Race and Ethnic Relations in Malaysia

This paper will probably land me in trouble, but I think....what the heck.

Term paper for Race and Ethnic Relations.

 

Introduction

Malaysia is a plural society where racial differences have been the focal point of politics in Malaysian each having their own fundamental differences in their main political causes. However, the Malaysian government is now saying that Malaysians should stand united and make Malaysia a nation that is forward moving by focusing on national unity and ethnic tolerance under the concept of “1Malaysia”. In this paper, I would like to take a closer look at the concept of 1Malaysia, and the concept’s feasibility in Malaysia’s future.  This paper will attempt to discuss the concept through 3 items:

1.      The concept of 1Malaysia and race

2.      Hindrances and issues pertaining to 1Malaysia

3.      Current state of ethnic relations and pertaining events

The Concept Of 1Malaysia And Race

1Malaysia is a concept born in September 16, 2008 by Dato’ Seri Najib bin Abdul Razak (here forth, Najib bin Razak or Najib) the current Prime Minister of Malaysia. The concept which speaks of “a principle of fairness toward all races that takes into account the level of development of each race” and “continuing the agenda of nation building”.

In the first part of this concept, as explained in page 5 of the 1Malaysia booklet (Appendix A), speaks of equality for all races in Malaysia and no one will be marginalized. It takes into account the progress of each race at different levels, therefore government policies and constitutional allocations will be given out to protect to those in need.

In the second part of the concept, it speaks of building the citizens by forming an attitude of race tolerance, which will lead to a stronger sense of unity; because when the people are united, nation-building would be a much easier task.

Fields (1990: p.117) opines that “Race is neither biology nor an idea absorbed into biology by Lamarckian inheritance. It is ideology, and ideologies do not have lives of their own. Nor can they be handed down or inherited: a doctrine can be, or a name, or a piece of property, but not an ideology. If race lives on today, it does not live on because we have inherited it from our forebears of the seventeenth century or the eighteenth or nineteenth, but because we continue to create it today.”

Hindrances And Issues Pertaining To 1Malaysia

“No unity means no political stability, and no political stability means we’re all in trouble. All the races would be in trouble. The Malays would be in trouble, the Chinese would be in trouble and the Indians too, would be in trouble.”

“Some people forget the struggle our forefathers went through to make this country a success story today. We must defend this success and not risk destroying it, for the sake of our future generation. We must not take racial harmony and unity for granted. It has taken us a long time to strengthen this racial fabric.” –Najib bin Razak

(New Straits Times, 12 January 2009, in New Image Bank)

The main problem in Malaysia is not so much of race relations of its citizens itself alone, but rather the politics of identity/ethnicity which then manifests as the state of race relations in Malaysia. The reason is that Malaysia has an issue of contradiction at the higher political level. Issues regarding race relation in Malaysia, such as religion and special rights, are often sung out by the nation’s leaders who came up with the concept of 1Malaysia in the first place. Gerakan[1]-turned-PKR[2] politician Dr Tan Kee Kwong said it best with, “BN[3] on one hand is promoting 1 Malaysia, it is a good concept but on the other hand, they are promoting Perkasa[4] – their group was registered in six months.” (Malaysian Insider, 8 July 2010:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/a-small-chip-off-the-old-opposition-bloc/)

In her column “1Chameleon” (Malaysiakini, 25 October 2010), Mariam Mokhtar noted that the current Prime Minister, Najib bin Razak, has spoken a message at the recent UMNO[5] general assembly which contradicts his brainchild, 1Malaysia. She remarks that Najib’s “leadership and professionalism are questionable” on his remark “Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya.” I concur with her. In my opinion this remark reflects his insecurity in the UMNO’s leadership which led to his recycling of old and proven-effective tactics, that is through playing up the people’s insecurities which are economic, religion and race. Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (Malaysia’s first prime minister), comment on the White Paper in the 1980’s put it succinctly:

For the Prime Minister (Dr.Mahathir) to repeat [the story of] the violence of the May 13 Affair as a warning of what would have happened if the government had not taken appropriate action immediately is like telling ghost stories to our children to prevent them from being naughty. This is not a childish matter, but a matter of national importance. The tale should not be repeated because it shows us to be politically immature. (Das, 1989:p.5)

To people outside of Malaysia, Najib’s statement on Putrajaya may seem to be just another political exhortation, but this carries rather serious consequences in Malaysian society because it raises racial hackles. How so?

