The “Social Contract” contains the seeds of its own destruction despite serving nation well

by Joe Fernandez @ Fernz

If memory serves us all correctly, the Social Contract, a simple unwritten political arrangement fostered between Malays and non-Malays by the eternal wisdom of our founding fathers, brought about a rare unity among the multiracial peoples of British Malaya and expedited the advent of independence on 31 Aug 1957. The Social Contract also paved the way for the inclusion of Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei in an enlarged Federation within just six years of the midnight air ringing with shouts of merdeka in Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur. Brunei stayed out over oil revenues and Singapore, as we will see later, was soon booted out. The Social Contract remained in tact.

Independence saw the Malaysian economy held almost 29 per cent by the Chinese; less than 2 per cent by the Malays who were largely outside the money economy; less than 1 per cent by the Indians and about 69 per cent held mostly by the British and other foreigners. (Malaysia introduced the 20 year 1070-90 New Economic Policy in late 1969. The NEP pledged to eliminate the identification of race with economic function and place of residence; eradicate poverty irrespective of race, colour and creed; and ensure that the Malays and other indigenous races own, control and manage at least 30 per cent of the nation’s corporate economy by 1990.But deviations soon set in and there was rampant nepotism, cronyism and corruption to sabotage the NEP and send the economy into a tailspin by the early 1980s. The NEP had to be scaled back to bring the economy out of a recession in the mid-1980s.)

Surely, the thrust of the Contract was simple: since the Chinese of the towns in particular had considerable economic power in comparison with the largely rural-dwelling Malays who saw themselves as the indigenous people of the country, it was felt that it was only right that the Malays held the reins of political power firmly in their hands in a quid pro quo. This power they would then share with the non-Malays and thereby underwrite the continued economic success of the country. Malay hopes, unlike the disastrous route taken by economic nationalists in so much of Africa, in Myanmar and Fiji, hinged so much on the economy going right. Had the Malays been overwhelmingly in the majority, its unlikely there would have been a Social Contract of any sort. The non-Malay numbers almost matched the Malay, even after being bolstered for nearly 150 years by immigrants from the Malay archipelago. Had overwhelmingly Chinese Singapore been included with Malaya, the Malays would have been in a distinct minority in their own land. There were shades of New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius and the Americas here, all lands where the original inhabitants have been reduced to an insignificant minority caught in a vicious cycle of alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, ignorance and disease in vice-ridden shanty towns or in god-forsaken reservations apportioned the most inhospitable and difficult terrain.

The founding fathers, in a stroke of sheer visionary genius, saw no reason for a time-frame bound Social Contract, nor did they see any reason for preserving the arrangement in print for posterity. The Social Contract, it was foreseen, would serve the nation well and melt away when its time came.

As the nation moves beyond the 50th anniversary of independence, an important watershed when we look back at this moment in history in the years ahead, the thinking among many Malaysians is that the Social Contract has entered the history books as a minor footnote. They point out that not only have Malay numbers increased significantly but the community itself has considerable leverage in the economy of the nation within and without the context of an expanding economic pie. The levers of the economy at the policy level are almost totally in Malay hands, albeit because of their sheer numbers, although the community continues to be edged out at the retail level. The market is a different ball game altogether.

Some people prefer to continue flogging a dead horse. Hence, not so, scream a vociferous rightwing minority, who not only see the Social Contract as far from having outlived its purpose but insist that it also includes other aspects like the granting of citizenship status to hundreds of thousands of stateless and immigrant non-Malays and their descendents; the position of the Malay rulers, the position of Islam as "the religion of the Federation" according to Article 3 of the Federal Constitution; the position of Bahasa Melayu as the basis of Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, and the sole medium of instruction in education; and the special privileges of the Malays, and by extension, other indigenous peoples of the Federation in the peninsula and Borneo. This revisionist approach among a diehard Malay core hasn’t gone down well with the Indians and Chinese in particular and they have made no bones about it in the vernacular media and other channels. Malay moderates feel its high time to take the debate behind closed doors, not so much to re-negotiate the Social Contract, but to remind community leaders about the history of the past so that they can re-assure themselves and their people once again and renew their faith in the nation and a common destiny, sharing and caring alike.

(Article 3 of the Federal Constitution states that "Islam is the religion of the Federation but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation." Wanita Umno called on Wed 7 Nov 2007 at the Umno Assemby for the insertion of the word "official" before the word "religion" to prevent any "misunderstanding".)

