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First, let us look at racialism in Australia. They have been having the “White Austrlia” policy since they first formed a democratically elected government in that country down under. They are a huge land mass, a continent, with a relatively tiny population, needing a huge number of workers to develop the country. Did they rush to develop and bring in foreign workers to their hearts content? No, they did not. Did they rush to achieve a fully developed nation status? No, they did not.
They were so stingy, so careful, so prudent in the intake of foreign labourers and in allowing foreigners to settle in Australia. The Whites were generally OK, the coloureds were not. They adopted a stringent selection of foreigners they want for their country. The neighbouring Indonesians and Papua New Guineans were not welcomed, are continuously hounded, day in and day out, on the periphery of the 12 mile territorial waters of Australia. The Australian TV programme “Border Security” shows that the moment the poor fishermen strayed into their waters, the Indonesian Navy and Coast Guards accost them, arrest them, tow their boats to the Australian coastal town, lock them up, charge them, confiscate their small boats (perhaps their only earthly material possession), fine them and deport them.
Is the “White Australia” policy not racist? Of course they say not. They say it’s “the protection of our national interest.” The whites are in their national inerest, the coloureds are not. Otherwise, the place is swarmed with browns, yellows and what have you. The Whites might become a minority and marginalized. The first of the articles below tells more about racism in Australia and comments on what racism means.
Then Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa got accused as racist. Donald Lim accused him so but also got accused racist. Read the subsequent articles.
The Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu article below that talks about the Keris-wielding Malay, about “The first thing I learned when I first started hanging out with the Chinese boys in secondary school was how to curse fluently in Cantonese”, about “that yuppie who vehemently declares himself Malaysian yet can’t have a decent conversation in Bahasa Malaysia”, yet the writer expresses his hopes of all of us “accepting who we are and cultivating unity in more natural ways”.
The next article asks “1Malaysia Menuju Kehancuran?”. It is written by the Pengarah Eksekutif National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI), an NGO said to be active in voter education etc, whose funding and objective are not clear. Other opinions expressed (including in vernacular Chinese newspapers), say that many in UMNO are not in support of their President Dato Seri Najib’s manner of promoting 1Malaysia.
This article alleges, “Timbalannya sendiri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin tidak bercakap senada dengannya dan dilihat tidak bersungguh-sungguh dalam memperjuangkan konsep 1 Malaysia. Begitu juga pimpinan-pimpinan Umno yang lain secara keseluruhannya”. The correctness and the objective of the allegation cannot be ascertained but there are many Malays holding the opinion that the UMNO President, Najib, has been promoting Chinese interests rather than the interests of his own party members – the Malays. These are matters of serious concern to all of us citizens, as instability in UMNO, which has been the backbone of the country’s leadership since independence, may affect the stability of the whole country. Najib has to rethink and readjust his steps. More importantly, he has to re-examine and re-evaluate Malaysian values and determine, based on the Constitution, who and which are racist and who and which are not, for the sake of stability, unity and uninterrupted progress in the country.
Finally, those who can spare the time, do read what a mainland Chinese say about a German Foundation report showing more than half of the 8,700 articles on China in the German media having a prejudiced perspective about China, that 70% of Germans hold negative opinions about China. As per Eunice Ong’s article in the previous post, many Chinese in Malaysia may already feel they have their roots in this country but for those who may hold China in awe and glory, even in deference to their country of citizenship, they should note that the grass may not be greener the other side. Racism or otherwise in this country.
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Racism and tribalism — Raja Ratnam
July 13, 2010
JULY 13 — A newly-arrived lad of 19, very light-brown in colour and expensively clothed, is walking through a posh arcade in the fashionable part of an Australian city. The normal sounds of a busy street on a Saturday morning are suddenly interrupted by a shout. It is repeated twice. The people walking through the arcade stop to watch.
A well-padded middle-aged woman, clad in the then-ubiquitous gabardine overcoat and carrying a string-bag containing her shopping, is shouting “Why don’t you go back home, you black bastard?”
The Asian too stops, when he realises that the shouting is in his direction. He looks behind him and sees that he is the target; but he is mystified. As he shrugs and walks away, the young student wonders: What right does this woman have to behave like that? What kind of people are these?
