Malaysia's lingering ethnic divide
By Robin Brant
BBC News, Malaysia
The protestors were calling for equal treatment and opportunities
Malaysia's prime minister has ordered his government to take a fresh look at recruitment levels of non-Malays, after thousands of ethnic Indians took to the streets to protest against what they say is years of discrimination.
At least 10,000 people gathered in central Kuala Lumpur last week to demonstrate against the unfair treatment they say they have had to endure.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to break up the marches.
The level of support was unprecedented, but, aside from the numbers involved, what has particularly concerned the Malaysian government is the ethnic division the protest highlighted.
Modern Malaysia is built on the co-existence of three ethnic groups - Malays, Chinese and Indians.
The protesters were Indians, who make up around 8% of the population, railing against the Malay majority, who account for about 60%.
The country has quotas that ensure preferential treatment for Malays looking for work or those who want to set up a business.
The Indians say this means they lose out.
Fears realised
P Uthayakumar is one of the lawyers who lead the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) - the organisation behind last Sunday's protest march.
Along with two colleagues, he was arrested and charged with sedition before the event, but later released without charge.
He says discrimination was something Indians have always been worried about.
"The term of reference of Malaysia's independence was equality for all communities, and there were many fears of the Indian community 51 years ago, just before we achieve independence," he said.
Now, 50 years on, as Malaysia looks forward to a new era of development, Mr Uthayakumar says those fears have become a reality.
"There was even one suggestion made... that we would be completely at the mercy of the Malay [Muslim] majority. Today it has become completely true," he said.
Unequal funding
The marchers were calling for fairer treatment. Education is a key complaint.
They say their Tamil-speaking schools do not get the same money as other public schools, which means the level of teaching is lower.
But in the area of the capital where the Indian community is centred, 21-year-old graduate and telecoms engineer Tavan Aysan said he had done very well out of Malaysia's education system.
"In my case I didn't face that sort of a problem,' he said, but added: "It could be my luck."
But the people around us as we spoke, getting on with their work, illustrated the problem many complain of.
There were men cooking on the pavements as street vendors, and others weaving startlingly bright flower petals into beautiful garlands.
In modern Malaysia, the place where Apple makes its mice and Sony assembles many of its gadgets, flower arranging is not the way to a comfortable future.
Heightened anxiety
The two million Indians in Malaysia are predominantly Hindus, and the Hindraf campaigners say there has been religious discrimination too.
Hindu temples have been torn down to make way for new buildings without proper consultation, they claim.
All of this would be valid grounds for complaint in the eyes of many governments but in Malaysia, protests are not acceptable.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi warned people that taking to the streets was not "the proper way" in Malaysia.
Even some Indians disagree with the cause of the Hindu Rights Action Force. Those Indians are the ones in government.
The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is a founder member of Malaysia's coalition government, the Barisan Nasional (National Front), which has governed the country in some form since its independence 50 years ago.
MIC Secretary General Dr S Subramaniam said that street protests were "a culture which is totally foreign to this country".
"The people of this country are not used to it," he said.
"They are concerned because of the multi-racial element in this country... it can grow into something which cannot be controlled."
Concern about racial tension boiling over is not just because of what might happen, but because of what did happen.
Hundreds died in racial riots in Malaysia in 1969, when the country was barely a decade old.
The government sees any attempt to replicate that unrest as a threat to the nation itself.
'Social transition'
But there is also a contemporary political element to these protests.
A general election is coming here, probably in the new year, and the race card is a vote winner, although you are unlikely to hear many say that overtly.
At the recent annual assembly for Umno - the main party of Malays and the main party in the governing coalition - the politicians warned people not to challenge Malay rights, which lie at the foundations of modern-day Malaysia.
Mr Uthayakumar said that the protest rallies would go on if the prime minister did not begin a dialogue with his organisation.
Further marches are planned across Malaysia over the coming weeks, part of separate campaigns for different causes.
But it is clear that some in this country now seem to have got the bug for demonstrating.
The key difference with last weekend's protest was that it was a protest rooted in ethnic division.
That is why it is such a cause for concern for Malaysia's government.
Hisham decidedly subdued speech to Umno Youth at the party's recent general assembly was in mark contrast to his racist histrionics of last year. This showed one thing: even these morons in Umno are teachable after all.
ReplyDeleteWe know that morons are slow learners, but then as we have seen even Umno morons are teachable. We just have to repeat the lessons more often, and increasing the punishment more severe each time they regress or forget their earlier lessons.
My objective as a committed cyberspace commentator is to make that rouge gallery bigger. I will not be satisfied nor will I stop, until that gallery has the country's biggest rogue included in its rooster.
This country has racist laws that discriminate against minority citizens. Over the last 3 decades the discrimination has gotten from bad to worse.