Essentially, the various issues being bandied about outside the Social Contract are either well covered in the Federal Constitution or backed by social convention. Hence, the question of including these in an unwritten political arrangement like the Social Contract should not arise at all. Generally, non-Malays are even more for the Malay rulers and see the institution as an important bulwark against mob rule and rabble-rousers. Meanwhile, the Federal Constitution remains secular, despite Islam being recognized by the otherwise colour-blind document as the official religion. There’s a fine distinction between official and national and the fact remains that Malaysia does not have a national religion and the Federal Constitution guarantees complete freedom of worship.

Again, the country is definitely multiracial, multi-religious, multilingual and multicultural, as anyone with eyes can see, and nobody can take that away – “Malaysia Truly Asia” runs the official tourism theme proudly all over the globe -- despite conflicting claims that it is an Islamic state one day, Muslim the next day, and run according to Islamic principles the third day while admittedly not a theocratic state, a bizarre contradiction in terms. These shifting mindsets even among the religious moderates can best be seen as their coming to terms slowly and painfully with secular Malaysia and preaching a brave, new way to combat the dangerous mix of politics with religion. Religion is religion, and politics is politics, and never the twain shall meet in Malaysia. We need not go so far as to echo DAP MP Karpal Singh’s infamous outburst not so long ago that, “Malaysia will only be an Islamic state over my dead body”. Karpal was quickly hailed as “the tiger – shouldn’t it be lion – of Jelutong.”

The re-current debate over the Social Contract is not the first time that attempts have been made to revise history for reasons of political expediency. The latest is the statement by the Kelantan crown prince warning non-Malays against seeking equality, meaning political, with the Malays. Such thinking will surely result in the disintegration of Malaysia and sow the seeds of a “civil war” one day, God forbid, along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and draw in Singapore as well, as the island republic struggles to preserve its economic gains and stave off the contagion effect of a collapse north of the causeway. We have the examples of so many countries before us viz. Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzogovina and Sri Lanka, among others.

Nearly forty years ago, after the searing Sino-Malay race riots of Fri 13 May 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, many historians attributed the bloodshed to the “breakdown” of the Social Contract when non-Malay political parties made substantial gains in the Tues 10 May 1969 General Elections. The island of Penang, the Pearl of the Orient, had fallen to the newly-formed Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, which was in fact mostly composed of ousted rebel leaders from the Malaysian Chinese Association, a key member of the ruling Alliance Party. The DAP (Democratic Action Party), the Malaysian chapter of Singapore’s ruling PAP, had almost half the seats in the Selangor State Assembly, while the PPP (People’s Progressive Party) made similar gains in its Perak heartland. The MCA saw no further purpose in being part of the Federal Government and pulled out while still remaining as a member of the Alliance. The MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress), the other key member of the Alliance, stayed put in the Federal Government and in the states and at the local levels even as quite a number of panicky families sold their properties for a mere song and packed their bags for India. Elsewhere, long queues of would-be migrants formed for weeks outside the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian High Commissions in particular and the US embassy.

The MCA pullout from the Federal Government was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Race riots erupted first in the Chinatown area of Chow Kit which had a Malay hinterland and soon spread all over the capital city. The incomplete polling was abandoned, Parliament was disbanded, democracy suspended, a state of emergency declared by the caretaker Government and Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, seen as too pro-Chinese, ousted and placed virtually under house arrest for a while. It was like a coup d’ etat. There were isolated incidents everywhere. The Police were hopelessly outnumbered and overwhelmed and the Malay Regiment was brought in while the multiracial Federation Army and the famed Sarawak Rangers of elite Iban and other Dayak troops were both confined to their barracks. The Malay Regiment were mindless robots who contributed to the carnage as well in perceived defence of race, religion and country. They were eventually ordered, albeit reluctantly and gently, to return to their barracks but not until the blood-letting had dragged on for some ten days or more of unspeakable tales of horror.

In hindsight, the apologists and conspiracy theorists rationalize that the Malay Regiment ran amok in revenge for the killings over two weeks by the Communist Party of Malaya’s Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army which virtually had a free run of the country while awaiting the return of British troops in strength following the Japanese surrender after the 2nd World War. The Japanese looked on. The MPAJA’s victims were mostly Malays seen as Japanese collaborators. There were feeble attempts in official circles to blame the communists for May 13 but these were quickly denounced and roundly condemned by the man in the street. At the height of the Vietnam War, the communists were the eternal bogeyman in Southeast Asia and everywhere in the Free World.

The Malay Regiment, disgraced in the eyes of the non-Malay population, was replaced by the Federation Army and the Sarawak Regiment and calm quickly returned to the burnt-out streets of Kuala Lumpur. There had been a heavy price to pay in innocent lives, all because extreme right Malays in Umno, the lead player in the Alliance, had been rattled by the electoral setbacks suffered by the MCA and feared the unraveling of the Social Contract. Apparently, the rightwing game plan was to intimidate the political opposition, punish the voters and force the MCA back into the Government. The fact that the political opposition had never been party to the Social Contract was lost on the rightwing instigators of the May 13 bloodbath. Even so, the Gerakan and the PPP were virtually blackmailed, with the promise of democracy being restored, to become members of an enlarged Alliance which was renamed Barisan Nasional. The Social Contract was back on track. The Alliance, symbolized by a sailing boat, had sunk. The BN chose the scales of justice as the new symbol.