In British Malaya, where he was born and well educated, this youth had not noted any antipathy between the diverse ethnic communities there. Immigrants from China, India, and the islands surrounding Malaya, and the host people, the Malays, co-existed, with mutual tolerance. The British rulers were the only ones to display any ethnic superiority; but few of the local people were directly affected by that. The so-called natives did not emphasise the obvious differences in religion, cultural practices, and language. Indeed, ethnic cuisines and clothing styles began to be borrowed, and the people gradually began to merge into a nation.
Over the years, the overt racism in Australia became reduced. Habituation, acceptable behaviour, and a shared respect for British institutions, such as justice, law and order, as well as the English language, all played a part. Most importantly, the Australian working man, who walked and stood tall in a relatively class-less nation, was willing — in spite of an obvious sense of white-Christian colonial-superiority — to treat the Asian students (almost all from British-held territories) as he personally found them.
Also of great relevance was something not seemingly sensed by the host people. Indians and Chinese, no matter how poor their families, are proud of their respective heritage. As one Chinese student read to his classroom in Australia, his people had been civilised for more than 5,000 years, “long before the white man came down from the trees.” He was not intolerant; only confidently proud.
The odd retaliatory retort also helped to contain the yobbos. When a couple of the latter made loud derogatory remarks about “the blacks” being allowed into the bar (and that was because the Australian Aborigine was then not allowed to enter a hotel or bar), the well-dressed young Asians at the bar quietly walked out. As they left, one called back “Haven’t you got a mother either?”
By the mid-1960s the White Australia Policy was being quietly eased. By the mid-1970s immigration entry was officially non-discriminatory; yet it was not until the end of the 1980s that the darker Asians were accepted in comparable numbers. By the mid-1990s racism had re-surfaced, with some virulence; the trigger was a claim by a new politician that there were too many Asians in the country. An academic pointed out that this was an attempt to protect white-space. That black-space had been invaded successfully two centuries earlier was not mentioned in the debate. The young Asian of 1949 was again publicly abused because of his skin colour — in 1995!
By then, angry young Aborigines were defiantly shouting, in public parks “This is our land. Piss off.” By then, the education dollar and a quaint people-grabbing immigration policy led to vast numbers of Indians and Chinese being seen to fill the streets of the capital cities. This upset many Anglo-Australians, especially the elderly.
Then criminality surfaced. Young Indians were attacked, one killed. Not racist, claimed the police. Were other Asians — the Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans and Lebanese — attacked? Is the Indian too similar in appearance to the clearly-despised Aborigine? Or, is his fluency with the English language an affront? Is he taking jobs from unskilled white people? Or, was there some copy-cat behaviour?
Ethnic turf-wars involving macho Asian youth became reported in the press. Some immigrant Muslim leaders now want Australia’s institutions to be changed to suit them; apparently they miss the syariah law they never had. Young Muslim women proudly display their superior culture by wearing the hijab, or even the burqa in public. The turf-wars are transient; when the testosterone levels drop off!
The arrogance of the few Muslim people who choose to be divergent will probably remain; whereas the efforts by some ethnic Europeans a few decades ago to have English denied as the national language or to use the then multiculturalism policy to emphasise cultural difference (and implied cultural superiority?) did fade away. The rest of the population rejects this cultural posturing by new arrivals seeking a better life.
Following the invasion of Australia, the various white tribes of Britain and some representatives of continental European tribes blended together to form the Anglo-Australian. The post-war immigrants from Europe also blended in to create a cosmopolitan Australia. Coloured immigrants from all over the world are now integrating to become a revised Australian people. Many marriages ignore ethnic or tribal boundaries. In three generations, any imported cultural differences could normally be expected to fade away, through societal commingling and shared education in schools.
However, racism, that is, discrimination against a fellow resident or citizen on the basis of skin colour (a practice initiated by white colonisers in their rampage over technologically inferior coloured people) will continue. People tend to protect and promote (whether in employment or in politics) those who are like them. Is this not so in the US, the first of the immigrant-created nations of the West? Tribalism, based on ethnicity or country of origin, will also continue as a basis for preference for one’s own. Does this also not apply in the Western world?
