MALAYS IN NATION BUILDING

MALAYS AND NATION BUILDING

I believe it is no exaggeration to say that in the 53 years of Malaysia’s independence, there has not been any article written that truthfully analysed and sincerely critical of the path of Malaysian nation building and national development. It is not difficult to understand why this is so; and it is no secret that fear of government reprisal; meaning that “UMNO” will strike down any criticism with an iron fist. I regret that it is for this reason that Malaysia has retarded the nations evolution towards a modern state; and I am saying this with the least of malice; MALAYSIA HAS NOT MATURED INTO A MODERN NATION STATE, and for the purpose of framing the progress of Malaysia metaphorically, I say if Malaysia is a human being, then at this particular point of our history, Malaysia is a child of 10 years old in a lifespan of 75 years old. We are 53 years old as an independent nation but our maturity is that of a 10 year old.

I regret that to this point in our history no one for fear of punishment under that ISA curse dared to criticise the Malays. It is utterly disgraceful that the Malays have no qualms about and careless about what their actions will unleash; quite apart from the occurrence of the many pogroms that took place in Penang, until in 1969, when Chinese memory is etched with the trauma of “516”; and if TIME MAGAZINE is correct 2,800 mostly Chinese Malaysians were killed by the fury of the Malays; and if the truth be told, no one has dared to mention this fact; and as events come to past, I dare say that 1969 was indeed an eye opener, and from my very own perspective I believe some good had come of it, in a very cynical sort of way. I took stock of the situation after the riots of 519 and decided that it was better for my family to migrate to Australia. I can sincerely say that that was the best decision that I had ever made. I think most of you reading my response will say that I am a traitor, but that remark will be made and made unthinkingly ! I am not any traitor because in the Malaysia environment when I was Malaysian, we Chinese were not ever respected as Malaysian citizen, so why say that those who, like me chose to leave Malaysia, TRAITORS ? By the same consideration, our fore-bares migrated to Malaya. We Chinese were born to withstand hardships; and you can almost say that Chinese are born with genes that carry the hardy DNA because the many waves of Chinese migrants came from the very bottom of China’s society. Our fore bares came with nothing but the cloths on their back, and they climbed up from zero.

There is no reason for the Malays to grudge the Chinese for what many of us worked hard to achieve, At this point the issue that I want to raise is, “what can justify the Malays to discriminate against Chinese ? Are the Chinese not equal citizens as are the Malays or the Indians or whatever and wherever we had come to make Malaysia home ? We all did it our own way and there are as many poor Chinese as there are poor Malays. I say to my Malay friends that we had not at any time while we lived in Malaysia derived any government support, nor did we at anytime grudged the government largess that for 53 years had all gone to the Malays. What is the difference between Ahmad (who works as a mata mata) and another “Shaffie” who gets rich from taking millions of Ringgit in bribes as a UMNO minister ? What is the difference between Ah fatt who works as car “DRIVER” and a Robert Kuok, the billionaire ? The point that I want to make is that they are all “stand alone” one is not the same as the other; each is only worth as much as he can achieve, and not because one is Malay and the other is Chinese. In a population of 28 million, a Malay is not beholden to another Malay nor is a Malay beholden to a Chinese, and that is because we are only responsible for ourselves. This therefore begs the question “ IT IS UMNO POLICY TO BENEFIT ALL MALAYS” but there are 23 million Malays and as I said earlier how will UMNO share Malay privileges among the Malays ? Even if there are 10,000 Malay scholarships given out per year, what about those Kampong Malays who have no political influence, how will UMNO reach out to them ? Therefore we have to ask the question, IS UMNO’s SPECIAL PRIVILEGES FOR THE MALAYS REALLY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE MALAYS ; or is it more in point for the preservation of UMNO and their power elite ? I argue that Malay special privileges is a construct of Mahatir’s to entrench his own megalomaniac power grab. I read 2 very well written articles in the Malaysian Insider.com, by Art Harun and the other by Muaz Omar “MAHATIR YOU ARE THE PROBLEM”; both articles are well argued, but what is more important is they are affirmation of Mao Tze Tung’s famous quote “TO CONQUER A CITY YOU NEED TO CONVINCE 2 BELIEVERS LIVING IN THAT CITY”. There is hope yet, because at last after 53 years of BLIND LEADING THE BLIND, we have at last 2 believers who can see that the KING WEARS NO CLOTHS AT ALL. It is not too flattering at all to Mahatir, that while he is still living to read comments from Malays who has seen through him, NOT AS SAVIOUR OF THE MALAYS BUT AS A TROUBLEMAKER !

I always believe that better than to say a 1000 words, point a finger at a thriving example is the best argument. I ask the Malays, will you like Malaysia to remain backward and un-competitive or will you prefer a Malaysia that is like gleaming Singapore ? You do not have to answer me, just ask yourself and answer to yourself. The solution to Malaysia’s problem is outright reform and remove the SPECIAL PRIVILEGES POLICY OF DISCRIMINATION ! The discriminatory policy of the present UMNO government is all about the politics of remaining in power. UMNO has never in true spirit protected the rights of the Malays. I refer you to the article of Mr. Muaz Omar and his listing of the total and dismal failure of all the projects that were launched by Mahatir while he was in office (Rm100 billion) IN OLD MONEY and in today’s terms a couple of USA$ easily a couple of trillions, when you take into account lost earnings from that Rm.100 billions over the long haul; just off the top of my head, the 1st loss of a couple of Rm.billion was in that CRAZY LONDON TIN SPECULATION, a totally amateurish effort, a total ignorance of the operation of the workings of the “COMMODY EXCHANGE” AND TRADING ON THE FUTURES MARKET. Mamak Mahatir thought that since Malaysia at that time produced 75% of the world’s tin production, he cannot go wrong because he can always ‘deliver physical tin” that was what got his balls wrenched in a vise. Malaysia lost billion dollars or even more who knows ? Another glaring example was the loss of another billion or more dollars in the dealings with a Hong Kong’s notorious con-man,(forget his name) in short “the Perwaja” project. Anyway Mahatir’s many amateurish and frequent tilt at the windmills of world commerce ended with losses of Rm.100 billion and makes excellent reading of plain farce and for a belly full of laughs ! To sum it all, “MALAYSIA AT TIME OF INDEPENDENCE HAD EVERYTHING AND SINGAPORE HAD NOTHING; and today Singapore has everything and Malaysia is left “gaga”.

However, depending on who you are, Malaysia can expect GOOD TIMES IN THE NEAR FUTURE ! It is said that the percentage of Chinese remaining in Malaysia in the year 2020 will drop to 14% of population and I will say that that is good news for UMNO; on the other side of politics, there is every chance that the government of Malaysia will fall into the hands of Pakatan Rakyat and Dato Seri Anwar will become the next Prime Minister and that will be good news for the PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA ! Good for UMNO equals bad for Pakatan Rakyat but good for Pakatan Rayat equals good for all the people of