Hardly five years before May 13, Singapore had queried the Social Contract as a member of the Federation and was quickly ushered out. It's important that Malaysian history books explore the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation. However, this tragedy along with the Japanese occupation is simply glossed over. The key lies in former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's "infamous" outburst: "If these people (Kuala Lumpur) think they can squat on Singapore and get away with it, they are sadly mistaken." Aparently, Lee was alarmed that Kuala Lumpur had rapidly changed track after Malaysia with the extreme right wing in Umno calling the shots. A serious deviation of the Social Contract was the misinterpretation by the right wingers that the SC was a carte blanche for Ketuanan Melayu, Malay political dominance and supremacy. This was anathema to Lee. Many saw KetuananMelayuism as nothing less than an unabashed amalgamation of the Nazism of Hitler's Germany and the Apartheid of South Africa's white supremacists with the caste system of the Brahmins of India. Surely, such a system could not be good for anyone, even including the great majority of the Malays themselves.

Sabah and Sarawak, the Borneo states, remained in the Federation after some initial demands for a review by Sabah. Kadazandusun leader, Donald Stephens (later Mohd Fuad Abdullah), was eventually packed off into exile as the High Commissioner to Australia, before making a stunning political comeback in 1976 and dying mysteriously in an air crash shortly after with almost his entire State Cabinet.

Is the Social Contract still relevant in this day and age? Every two people have three opinions.

A simple reading of history and the demographics shows that the Malay factor will henceforth continue to be an important aspect of the nation’s politics unlike in the early days when the community genuinely feared being swamped by the immigrants from India and China and their descendents. No longer can a non-Malay be the Prime Minister of Malaysia, for example, unless with the consent of the governed, predominantly Malay and other indigenous peoples. Malays have also entered the money economy in a big way as a community and made considerable gains as well in this field. As the Malays prosper, and emerge more educated and universal in outlook, having a stranglehold on politics will be less and less the community’s main pre-occupation and obsession. Herein, lies the seeds of destruction of the Social Contract despite having served the nation well. The results of the Sat 8 March General Elections speak for themselves.

website hit counters

Indian winter of discontent marks a watershed in Malaysia’s 50th year

by Joe Fernandez @ Fernz

“Air tenang jangan disangka tiada buaya” (Don’t think there are no crocodiles in the water just because it is still.) The unhappiness has always been there even before Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) emerged in public. It began well before Malaysia announced the New Economic Policy in 1970, several months after the Fri 13 May 1969 race riots, and as a result of deviations from the very outset, further exacerbated 150 years of exploitation during the British colonial era.

When you virtually kidnap perfectly-contented people from the freedom of the vast Tamil Nadu countryside and subject them to virtual enslavement in the pressure-cooker of a regimented environment, the pressures build up over the century and decades and must eventually find an outlet. Being perpetually drunk on toddy, cheap liqueur and illicit samsu peddled by enterprising Chinese moonshiners, wife-beating and other forms of abuse were the initial response of a community, disoriented, trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance and ill-health in an alien land which they did not voluntarily seek. In fact, the Malaysian, British and Indian Governments should compensate these people, past and present.

Historically, the vast majority of even voluntary migrants everywhere, since time immemorial, have generally exchanged grinding poverty in the old country for genteel poverty in their new land. The smart Indians, mostly in the towns and some among the planting class in the estates, are the ones that didn’t stay to compete with the Malays when independence came. They came during the days of the British Empire, saved almost every sen they could lay their hands on and went back cash rich to invest in India, taking advantage of the exchange rate. In the end, no matter where you go in the world, what matters is the exchange rate and how much you can save every month and whether you can eventually return and neutralize your “karma”. Others, especially those shanghaied and kept in the estates against their will on a pittance, were trapped when the Empire fell apart.