While discrimination is a human attribute, Australia is gradually becoming racially tolerant. The indigene may not concur. A significant deep-sea current driving this tolerance is that fabled “fair-go” Anglo-Celt ethos of yore. This reflects an urge for equitable treatment which began in a nation of mainly convict men; it was subsequently extended to include the women. It is now available to the new arrivals, even to those who want the freedom of a tolerant and equitable secular home, but prefer to exercise that freedom within the tents of their alienating cultures. That is not racism, but the worst of tribalism.
In the long run, a desirable unity of belonging, evolving from a diversity of origins and beliefs, can come only from achieving one integrated people from many.
* Raja Ratnam is the author of The Dance of Destiny.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or the publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
Some of the comments:
fabianchan• 1 day ago
You’re right. However, you’d missed out one thing. Racialism breeds when people believes in race superiority. The world wars was started due to such belief and hence their right over others’ rights and land. When one temper with such race rhetorics, the end results sometimes goes far beyond what was anticipated and unfortunately, unremorseful to such perpetrators. Such behaviours should be nipped immediately, never allowing it to fester and causing uncontrollable damages. In a civil society, especially where a country holds many ethnicity, we must and should be sensitive, understanding, tolerance and respectful to each other. When we failed, it’s unimaginable what sort of transformation will result from it. History had given us an insight into it. Please don’t repeat it.
mira• 21 hours ago
On the flip side, the uncontrolled flux of immigrants, especially economic migrant causes the local white to feel threaten. Remember Enoch Powell in the 70s, and remember how the BNP today has 2 elected MEPs. Britain is now introducing immigration cap because it has become an issue. People are inherently racist, especially when they see what they believe are resources belonging to them being taken up by others, or that their lifestyle is being diluted. Malaysia is pretty much the same, see how we treat the Indonesian – if a Malay did that to a chinese or indian it is racist, but anyone doing it to an Indonesian is not!!
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/racism-and-tribalism-raja-ratnam/
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You got yourself in trouble, Donald
2010-07-14 18:34
By TAY TIAN YAN
Translated by DOMINIC LOH
Donald Lim Siang Chai could have been a little too imaginative, but in reality we odd to show him some pity.
I could almost see Ibrahim Ali laughing in secrecy somewhere.
All that Donald did was to suggest that a Perkasa kind of thing be set up for the Chinese community. But that alone was good enough to bring in all the reprimands, from his own party or rival ones, from his own community or other communities.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making the slightest hint at a support for Donald. Perkasa–whichever party talks about it–would most definitely drive me crazy.
But, Donald has an unusual habit of making truly creative talks, and since this has become a habit of him, I see no reason to sternly respond to his proposal, which makes quite an entertaining talk and which might fill the vacuum were there no other gossip topics at hand.
But if we were to treat his proposal in grave seriousness, we are looking for trouble ourselves.
So, I would like to advise Donald not to feel embarrassed or regretful.
Political commonsense is not hard to come by; a little hard work should produce the result.
But Donald could have felt distressed that a single proposal from him could land him in so much trouble, while Ibrahim Ali not only made the proposal, but substantiated it in the form of a real Perkasa, and shot himself to fame in so doing. Even Umno would try not to tread upon his turf.
The disparity in treatment couldn’t have come more conspicuous.
Many of the criticisms blasted at Donald have been made upon the foundation of political morality, equality and justice.
Absolutely. Racism is the dumbdest and most dangerous thing around!
The question is: Wasn’t Ibrahim Ali aware of it? Didn’t anyone tell him about it?
Sorry, morality and interests are two distinct objects, and when a choice needs to be made between the two, in politics, many will pick interests over morality.
The emergence of Perkasa could have been incidental, but the Perkasa mentality has chronically lurked inside the deepest beings of many people.
Under the dual pressure from globalisation and democratisation, it is imperative that Malaysia makes the essential changes towards greater openness. Such conservatism and defensive psyche will invariably invite backlash.
Ibrahim Ali has banked on this unique opportunity to catapult himself to political prominence.
By comparison, the Chinese community is at a relative disadvantage, with hardly any space for extremism to develop, and absolutely no practical benefits from such an inclination.
