dealing with malaysia's religious and racial diversity...part 1

it is said that multi-ethnic diversity is malaysia's strength, more than anything else. but it has also become the country's liability, as current events suggest. when ahmad sabri said that the chinese are "pendatang' and thus do not deserve equal status as the bumiputeras, he was summoned by the prime minister and a scores of other malaysians demanded a public apology from him. sabri said that he was being misquoted by a chinese newspaper and what he said was based on historical fact. as the dust of the ahmad sabri saga has about to settle, the outspoken mp for seputeh teresa kok angered the muslim community in selangor when she lodged a complaint on behalf of her constituents about the "nuisance" created by the azan prayer. teresa was then arrested under the controversial isa but only to be released indefinitely later. what do these episodes tell us and what lessons can we learn from them?

first, the ideal of creating a bangsa malaysia will remain an elusive dream as each of the ethnic groups still insists on defending its own religious and racial characteristics. the bangsa malaysia dream, if achieved, will see malaysians of all races putting their religious and cultural differences aside while at the same time recognising themselves as a one "race" called "malaysian race". by race here i do not mean that we abandon our racial distinctiveness and "embrace" a new one. i mean how many malaysians out there are willing to put their beloved country, malaysia, first, then after that, their own ethnic group? may be we should learn from the indonesians. during my recent visit to jakarta, i came across with a few chinese who conversed in indonesian languange among themselves. and it is quite rare to see a chinese using his/her chinese name as the indonesian name is preferrable, may be for integration purposes. it is indeed an envious sight to begin with. in malaysia, one normally shifts to english when meeting with the chinese; and the chinese to bahasa malaysia when meeting withnon-chinese. may be we should re-look our language policy and use it as a tool to unify malaysians.

second, "change" is not forthcoming in malaysia for there are certain people who still think along the ethnic and religious lines. while other countries are in the aggresive drive to modernise their economies, educate their people to be competitive and to accept each other's differences with an open mind, malaysia is still grappling with the ethnic and religious issue. if nothing concrete is achieved to tackle this malaise, i am afraid that malaysia would not be able to move forward, what more achieving the visions 2020 (do not forget that the first challenge in the vision is to create an integrated and united society that shares a common vision). while the word "change" is a powerful mantra in the united states nowadays, it is, however, seen in the negative light by some especially those in the corridor of power. this brings me to my next point.

while much has been said about the need to reform the judiciary and to tackle the problem of corruption and inefficiency, little attention has been given on the issue of how to educate malaysians to think beyond the ethnic and religious lines. the government's decision to come up with an act (race relations act) is laudable but its details must be thoroughly debated and scrutinised before it is passed. some in sabah and sarawak have lamented that there is no need to come up with a law to regulate race relations; in fact these people say race relations in both states have remained all time high. the problem i see here is not one of legal or lack of spaces to inculcate the spirit of acceptance and tolerance among races. but what is lacking is the political will of those in power to effect changes. it is sad that zaid ibrahim had to quit the cabinet after his plan to reform the judiciary was seen as too radical by his comrades in the government. the crucial question that needs to be asked here is: are our political leaders willing to abandon their exclusive ethnic and religious thinking and start fighting for other races?

the pensiangan woe

when the high court declared joseph kurup’s victory in pensiangan null and void, there is a sense of euphoria among some segments of the society. this would perhaps be the second straight mother of all by-election (if kurup fails in his bid to appeal against the court’s decision) in malaysia after the permatang pauh by-election. why? a party president will have to defend his seat against a more popular opposition figure. losing the seat will mean a possible disbandment of pbrs and winning it will give a boost to kurup--the only sole pbrs representative in the parliament.

already, jeffrey kitingan—kurup’s arch-rival who almost defeated the pbrs president back in 2004—has lobbied himself to be selected as candidate should there be a by-election. if jeffrey and kurup contested, chances are high that jeffrey might be able to wrest the seat from the latter by means of individual popularity.

andipai, the disgruntled pkr candidate whose nomination paper was rejected by the returning officer has shown interest to contest, saying confidently that the candidate must be someone who understands the pensiangan constituency better. if there is such thing as a better candidate, then, it might be bernard maraat who was dropped from the pbrs list due to his conflict with kurup. the sentiment on the ground indicates that maraat is strongly tipped to contest under the pbs ticket (after withdrawing from pbrs, maraat chose pbs as his new party).

if maraat is selected, then pkr’s desire to make inroads in pensiangan would be difficult. surely, top bn leaders will have a hard time deciding who should stand representing the bn in pensiangan. if kurup is dropped for fear of losing face to pkr, then it would probably be the end of the road for the veteran politician who is struggling to survive amid dwindling support. the beneficiary will be pbs though pkr will also stand a chance to winning pensiangan. so far, upko, the second biggest kadazandusun-based party has been silent. the bn and pkr will brace for another new round of political battle. it is a battle that everyone cannot wait to watch; it is also a battle that allows pensiangan voters to decide who should be voted in and who should be voted out. this is democracy sabah style!

anwar won permatang pauh...what would be his next course of action? part 2

anwar is surely now busy criss-crossing the country, trying to entice bn mps to change party. but he may find the effort difficult as some of the bn mps have been brought to a "study trip" somewhere in taiwan. again, supporters of anwar believe that he is not telling jokes and the change in government will materialise come september 16. i received an sms from someone yesterday asking my opinion about anwar's move. my response--which will be the subject of my entry today is--"i do not support pakatan rakyat taking over from bn through party crossover as i would prefer anwar playing his role as strong opposition leader in the parliament and convince us that he and his pakatan people can lead this country. but if the bn does not wake up from its slumber, what choice is there left for us?"

i am happy that anwar won in permatang pauh. not that i am a supporter of pakatan nor a follower of anwar. i have seen parliamentary debates so many times but i am not satisfied with the way our mps debating about issues. i am not saying that they are all useless; some do not find debating and speaking from hard facts as serious vocation anymore. i have seen our mps reading from texts without really engaging the issues at hand. at times, some would prefer trading childish comments and belittling the other fellow mps. hopefully with anwar's return into the parliament, we would see more quality debates and that our bn mps would be much better prepared in facing the now strong opposition presence. i hope anwar and his pakatan people would turn the parliament into a forum where serious issues are debated and solutions to our country's problems sought.

simply put, anwar's return and the growing demand for "opposition politics" are good for malaysia and for open intellectual discourse. opposition politics, to my mind, is not necessarily a "bad thing" as most people think. strictly speaking, it would allow the rakyat to see two differing views and decide for themselves which one is good for the country. if handled well, the bn government under pak lah will benefit a lot by allowing the opposition parties to take part in country's development.

what do i mean when i said that the "bn should wake up from its slumber"? some of the things that the bn can do to appease anwar's rise is to concentrate on developing the people's well-being and start implementing its reform agenda. all the allegations against the bn's leadership should not be deliberately swept under the carpet through means of censorship or implementation of questionable legal recourse. doing these will only aggravate the people's ill-feeling and would reinforce the claims that bn government's determination in getting rid of corrupt elements is just a "public relations exercise". if the allegations are not true, then the bn should engage its detractors by giving facts for the people to judge themselves. if they are true, then the only thing that the bn could do is to admit its mistakes and go on with its reform agenda. pak lah has good intentions in developing and reforming this country. but what he may be lacking is the support from his inner circles who may resist changes or may not want their wrongdoings exposed. just go on with what you think is good for the country pak lah...i am sure many people will support you!