The NEP at the outset nobly pledged to eliminate the identification of race with economic function and place of residence; eliminate poverty irrespective of race; and create an environment whereby the indigenous communities, within the context of an expanding economic pie and growth, will own, control and manage 30 per cent of the nation’s corporate wealth within a 20-year timeframe i. e. by 1990. Peter would not be robbed to pay Paul, it was pledged but this was what precisely happened in many cases. The NEP has been observed more often in the breach during the years 1970-90 and thereafter. 1990 has come and gone and the NEP is still around, still being observed in the breach. Abuses and deviations are rampant. The NEP, from day one despite its oft-cited lofty ideals, deviated and degenerated into AliBabaism, nepotism, cronyism, collusion and corruption and bred casteism in a form even more virulent than that in India, ancient and contemporary, where many people go through the forms but not the functions; white-ruled South Africa where a white man was considered superior even when confirmed to be a moron, Nazi Germany of the master race theory much like the ketuanan Melayu concept, white Spanish and Portuguese controlled Latin America where the native Indians are now battling for their rights; and the Peso-millionaire ruled Philippines where Filipino laziness is legendary because, as in India, there’s no incentive to work. The 30% corporate wealth target has been attained, but not for the Dayaks, KadazanDusunMuruts and the Orang Asli. The NEP still continues but not for them or for others at the bottom of the dung heap.

Now the Tamils have some leadership and organisation going and can be expected to get somewhere. The initial eye-opener came, observations show, with an influx of Indian tourists and when Indian IT expatriates started working in Malaysia and were shocked at the situation of the Indians in the country. From there, there was no turning back. The rural-urban migration has created a huge underclass of Tamil-educated Indians in the towns and cities and provides cannon fodder for MIC elites to wrest some crumbs for themselves from the ruling Malay elite. In fact, the situation of the Indian community in Malaysia puts off many Indians from visiting Malaysia. The Government’s idea, from press reports, is to get at least one million Indians from India’s middle class, as large as and richer than the combined populations of France and Germany, to visit Malaysia every year and a further one million from China. Sounds good on paper.

The Government links Hindraf with the Tamil Tigers, who allege discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, and are fighting to carve out a separate homeland for themselves in the north and east of the country. In fact, the Government first reportedly suspected some links between the Tamil Tigers and Malaysia as early as 1990 but did not do anything about it because of the influence that the tiny Sri Lankan Tamil community in Malaysia wields Also, the Government is now trying to link Hindraf with the RSS movement in India. A RSS link will be even worse than a Tamil Tiger link. No doubt in order to undercut interfaith support for Hindraf, the Government has now reportedly decided (Health Minister and MCA vice-president Datuk Choi Soi Lek in a Bernama report in the Borneo Post on Mon 10 Dec Page 6) to allow mission schools to display the cross and pictures and statutes of the Virgin Mary. Is this a cosmetic move? What’s in the fine print? What about mission schools that are government-aided or what happens if only Muslim fundamentalists or non-Christians are appointed as heads of mission schools?

Obviously, these are attempts to distance people from Hindraf. The official line proceeds along an all too familiar pathway: criminalization, demonisation, dehumanisation, neutralisation, isolation, marginalisation and finally elimination. Will that be the end of the Government’s troubles?

Government apologists from the Indian community have been slavishly falling all over themselves to support the ruling party on the Hindraf issue. What’s the point of getting a fat, sleek Tamil Brahmin or a Sikh loanshark to condemn Hindraf, a movement with which they have very little connection and no sympathies whatsoever. Indians are notorious for being prejudiced even among themselves, generally for no rhyme or reason, ever since the Aryan influx into India several thousand years ago. North Indians belabour under the misconception that they are Aryans, denying their Dravidian heritage. The Sikhs, for example, have a holier-than-thou attitude when dealing with Tamils, especially those from the estates, although almost all Sikhs are actually low-caste generally largely Dravidian converts from Hinduism. In recent years, the Sikh community has concentrated on hijacking the MIC at various levels from the Tamils with a considerable degree of success.

Now that India is an emerging economic and military power as well, besides being second only to the US in medicine and IT, the Indian community has been further emboldened to make demands especially since Malaysia is increasingly dependent on India (and China too) economically in the wake of globalization. You would be hard-pressed to find Indians in the many Malaysian companies making inroads in India. There are thousands of niche opportunities in India, as in China, for Malaysian companies. Singapore is already there. The focus of global manufacturing is shifting from China to India as evident from a recent survey of multinational company plans for the next five years and beyond. Already, the Indian economy is the world’s third largest, eclipsing Japan, in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms. Soon, it will be the second largest, as China, the EU and the US are almost running neck-to-neck in first place in PPP terms. Washington meanwhile, for its own strategic reasons including containment of China to which India does not want to be a party, is working with New Delhi nevertheless on a plan to turn India into a major world power.

India aside, the issue is simple. Hindraf wants the British Government to right the historical wrongs to the Indians in Malaysia, the Tamils in particular, and compensate them as well as issue an official apology from the Queen and the Prime Minister.