By saying that UMNO needs to defend Putrajaya in the recent UMNO general assembly, he was stirring a hornets’ nest also, because it implies that Malaysia belongs exclusively to the Malays. If he had said this in a BN meeting, the focus of criticism would have been centered on the Opposition. It was aimed to the sense of insecurity in some of the Malays, who believe that it is their sovereign right to rule in Malaysia, although it is not in the laws of Malaysia to do so. This remark has also irked many Malaysians, regardless of race as it may pose as a threat to their personal safety as the church burning[6] and cow head incident[7] are still fresh in their minds.

Prior to Najib’s remark, UMNO Division Chief Johari Abdul Ghani said in a closed door UMNO meeting in July 2010 that the Titiwangsa constituency does not need the votes of the Chinese and the Indian communities. (YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5sYVZTTKQ, Free Malaysia Today, http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/barisan-nasional/12212-non-malay-votes-not-needed-umno-bn-leaders-see-red) This has again shown that the nation’s leaders’ (or more appropriately, UMNO, the ruling coalition’s main power) insincerity in committing to the concept they touted since its conception. It certainly did not help when Johari Abdul Ghani responded in his blog (please refer to Appendix B for his whole response) to the backlash he received though email feedback that “There will be people who are unscrupulous and will not have any qualms in using the same technology (internet) to manipulate a perfectly innocent situation into that which will suit their own agenda; regardless of the effect it may have on the individual person whom they are targeting” and “I would like to sincerely apologise to you for being offended by the extract of my speech”.

In a separate case, on the 19^th of October 2010, the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia sent out a circular to all universities to postpone reschedule the examinations because some parties had complained that it clashed with the Deepavali celebrations . The question posted by the students across the universities was: why didn’t the universities anticipated this? What happened to the “principle of fairness toward all races” as proclaimed by under the concept of 1Malaysia?

Current State Of Ethnic Relations And Pertaining Events

The current state of relations between the races is not clear. On one hand the relations seem to be antagonistic while on the other hand, the citizens show that the situation is not as bad as some have portrayed it to be. What are the evidences?

In “March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up”, Mohammad Khairie (Kee, 2008:p. 84-87) noted that the walk for BERSIH rally in November 10, 2007 consisted of Malaysians from different races and all walks of life for a single cause: the demand for a free and fair election. Malaysia has also seen candlelight vigils by Malaysians for causes such as the abolishment of the Internal Security Act on 1 August 2010 and 13 September 2008, and against the cow head incident 5 September 2009. In  more recent news (Malaysiakini, 22 0ctober 2010, Malaysian Chronicle 26 October 2010), Malaysians of all races and walks of life united again for another cause: a safe and continuous virtual protest against the building of Menara Warisan estimated to cost MYR 5 billion via the social networking site, Facebook. The site (http://www.facebook.com/#!/NoMegaTower) has garnered 250413 members at the time of writing. It has been featured on AlJazeera (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zuXp0iP8vU ) on the 21^st of October 2010 and the result of the first virtual “march” on Sunday, October 24^th, can be watched on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpLfwMHZblk).

Apart from that, the mushrooming blogger community has also implied that many Malaysians of all races are not playing to the tune of racial politics. In fact, they have been rather critical towards the politicians and policy-makers. Bloggers like Haris Ibrahim (author of “The People’s Parliament[8]”), Khoo Kay Peng (author of “Straight Talk[9]”), Sivin Kit (author of “Sivin Kit’s Adventures[10]”) and Amutha Ramadas (author of “tulipspeaks[11]”) speak out against the politics and hope to promote understanding in minds of their readers through their writings.

