I have taken the liberty to copy from the letter Remove the “national security” straightjacket! by Azly Rahman which appears in this blog, in particular the summary of the nine challenges called “The Way Forward-Vision” spoken about by TDM. That was said to be a culmination of TDM work throughout his tenure. I like to make some comments on some of the nine challenges summarized by Azly Rahman.

1. Establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny

Any nation where the citizens enjoy equal rights would automatically wish for the well beings of the country which would determine their own destiny. Unless the government acts contrary to the equal rights expectation of the citizens, that the nationals have a common and shared destiny is given. However, when the government chooses to implement its divide and rule policies, the nationals would not share a sense of common destiny for the nation. TDM was the main actor in highlighting the differences among different ethnic groups in the country. Whatever intentions he harboured in the name of making his race dominate in political and economic life, he has set the people who benefited from his reign on the path of get-rich quick, and grounded with the mindset of entitlement and supremacy. He would not be able to return the genie into the bottle, however hard he tried, if he was sincere in seeing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common shared destiny.

Modern science and technological developments make easy changes to mountains and streams, but it is almost impossible to set right human thoughts which have gone haywire. It takes decades to develop cultured human beings who internalize the noble quality of modesty, politeness, righteousness, reasonableness, fair play and justice. These noble values are set aside when morally wrong actions are legalized, for the powerful and connected, and even for beneficiaries of state institutionalized corrupt and unfair practices, in the name of affirmative actions. The belief that moral values could be temporarily suspended to be returned later, to experiment with some social engineering work for leveling playing fields, proved futile. The temporary indulgences turned out to be permanently temporary, where the all powerful emperor TDM was not able to end NEP in 1990. Or did he choose to be politically correct, or worse, pretended that the 30% equity target were yet to be achieved. The lesser ruler PM AAB is simply gutless to examine whether the ASLI’s calculations truly confirm that the targets had already been achieved. He promised to reveal the methodology a year ago. The methodology adopted by EPU only tells half the story, the other half relates to what have and have not been correctly included in the computation of the single most important economic figures, when the results of which should have been acted upon to end the most important obstacle to returning to Malaysia a future where the people share a sense of united and common destiny.

It is the government’s active social engineering experiments which have now made the country deviating from the path where the people automatically share a sense of united and common destiny.

2. Creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity

Malays are led to believe that they have no place under Malaysian sun unless they support the racist policies of UMNO. Malays are psychology insecure as to their ability to survive without government crutches, so declared UMNO as savior of Malays. The insecurity could turn into riots if the concessions do not continue, as uttered by delegates to the UMNO general assembly, displaying a report and reminding the nation of May 13. Until UMNO stopped using race differences to collect votes, the challenges have no solution. In fact it is doubtful whether a solution was indeed desired as claimed.

3. Fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries

The government has the control of the development, or more correctly the curtailment of democracy in the country. The community-based political parties were convenient to satisfy the demand of the British for obtaining independence for the country. Had the UMNO leadership the vision and desire to forgo the community oriented political parties, the society would not have been as polarized like it is today. A community-oriented democracy is against the basic requirement of fair play for all its citizens, and the set-up of race based political parties cannot foster a mature democratic society.

4. Establishing a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and with the highest ethical standards

The community based political parties do not provide the environment for the stated objective.

5. Establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creed are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious beliefs and yet feeling that they belong to one nation

The political set up of the country works against the objective.

6. Establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilisation of the future

That can only come about when the society practices meritocracy. But the powers-that-be chooses to operate a pseudo meritocratic system such as equating the results of matriculation to STPM for evaluating university admission, while reserving 90% of the examination candidates to one race, the dream can continue.

7. Establishing a fully caring society and caring culture, a social system in which society will come before the self, in which welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family system

All the good ingredients for developing into the society were destroyed when the state thought it proper to bribe the entire community for electoral votes. Half the population more were made to be dependent on the state from cradle to grave. NEP made the undesirable effects irreversible.

8. Ensuring an economically just society… in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress

That is the thought of a man who thinks that he is more capable than God. The society would have justice at the macro level when the people practices justice and fair play at the lower level. To a person at his and his family level, besides health, wealth was important. They get the leisure time to count their money when they have been able to earn a decent means of living. For him, any assistance to lighten his load in earning his keep is appreciated. This is true for all races. The surplus one has can go to finance how a person looks goods, and to feel proud of his achievements. The invisible hands make the economy ticks, and the same hands direct how economic decisions are made. The statistics on cumulative wealth remains a statistics, and serves no useful purpose in terms of the success of the individuals. Politicians certainly could make use of the statistics, and most importantly, they distorted figures to serve the route to political success. If the powers-that-be truly believes that cumulative wealth of a community is a basis for them to keep peace, then he has created a following to chase after something nebulous.

9. Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient

As the nation moves in tandem with social and economic developments of its neighbouring countries and the world, and the government observes proper governance of a civil, fair and democratic society with freedom for the people to alert the government to its wrong policies or implementation, the society should attain the aims as desired by the rest of the world. The requirement must be that the government should be made up of people who intend to serve the nations rather than taking the official positions to enrich themselves. They should then be happy to allow others to serve the nation, and be modest to accept that there are other capable hands which are honest to serve the public. A fair and clean election allows regular renewal of talents. For a start, the race-based parties which have outlived it usefulness should cease to exist. Government policies and regulations should respect no race, and be equal for all. Religion should be a matter between the persons and his god. People should not make use of political position to create religious merit.

Conclusion

The preamble of the text of the United States declaration of Independence has the following sentence: (from Wikipedia).
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The original Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaya was to be reviewed after 15 years from 1957. That article is not equal to the concept of ‘all men are created equal’. Though USA cannot be considered a perfect country, except for item3, it has at least overcome eight of the nine challenges listed above. There may not be great thinkers in USA who set up specific vision to accomplish, and yet it is the country that attracts people who are capable to work in the pursuit of happiness.

The nine challenges would remain insurmountable because the nation does not accept the concept that all men are created equal. In particular challenge 3. Fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries implies a continuation of the race-based political parties in the country. The leaders of the more powerful race-based party would not forgo the decade-old tested ‘kampong champion’ strategy to win political power, and hence they would be embroiled in racial politics rather than endeavoring the charting of common destiny for the people.
The first step towards establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny begins with accepting that all men are created equal, and they are so treated by the government, the institutions, and the public at large. Until that first step is taken, the vision remains a dream.

(Note: I wish to acknowledge that the questions quoted in my letter in this blog: “Something that has no comparison anywhere else in the world” was from the translation by Darkhorse, also from this blog. I am unable to make comments directly in the blog, because of peculiar ‘virus’ problems.)