The Malaysian Government should have lauded the move, and thanked its lucky stars that it is not being sued as well, instead of getting worked up on behalf of the British Government. Will the Government pursue a similar stand if Malay and other comfort women in the country sue the Japanese Government for the abuses suffered during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Borneo, after having glossed over the period in the school history textbooks? Thousands born during the 2nd World War years and later during the communist emergency years between 1948 and 1960 in Peninsular Malaysia, and a little later in Sarawak, are the result of rape at the hands of the invading forces as well as the terrorists. Only a DNA analysis can settle the long-running finger-pointing in the kampungs in particular and debate in whispers behind closed doors.

The Hindraf matter lies in court in London and there’s no reason why the class action suit cannot be won at least in part. Similar suits elsewhere have all been won by the victims viz. the natives in Australia and the United States; and a class action suit against Union Carbide in India over the Bhopal tragedy. The Blacks in the United States are contemplating a class action suit against the US Government for centuries of slavery. At this writing, Libyan President Col Muammar Gaddafi has also called on Europe to compensate Africa for the centuries of colonial exploitation and plunder of the continent’s wealth. The past has caught up with the present to haunt the future. Yet to be seen is a class action suit by the Third World against the First World, seeking reimbursement, for the brain drain they have suffered and continue to suffer.

Hindraf also wants freedom of worship and equal rights as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. They are not touching on the special privileges of the Malays because there’s no need. Affirmation programmes to correct historical injustices can be within the ambit of the law and the Constitution as long as they do not deviate from an accepted framework and timeframe and do not violate the Constitutional provisions on equality, the fundamental bedrock of colour-blindness. It wouldn’t be surprising if a study finds that the NEP hasn’t benefited the vast majority of the Bumiputera in whose name various demands were made in 1970 and continue to be made. Malay politicians are twisting Hindraf demands to mean that the Indians are against special privileges for the Malays and questioning the official status of Islam. These are cheap tricks which will no longer work. In fact, the Constitution does not state that Islam is the official religion of the Federation, as stated by Wanita Umno at the recent party assembly in KL. I mentioned this in an update in my first posting in my blog. Please read.

The random demolishing of Hindu temples, allegedly built illegally, has been a growing problem in Malaysia. I won’t be surprised if some Hindu extreme right-wingers start blowing up mosques in retaliation. Hindraf has reportedly threatened a Sri Lanka style situation in Malaysia if the Tamils are further pushed into a corner. Violence will simply beget more violence. As Gandhi once said; “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” Hindraf supporters each hold aloft Gandhi’s portrait when in court or in public. Obviously, this is a sign of non-violence, peaceful non-cooperation, and civil disobedience as part of a fill the jails policy. So far the police have exercised admirable restraint and not fallen for the bait, probably because the jails are 60% occupied by foreigners and not much space left over for Malaysians. They have only hauled in a token number of Hindraf supporters, but unfortunately even some innocent passers-by are now languishing in jail without bail, reports suggest. If it comes to a real showdown, what is the police going to do? Protect their own families first, or take the cue from their political masters, and take on the masses that may well outnumber them in the streets? This is a losing battle for the men in uniform!

There must be no violence on either side no matter what the provocation. The future of the country is at stake. Besides, Government officials must tone down their nonsensical rhetoric which only further inflames the situation. Do they really need the cheap publicity? Don’t they realize that when politics comes in through the door, economics flies out through then window? The rational approach is to talk and keep talking. It’s not wise to close doors. There is nothing to fear but fear itself. As long as the talking continues, there would be no violence. Talking need not mean that there must be agreement. Two parties to a dispute can first come up with a joint statement of agreed positions, followed by a list of differences, attempt to narrow the gap between the differences or bridge the gap, and finally agree to disagree in those areas where the respective positions are poles apart, and can them temporarily during a cooling off period before resuming dialogue.

If mistakes have been made, they should be admitted honestly and in most cases an apology should suffice while suitable restitution should be made in other cases. It takes a great man to say sorry and eat humble pie. If mishandled, the Hindraf issue will be the beginning of the end for the ruling BN because of the immediate impact in marginal seats and the snowball effect in the medium and long-term. This would of course be a great day for democracy in Malaysia. Change comes but seldom, because human beings by nature resist change, and when it comes it’s seldom, for seemingly no rhyme or reason.

The police are another issue with their trigger-happy shoot to kill mentality or otherwise shoot first, and ask questions later policy. Have the infamous death squads in Latin America and white-ruled South Africa re-surfaced in Malaysia now? There are allegations of police brutality against those in custody resulting in unexplained deaths. When one community is squatting on another community, the syndrome is best seen in the manner in which the police, generally coming from the bottom-rung of the community of squatters, deal with the community that is being squatted on. For example, white on black violence in the United States is generally committed by the no-hopers, the poor, white trash, the losers, among the cops.

