MALAYSIA: Independence Day Observed as Melting Pot Boils

By Baradan Kuppusamy Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 2005 (IPS) - ”A melting pot of peoples, cultures and traditions, Malaysia thrives on its diversity and is indeed the epitome of the adage that variety is the spice of life,” was how the official BERNAMA news agency concluded a special feature for Malaysia’s 48th Independence Day on Wednesday.

”Look around you. Look at the people, look at their smiles. This is Malaysia, our country, our home,” the feature said, whipping up a mood of unity of harmony.

Indeed, on the surface at least, it is exactly as the officially approved and sanctified article described the mood of the country on its birthday.

There was the customary show of pomp and pageantry with stately music, colourful processions as MIG 29s fighters screaming overhead to proclaim, yet again, the end of British colonial rule that left behind the legacy of immigration and multi-racialism nearly half-a-century ago.

All very appropriate, but what was not on display was people questioning, for the first time since independence, many of the fundamentals on which the nation was founded and thrived on for decades afterwards.

The economy has contracted, inflation has begun to bite and race relations are getting testy as the races jostle for a bigger slice of a shrinking economic cake.

For the first time since 1957, the social contract struck by the political elites of the three main races that gave millions of migrant Chinese and Indians citizenship, in exchange for special privileges for native Malays who generally follow Islam, is under close scrutiny.

On the one hand Chinese and Indians, who make up about 40 percent of the population of 25 million people, want special privileges ended in favour of equality of all races, and on the other, the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party insists that the privileges be extended indefinitely because Malays still do not have a fair share of the economic cake.

Non-Malays resent the fact that Malays dominate politics and the civil services including the police and the armed forces and are now clamouring for a dominant role in the economic sphere as well.

Malaysians – western educated, articulate and not particularly aware of the historical bargain among the races – want political equality and an end to the official policy of positive discrimination.

They want equality, meritocracy and justice instead of positive discrimination that favours Malays with special assistance like loans, scholarships, cheaper housing, tenders and licences, but still does not give the dynamism that the other groups seem to have.

A debate is on. Should the social contract be replaced by a new and fairer code and should not all citizens see themselves not as Malays, Chinese and Indians but as Malaysians?

Interestingly, Malays too form part of the debate and for the first time are coming out against special privileges that are seen as ‘crutches’ that have inhibited the Malay entrepreneurial spirit and helped create a ‘dole mentality’.

Former deputy Prime Minister and top opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim and the main opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) are against Malay special privileges but from different perspectives.

While Ibrahim wants a multi-racial and secular society built on equality and justice and where resources are fairly distributed to all races, the PAS wants an end to special privileges because the party sees them as being against Islamic justice.

PAS supporters dream of a fair Islamic theocracy where all citizens are equal in accordance with Quranic laws – something non-Malays and moderate Muslims have vehemently rejected.

Economic complications fuel the debate as Malaysia faces uncertainties as the economy slows and the country gradually loses its competitive edge to larger Asian players like China and India.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has his hands full, steering the country into unfamiliar and unpopular territory after years of growth and wealth generation – an end to costly fuel subsidies, tightening of the belt as prices shoot up and forcing the once free-flying government-linked companies to comply with new rules on transparency and accountability.

The rise of Islam and the exclusivity it bestows on followers has driven a wedge between the races that enjoyed affable relations in the 1960s.

What is presented by the government as a symbol of peaceful multi- cultural society is really a society of various races who live different, compartmentalised lives.

Nearly 90 percent Malay students go to government and Islamic boarding schools while Chinese and Indian parents, who once preferred government schools, now send their children to vernacular schools. The reason – government schools have taken on an Islamic flavour that non – Muslims are keen to avoid.

The problem goes beyond separate schools. In many places in the country, Malays, Indians and Chinese live peacefully enough as neighbours but they all live different lives, seldom intermingling, except at official functions.

”There is very little interaction between the races…they each live their separate lives,” said academic Prof P. Ramasamy of the National University of Malaysia. ”There is a growing tide of discontent that drives the races apart”.

”Even on campus where the undergraduate population is a racial mix, there is very little interaction except in formal situations,” he said in an IPS interview.

No doubt Malaysia has enjoyed long periods of relative peace and racial harmony compared to many third world countries but experts say tough policies, strict laws and repressive police action also contribute to keep the superficial peace.

Tension that had been building up below the veneer suddenly surfaced in July during the annual general assembly of the ruling UMNO party.

At the meeting, the powerful youth wing leader of UMNO, Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also education minister, held aloft a keris, a wavy, traditional Malay dagger, while supporters chanted ”Long Live Malays!”

Non-Malays see the incident as a message from UMNO to them not to question or challenge Malay political supremacy.

”They were telling that we have to be content with being a second class citizen,” a non-Malay political analyst told IPS. ”The keris is no cheap dagger…it has deep political significance”.

The waving of the keris was accompanied with a demand by Hishammuddin for a revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP), an affirmative action plan launched in 1970 to help Malays economically catch up with the other more forward groups following a race riot in 1969.

Its aim was to eradicate poverty and restructure society irrespective of race, but 35 years later Chinese still dominate the economy, many Indians remain as unskilled labourers and Malays, although having moved up, still lag behind economically.

Worse, that some of the poorest Malaysians are Malays is proof that the massive social engineering that came with the NEP did not benefit all Malays. Lopsided income distribution is blamed for pockets of extreme Malay poverty.

By 2004, Malays held just 19 percent of national equity, up from 2.4 percent in 1970, but well short of an official goal of 30 percent.

Anwar is probably the first Malay leader to courageously demand end to the affirmative action as spelt out in the NEP.

Some Malays say he is brave but foolish because Malays are not ready to give up the special treatment. ”Corruption and cronyism in the government benefits Malays…it is institutionalised,” said one UMNO member. ”Removing it means a lot of pain for a lot of people”.

Anwar counters that the policies have benefited a few Malays at the expense of the vast majority of Malay poor.

”It is robbery in the name of the Malay poor…only the rich Malays benefited and are getting richer,” he said at a recent rally. ”These (rich and influential) Malays will only protect their own interest…they will defend the old discredited policies”.

”Malaysians must insist that before any policy decision is taken on the revival of the NEP there must be a full, rational and comprehensive discussion and examination of the successes and failures of NEP, in particular, its impact on its overriding objective of achieving national unity, the two prongs of poverty eradication and restructuring of society, as well as its effects on government accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance and preparing Malaysia to become a first world, developed nation to face the challenges of globalisation,” said parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

Unlike before, now even staid Chinese leaders in government, famous for their loyalty to UMNO, are now calling for new policies to replace race- based strategies.

”A Malaysian Agenda – a collective focus aimed at fostering national unity should replace race-based strategies if the country is to meet the challenges of globalisation,” said Lim Kheng Yaik, a minister and president of GERAKAN, a multi-racial party in government. ”It should promote a culture of hard work, entrepreneurship, innovation, excellence and knowledge-based smart partnership”.

Lim said the emergence of China and India as the economic powers of the Asian region signalled the need for Malaysia to seriously study and revamp its education and other systems and truly promote social harmony.