Even in the absence of ISA, no political parties or civil organisations will take the risk of exploiting this territory, as it will have extremely small following and practically no market value.
As a result, a Chinese outfit à la Perkasa is both morally inconceivable and infeasible.
Excessive creativity has made Donald a victim of his own trick.
Sin Chew Daily
MySinchew 2010.07.14
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/41784
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Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu
July 14, 2010
JULY 14 — Now here’s the thing: I may be branded a heretic for saying this but I actually dislike Yasmin Ahmad’s movies. You know all those Chinese boy/Malay girl lovey-dovey and “Mukhsin” what-nots?
For one thing I find this scenario repetitive as it keeps appearing in her movies (or ads) but mostly the reason why I find it hard to love her work is because I can’t seem to relate to it.
Now some of you might think that I am a keris-wielding Malay ultra who does not have friends of other races, hence I am unable to relate to Yasmin Ahmad’s movies. I admit that I wielded the keris before and there’s this absence of guilt in me nor do I have the urge to offer an apology about it, but I actually do have a healthy number of non-Malay friends.
Yet I do not have the urge to burn Chinese/Indian schools nor do I have a complex about ridiculing my own race to prove that I am truly Malaysian. Let’s just say I am like any normal Malay kid who went to a sekolah kebangsaan (national school), hung out with a lot of non-Malay friends (to this very day) and I have once in a blue moon fallen for a non-Malay girl (well, okay, maybe more than once). Yet as a person who supposedly went through that Malaysian experience I can’t seem to relate to Yasmin’s movies.
The first thing I learned when I first started hanging out with the Chinese boys in secondary school was how to curse fluently in Cantonese, so that picturesque Petronas ad where Malay, Chinese and Indian kids play and help each other and sing songs or what not, I never experienced that.
To me “Sepet” or “Gubra” is rather artificial; instead of mirroring what multiracial Malaysia is, it is what Malaysia should be in Yasmin’s imagination. There’s nothing wrong with that since that is what movies are all about.
And that goes not just for Yasmin’s movies, but a lot of those Merdeka ads and propaganda flicks featuring Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu. Look, when I was a kid my best friend was an Indian and trust me, we didn’t sing “Ikan di laut, asam di darat” together while fishing or have many romantic gay moments.
In fact, many times we had fist fights because one of us somehow made an over the top remark about the other’s father. We would kiss and make up the very next day just like any other kid and life went on. Of course, we grew up and went our separate ways but whenever I bump into him these days, we don’t serenade each other.
Look, to me Malaysia must not just be about Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu. Two Malay “pakciks” wearing kopiahs walking to the mosque for Maghrib prayers is Malaysia, as well as a bunch of Iban boys playing football, a Sikh man riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet, that yuppie who vehemently declares himself Malaysian yet can’t have a decent conversation in Bahasa Malaysia, or the stereotype that Malays smoke Dunhills while Chinese smoke Malboro lights.
The thing I notice is we Malaysians have this mindset and mental picture that Malaysia must be that picturesque scene where Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu do something together underneath a sappy slogan.
Of course the usual rabid fanboys would immediately go on the offensive by saying that it’s the brainwashing of Barisan Nasional albeit Umno, MCA, MIC propaganda — but trust me, if you look at Pakatan Rakyat posters or events you will see the very same thing. A ceramah will have three speakers — a Malay, Chinese and Indian. Political propaganda in Malaysia lacks creativity, I tell you.
I guess what I am trying to say is that perhaps the very reason why we have this problem when it comes to unity amongst Malaysians is that we have this artificial idealistic mental image that we try again and again to enforce on society.
Instead of accepting who we are and cultivating unity in more natural ways, we opt for something that is rather foreign. To make my point clear, unity is not just about Ali and Ah Chong walking together holding hands singing songs. Unity is when Ali and Ah Chong fight not because of race, religion but rather because they both wanted the last cookie in the jar. Unity is when Ali is friends with Ah Chong not because he is Chinese, rather because they both love football. I hope you get my idea.