There is an element of jealousy at work here among the poorly paid cops who routinely resort to corruption on an organized scale complete with accounts books etc to share their ill-gotten gains. The “smarter” ones among the newly arrived Tamils from the estates have embarked on a life of crime in collusion with Chinese triads to accumulate capital, as much as possible, in the shortest, easiest, quickest time frame. The next thing you know, they will be in politics, and the third day in the Government and Cabinet to accumulate even greater wealth. This is a well-trodden path taken by many peoples all over the world, since time immemorial, to accumulate capital and eventually seize the reins of power. The Jewish Mafia, Italian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triads, the organized Black crime rings in the United States; the acts of piracy, gunboat diplomacy, slavery, colonial enslavement, colonialisation, imperialism and world wars embarked on by the British and other European powers and now, in the 21st century, by the United States.

Squatting was also the issue on which Singapore was booted out of Malaysia in 1965. Lee Kuan Yew made public his thoughts when he said: "If they (the Malays in KL) think that they can squat on us (S’pore) and get away with it, they are sadly mistaken.”

42 years later, it’s the turn of TamilMalaysia, and the same issue has cropped up. Interestingly, just a couple of months ago, Lee remarked that Singapore would consider re-joining Malaysia if the country educated its Indians and Chinese and used them. Then, came the big demonstration in front of the British High Commission. If for nothing else, this proves that Umno’s hype about “ketuanan Melayu” (Malay political supremacy and dominance) is unsustainable. Obviously, Hindraf wants to internationalise their campaign. They have had statements of support from the US State Department, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, the Indian opposition, and certain circles in the Indian Government. The Hindraf movement also has the support of many Malaysians of all ethnic origins who have traditionally been against the ruling party.

At this stage, we are not sure whether the urban middle class Indians are riding on their underclass brethren. Historically, revolutions and reformations have always been led by the middle class, not the down-trodden, when something bugs them in their comfort zone. A revolution takes 50 years in the making, according to most writings on the subject, going through three stages i.e. the writers’, politicians and bureaucrats who institutionalize the ideals of the revolution. Is Malaysia ripe for a revolution?

The middle class Indians certainly have reasons to be up in arms. It is an open secret that the Government has been overzealous in pushing Malays through various artificial means, even at the risk of declining standards, into the professions long-dominated by the Indian community. Indians tend to crowd into the professions because they are shut out from so many other areas of national life. Indians now face greater hurdles than ever in maintaining their numbers in the various professions. For example, law graduates need to sit for a government licensing examination which, besides having ethnic quotas built in, has been noted for various abuses as evident in a recent court case on tampering with the marks of successful candidates to pass failing candidates. Is it any wonder therefore that Hindraf has emerged as a potential hydra in many forms?

There are demonstrations nearly everyday in other civilized countries and nothing happens to bring an end to civilization. In Malaysia, the Government carries on as if even a small demonstration is enough to destroy the country for good. Are the powers that be so afraid for themselves? How can they keep a lid on people’s feelings? Will that not end in an even more violent eruption one day and the country in flames? They should learn from the experience of other countries where sectarian killings take place everyday for no rhyme or reason. Malaysia’s already shaky economy, in the wake of globalization, will surely pay a huge economic cost in terms of lost investments, diminished values and higher insurance and business costs, if a picture emerges in the international arena that the country is in the same league as Sri Lanka and Muslim countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan and Somalia. Closer home there are trouble spots like Aceh, the Thai south and the Southern Philippines.

Basically, the west will support as a matter of strategy, any opposition movement against the status quo in any country which is seen as not completely democratic. Malaysia is seen as not completely democratic since the same party has been ruling for the last 50 years thanks to gerrymandering of electoral boundaries and forming a coalition before elections. Such coalitions are fraudulent and banned in genuine democracies. Also, if democracy means the right of the minority (not minorities) to be heard, that certainly does not happen in Malaysia given the country’s first past the post electoral system in which the winners take all and the losers lose all. Hindraf represents the voice of the unseen, the unheard, the forgotten, the ones outside the tight-knit MIC ambit which not so long ago expelled the poorest of the poor led by M. G. Pandithan. Having just one party in the BN to represent the Indians, it seems, no longer works. Of course, dictatorships which are completely pro-western, are exempted from the western pre-occupation with imposing democracy on the Third World.

Fifty years after independence, we wonder what the next half century will bring. More of the same? Much has been done and of course there will always be those who say that not enough has been done. For sure, much more could have been done. For sure, much remains to be done and needs to be done.

