own especially in a globalized era.

While Malay leaders of the post-May 13, 1969 era should perhaps not be faulted as they needed to quickly address the situation to bring about racial harmony, the failure on their part to deal with the actual causes of the problem in a fair and just manner is to be blamed.

By being the largest number in terms of race, the Malays set about through their leaders to gang up on the other races, bullying and cowing them into submission, by thinking that the NEP will work wonders for them.

By failing to adhere to the tenets and obligations of social justice and democracy, the Malay option of taking a soft and easy solution has backfired terribly and caused them to fail to rise up in capability and ability as a race prompting the government to continue to have to bail them even till today.

This is why, by pampering the Malays at the expense of being unfair to the other races, by opting for a “pilih kasih” (showing favoritism) approach in the hope that they can improve their lot, the Malays still are a discontented lot with the root causes of the problems of the 1969 riots still unsolved and lingering perhaps even waiting to flare up in future.

The disgruntled and discontented Malays of today

It is perhaps strange to note that racial harmony and unity does really exist in this country except where politicians play race-baiter and wherever politics is at play. Otherwise, Malaysia’s harmony among the races is very much intact and in place perhaps even being a role model for other countries with a multi-racial population.

But while unity among the races is present, Malay unity over the years has begun to crack up and fizzle and there is even widespread distrust and suspicion among them largely because of unfair practices at work in the socio-economic sphere of Malaysian life.

While believing and stating that the other races are the victims of unfair socio-economic practices, it is really the Malays and other bumiputras who bear the brunt of the unfairness as the NEP has served specifically to create the minority elite while the other bumiputras don’t really factor in the distribution of wealth.

It is precisely for this reason now that the political allegiance of Malays is skewered three-ways between UMNO, PAS and PKR. This wedge that has appeared has cause Malay unity on the surface to be separated apparently in three ways.

Beyond the political sphere, Malays are further separated and divided by socio-economic and religious factors. Where once the Malays under the leadership of Tunku were standing united they have now become severely disjointed and disconnected among themselves.

Treat the causes of the problem not the symptoms only

Owing to the many years of merely treating the symptoms afflicting the Malay race and not going down to facing up to and tackling their problems at the root, by Malay leaders lacking courage and sincerity, and instead of victimizing the other innocent races, they should face up squarely to their problems and learn to swallow the bitter pill in whatever doses it is given to them.

By identifying and diagnosing the actual causes of Malay unhappiness and by prescribing a treatable regimen that really works to heal and help them, this might still be the approach they need to take.

It is pointless for Malays to complain any further as they need to face up to the facts of life and the era of spoon-feeding and the handout mentality has not worked rather it has served to cause them to regress in reality.

While on the surface Malays and bumiputras, through the use of statistics might lay claim to having progressed, this is really a hollow achievement that is artificially propped up by being still dependent on the government.

This kind of symptomatic treatment should stop and no longer be advocated by the government as it has served very little to assist or better the Malay community, rather it has only served to prolong their agony and stunt their real and actual growth as a community.

What is feared worse is that if the Malays do not clean up their act, if they fail to solve the problems and issues that are the sources of disunity and unhappiness and dissatisfaction among them, it will fuel further animosity and tensions among them.

While in the present they might suffer by having to face up to their difficulties and having to swallow a bitter pill, in the long run they stand to profit and gain by adopting the right approach. But if they continue to withdraw into their delusions, they face the real threat of being colonized in this country.

This is because the shift in political trends, the reformations and transformations that are taking place and set to take place in the future no longer makes allowances neither will it cater or pander to their childish ways and whimpering.

By opting for mature and pragmatic solutions, it just might be that the wounds of the Malay civilization in Malaysia may be treated and that they may recover to the level where they once were, a proud race fighting for independence from the British under the rallying call of the Tunku.

Anything other than having to face up to the truth and facts of the Malay race as they stand now should not be considered and they should also stand up and be counted by subscribing to the full tenets and obligations of democracy and by being wholly and totally compliant they should fare so much the better as a race.

Malaysia Chronicle