It’s like that Petronas ad where Tan Hong Ming, who is probably eight or nine years old, has this crush on this Malay girl. Which is fine, but if I remember correctly eight-year-old boys dislike girls, as girls are yucky and annoying. Instead, young boys usually have crushes on their teachers instead. If it were my ad, Tan Hong Ming would have had a crush on his teacher.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/ali-ah-chong-and-muthu/
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1 Malaysia menuju kehancuran?
July 12, 2010
12 JULAI — Gagasan 1 Malaysia yang diperkenalkan oleh perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak berada dalam keadaan bahaya.
Partinya sendiri, United Malay National Organisation (Umno) tidak dilihat begitu bersama konsep yang bercita-cita untuk menyatupadukan rakyat Malaysia yang terdiri dari pelbagai kaum dan agama.
Timbalannya sendiri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin tidak bercakap senada dengannya dan dilihat tidak bersungguh-sungguh dalam memperjuangkan konsep 1 Malaysia. Begitu juga pimpinan-pimpinan Umno yang lain secara keseluruhannya.
Hanya ada dua orang yang dilihat bersama dengan gagasan Najib ini, Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz dan ahli Parlimen Rembau, Khairy Jamaluddin. Akan tetapi seperti yang diketahui umum, kedua-dua pimpinan Umno ini tidak begitu popular didalam parti mereka.
Nazri Aziz hilang populariti dikalangan “pembesar-pembesar” Umno oleh kerana keberaniannya berlainan pendapat dengan mantan perdana menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad.
Dr Mahathir seperti yang diketahui umum masih mempunyai pengaruh yang kuat di dalam Umno walaupun tidak memimpin parti tersebut semenjak 2003.
Semenjak di zaman pemerintahan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Nazri telah bertindak sebagai panglima kepada perdana menteri sehingga lantang mengkritik Dr Mahathir.
Setelah Najib menjadi perdana menteri, Nazri sekali lagi bertegang urat dengan Dr Mahathir sehingga pernah melabelkan perdana menteri keempat itu sebagai “Bapa Politik Perkauman”.
Ahli parlimen Rembau yang juga Ketua Pemuda Umno tidak begitu popular dikalangan sayap yang dipimpinnya dan parti Umno secara keseluruhannya. Beliau juga tidak disukai oleh Dr Mahathir yang secara terbuka mengkritiknya.
Dizaman pemerintahan Abdullah, Khairy dikatakan begitu berkuasa dan begitu berpengaruh didalam pembuatan keputusan yang dilakukan oleh perdana menteri pada ketika itu. Ini telah menyebabkan kebencian timbul kepadanya dikalangan pimpinan dan ahli Umno.
Hanya Nazri dan Khairy sahajalah yang jelas dilihat menyokong gagasan 1 Malaysia yang dibawa oleh Najib. Selebihnya, tidak dilihat begitu bersungguh dalam menjayakan gagasan yang dibawa oleh perdana menteri.
Pengaruh Perkasa
Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (Perkasa) lahir selepas Tsunami politik 8 Mac 2008. Perkasa diasaskan oleh Ahli Parlimen Pasir Mas, Datuk Ibrahim Ali. Secara ringkasnya, objektif Perkasa adalah untuk melindungi hak-hak orang Melayu daripada orang-orang bukan Melayu.
Perkasa mendakwa kek ekonomi tidak dibahagikan dengan sama rata. Menurut mereka lagi, orang-orang Melayulah yang paling tertindas dalam pembahagian kek ekonomi ini.
Ibrahim yang bertanding diatas tiket PAS dalam PRU 12, mengisytiharkan diri sebagai ahli parlimen bebas dan mula menggerakkan Perkasa. Perkasa mendapat sokongan dan naungan daripada Dr Mahathir.
Pimpinan-pimpinan tertinggi Umno termasuk ahli kabinet Najib menyatakan sokongan secara terbuka kepada Perkasa. Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz Mahathir, Noh Omar, Awang Adek dan Fuad Zarkashi adalah diantaranya.
Perlahan-lahan Perkasa membina nama dalam arena politik negara. Pertubuhan ini bergerak keseluruh negara dan turut mendapat sokongan daripada ahli-ahli Umno di akar umbi.