This shows us that although Malaysians have their various differences in both physical and cultural characteristics, they will unite for the cause they believe in. This has been shown to us in the peoples involvement in the causes mentioned regardless of race. It seems that Malaysians, especially those from the middle class background, is starting to use their state-given rights to voice out against racism in politics, criticize its effects on Malaysian society and also the Malaysian government’s inability to keep to the concept conceived by them.

Conclusion: Is 1Malaysia Feasible?

From the above mentioned issues and public reaction toward certain issues show that the concept is already in place within the hearts of many Malaysians. I believe it would be safe to say that the concept was always there without the need to give it a fancy name like 1Malaysia. As long as issues such as religion and superiority of whoever’s race are not touched, ethnicity and race are very much an identity the individual associates with culturally.

Having said that, certain current political leaders’ tendency to continue their use of the old tactics of race privileges in their rhetoric, it most certainly stirs doubt about the realization of the concept at the national level. However, it is my personal belief that the 1Malaysia concept is already within the hearts of Malaysian society, and one day will come into fruition, provided that the Malaysians themselves do not lose hope and continue to work together for changing, until change they hope for in the political climate comes. Therefore, the concept of 1Malaysia is still feasible.

                                                                                                                              

Bibliography:

Das, K. 1989. Introduction. The White Paper On The October Affair And The Why? Papers. Compiled and Edited by K. Das and SUARAM. Kelana Jaya: SUARAM KOMMUNIKASI.

Fields, Barbara Jeanne. 1990. Slavery, Race & Ideology in the United States of America. New Left Review. I/181, May-June 1990 p.95-118. London: New Left Review Ltd.

http://www.nib.com.my./archives/text/view/16906033?pos=29&hide_header=1&resultset=nstpec%3Awww/cross-search/search.php%3A_1288609054%3Aresultset [Accessed: 28 October 2010]

Kee, Thuan Chye. 2008. March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up. Shah Alam: Marshall Cavendish Editions.

Mariam Mokhtar. 2010. 1 Chameleon. Malaysiakini. http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/146301 [Accessed: 25 October 2010]

New Straits Times. 12 January 2009.  Racial unity essential for stability, says Najib. News Image Bank. http://www.nib.com.my./archives/text/view/16906033?pos=29&hide_header=1&resultset=nstpec%3Awww/cross-search/search.php%3A_1288609054%3Aresultset [Accessed: 26 October 2010]

Electronic Resources:

http://www.1malaysia.com.my/

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/index.php

http://joharighani.blogspot.com/2010/10/youtube.html

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/

http://www.malaysiakini.com/

http://www.thenutgraph.com/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/

http://www.ukm.my/e-pelajar/index.htm

http://www.youtube.com/

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[1] Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia or “Gerakan”: A component party in of Malaysia’s ruling political coalition, Barisan Nasional. Also known as the Malaysian People's Movement Party.

[2] Parti Keadilan Rakyat: the opposition political party also known as the People’s Justice Party.

[3] Barisan National: the ruling political coalition since Malaysia’s independence consisting of communal parties, also known as the National Front.

[4]Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia or Perkasa is a non-governmental Malay Supremacy organization that was formed by Ibrahim Ali in the aftermath of the Malaysian general elections in 2008. They claim to be "protectors of Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia" and to defend the rights of Bumiputera from being eroded by certain quarters. Perkasa is said to be fighting and defending the rights of the Malays which they feel are being challenged by non-Malays in Malaysia.

[5] UMNO: United Malays National Organization

[6]The church burning incidents (on Metro Tabernacle and attempted burning of Assumption Church and Life Chapel in the Kuala Lumpur) on Malaysian churches in early January 2010.

[7] The cowhead incident happened in August 28, 2009 where some 50 Malay residents enraged with the proposed relocation of a Hindu temple to their area staged a noisy protest with a severed cow's head.

[8] http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/

[9] http://khookaypeng.blogspot.com/

[10] http://sivinkit.net/

[11] http://www.tulipspeaks.com/