12/08/2006
malaysia, 1955 revisited
The non Malays in Malaysia is at a crossroad like 1955. It was then that the Malays, under the leadership of Jaffar Oon, stood up to fight for their special rights. And the non Malays, led by Tan Cheng Lock, backed away from the fight. And they lost dearly when Malay special rights was enshrined into the Constitution.
Today, the Malays are exerting their right to be the dominant race in the nation, more than equal to the other races. Even the Malay ownership of wealth should even be institutionalised and raised from 30% to 70% if Khairy has his way.
And the non Malays again behaved in the same way as in 1955. They backed off meekly. And this time they are going to pay twice as dearly than before. But then again, fighting the cause could lead to more bloodshed as the kris has been drawn and it is a matter of when will it be used.
The writing is on the wall.
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6 comments:
Hi Redbean, the Chinese in Malaysia are very practical people. This is a fight we cannot ever hope to win. As you rightly pointed out, the seeds of our current predicament were planted before Merdeka when we agreed to the special rights provision to be enshrined in the Constitution in exchange for being accorded citizenship rights. The outcome of this will be those who are able will leave, while the majority who won't be able to will just have to accept it. I see no other way.
You must be reading too much Strait-Jacket Times. The situation on the ground is very far from what you think. On the ground, the people-to-people relationship among the ethnic groups is still very strong. You're very mistaken if you think all Malays are the kris-wielding, rabble rouser of the Hishammudin or KJ kind. Most of them are ver level-headed and have no animosity at all towards their fellow non-Malay citizens, especially the professionals. I am still in close contact with my Malay ex-schoolmates, some of whom have risen to the upper echelons of public service. They absolutely detest the antics we saw at the UMNO Assembly. The good thing about Malaysia is, if you have the moolah, you cana ctually build a fence around yourself and your family, and live an idyllic life in your own little paradise without being affected by all this racial/religious nonsense. You see, the NEp has no effect on me if I don't send my kids to government schools/unis, aspire to work in the civil service or
have a need to buy a house from a developer. Which is why you still see the non-malay tycoons like Quek Leng Chan, Francis Yeoh, Ananda, and the Genting Lim family are still in Malaysia. They have the money and the connections to make sure all this nonsense will not affect them.
Hi dotmy,
i agree that society is not made up of a few extremists but a whole range of different shades of grey along the whole bandwidth. and there will be the moderate malay intellectuals who can see thru the hollowness and dangers of such extremist politicians.
what happens is that extremist activitists only need a few extremists to start it. all you need is a gathering of a few people, very dangerous when you have a couple of hundreds having the same thoughts. no need the whole malay population to be on the side of the extremists.
and in a racially and religiously stirred up mob, anything can happen. all it needs is someone to start a fire and it will burn throughout the country. that is why abdullah badawi said don't knock at it, it will be broken.
racial and religious relations are very sensitive and fragile. and the danger now is that you have political leaders fanning the heat.
They can fan all they want. Nothing will happen if their rabble-rousing find no takers. The situation in the country today is not as delicate and fragile as it was in 1969. Then the majority of the Malays were poor and uneducated, and hence easily taken in by the racial arguments.They had nothing to lose, then. Today there is a huge Malay middle class, with as much stake in the country as the Chinese. These are the level headed people, they have as much to lose as the Chinese do, if the events of 5/69 happen again. They will not allow this to happen.
i pray that you are right dotmy. and i pray that the moderate malay leaders are in control of the situation.
if you have been following the antics and speeches of khairy and hishamuddin, and they are the very rich malays whom you said have a lot to lose, including the 3 umno youth leaders, you would understand why i perceived that things can go wrong at any moment.
umno youth is the fighting machine of umno and the ultras. and they are in the hands of the ultras.
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htttp://scribe10.blogspot.com/2006/03/as-ive-matured-ive-learned.html
http://twiart.blogspot.com/2006/06/my-dear-malaysia-212.html
http://arahkita.blogspot.com/2006/07/pak-lah-letak-jawatan.html
http://karipanas.blogspot.com/2006/10/local-news-new-proton-cars-for-police.html
http://sivaissues.blogspot.com/2006/12/to-each-hisher-own.html
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