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MALAYSIA: Race Relations Act Will Change Little – Critics

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 25 2008 (IPS) - After 50 years of trying to build a plural society Malaysia now plans to enact a race relations law to end discrimination and protect minorities. But critics say a new law will change little.

Minority Chinese and Indians showed their disapproval and anger after a ruling party leader said during a by-election campaign on Aug. 24 that Chinese, mostly descendants of 19th century migrant workers, were squatters in independent Malaysia and had no right to equality with native Malays.

Indigenous Muslim-Malays make up 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people and benefit from positive discrimination policies. Ethnic Chinese who account for 25 percent of the population and Indians who form another eight percent are descendants of immigrants.

The statement by Ahmad Ismail, a member of the ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) brought racial and religious difference to the boil with the police arresting several people, including a reporter and an opposition lawmaker, both of whom have since been released.

Prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, accused by the police of stirring up Muslim anger with his writings, has been detained without trial for two years under security laws that allow for indefinite detention.

Kamaruddin, manager of the hugely popular political website ‘Malaysia Today,’ is being held at the Kamunting political detention camp in northern Perak state where about 100 others, including political opponents, counterfeiters and alleged Islamic terrorists, are been incarcerated.

None of them has been charged in a court of law for alleged offences and a huge campaign is under way to abolish laws that allow for preventive detention.

Ismail refused to apologise for his disparaging statement against minorities and was suspended from his party for three years, but not before repeatedly maintaining that his statement was a “historical fact.’’

Finally, the government, under pressure to cap the rising tension, announced on Sep. 16 that it was studying a special race relations law and that such a law was the solution to discrimination and rising racial tension.

While some Malaysians hail the law as timely, others, including lawyers and academics, say such a law will not curb discrimination or overcome racism and racial tension.

At the height of the furore over the “squatters” remark the Malaysian Chinese Association, or MCA, a partner in the ruling coalition, tabled a paper in the Cabinet, arguing the need for a race relations act to ban racism and manage justice and fair play among all races and punish offenders.

“We are happy the Cabinet has approved such an act. The challenge now is to study and formulate a law that fits our needs law,” said MCA vice-president Ong Tee Keat.

“This is a major step forward,” he told IPS.

The government says the proposed law would be based on the current constitution which bars any questioning of four areas considered sensitive. These are Islam, the position of Malay rulers, special privileges enjoyed by native Malays as compared with others, and the position of Malay as the national language.

However, critics are less optimistic about the government’s move to curb racism. For one thing the coalition government, which consists of several race-based political parties, is the main culprit that keeps racism alive in a divide and rule strategy.

They say discrimination is deep-seated and part and parcel of government policies, and that unless these practices are abolished no law would curb racism and discrimination. “Our constitution guarantees equality to all, freedom and fear from unlawful arrest and detention,” said Ragunath Kesavan, vice-chairman of the Malaysian Bar whose membership exceeds 13,000 lawyers.

“We have enough laws in the penal code and other statutes to punish racism, discrimination and religious fanatics,” Kesavan told IPS.

“What we need is an end to official discrimination, an end to policies that differentiates Malaysians by race and religion. We don’t need a race relation law which is useless unless official policies that hugely discriminate are abolished,” he said.

Even the semi-official ‘New Straits Times’ daily in a Sep. 19 editorial questioned whether such a law would curb racism and discrimination. “There does not appear to be a dearth of laws. Inciting racial hatred, for instance, is already a criminal offence, and there is ample statutory protection against racial discrimination,” the editorial said. “It is hard to see what a specific law can do in terms of policing race relations and imposing penalties on the reactionary, racist or xenophobic, that the existing statutes cannot do.’’

Historian Khoo Kay Kim blames politicians and the country’s race politics for the heightening of racial tensions and frequent bouts of racist clamour. “Politicians instigate racial issues to play to the gallery, to secure ethnic support and win in elections,” he told a race relations forum recently. “We need to revisit the nature of politics in this country, we need to revamp our education system and we need to revamp what we are teaching our children in schools.”

“If Malaysia is to have a future we need to get to the root causes of race and discrimination and start from there… another law would seek to treat the symptom not the cause,” he said.