Malaysia: Of Malay Supremacy, Democracy, and Islam...

This morning I had a conversation about the Malaysian politics, I must admit that I didn't convey my point well, for that is the reason why, I am here writing what I should have said in the conversation. It has been awhile since I cared so much about Malaysian politics, that now I don't give a shit about it, but the provocation was too strong for me, I have no choice but to write.

Who owns this country?

The concept of Malay Supremacy can only be defined as where the Malays are presumed to be the owner of this country, this impliedly concludes that non-Malays are not owners, despite the fact that they owe their allegiance to this country. My personal stance is, I don't agree with this concept as I believe that everyone have a fair share to a country as a citizen. This is because everyone who declare themselves or given the status of citizenship of this country must to the extent of shedding their blood to defend it, with all cost. So, no one can say that they are more entitled to this country compared to any other citizens, all are equal in this respect.

One may say that the Chinese can return to their motherland, China;and that the Indians can go back to India; still I choose not to agree with this as I have many Chinese and Indian friends who thinks that if this concept is true, then we, the non-Malays shouldn't bother about the fate of this country, that we should center our energy and thoughts to our motherland, after all we are just not suppose to care about this country, when the implication is as such we are returning back to China and India and that imply that we are not the citizen of this country. This statement is enough to prove that there should be no difference as to the ownership of citizens to the country.

Looking back at the pre-independence period, indeed the non-Malays came here as merchants, labourers, imported by the British colonial power, where these immigrants supposedly should return to their country upon the Malays gaining their independence. But this was not the case, the situation was that Tunku Abdul Rahman and the Malays back then has to consider, what will happen if these people were to go back as the Britain will not grant independence nor that we are, the Malays are economically independent without the aid of these people. So, because of these reasons that we now have Chinese and Indians are part of our citizens. The agreement was clear that the Malays surrender citizenship and in return the non-Malays will agree on the condition that the Malays have extra rights with respect to the political power, that comes later in interpretation, respectively in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

Now that, we are here for more than 50 years, the generations that was the former of this so called social contract have predeceased us, only a few remains. The question to ask here are, can we really say that these non-Malays still have the desire to return to their original country? Or is it fair for us to presume that they have the opportunity to turn their backs against us by subscribing back to nationalism of their original country? If we are being honest and fair, we will not say such things, the reason that we are saying these things is mainly because that we are jealous of their achievement, there is no doubt about it, selfishness is the key.

100% Democracy is good for Islam

I am a Muslim who think that Islamic Law should be the law that regulate the Muslims and no other, but if I am to stick with this thinking, I am being blind to the reality as we do not have Islamic Law is this country, political leaders may say that this is an Islamic country, but the fact was clearly stipulated out in the Federal Court case of Che Omar Che Soh v. Govt of Malaysia, that Malaysia is not an Islamic country, that Islam is subject to Malaysian Law, meaning, here Islam which suppose to be more supreme than anything else is subject to the rules of this country, it is a shame but, this is the fact.

The fact that we are a multiracial country gives the credit that we should have democracy that should be perfectly practiced, only by this means we have citizens of different races that does not question about other races living in this country, only by this way we can attain peace. Some say that when you have 100% democracy, for the Muslims, they will not hear azan anymore, I think these people are naive about what democracy is all about. Democracy is not just about government selected by the people but it also includes respect upon one another and together coupled with democracy is freedom of religion. Meaning to say if you have 100% democracy, you will have azan on every praying times, because of the respect on freedom of religion.

Another point is propogation upon the Muslims on the ideals of non-Islamic teachings coming from other religions, as when we are in full democracy, other religions may have the oppurtunity to cloud the minds of the Muslims to convert to their religion, like through the media. I think this is true but the question here is what is the best way for a Muslim to be strong in his faith, is it by forbidding negative elements or non Islamic elements from him or is it by, he himself to study and practice Islam with determination and grace, so as for him to have the inner strength to pick and choose what laid before him?

Everyone is well aware that the world we are living in is a globalized world, you cannot expect you children not to see all the negative elements is his life, that they only see good things, if we think this way, we are being ignorance to reality. The only way for us to live in this age is to have a strong inner strength as we cannot forever block all the negativeness that comes in our way. That we must empower our children with the teachings of Islam so that they themselves will have the rejection of the negative elements in an open world. This is a fact, where when you limit everything from your child in your fear that he will be influenced, will do no better compared to not to limit the horizons of your child but to equipped him with knowledge and strength to determine what is right and what is wrong.

Islam in the west is being widely accepted because of freedom of religion, why must we limit democracy that promotes freedom of religion, that in itself promotes Islam? In religion, there are beliefs, a Muslim believe that Allah is the only God and Mohamed (Peace be Upon Him) is his messenger and all Islamic teachings, can you expect a Hindu to believe what are the pillars in Islam? Same to the question like, can you expect others non-Muslims to believe that Islam is the best to apply to them, I mean Islamic Law. I f a person who have a strong faith in Islam will always want the best for Islam.

