by Azly Rahman
dr.azly.rahman@gmail.com
Brave new Malaysian identity emerging?
Dear readers,
On a website I read the following honest opinion, I thought in the spirit of dialogue, dialectic, and dialogic I’d share with you wonderful bloggers:
——————————————————————————–
Lim Kit Siang’s blog written by a Malay?
There is something that is quite funny about one opposition leader blog which seems to be written by someone else and not the owner of the blog.
That blog is blog.limkitsiang.com and there are many posts by someone who calls himself by the name of Dr. Azly Rahman.
Whether that person do exists or is a pseudonym of Lim Kit Siang, nobody can tell.
The latest posting by Dr. Azly Rahman titled “All Malaysians have special rights” gives the following excerpts:
“Therefore, the rakyat must unite and never raise issues regarding Malay rights and special privileges because it is quid pro quo in gratitude for the giving in of citizenship (beri-paksa kerakyatan) to 2.7 million non-Malays into the Tanah Melayu federation….Thus, it is not appropriate for these other ethnic groups to have citizenship, only (later) to seek equality and privileges,” said Tengku Faris, who read from a 11-page prepared text.
As a Malaysian who believes in a social contract based on the notion that ‘all Malaysians are created equal’, I do not understand the ‘royal statement’. I have a view on this.
The fact remains that the Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is responsible for safeguarding the rights and privileges of the Malay and other indigenous people of Malaysia, referred to as Bumiputra.
I don’t see anything wrong with Tengku Faris’s statement which had made the Pakatan Rakyat leaders sees red.
I think that Dr. Azly Rahman had forgotten about the sacrifices made by our forefathers in order to gain sovereignty for our beloved Tanah Melayu as it was known then.
We have to agree to the social contract.
Dr. Azly, have you ever heard of the social contract, the agreement made by our country’s founding fathers in the Constitution which refers to a quid pro quo trade-off through Articles 14-18 of the Constitution, pertaining to the granting of citizenship to the non-Malay people of Malaysia, and Article 153, which grants the Malays special rights and privileges?
I bet a cold fish like you does not care about your own race who seems lagging behind other races in terms of the economy where the Malays since the establishment of the New Economic Policy had not even achieved the 30% quota of the economic cake which seems to be controlled by the Chinese now.
Maybe you even like to see the Malays becoming slaves to the other races here in Malaysia since you are so adamant about Tengku Faris’s statement.
Source: http://www.isuhot.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=414
——————————————————————————–
MY COMMENTS:
I respect the view above and declare that I am a real human being and not a pseudonym. The last thing I wish to use in my writings is a pseudonym.
I have seen my articles appearing in numerous political blogs — from those of Opposition, Supposition, TunnelVision, Utter-Confusion, or Brink-of-Destruction parties. I am humbled by these appreciations of what I have been sharing for the last three years through my 200 pieces of writing.
We must allow democracy of ideas to grow and flourish. Let our world become a carnival of ideas and celebration of differences. We may wish to disagree with each other, but the powerful must not agree to jail/imprison the powerless. We must make sure that all instruments of oppression and tools of the totalitarian regime — such as the Internal Security Act http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/8410/84/, the University and University Colleges Act including the fascistic pledge of Akujanji, and other acts used to breed the corrupt in power — must be dismantled. This, we leave up to the Ministers in charge. We the rakyat will make the new ministers will do the job of dismantling the oppressive components of these Acts.
http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2007/05/119-how-low-must-higher-education-go.htmlBack to the suggestion that “Azly Rahman is a pseudonym of Lim Kit Siang.”
Simply put, I am always attracted to progressive ideas, whether they come from Lim Kit Siang, Mahathir Mohamad, Samy Velu, Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin, V. David, David Bowie, David Copperfield, the HINDRAF leaders, Hells’ Angels, New York Giants, ABIM leaders, Easy Riders, UMNO, Yoko Ono, Edward deBono, U2’s rocker Bono, Noam Chomsky, Nim Chimpsky, Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, P. Ramlee, Ramli Sarip, Temmengung Jugah, JP Morgan, Rolling Stones, Strolling Bones, or even the creators of the hugely successful Canadian series South Park.
The same thing goes with my view on political parties and ideologies. Like many of you, I can choose which one to contribute my ideas, time and energy to and still be apolitical; as long as the party does not serve the interest of the few or of a particular race — as long as the party’s mission is not to imprison the mind of the Malaysians through long-term propaganda and indoctrination strategies that divide and teache them to hate each other just for being born into the wrong ethnic group or religious belief.