Much of the last fifty years has seen a pre-occupation with greed rather than economics. This is not a surprising deviation considering that Malaysia is a microcosm of the British Empire which was essentially a commercial empire. The formula hatched in London and refined under the leadership of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the first Jew on the job, was simple. Colonies were needed to supply the mother country exclusively with raw materials at rock bottom prices while providing captive markets which had no choice but pay through their noses for manufactured goods. The British Empire ensured that local skills were destroyed so that the mother country faced no competition. The result of course was Gandhi launching a campaign to revive local skills and two world wars which buried the idea of colonies and imperialism for good. Globalization is now seen as the better way forward. The emphasis is on market efficiency, smart partnerships, giving consumers choices rather than allowing Governments to protect inefficient industries run by fat cats and cronies, a policy of prosper thy neighbour and the common good that comes from companies, wherever they are, doing good, countries doing good and being a blessing to all. Why doesn’t Malaysia see a prosperous Indian community as good for the country?

Malaysia will be pre-occupied with race relations and national unity for the next fifty years. We have a Department of National Unity in the PM’s Department run by Minister in the PM’s Department, Dr Maximus Ongkili. They tend to focus on a lot of cosmetic programmes. What they need to work on is substance. My recent SMS to Dr Max reads: “At present, there is too much lip service when it comes to national unity. As one who has dear relatives and friends among all races and religions, I venture that national unity is of paramount importance and will hinge on two major factors viz. tak kenal, maka tak cinta; and parents and teachers must not transfer their prejudices to their children. Perhaps this is something that your department can take up urgently, starting with our police, the press, politicians and PTAs.”

I would add that a third factor would be instituting a culture of sharing and caring. Now, greed and materialism gets in the way. Sharing and caring is not possible in an atmosphere of evil. What is evil? Evil can best be described as a lack of empathy.

The Malays, or at least the Umno Malays, first take what they want. Whatever the Government allocates or sets aside for the non-Malays is monopolized by the Chinese to the detriment of the Indians, the Orang Asli, the Dayaks and the KDMs. In fact, the Chinese have been grabbing from the Malays too by getting Malay legislators to act as their commission agents or otherwise buying up Government contracts awarded to the Malays at a pittance of their original sum, when not too busy stealing from the public treasury through various means. The purpose of Chinese participation in Government is to gather official information which can be translated into commercial gain. Meanwhile, the Malays, to the delight of the Chinese, are on a perpetual high on politics for the sake of politics, both the secular and religious kinds. Malay legislators and Chinese businessmen who have spawned the Ali Baba rentier economy are like two drunk men, both holding on to each other in their stupor, and certain to fall into the ditch together.

We should not get carried away too much by Bangsa Malaysia. The country after all was basically put together by the departing British colonialists to protect their commercial interests. Is that a good basis to build a nation? All that hype about Malay nationalism is just that. Hype! The Dayaks and the KDMs have a more credible claim to nationalism.

If you want to send your two cents worth of comments to Dr Max, his email address is: ongkili@pmo.gov.my. Or maxima5533@yahoo.co.uk. Try not to be too pro-Malay. It’s not a popular thing to do under the present circumstances. Besides, the Malays can take care of themselves. I am happy to see the Malays, or others for that matter, doing well. I think it will be good for the country. The same sentiments cannot be detected in the Indian community. When they see others forging ahead while they lag behind, their anger and frustration knows no bounds and borders on the explosive. This is a community filled with murderous rage and I shudder to think what will happen in the future. Hindraf is not a phenomenon which will go away anytime soon. There’s a risk it will be driven underground, metamorphosising into dangerous forms and striking back from all directions on a sea of mass support which no power on Earth can handle. People who have nothing to lose but their chains become a deadly force when they organize themselves. Organisations become even more dangerous when they are ad hoc, thereby overcoming the bureaucratic trap that cause most organizations to eventually wither away, decay and disintegrate.

Matters are made worse because we have a duffer for a Prime Minister. He’s a political chameleon and a political opportunist who says he has big ears and done a lot for the Indians. How could he have done a lot for the Indians when he just came into office? The fact is that he has not been doing anything for the Indians, or anyone else for that matter, since taking office. He has just finished going around the country, labelling organic growth activities taking place in various parts of the country, as economic corridors. Except for the economic corridor in Johore, the other so-called economic corridors all sound like gimmicks to hoodwink the people just before the elections.

Mahathir did say before he retired that he has put everything in place for the next century or so. “Only a congenital idiot would ruin everything,” he said. Prophetic words! And what does Mahathir do before retiring? He appoints a duffer, Badawi, to take his place. Serves him (Mahathir) right for getting rid of his former deputy, Musa Hitam, and ex-Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. These were the best of the worst.

