Malaysia has promoted herself as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural society. In fact, the country (or rather in this case, the Government of the day) prides itself by labeling Malaysia as ‘Truly Asia’ testifying to the cultural diversity of its people and success of variety. Yet, the governance of Malaysia lies in the hands of political parties whose foundation is set on the singularity (almost) of a particular race. Admittedly, these component parties come together to form the ‘Barisan Nasional’ (BN) or National Front party which by a unique power sharing formula has managed to stay in power for 50 years.
Muhibbah literary means 'Love (one another)'
Overall, one is almost dazzled by the prosperity that has oozed through out the land of milk and honey. Ever since independence, wooden shacks have been replaced by brick bungalows, coconut-trunk bridges by concrete ones, dirt roads by multi-lane highways and the population has grown to 25 million people. Schools are everywhere, small towns have become cities and everyone is gleefully happy!
Yet, of late, Al-Jazeera news reels show the World demonstrations after demonstrations of people (ordinary people in civilian clothings and sometimes with children) expressing some kind of unhappiness for one reason or another in Kuala Lumpur central. One cannot help but begin to wonder if the ‘story’ told is really as good as it made out to be.
Often, foreign media and even some local bloggers tell similarly stereotype conditions of the Malaysian people in particularly the alleged racial disparity due to the Malay-Muslim led BN government. The insinuation here is that because of the so-called official policy of affirmative preference towards the Malays, the other major races of Chinese and Indians have been deprived of various citizenship rights. Some of the more radical elements of the Chinese communities even label themselves 2nd class citizens much to the ‘delight’ of foreign based human rights group interested in righting the wrongs in 3rd world countries. Some of the individuals in the Indian community even call themselves 3rd class citizens for want of greater sympathy than the Chinese.
The actual picture cannot be any further from the truth. Poor is poor and rich is rich. These do not recognize race, color or creed. Even religion does not come into play. Policies are political excuses for people in power to justify certain peculiarities in their decisions and judgments. In the beginning, the euphoria of being a citizen of the Malay race did come to roost in the minds of simpleton village folks who had no piped water or electricity. It seemed that the government were doing their most to provide real comfort and ease for the down trodden.
The British knew that if they didn’t put up a social contract of sorts for the newly independent Malaya, the Malays would end up just like the Red Indians in America – lost and left behind. The British feeling guilty of their mass immigration program bringing Chinese and Indian workers to Malaya needed to ensure that they too had ‘safety’ and a future. A compromise was reached and so Malaya and then Malaysia was born!
Let’s skip twenty years after independence and come to the eighties. Several thousands of Malay students are sent overseas to further their studies. These would be the nation’s assets once they graduate and return to work for the government and for the people. For every 1 Malay student that the government sponsored there were 2-3 non Malay student who were self sponsored overseas, mostly these were Chinese students. There were some Indian students who went on their own but these were relatively few in numbers.
The government was keeping their side of the social contract i.e. giving opportunities to those without with there was not a glimmers hope of studying overseas. In those times, higher education was not readily available to the masses particularly the Malays. The Chinese forefathers knew of this constraint for their community and acted pro-actively. They garnered the support of their numbers and setup numerous social and economic entities to support their own kind particularly their children. Chinese associations sprang up like mushroom after the rain. Every kind and any sort of excuse were taken to create bodies that catered for its members.
Chinese Associations are strong economically
Family based associations were easily supported – by surnames, by creed, by mainland China territory, by business headings etc. The Chinese were very successful in this venture. Until today, this strength by association has made the Chinese community in Malaysia an economic force. Their organization is better run than the government’s offices or bodies. Take MARA for instance – it is a government body created solely for the benefits of the Bumiputras or ‘Sons of the Earth’ – a term coined because the Malays were too polite (even afraid of offending the non-Malays) to admit that this was affirmative preference. Yet, MARA is only one institution created purposely for the betterment of the Malays but relying solely from government grants. The Chinese had no less than 200 bodies or groupings that could support their people.
MARA - main body to help the Malays
A poor Chinese family could borrow against the future of their children to send their sons and daughters overseas using loans from these associations. The father would borrow but the children would pay when they graduate. Similar arrangements had never existed for the Malays nor does it exist now, The Malays were larger in numbers and the government had limited resources so only a small percentage of the Malay students was lucky enough to be sponsored. In return, these students had to work for the government as ‘repayment’ for their sponsorship.
It is highly commendable that the Chinese forefathers had managed to turn a little opportunity (granted citizenship) into major successes in their social standing such that they could compete and win in numbers and monetarily. This was evident when the number of Chinese professionals was significantly more than Malays across the board. Conversely, it is puzzling that a government couldn’t compete with the tenacity of the Chinese associations. Was the government then poorer than the Chinese associations put together or was it because the government had other obligations that limited their spending capabilities?
In any case, the owning of the economic pie of Malaysia continued to be a predominantly Chinese pre-occupation till today. Sometime between 1995 and 2000, the elitist Malay had more or less established their strangle hold on the direction of the Government. What had been an almost religious conviction to ‘help’ the Malays turned to helping themselves, their kindred and their friends. The Malay agenda was merely a front to sustain their stay in power. Realising that the Chinese hold on the economic could never be reduced much less taken away, those Malay in power dealt what they can to secure a piece of the action. The Chinese being shrewd businessmen in return dealt with whomever had the upper hand. The Indians too joined the fray and so Malaysia Inc. was revealed to the nation and the world at large.
Petronas Towers - Malaysia Inc Icon
The departure of Dr Mahathir from the PM’s office have made the future prospect of the Malays even worse. Whilst, Dr Mahathir’s Malaysia Inc. isn’t ideal it had some merits in the fact that there were knock-on effects as Malaysian dealt with each other to keep the economy going. The Chinese though reluctantly had to share some of the economic pie still had a major portion of it. So while Malays began buying new middle class Japanese cars as a show of their prosperity the Chinese began buying the more expensive Japanese and European cars signaling their even greater wealth. And so the so-called 1st and 2nd class citizens were happy and the gloomy future was more or less brushed aside.
Projects after projects were awarded to Bumiputras while their ‘non-bumis’ counterparts completed the tasks. While Bumiputras earned their 10% project owner's commission their ‘non-bumis’ got their fair sub-contractor's 90% share of the project's value. Seldom could any Bumiputra company really deliver a project without their non-bumi partners at the side. The economic food chain that existed in the country guaranteed that almost all sources of supply were in Chinese hands. Everyone had a chance of prospering at their own pace and no one really wanted to rock the boat.