ReplyDeleteThe policies of this government reminds us of South Africa's apartheid days which was condemned by all humanity.
I wonder how these racists can reconcile their actions with the tenets of their religion.
NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the prime minister, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual malay in the country.
ReplyDeleteMahathir declared that NEP would have met its objective when the government was able to create a millionaire among the malays. It was the first time he extended the objective of NEP to make malay millionaires, and facilitated the use of public funds to enrich his cronies. Badawi now extends the creation of malay millionaires to become malay billionaires, and also to lead in the list of the richest individuals in the country.
It is clear to the whole world that NEP created unfair hardships to the non-malays no matter how Umno wanted to justify it. Unlike article 153 which was supposed to be reviewed after 15 years from 1957, NEP was to be implemented for 20 years from 1970. There was no provision for extension, and the only clearly stated quantitative target was that malays were to achieve 30% of corporate ownership after 20 years.
Badawi pretended that he wanted to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, and called for malays to forgo crutches. At the same time, he conveniently resurrected NEP and extended it to 2020, and his deputy suggested the continuation until 2057, for the present.
Prime minister and his deputy promised a year ago to reveal the methodology adopted by EPU, to challenge the results of ASLI finding that the 30% target had been achieved. His recent announcement makes ASLI finding irrelevant since NEP will continue forever, whatever the actual results show.
Ordinary malays appear to accept to pay a higher price for their motor vehicles when AP system which was exploited to enrich the well connected malays, they appear happy that NEP is continued even though NEP has caused a decline to their standard of living and level of earning. They accept that as a cost for enabling malays to lead the list of the richest individuals in the country.
We need more international awareness and exposure of the crime and wrongdoing of Umno in Malaysia. Michael Backman, a big thank you for helping us to spread the message and the truth about Malaysia and its "corrupted leaders".
ReplyDeleteWhen this Bodowi speaks, it makes you sick in the stomach.
ReplyDeleteWhether he steps down or not, makes no different to the country because the whole Umno and BN machinery are all crooks.
Vote them out and send them to space, that is the only answer.
The myth is sustained by the idea put forth that prior to the coming-into-being of this nation called Malaysia there was once this mythical land called 'Tanah Melayu'.
ReplyDeleteYet the historian would be hard pressed indeed to find a source to back this claim, for the embarrassing thing about our epic histories and hikayats of old is that there is scarcely a mention of the word.
For years - if not more than a decade by now - I have been looking for this mythical land so loved and cherished by the young hotspurs and bloods of Umno, yet I have never discovered it.
Having taken it home, I looked it up in the reference books I had only to discover that it was one of those hybrid coins of dubious worth that were used in the trade between European colonial companies then stationed in Singapore and Malacca with malay traders from the (then weakened) malay sultanates on the Peninsula.
Used as loose coinage in commercial transactions that were at best unequal and at worst exploitative to the malay traders then, the coins had a decidedly counterfeit feel to them, and while registering the lightness of its weight in the palm of my hand, the thought came to me:
That this coin, with the word 'Tanah Melayu' stamped on it in Jawi alphabet, sums up the irony of the past and the painful realities of colonialism then.
The malay kingdoms had been sidelined, colonised and diminished, and all that was given back to the malays was a dull copper coin with the myth of 'Tanah Melayu' stamped on it in so casual a manner.
In fact, if you look at all the topics in this board, every topic, every scandal, every issue, every educational ills, can be traced to the break down of the key values. The whole of opposition's work in parliament revolve around these 4 key values.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame Pak Lah for the break down of these values. I blame Mahathir for the systematic destruction of those values in his 22 years reign.
What are these values that I am talking about?
M eritocracy
A ccountability
T ransparency
I ntegrity
During TAR, Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn days, these values were still very much alive. But now they are all dead. If these values are not revived soon enough, it will be the death of Malaysia.
I hope I will not have to see this obituary - the death of Malaysia was due to the death of MATI.
50 years is enough!
ReplyDeleteMalaysians deserve to be treated like this. But it will be forgotten after a while until another increase of price take place. In Malaysia the government like to bully the people because the people have no will power to boycott.
Since most of us are perceive to be living in luxurious by the Malaysia government, the government think we will accept the fact after a while. A call for boycotting Petronas will fall on deaf here because simply the people have no will power.
Can anyone tell me any boycott events which have been successful in the past? To my best knowledge - nothing!
Then all this anger should be known by the government and the government must be sensitive because the voters are utter rubbish.
History has proven again and again that BN government is the great actor and great liar. But the people keep on vote for them again and again because it seems we have no choice. What you mean we have no choice! It is not we have no choice, but we are fear of change and like to remain status quo.
