The Malaysian Insight

IT’S getting tiresome and unproductive to recycle and revive these tropes. That Malaysia belongs to the Malays, that there are those out there challenging the dignity of the Malays and taking advantage of their kindness.

It only happens when the Malay polity has been upended. It happened in both Penang and Selangor after Barisan Nasional (BN) lost in the 2008 general election in both states. It is happening now after BN lost the federal government in 2018.

For BN, read Umno.

Let’s just correct a few misconceptions. Malaya got its independence from its British colonial masters in August 1957 after agreeing that the one million or so Chinese and Indian residents, as of Merdeka, would be given citizenship. No citizenship for them, no Merdeka. 

No kindness there really but a political calculation. Fast forward to 1963 and Malaysia is formed with four territories – Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak – the latter two with significant native populations grouped as Bumiputeras. Singapore is kicked out in 1965. 

So, Malaysia does not belong to the Malays. And the Malays, who form the majority in the country, have been enjoying favourable policies and fortunes by successive BN governments; to say that these are now under threat is a huge lie.

From the National Economic Policy to the National Development Policy and Vision 2020, to Najib Razak’s Economic Transformation Programme, Bumiputeras have seen a number of agencies and provisions set aside for them.

Even the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 launched yesterday has Bumiputera policies. How has that all affected the Malays’ dignity? 

Why do Malay academics follow the well-trodden path of race champions in Umno and PAS to continuously delude and distract the Malays into thinking others are jealous of their success and position in Malaysia? Why do these academics now insist the community’s dignity, the Malay rulers, too, are threatened?

Did these academics make any noise when government agencies were being looted, the treasury and debts stolen, and politicians, such as Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohd Shafie Apdal, were either sacked or mocked by fellow Malay politicians in the past few decades?

Is Malay dignity affected if the federal government works for all Malaysians? 

Would it be fine with haj pilgrimages being sponsored by a government company, which has not shown profit but can pay its chief executive some RM100,000 a month and give him an 18-month bonus?

Malaysia is in dire straits due to the excesses of the past governments. The new government has its work cut out for it – to reduce disparities in class, race and regions. 

It requires all Malaysians to work together to solve these issues, not for the same bunch of old players with the same old stories still demanding respect and a bigger share of a shrinking economic pie that is for all Malaysians.

If you want your respect and dignity, go earn it. 

Because Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians – from Perlis down to Johor and across to Sabah and Sarawak. We are equal, since September 16, 1963. No Malaysian owes anyone else to be a Malaysian. – October 6, 2019. 

* Jahabar Sadiq runs The Malaysian Insight.