The concept of slavery

The Malays and other natives must first break out of the mental slavery that they are in. Only then can they break out of their economic slavery. However, as I see it, the mental and economic slavery of the Malays is too far down the road. I do not see any changes in our lifetime. It may have to get worse before it gets better.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Charting the Malay economic agenda
Some 500 representatives of more than 100 Malay non-governmental organisations met at Putra World Trade Centre today to chart the Malay economic agenda for the New Economic Model (NEM).
The convention themed “Strengthening Bumiputera Economy” is aimed at protecting Malay and Bumiputera interests in the country’s economic development.
Their aim is to ensure that the Malays and Bumiputera will not be left out under the NEM.
NEM, introduced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last month, sought to liberalise the economy and put aside Malay privileges formerly enjoyed under the New Economic Policy (NEP).
NEM also aims to give equal opportunities to all Malaysians and eradicate poverty.
The Malay NGOs is grouped under the umbrella body called the Malay Consultative Council (MCC), and spearheaded by Perkasa, a right-wing Malay pressure group.
MCC wants the government to continue handing out privileges enjoyed by the Malays under the NEP so that they could develop alongside other races.
The MCC will hand over its resolutions to Najib when he closes the convention tonight. -- Free Malaysia Today

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In the early days, the bigger and stronger tribes would attack the smaller and weaker tribes and take those still alive as slaves (and leave the dead bodies as food for the dogs and vultures). As time went on and tribes became nations, the bigger and stronger nations would attack the smaller and weaker nations and take its people as slaves.
Of course, once in a while, leaders such as Spartacus, Moses, and so on, came along to lead their people out of slavery. Or people like Abraham Lincoln would emerge to champion an end to slavery.
But the general rule of thumb would be that the strong would always try to enslave the weak and exploit the weak for economic benefits. There were also instances when two groups went to war and the losers in that war would be captured and turned into slaves. Invariably, if they served no economic purpose then they would be exterminated. But if they were useful as slaves then they would be captured alive.
Such are the ways of humankind. It is basically a case of the strong exploiting the weak so that the strong becomes stronger and the weak becomes weaker. And that too is basically what politics is all about. It is a game of the strong taking power so that they can rule over the weak. Maybe the graphics below best explains the relationship between the politicians and the voters.

Eventually, slavery, in the form that we knew, ended. But slavery per se never ended. It just transformed into a more sophisticated form. It transformed into mental and economic slavery. No longer did strong nations attack weaker nations with swords or guns. They attacked weaker nations economically and with ideas and concepts.
The current economic system is a creation of the stronger nations. Today, the weaker nations are slaves of this system and there is no breaking out of the system. Either you play according to the system or you do not play at all. And any country that does not practice a system of government that the stronger nations regard as ‘acceptable’ are punished until they abandon their unacceptable system and adopt the western interpretation of governance.
How many times in our youth back in the 1950 and 1960s did we cheer and whistle when the Cowboys won against the Red Indians (now called ‘Native Americans’; the politically correct term)? Was not John Wayne the hero and our idol and the Apaches the baddies? That was the ‘power’ Hollywood had over us. It did not occur to us then that America belonged to the Red Indians while the Orang Puteh (pale face) were the aggressors and robbers of Red Indian land.
Yes, the white skins decide the system and the rules. The red skins, black skins, yellow skins, brown skins, and whatnot, either comply with the system decided by the white skins or else they are the baddies. White is good. ‘Off-white’ is bad. That is the rule of the game.
The white skins, however, have left the shores of Malaysia. Today, Malaysia is run by the brown, yellow and black skins also known as Barisan Nasional. The British colonialists are no longer masters of our land. The masters of our land are our own people.
When the white skins ruled our land they were the masters (tuan) and we were the slaves. Today, the ruling elite is the master and the rest of us their slaves. That is how it worked for 10,000 years. That is still how it works today. But, today, we do not have a Spartacus or Moses to lead us out of slavery. Today, we have two sets of political parties fighting over who should be the masters of this land.
We might see a change of master if Pakatan Rakyat unseats Barisan Nasional and marches into Putrajaya. But that does not mean we shall see our status as slaves change.
Barisan Nasional need not enslave the Chinese and Indians. Well, they do, actually. They enslave the Chinese and Indians but reducing them to a status of second-class citizens and by placing quotas and restrictions on them. Therefore they are not free to flourish. They can only flourish as far as Barisan Nasional would allow them to.
What is more important is to enslave the natives, like how the Red Indians of America were enslaved on the reservations. And the natives here are the Malays and ‘others’ of Sabah and Sarawak. This group of people will decide who gets to form the federal government because they decide more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. So they must be the ones who should be enslaved.
And they are effectively enslaved both economically and mentally. Mentally, they are enslaved through culture and religion. Yes, cultural and religious beliefs are a form of slavery and a very effective form at that. And that is why Malays are being led to believe the wrong things about Islam. They are not taught the true and right form of Islam. To do so would mean you would be freeing the Malay mind.
And the most important form of slavery of all is economic slavery. That is what the powerful nations do to the weaker nations. And that is also what people in power do to those they rule over.
Of course, the people must be constantly reminded that they are poor, backward and left behind. But you have to look for a bogeyman to blame. And you offer yourself as the solution although you are actually the cause of the problem.
Today, the Malays, yet again, sat down in an economic convention to discuss their economic future. They have been doing the same for more than 40 years. And they are still doing it until today. But just like over the last 40 or 50 years, no solution will be found. This is because those who walk in the corridors of power do not want to find a solution. They need the natives to remain in poverty. Only when the natives remain as economic slaves can the powers-that-be continue to dominate them.
Just to digress a bit, my late father was involved in the First Bumiputera Economic Congress back in the 1960s, which resulted in the creation of Bank Bumiputera, while my Aunt was involved in RIDA, which later transformed into MARA and saw the creation of ITM and now UITM. So, yes, my family was involved in the ‘Malay struggle’ long before ‘May 13’ and that is why I feel I have earned the moral right to criticise those who walk in the corridors of power.
The Malays and other natives must first break out of the mental slavery that they are in. Only then can they break out of their economic slavery. However, as I see it, the mental and economic slavery of the Malays is too far down the road. I do not see any changes in our lifetime. It may have to get worse before it gets better.
And this is why I worry. There are only two types of changes. One is evolution. The other, revolution. The first takes time while the second can be achieved overnight. But the second can be very destructive in nature.
And there are two routes to achieving change. One is through the ballot and, the other, the bullet. The sad thing is, after people decide that the ballot has failed them, they would resort to the bullet.
And that would be a most tragic thing indeed if it does happen.
Was it not Lim Kit Siang in 1978 who wrote that book called ‘A time bomb in Malaysia’?