I can choose to quietly cast a blank ballot paper on election day, or to campaign loudly, passionately, ferociously for this or that political candidate, including for the old woman from Terengganu who ran around campaigning in GE-12 on her bicycle — an example of such an existentialist and fiercely liberated woman. I have these choices not bound by political ideologies. To me, the idea of “personacracy” is more appealing than modern “democracy”.
To me the idea of “government of the self, by the self, for the self” must be practiced as a form of true government. Only than that one’s participation in public life is meaningful and least damaging to the greater good. [see my essay on this: http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2008/01/152-limits-of-democracy-and.html]
I do not think this social contract you mention exist, nor the myth of Sang Sapurba and Demang Daun Lebar must be glorified and be repeated nauseatingly. Provide me with alternative views if you must. I will defend your right to dissent. I believe we live in a reality of a Malaysian multicultural world in which equality, equal opportunity, and equitability must be the philosophy of how we govern our economic, political, and social lives; a reality that demands realistic and peaceful solutions based on sound ethical principle derived from the wisdom of the timeless classics, radical political theories, and inspirational scriptures.
I suggest you read the French Enlightenment thinker Jean Jacques Rousseau’s idea of “social contract” to get a historical perspective of the issue you raise in regard to the “royal speech”.
Even if such a contract in Malaysia exist, you and I and the rakyat must together dismantle it and create a better and more inclusive system — not an economic apartheid system, Malaysian-styled. We need to revisit the principle of “jus soli”
Your statement above on Malays lagging behind must be supported well with hard facts and not with emotional outbursts. I suggest to begin, read the findings of the Asian Strategic Leadership Institute’s study conducted and headed by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, a respectable academic [see summary of ASLI’s corporate equity study report http://www.cpps.org.my/downloads/A_%20Overview.pdf.]. You will benefit from the valuable suggestions that takes into consideration the paradigm of economic research reporting we have been engaging in.
The essential questions are :
1] In what ways are the Malays left/lagging behind?
2] In what ways are the Indians, Chinese, Kadazans, Ibans, and other races left behind?
3] How do we bridge the gap and redistribute our resources to benefit all in their own special way? In fact, in what ways are a class of people (the underclass, the lower class, and the impoverised middle-class of Malaysians) lagging behind as a consequence of policies and political practices that benefit the upper class whose capitalism will never trickle down but trickle up into their heads and out of the country.
Nobody is going to enslave anyone if we destroy race-based politics that is currently the root of distributive injustices. It is all those racist-organizations spreading fear and propaganda of “enslavement” and of ketuanan this or that that is weakening the Malay mind.
My piece below echo my view on race matters. I hope you will learn from it. I welcome your response to the ideas presented.
——————————————————————————–
A Malay child of Merdeka
Azly RahmanSometime ago in a column I wrote the following:
We are in the 21st century. About three years from now, we will arrive at the year 2010. The non-Malays and non-bumiputeras have come a long way into being accepted as full-fledged Malaysians, by virtue of the ethics, rights and responsibilities of citizenship. They ought to be given equal opportunity in the name of social justice, racial tolerance and the alleviation of poverty.
Bright and hard-working Malaysians regardless of racial origin who now call themselves Malaysians must be given all the opportunities that have been given to Malays since 40 years back.
Islam and other religions require this form of social justice to be applied to the lives of human beings. Islam does not discriminate one on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, creed nor national origin. It is race-based politics, borne out of the elusiveness of nationalism, that creates post-industrial tribalistic leaders; leaders that will design post-industrial tribalistic policies. It is the philosophy of greed, facilitated by free enterprise runamuck that will evolvingly force leaders of each race to threaten each other over the control of the economic pie. This is the ideology of independence we have cultivated.
I want to elaborate the point further:
A Malay child of Merdeka
As a child born into a Malay family a few years after the shouts of “Merdeka” filled the nation’s stadium, and as a child privileged to be given the opportunities accorded to a “bumiputera,” I have a statement of hope to convey to our nation.
As an adult growing learning multiple ways of knowing about the world, through people of multiple cultures, I often ask the question of what will happen to the children and grandchildren of Mr Wong Seng Kuang, my Jawi teacher in Johor Bahru, Ah Lan the lady who taught my mother how to sew clothes for a living, Dr. Das of Jalan Ah Fook near Sungei Segget who treated my childhood illness and taught me how to be “patient” about wanting to make changes in the world, Mr PV Kulasingam my fearful-looking headmaster, Miss Chan my favourite Maths teachers who suddenly became angry at me a day after the May 13, 1969 riots, Miss Yap, Mr Ambrose, and Mr. Ng my English teachers who taught me to love the language when I was struggling with other subjects, and countless other “non-Malays non-bumis” I have come to be indebted to – those who have contributed to the “subjectivity” of what I am as a “cultural being living in an ever changing and evolving world of shifting cultural constructs.”
