Najib’s experiments with moderate politics ended when he declared: “Therefore, the Malays and bumiputeras, as the core of the national agenda, cannot be denied by anybody. Indeed, any matter which is national in nature, which does not take into account or neglects the agenda of the Malays and bumiputeras is not fair and just.
“…[for]
the support given by Malays and bumiputeras at the 13th general
election recently, today the government decides to make a big shift to
implement concrete and total strategies and approaches.“... All these we undertake to look after the lot of the Malay and bumiputera communities, since the past, present and forever.”
David A Lake and Donald Rothchild said ethnic conflict is most often caused by collective “fears of the future, lived through the past”. They suggest it is important to reassure the different groups of both their physical and cultural security by demonstrations of respect and confidence building measures.
In Malaysia, there is no chance of this happening because we are not dealing with just individual racism but also institutional racism.
Administrative officers often are at the very least sympathetic to the Umno cause. The close relationship between the bureaucracy and the party dates back to Umno’s founding. In the 1955 elections, 80 percent of the Umno candidates were former civil service officers. Of the seven Malays in Tunku Abdul Rahman’s cabinet, six were former civil servants.
Based on complaints received, the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) civics course trains graduates to implement racist and religious-discriminating policies. In the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, it is reported that 1,016,749 participants benefited from the BTN programmes.
Too fearful to speak out for their rights
Those who viewed the ‘Listen, Listen, Listen’ video will note that the majority of the students applauded Suara Wanita 1Malaysia president Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin’s castigation of K Bawani, the lone objector to Sharifah’s arguments.
The others, Bawani said, were too fearful to stand up and speak out for their rights.To counter ethnic politics, right thinking Malaysians must break the chains of fear and ignorance holding back the 47 percent. Malaysians have to undergo a personal internal reformation.
Pakatan Rakyat holding more public rallies and giving speeches will come to naught if Malaysians are unable to make this internal reform. This is the key factor. We have to make this change in order to touch the hearts of those that Umno is holding in its grasp.
Lip-service and fine cosmetic words cannot do it. We must remember that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”. Meaning that not only our words, but our attitudes toward one another must come from our genuine heart-felt feelings.
All the talk of wanting our country to change will not happen if our emotions and feelings toward another of a different race are not changed. The most effective and lasting change in racial politics can only take place when we reform in our hearts.
It’s our heart that needs to change
It is not our mind that so much needs to change as our heart, to excise the prejudgment, preconceived notions and predisposition we have of another race. There must be a paradigm shift in us. This type of change emerges from an understanding and practice of genuine justice.
Genuine justice is based on fairness. John Rawls in his book, ‘A Theory of Justice’, advocated distributive justice to compensate for social and economic inequalities. Thus genuine justice is based on need.
Racism, on the other hand, is nothing but the systemic indifference justified by biological or cultural differences. Since people’s needs differ due to differing socio-historical circumstances, true justice springs from what they need.
Oliver Wendell Homes said: “There is no greater equality than the equal treatment of unequals.”
At the heart of justice is affirmative action based on need. It is based on the principle of redress that undeserved inequalities call for rectification. Since inequalities of birth are undeserved, these inequalities must be compensated for.
Therefore, in order to treat all persons equally and provide genuine equality of opportunity, society must give more attention to those born into or placed in less favourable social-economic positions. It cannot be based on discredited and debunked notions of racial supremacy or inferiority. It is only when Malaysians can get to this point will Malaysia be able to change.
To get to this point requires compassion. Compassion is the counter to racism. At the heart of compassion lies ‘respect”, the process whereby the other person is treated with deference, courtesy and compassion in an endeavour to safeguard the integrity, dignity, value and social worth of the individual. It means treating people they way they want to be treated.
To counter Umno’s racial politics, Malaysians have to find the compassion to reach out to the less fortunate Malays and bBumiputeras, especially those in the rural areas and in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak.
The best way to unmask the racial lies and clean up bigotry is to show Malaysia is a caring society assisting all irrespective of race or religion.
I commend the Rotary Club of Petaling Jaya in organising a health clinic in Batu Arang village, where all residents in need, irrespective of race, were given free health, dental and eyesight tests.
If more people follow this example, the long walk to freedom for all Malaysians will be one more step closer to its destination.
WILLIAM LEONG JEE KEEN is the Member of Parliament for Selayang.
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