An article by Yusseri Yusoff on special Malay privileges and NEP, very enlightening indeed. UMNO's argument that all Malays especially those who have benefited from NEP should support it is a flaw argument. Yusseri laments that and I quote "Because, having been given a leg-up in the world, having reached the panacea of the middle-class, the advantaged Malays should already be able to push and nudge their young themselves, without having to rely on uneven policies. Because socio-economic disadvantage is colour-blind, and so should we be too.".
Perhaps the main aim of such policy is nothing but to prolong the rule of race-based political parties. But they should know that race-based politics is only good at dividing us as Malaysian and I want to also stress that we cannot achieve 1 Malaysia if we don't ban race-based political parties and policies.
Stronger, Faster Better by Yusseri Yusoff, The Malaysian Insider, June 6th
For the sake of not arguing, let’s take a few things as given. What things, you ask?
Well, let’s take it as a given that the Malays were here first, and so were the Melanaus, Bajaus, Ibans, Dayaks, other indigenous people and Lee Kuan Yew’s great-great-grandparents.
Let’s also take it as a given that prior to independence, there was a condition set by our then colonial masters[1] regarding the issue of citizenship for the ‘immigrant’ races.
Next, take it as given that a ‘social contract’ was made, even though it was never written down or signed by anybody.
We can’t, however, take it as a given what this social contract was, precisely because it was never written down. As it stands, the contents of this contract is down for anyone to interpret as long as it’s the same as Umno’s interpretation.
Other fixed assumptions that we can make include the acceptance that the struggle for the independence of Malaya involved all the three main races then, and that the inclusion of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore into the Federation of Malaysia was made with the broad agreement of the peoples of the three states (the Konfrontasi notwithstanding).
Further, prior to independence, it was written into the constitution that there will be a ‘special position’ for the Malays, in cognisance of the fact that the Malays, as the de facto indigenous race in Malaya were rather economically behind the main immigrant race, the Chinese.
Over time, as we know, this ‘special position’ morphed into ‘special rights’, with nary a change made in the constitution to reflect this new misunderstanding[2].
So pervasive has this (deliberate) misunderstanding been that almost no one bothers to correct those who say it, and even those you’d think would know better seem to not to. We know and accept as fact that on the 13th of May, 1969 racial riots broke out in Kuala Lumpur and a few other towns in the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia. It happened, and Malaysians died. The interpretations for the cause of the fighting, however, were varied.
Nonetheless, 12 years after independence, 6 years after the formation of Malaysia, and 4 years after Singapore was divorced from the Federation, the Malays were killing the Chinese, the Chinese were killing the Malays and the Indians were somehow implicated in the event (the cause of it even, according to a former Minister of Information).
We understand that as one of the outcomes from the 13th May incident, the New Economic Policy was formulated, the main aim of which was to eradicate poverty for all Malaysians, to redress the economic imbalance especially between the de facto indigenous race(s) as compared to the Chinese. The Indians and the Dan Lain-lain were also scheduled to benefit, of course.
This was accepted by all the main players in the government of the day then and even most in the opposition, largely because the incident was the closest that this young nation ever came to a ‘civil war’ and it was already too awful to bear.
Now, the NEP was to last 20 years, and technically it did. It was then supplanted by the National Development Policy, and quite possibly the National Vision Policy. However, given that the core aims of the two succeeding policies were more or less the same as the NEP, just about everyone still calls it the NEP. Including those who were involved in formulating the NDP and NVP.
And here we are. 52 years after the poncy English gave us back our country, 40 years after the terrible events of 13th May and 39 years after the implementation of a policy intended to last 20 years.
Today, after all that, we’ve got a ruling coalition still smarting from a bloody nose given to it by Malaysians at the last General Elections — a coalition that continues to consider itself as the best option for the country, even as its components try their best to implode without any outside help whatsoever.
We’ve got an opposition coalition that consists of social democrats, Islamists and a slightly schizo, not to mention nepotistic, bunch of centrists — a coalition that somehow continues to defy common sense and continues to hold together[3].
Where am I going with all this?