In short, I ask the question – what have this nation done to the children and grandchildren of these people through the policies we create to alienate each other?
Because in my profession as an educator, questions are more important than the answers, I present them as such below:
After this Merdeka, celebrations will we all be called the “new bumiputeras”? Will the false dichotomy of “Malays” versus “non-Malays” and “bumiputeras ” versus “non-bumiputeras” be abolished? Will we come together as “true blue Malaysians” that will progress through the guiding national development philosophy crafted by the principles of scientific socialism, multiculturalism, affirmative action and meritocratic principles in a balance, and the respect, cultivation, and preservation of indigenous cultures that sustain the dignity of each race?
Will more financial aid be given to the deserving students of all races? Will more scholarships be given to “non-Malays” or “non-bumiputeras” so that they too will enjoy the fruits of labour of the parents and grandparents who toiled for this nation? Will more deserving “non-Malays” be given the much needed aid to study abroad and to come home and serve, so that they will take pride in building the nation that has been kind to them? Will this new preferential treatment cure the ill-feeling and silent animosity over the awarding of resources amongst the different races?
Will the children and grandchildren of great Malaysians – Soh Chin Aun, V Arumugam, Santokh Singh, (the grand-daddies of the real Beckhams of the Malaysian cultural iconoclasm) and Andre Goh, M. Jegathesan, be given scholarship they deserve?
Will preferential treatment be given to those born after the Aug 31, 1957 to their children and grandchildren as well?
It will be a shame to the hard work of the “founding fathers” of Merdeka if we do not work towards providing equality, equity, and equal opportunity to the children of all races. It would kill the spirit of Merdeka.
Our Merdeka gone astray?
This Merdeka, we have gone astray. Race-politics has reached its boiling point. It is predictable as a consequence of the outgrowth of politics in a pluralistic nation. Scholars who write about the difference between nationalism and socialism have predicted the bankruptcy of the former, in an age of globalisation and mass consumption – in an age wherein blind nationalism has become a blinder for the politics of plunder.
This Merdeka, let us extend our special rights to all who deserve to live a life of dignity, based on the principles of universal declaration of human rights. In a nation wherein the three major races help build the nation, the nation must now belong to the children of all these races. It is the logic of the brighter side of Social Darwinism – that all must be made fit to survive, not through natural selection but through an inclusive philosophy of developmentalism. It is an antidote to racial discrimination based on a sound philosophy of peaceful evolution.
We cannot continue to alienate each other through arguments on “social contract” that is alien from perhaps what Jean Jacques Rousseau the great wrote about some 300 years ago – a philosophy that inspired the founding of America, a nation of immigrants constantly struggling (albeit imperfectly) to meet the standards requirements of equality, equity, and equal opportunity especially in education.
How do we come together as Malaysians, as neo-bumiputeras free from false political-economic and ideological dichotomies of Malays versus non-Malays, “bumi” versus “non-bumis’ and craft a better way of looking at our political, economic, social, cultural, and psychological, and spiritual destiny – so that we may continue to survive as a specie of Malaysians the next 50 years?
As a privileged Malay and a “bumiputera”, I want to see the false dichotomies destroyed and a new sense of social order emerging, based on a more just form of linguistic play designed as a new Merdeka game plan. Think Malaysian – we do not have anything to lose except our mental chains.
—The essential is: what kind of Malaysian citizen of Merdeka do we wish to live as? I leave the skeptic with a quote from a news-story in Malaysiakini, May 11, 2008:
Don: No such thing as ‘social contract’
Rahmah Ghazali | May 11, 08 5:47pm.”..Royal professor Dr Ungku Abdul Aziz today made a startling claim today that there was no physical social contract between Malaysia’s diverse ethnic communities.
“There is no such thing as social contract,” said Ungku Aziz, a panelist in the 25th Anniversary Look East Policy Forum in Shah Alam today.
Deviating from his original speech during the event, the celebrated academic said that the social contract was
“a fantasy created by politicians of all sorts of colours depending on their interest”.Ungku Aziz said the social contract should rightly be called an “economic contract” to justify affirmative action in areas of education and health for groups that needed it the most…. ”
ENDS.
With my explanation above — are my ideas a “threat” to the Malays and if they are, how is that so?
Or — is a radical mental revolution for the Malays in response to postmodernity and the logic of late capitalism long overdue?
Who has been enslaving who? Just look at the fate of this oil-rich country called Malaysia http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/petronas-rm570-billion-what-happened-to-this-money/.