Race, royalty and resolve

August 7, 2007 |

This morning, on a whim, I checked out our Opposition Leader’s website, and chanced upon a hot-off-the-press posting by Dr. Chen Man Hin. In his posting, Dr. Chen suggested that the Prime Minister invite Raja Nazrin Shah, the Crown Prince of Perak, to be his personal adviser, in light of the latter’s speech at the first Malaysian Student Leaders Summit 2007.

For what it’s worth, I must say that that’s an ingenius and interesting idea from Dr. Chen. I wonder what Raja Nazrin thinks. (By the way, Raja Nazrin’s credentials are quite impressive. Check out the link to his entry in Wikipedia above.)

Anyway, I wanted to see how Dr. Chen would develop his argument after reading his analysis on the lack of national unity:

“This is happening because of the strains on unity by introducing a bumiputra policy in 1966, the NEP in 1970 and Islamic state during Dr Mahathir’s premiership.

To make matters worse, at the UMNO general assembly last year, the ultras rejected the concept of ‘bangsa malaysa’ and proposed the implementation of a ‘Malay agenda’ where Malays are conferred ‘ketuanan melayu’ status, while the rest are plain or ordinary Malaysians.

Then last month, the deputy prime minister heightened the unease amongst the people when he unilaterally announced that Malaysia was Islamic and not secular, claiming that the constitution did not state Malaysia was secular. This claim was contrary to the declaration by former prime ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn that the Malaysian constitution was secular.”

And, somewhat expectedly, Dr. Chen concluded by saying, “Let us start with the advice by Raja Nazrin to respect and adhere to the Constitution.”

Hmmm, at least Dr. Chen qualified his endorsement of Raja Nazrin’s advice about the constitution by indicating that it’s only a starting point to the solution. Nevertheless, I beg to differ with Dr. Chen’s endorsement and his earlier analysis about the cause of racial problems in this country. Indeed, the whole article was positioned as an issue of “lack of national unity”.

Here, we must note that this country is not even a nation yet, in the sense that the peoples of this geographical area of the world do not entirely and wholeheartedly “pledge allegiance” to her. This is quite apparent in the fact that many so-called Malaysians are more than willing to jump ship and migrate to another country as soon as “the pot gets to hot” here.

Of course, this also reflects, and may be a symptom of the lack of national unity. In any case, I disagree with the assertion that national unity deteriorated because of the bumiputera policy and the New Economic Policy.

From the beginning, as far back as Malaya and its formation, we had a problem of widespread and unquestioned racial discrimination. Even the Mat Sallehs who espoused human rights principles seemed to be quite comfortable with the rampant discrimination. I’m sure that all the British politicians and members of the Reid Commission were quite aware of the consequences of their policies and legal documents (especially our Federal Constitution) on Malaya’s racial relations and “national unity”.

Thus, with that kind of “national history”, especially the widely accepted racial discrimination – then and now – it becomes more than a matter of “political equality”. In terms of international law, I think Malaysia ought to be a international pariah. In terms of morality, I don’t see how any self-respecting and socially-aware person can accept such racial discrimination. In terms of religion and faith, I just can’t find any teachings in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and/or Christianity, that condones our practice of racial discrimination.

Many of us in this country are hypocrites. Whilst we clap and cheer enthusiastically whenever we hear political rhetoric about national unity and harmony, yet we do not even bother to understand the culture and mindset of “other Malaysians”, much less make the effort to reach out to these “fellow Malaysians”. Do we really want to have “national unity and harmony”? Yes, we can continue to blame the government and the authorities for the racial problems that we face, but that attitude of ours is not going to bring Malaysia forward. Not even one single step forward.

One of the first steps that we must take on the road to national reconciliation, is to face the truth and admit our own ignorance on this whole issue of racial discrimination. Let’s talk openly about this. Don’t hide behind discussions about “national unity”. Let’s call the spade, “spade”. Yes, there is fear to confront the ugly and painful truth of the matter, but is that an acceptable justification for allowing racial discrimination to continue in this country of ours?

No matter what the justification, racial discrimination as a practice is always suspect. For it to be institutionalised unashamedly, with pride even, that’s unacceptable.

Here’s a brief discussion of equality (the twin principle of non-discrimination) by Judge Tanaka, in the context of apartheid:

“What are equal are to be treated equally and what are different are to be treated differently… [and] what is equal and what is different? … All human beings, notwithstanding their differences in their appearance and other minor points, are equal in their dignity as persons. Accordingly, for the point of view of human rights and fundamental freedoms they must be treated equally… The principle of equality does not mean absolute equality, but recognises relative equality, namely different treatment proportionate to concrete individual circumstances. Different treatment must not be given arbitrarily; it requires reasonableness, or must be in conformity with justice…”

So, in the context of Malaysia, are there any reasonable and justifiable circumstances that make racial discrimination necessary? All the usual justifications that we hear are just that. Justifications.

The history of every nation-state in the world will show that some groups of “citizens” were the first inhabitants of the land, and the “others” came later. Is historical origin a satisfactory reason or justification for racial discrimination?

No matter what answer we may try to come up with, in our guts and hearts, we know it’s wrong. It’s simply, morally and politically wrong to discriminate against anybody because they were born of parents (not of their own choosing) that are in the “wrong” ethnic group.

So, I have a problem with our Federal Constitution. It’s flawed, and we need to recognise that. Legally and poltically, we may not be able to do much about it now, but we must not glorify it as a panacea for our racial ills. The “social contract” that is often attributed to the Federal Constitution is yet another lie that puts us in our assigned places.

With all due respect to Dr. Chen and Raja Nazrin, I can only see the Federal Constitution as a temporary dam to stem the tide of racial and religious discontent. For a real long term solution, we need to do much more than just read the constitution and protect it.

For a real turnaround in Malaysia, I think more than political will is needed. The people and the so-called leaders must dig deep into their own spiritual reservoirs of faith and values for the resolve and conviction that is much needed to make a difference, not only at the national stage, but in their own private lives.

Comments

1 Comment so far

eli on August 8, 2007 7:32 pm
Actually, it would be more useful for Pak Lah if Dr. Chen called on him to employ Dr. Nazrin’s speechwriter.

Power with the pen.

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