Let us look into the movie FITNA and the way Muslims all over the world respond to it, most Muslims criticized it like hell because it mocked Islam and the prophet by selectively pick and choose what thought in Islam about fighting the non-Muslims. Fairly speaking, this is expected when something so holy in Islam being subject to criticism but we are being ignorant, but responding violently, what was portrayed in the movie becomes the conviction among the non-Muslims, that now they fear Islam, here we are losing. Islam gain nothing but the feel of winning in arrogance. The same can be seen in Malaysian Muslims, look at the way they respond to the discussion on Islam by non-Muslims in this country. Most of these discussions, the Muslims are invited to have a say, but most of the time we choose to protest outside of the building, I do not think that this conduct is civilized nor it brings any benefit for Islam.

We must remember that Islam is not at the peak as once we were, we are many but we are weak and pathetic. The reason behind this is not the fault of non-Muslims but rather it is our own mistake, we left the beauty of our religion behind. Prophet p.b.u.h. stated that, there will be an age where his people will be like bubbles at the sea, many but useless. Now is the time for us to go back in Islam to make people accept Islam not to chase away the non-Muslims from Islam.

The affirmative action upon the Malays

For more than 30 years that this affirmative action policy is in practice in this country. Well affirmative action is an American term while the British term is positive discrimination. This is done by giving extra rights and assistance to a particular of society to elevate their underrated position. Normally this is done through addressing their economic problem. In Malaysia, this policy is called by the name of New Economic Policy or by the Malay name Dasar Ekonomi Baru.

From my personal observation, I think this policy worked well to elevate the lifestyle of the Malays, as looking back at the initial period of its implementation, the Malays are mostly coming from the agricultural background, and many of them are poor, to an extent of failing to provide the necessity of education to their children. Now, we have many professionals who are Malays. To me it is insufficient just to state the number of professionals, for that is the reason why we must also look at the birth of many Malaysian middle class which mostly consist of the Malays at large. This, to me, can be taken to be the success of this affirmative action policy.

It must also be noted that, DEB, also come with benchmark that the leader back then sought to achieve and specifically speaking, the target of having 30% share of the Malaysian economic pie of the country. For once the Malays reach more than 20% share but the number ever since decreased to 18% now. This indicates that the NEP is a failure.

It is also insufficient to look by the figures. This is to say that I think it is also necessary to look into the collective behavior of the Malays. If we were to make comparisons upon the Malays and the non-Malays, they are inferior in many ways. Their determination is all aspect cannot be matched upon the non-Malays, I believe that it is very true that the Malays should be called slackers. In business, the Malays are very pessimist, they fear taking risk in business, that causes most of the Malays to be hired employees. The most, I should say is very negative, is their tendency to back stab their friends in business and in anything they do. The Malays also don't have faith in Malay businessman which is very important for the advancement of Malay business.

The fact that all of us must bear is that Malays are feeling so contented with what they have, including all the safeguards that exist for them, which supposedly be temporary as promised by Tun Abdul Razak when he announced the implementation of NEP. To me, this feeling of being contented have made us complacent of what we have and the drive to fight for more to cease to exist. This is reflected in the economic performance of the Malays, from a single individual to the larger population of the Malays at large.

Most of us are not producers but users, most of us work with people but not working for ourselves, most of us have this attitude of not supporting our own people when it comes to business, most of our businessman are not as eager as the non-Malays to give the best of our service, most of us easily irritated by the success of others of our own kind to an extent of even bringing our business brothers to their doom, most of us are so pessimist about people who try to make a difference, most of us will have negative perception to those who are trying to be successful in many ways and more...

If we be honest to ourselves, do we, the Malays need this shameful affirmative action assistance? The answer is yes, if all of the traits that I have described just now are the truth that goes undisputed. It will be otherwise, if we believe in ourselves, if we are honest in what we do, if we are as hardworking as the non-Malays. Some may pose the question, the Malays should be helped, if not, what will happen to the villagers and their future. I say that these are the people that must always be helped by the government regardless of their races and religions not all of the Malays who can actually stand up on their own.

Some may also pose the question of what will happen to our children in future, I say we produce a better and stronger and much more resilient breed of our race, where we can boast to others that we are the Malays, that we stand on our own. But if we keep on denying the pride of our race, then the children that we will have in the future will just be similar of those before them, with no improvement and without anything to be proud of.

I believe that all man are equal, subject to the limitations as set by God only, as he only understand his own creation. I also believe that we can be a powerful race as the whites, Chinese, Indian all across the globe, that our number increase with quality and that we help other countries to build their economy like the Chinese in all over the world. But as for now, where are we? Is there anything to be proud of when you can actually walk, but still you are given stick to walk, which will only weaken you.