Well, of late we’ve got some people ‘reminding’ the post-13th May, post-NEP generation that they should be mindful of history, of how this nation was born and the pains it had to go through in order to remain a nation.
As one of these ‘post’ generation ingrates, I just thought I’d put down those bits. To remind those reminding me that I can read. And so can a score of others in the ‘post’ generation.
Also of late, we have a local daily ‘reminding’ us that the Malays made a magnanimous gesture way back when 52 years ago in granting citizenships to a bunch of people who, apparently, couldn’t even speak the Malay language and these ‘immigrants’ should be ever grateful and to never betray the Malays. Oh yes, to never betray.
These ‘reminders’ were made, I suspect, partly to justify the continuing affirmative action policies in favour of the majority race, ostensibly so that they[4] can eventually become competitive against their fellow Malaysians.
I say ‘partly’ because at the same time, the reminders also sounded a warning to the other races that there are certain ‘rights’ provided under the aforementioned constitution that for all intents and purposes is to stand in perpetuity.
What those doing the reminding don’t seem to understand is that for the ‘post’ generation who were actually born in this country, none of that should really hold water any more.
Because we cannot keep looking into the past such that we forget to look into the future.
Learning from history so that we don’t repeat the mistakes is one thing, but paralysing ourselves from moving forwards because we’re afraid of making another set of mistakes is even worse.
And therein lies the saddest aspect of this whole thing. Because of what has happened in the time of our fathers, we now have a set of policies that has gradually resulted in pitting us against one another.
We have a set of policies that, instead of raising the standards of every Malaysian, has managed to ferment an environment of mistrust, suspicion and casual racism.
And before it gets any worse, we need to dismantle it, or at the very least, de-construct it and deform it into something new that would actually reach towards a point where it could someday be consigned as a footnote in history.
Because as it stands, we’re all losing out. Even the Malays. Probably, especially the Malays.
As a result of this policy, many in the ‘post’ generation of Malays have suddenly found themselves wondering if anything they’ve ever achieved could have been achieved without the nudging of the policies[5].
Furthermore, they’re not the only ones asking themselves. The other races and even the other Malays question the achievements.
And when Malays like me raises this, there would always be other Malays ‘reminding’ us that we, too, are beneficiaries of this seeming largesse.
That we too, have progressed and been uplifted by the affirmative action policies. That we, too, should not be ungrateful enough to even have the temerity to suggest that the very policies that have helped us to be where we are today, be removed.
How could we suggest that, they ask? How could we want to have the advantages given to us be denied to those other Malays that come after us?
How could we deny the ‘rights’ of the younger generation, of our own children?
Well, because we should wish for a nation that doesn’t fight with itself.
Because we should wish for the succeeding generation to think of themselves as Malaysians first. Because, having been given a leg-up in the world, having reached the panacea of the middle-class, the advantaged Malays should already be able to push and nudge their young themselves, without having to rely on uneven policies. Because socio-economic disadvantage is colour-blind, and so should we be too.
As for me, I wish for the next generation of Malays to be stronger than me, faster than me.
I wish for them to be better than me, so that they won’t need this leg-up. So that they won’t need to be assisted to claim their place in the nation, along with their fellow Malaysian brothers and sisters.
Given the way we as Malaysians seem to be going, I may, however, be asking too much.
Endnotes:
[1] To which I am reminded of a scene in the movie Trainspotting(1996), where Mark ‘Rentboy’ Renton went on a rant to his friend Tommy, the middle of which went: “Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonised by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonised by. We’re ruled by effete a***h***s. It’s a s***e state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and all the fresh air in the world won’t make any f*****g difference!” Quite.
[2] Article 153, in case you didn’t know already.
[3] Very much like Malaysia itself, as had been observed many times before. We are a country that seems to exist in spite of our best efforts to destroy ourselves.
[4] By which I mean ‘we’, since I am of that majority race.
[5] Something already pointed out oft enough by many other chinwags.
(This polemic is brought to you today by the letter ‘R’ and the words reform, rebrand, rejuvenate, relevant, remind and remand.)