Perkasa mula menjadi popular dikalangan orang-orang Melayu yang merasakan bahawa Umno tidak begitu berani memperjuangkan nasib mereka. Walaupun Perkasa adalah sebuah NGO, oleh kerana ianya digerakkan oleh orang-orang politik, organisasi tersebut mula berkembang mengikut “gaya” parti politik.
Tidak mustahil juga jika satu hari nanti Perkasa akan menjadi parti politik.
Perkasa membuka jaringan disetiap negeri. Selain itu, Perkasa turut mempunyai sayap Pemuda (Wira), Wanita dan Serikandi mirip kepada parti-parti politik.
Semenjak ditubuhkan, Perkasa secara lantang menyuarakan pandangan mereka. Selain daripada bersilat lidah dan bertengkar dengan Pakatan Rakyat (PR), Perkasa turut bertembung dengan pimpinan BN.
Baru-baru ini pengerusi Perkasa bertikam lidah dengan Wee Ka Siong dalam isu biasiswa. Kemudian pertengkaran itu berpindah kepada Khairy Jamaluddin yang membela Ketua Pemuda MCA itu.
Pengaruh Perkasa menjadi kuat sehinggakan pertubuhan tersebut seringkali dibincangkan di media baik bagi yang menyokong mahupun yang menentangnya.
Persatuan ala Perkasa oleh MCA
Sebelum ini, penentangan terhadap 1 Malaysia hanya terlihat daripada pimpinan Umno yang mempergunakan Perkasa. Kini ianya turut merebak ke parti komponen kedua terbesar BN iaitu Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
Naib Presiden MCA, Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai mencadangkan agar sebuah NGO ala Perkasa ditubuhkan oleh kaum Cina. Ini merupakan langkah untuk menghadapi Perkasa yang dipimpin oleh Ibrahim Ali.
Donald mencadangkan agar kumpulan yang bakal ditubuhkan tersebut diterajui oleh Dewan Perhimpunan Cina Kuala Lumpur Selangor (KLSCAH). Menurut beliau tuntutan-tuntutan untuk kepentingan kaum Cina boleh disuarakan secara lantang oleh NGO yang bakal ditubuhkan tersebut.
Donald Lim menggesa agar masyarakat Cina tidak perlu risau dengan Perkasa oleh kerana mereka juga boleh menubuhkan kumpulan seumpama itu.
Jika cadangan Donald Lim menjadi kenyataan, Malaysia akan mempunyai sebuah lagi Perkasa kali ini untuk masyarakat Cina.
Sebelum tsunami Mac 8, kaum India mempunyai Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). Hindraf dikatakan menjadi salah satu faktor undi masyarakat India beralih kepada pakatan pembangkang.
Pada ketika itu pengaruh Hindraf menjadi begitu kuat sehinggakan perdana menteri sendiri menyokong kemasukkan parti Makkal Sakti yang merupakan pecahan kepada Hindraf kedalam BN.
Kemana masa depan Malaysia?
Malaysia kini berada diambang bahaya. Setelah sekian lama dipimpin oleh parti-parti yang berasaskan kaum, kini kumpulan-kumpulan pelampau kaum lahir satu persatu.
Masing-masing sibuk untuk memperjuangkan nasib kaum mereka sendiri.
Mahu tak mahu, pemerintah terpaksa memenuhi tuntutan-tuntutan kumpulan ini. Malaysia akhirnya gagal menjadi sebuah negara yang menyatukan penduduk pelbagai kaum dan agama. Ini berlaku pada ketika Malaysia telah lama merdeka.
Najib Razak gagal untuk memperkuatkan jenama 1 Malaysia dikalangan partinya dan parti komponen BN. Tidak mustahil 1 Malaysia akan menerima nasib yang sama dengan Islam Hadhari yang dibawa oleh Abdullah Badawi satu ketika dahulu.