On a personal level, the Indians can take a leaf from the Chinese in their winter of discontent and not give in to negativity although they are caught between the devil (the Malays) and the deep blue sea (the Chinese). Man (Umno) proposes, God disposes. Don’t let Umno play God. Trust in God to strike down your enemies. Umno sooner rather than later will be consigned to the dustbins of history. This is not a case of talk being cheap or easier said than done. There are deep spiritual truths here. Always be thankful and grateful and there will be more opportunities to be thankful and grateful for. Look for the silver lining in the clouds, consider everything that happens as a blessing in disguise and always count your blessings. Opportunities often come disguised as problems. You cannot keep a good man down.

For starters, one cannot insist on having the cake and eating it too. Tamil education, up to Year 6, was started by the British colonialists not only to keep the community in the estates in perpetuity but to turn out better tappers. The MIC, mooted by the British colonialists, has fought tooth-and-nail to keep the colonial system in place while Malay language chauvinists in Government, who hold the purse strings, either deny or grudgingly dole out critical funds in dribs and drabs to frustrate the maintenance of the schools. Tamil Nadu can play an important role in the modernization of the Tamil schools in the country but the political will must be there. Indians should also get out of the Tamil alone trap and master the English and Malay languages. This would open up a window of opportunities in education as demonstrated by the success of non-Tamil Indians and many urban Tamils as well in various spheres of national life. Lifelong learning is the key to remaining productive and relevant in an increasingly globalised world economy.

Obviously, the lack of language skills create a communication gap with other Malaysians and even the syndrome best expressed by the Malay saying: “Seperti katak di bawah tempurung” (The frog under the coconut shell thinks that is the world.). There needs to be greater interaction between Indians and non-Indians in all spheres of national life. It’s a great loss to the nation if the Indians keep away from others, either deliberately, or because they have no choice in the matter. Already, there is polarisation between Muslims and non-Muslims thanks to the Umno brand of politics and religion and attempts by lunatic fringe groups to force the Government to elevate the Syariah courts to the level of the civil courts at the expense of all.

Meanwhile, at the Hindraf level, there needs to be a realization where the line should be drawn, between where politics ends and good government begins. While the politics is important, one should not get carried away by the hype in one’s own politics. There are no permanent friends, and no permanent enemies, in politics. Otherwise, the politics would be a failure.

The unrest in Malaysia sounds all too suspiciously like similar eruptions elsewhere in the world in the wake of globalization. The influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal, from neighbouring countries has had a negative effect on Indian jobs and depressed wages. Indian unrest can be expected to spill over into the Orang Asli, Dayak and KadazanDusunMurut communities too before sweeping through the Chinese and Malays. The stresses and strains are evident in Malaysia after 50 years of “non-nation building”. It’s a brave new world out there.

In short, we are in for a period of political instability. Unusually long periods of political stability are generally followed by a period of instability. This law of nature can be seen at work in the atom when it is split and causes a chain reaction, ushering in a period of instability called radioactivity, which in itself is an attempt to find stability. The longer and greater the period of stability in humans affairs, the longer and greater the period of instability that follows. Examples abound: Yugoslavia after 50 years of Joseph Tito who wasn’t from Serbia but Croatia; Indonesia after over 30 years of Suharto; the Philippines after 20 years of Marcos; Russia after over 70 years of communism and one-party rule and so on. The fate that befell these nations will befall Singapore, China and Malaysia, among others.

Mahathir, although he meant well, stayed too long in public office, and the Barisan Nasional has been around even longer. The BN, which emerged from the ashes of the Alliance Party in the wake of the race riots of May 13, will only be kidding itself if it thinks it can stay in office another 50 years. No force on Earth can withstand a people who have stood up and are on the march. Unfortunately, in most cases, all changes find the same people back in power again after some time in disproportionately large numbers under a new label. Who is Putin, for example? An ex-KGB spy. It was the KGB which led the way forward towards glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring) under Gorbachev. It’s not the Opposition without that comes to power but the Opposition within. A house divided against itself cannot stand and must surely fall! The process begun by the Malaysian Malaysia movement, Islamic fundamentalists, the reformasi movement, BERSIH, Hindraf, the Bar Council and others yet to come will continue. There’s support from within the BN itself. For example, most Hindraf supporters are MIC members, a fact not lost on its president, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu. He behaves, to quote his Tamil accusations against others, as if the MIC is “his grandfather’s property”.

Every generation has a right to rule itself. When a leader stays too long in power, outstays his welcome, the baton of leadership eventually by-passes a generation, two or even three, when there’s a succession. This breeds deep resentment among those by-passed and their supporters. In MIC, in Sarawak, in Umno and elsewhere, many have been by-passed or even driven into the political wilderness, underground or exile and provide a fertile ground for political unrest. These are people who would not be persuaded by emotive calls on race, religion, and country or appeals to place the party interest above individual interest.