Until the people willing to take up radical and revolutionary changes, the government shall always take us for ride. They understand us very well but we still do not understand them after nearly 50 years.
No wonder Malaysia universities produce unemployable graduates.
50 years is enough!
Corruption is already a culture in Malaysia society. There are too many cases to be dealt with. This is not unexpected. The system is run by fools like most of the ministers.
Let said with government-linked companies (GLCs) losing billions of taxpayers money through gross mismanagement, political appointments of unaccountable chief executive officers (CEOs) and rampant corruption, the government should not expect sympathy from the people.
Giving the government more money when it fails time and again, is no different than feeding an addict.
If we want to blur the demarcation between politics and religion in a plural society such as ours, then the result will be bad governance and division as we continue to witness in our beloved country.
Crimes, inflation, rising illegal immigrants and worsening unemployment are testimonies of a worst case scenario.
With the incorrigible, intransigent and power crazy people still around and with myopic belief from the opposition, there won't be any changes in the political scene in Malaysia for another 50 years……….if these inveterate people and recalcitrant are still around!
The problem is intractable, as long as we are a nation divided along race and religion. That is the colonial strategy which has worked wonders for BN.
We have to come together on common ground, and that means all Malaysians - Chinese, Iban, Indian, Kadazan, Malay, and Senoi etc.
It is time for the government of the day to change their policies before the electorates who voted them into power are plunged into a crisis. Otherwise, it is time for the people to change and choose new leaders.
Good luck Malaysians. You are in for a tough time!
Many many years ago, my brothers, cousins and friends, all top students applied to local university to be computer and electrical engineers. None of us got in.
ReplyDeleteWe all went abroad, many of us made a killing but all of us had a good career and was in the centre of the IT revolution.
Recently some of us were approached to return to Malaysia but even at million ringgit salary, we unanimously said - No.
Cheated once, it is a pity, cheated twice is your fault.
"Only a quarter of Malaysians is Chinese while more than half of the population is malays. Yet Chinese control half of the economy while malays only about 20%."
Whether there is NEP or not, don't make much difference in the long run. When you walk with crutches for too long, you lose the ability to stand on your own legs.
Drug abuse, hate, incest, liberal extremism (culture of miniskirts and gay marriages), murder, parochialism, racism, rape, religious fanaticism, snatch theft, spoilt-bratty behavior, tribalism, wife abuse, child abuse, all that is associated with the malay race.
To them, malay is the biggest impediment towards building a truly Malaysian nation, and should be chucked into the dustbins of history.
Sad. Sad. Sad. The question asked by many of my fellow Chinese is this - Why can't you just tell the malay peoples to adopt Chinese culture which is superior?
History always repeats itself. And nature is cruel. Any race of lower intelligence gets wiped out eventually.
See what is happening to indigenous tribes and their lands, always taken over by smarter people from elsewhere. Look at Singapore, who owned it in the first place and who came and took it over?
America was taken by Europeans from the Red Indians. Even British convicts and unwanted lowlifes managed to grab Australia from the aborigines and reduced them to what they are today. They may become extinct one day.
However, Malaysians still have hope as they are learning fast. Just hope it is fast enough. Problem is that some of them are still crying for bumi policy as a crutch. The smarter ones know that it is just prolonging the agony. Anyway, the smarter ones actually are not from Malaysia originally.
You can only survive if you are able to stand on your own two legs. Shouting "Malaysia Boleh" is no use - if you can, you can.
Friend, you have a place there. Find your own niche in the food chain. (If you leave for greener pastures, you are repeating what your forefathers did when they left China and ended up in oversea.)
People with brains can overcome all sorts of man-made obstacles or unfairness. Those with brains but do not use them will cry for help.
You can decide which type you want to be.
The only option the audiences have is to "doubt" the credibility of our mainstream media, and this trend is a big shame to the local media - I feel sad for their situation.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of word play shows a complete contempt for the intelligence of the Malaysian public.
ReplyDeletePublic perception in Malaysia is a crude measure of any institution's performance because the information provided to the public is generally packaged and filtered by Umno-controlled television station and media.
Universities are themselves fiefdoms, controlled not by qualified and capable academic administrators, but rather by Umno political appointees, many of whom have absolutely no background in education management.
Clearly it is because the results of the THES and virtually every other public or private ranking system show Malaysia institutions to be mediocre at best and most rankings do not even mention Malaysia at all.
Our neighbors like Singapore, Korea, Japan, China and Australia have a number of institutions that regularly appears in the top 100.
It makes no sense. The reality is that our universities are simply mediocre extensions of a flawed high school system. Our best students have no choice but to travel abroad to earn a decent education and must do so at great costs.
Our government has shown by example, that nepotism, deceit, corruption and bribery are the key ingredients for success in this nation.