Islam Hadhari hilang sebaik sahaja Abdullah turun dari takhta. Ini juga yang bakal terjadi kepada 1 Malaysia. Yang rugi adalah rakyat Malaysia. Setelah sekian lama, kita masih lagi tidak dapat bersatu di bawah payung Malaysia.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
Amin Iskandar adalah Pengarah Eksekutif National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI), sebuah badan bukan kerajaan yang aktif dalam program pendidikan pengundi dan pemantauan pilihanraya. Beliau juga adalah pemilik bloghttp://aminiskandar.com
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/1-malaysia-menuju-kehancuran/
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View China objectively
By WU HONGBO, China Daily
Beijing, Tuesday 6 July 2010
A recent report published by Germany’s Heinrich Boll Foundation shows that more than half of the 8,700 articles on China in the European country’s media showed a prejudiced or derogative perspective about the Asian nation.
My personal work experiences in Germany tell me that the foundation’s report is credible.
Like their Western counterparts, some German media and journalists with prejudiced viewpoints about China have long held a particular interest in covering the country’s ethnicity, freedom, human rights and other sensitive issues, while stinting space on coverage about the enormous progresses Beijing has achieved in improving people’s livelihood and on science and technology, education and culture.
In the latest such incident, a German newspaper lashed out at China for its “espionage” in Germany on its front page. Such a groundless report is certain to adversely affect bilateral ties between the two countries.
A country’s media undertake some definite responsibilities for its society and play an important role in facilitating the development of its ties with foreign countries. Objective, authentic and unbiased reports will help the public get a correct picture about a foreign country and its opposite will lead the public in the reverse direction.
According to a recent survey, 80% of Chinese hold a positive opinion about Germany, in sharp contrast to 70% of Germans who hold negative opinions about China. Such an outcome is largely the result of completely different perspectives adopted by the two countries’ media in their coverage about the other.
The German media’s prejudiced reports about China will not only negatively impact mutual understanding between the two peoples, but will also dent their own credibility as objective and impartial outlets of news dissemination.
China has a total area that is double that of the 27-member European Union (EU) and a population more than two and a half times the bloc’s total. As a developing country, China bears multiple economic, technological and social characteristics, with advances in airspace and high-speed rail technology coexisting with underdeveloped animal-driven trucks. The economic and social progress achieved since the reform and opening up have not changed the fact that its economic development is still on an uneven keel.
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) was only US$18 billion in 1949, but it touched US$4.9 trillion in 2009, ranking it the world’s third largest economy. China’s admirable economic aggregate, however, has not changed its low per capita index. Compared with the US$44,000 in Germany, China’s per capita GDP was only US$3,000, ranking it 104th in the world.
The country is still a rural-dominant society, with 800 million of its 1.3 billion people living in rural areas and its urbanization level only standing at 46 percent, lower than the 50% world average. On its way to industrialization, modernization and urbanization, China still faces the arduous task of transforming its economic development model and narrowing the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
China is well aware of the difficulties and challenges ahead and is making active efforts to explore a development model suited to its national conditions. While sharing the country’s economic fruit, Chinese people are also enjoying unprecedented freedoms and rights. The country has laid down a well-developed legal infrastructure to guarantee freedom of speech for its citizens.
However, it is China’s long-cherished stance that there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech and that any speech should conform to the country’s laws. For instance, remarks aimed at publicizing or spreading Nazism and those antagonizing Jewish sentiment are also prohibited in Germany.
With a population of 400 million netizens and 220 million bloggers, opinions have always remained particularly active on the Internet, some of which hold a critical attitude toward the government. The Chinese government has long paid high attention to various kinds of criticisms and proposals, especially those over the Internet.
It is the whole world’s common aspiration to promote progress on human rights. Like their counterparts in the rest of the world, the Chinese government has long thrown its weight behind its people’s pursuit of democracy and human rights and made remarkable progresses in promoting people’s human rights.
It is the Chinese government’s proposal that human rights include not only political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights and that rights for subsistence and development serve as the primary human rights for a developing nation.
There does not exist a political model in the world that is viable to all countries. Western countries’ failure to transplant their political models to developing countries after World War II is also testimony that any political system and development model can only be built on certain national conditions. It is China’s stated position that the world should have diversified development models and that every country’s desire to choose its own development path according to its own national conditions should be respected.
A developing country with a 1.3-billion population, China will make a huge contribution to the world if it can handle well its domestic issues. At the most difficult time of the global financial crisis, the Chinese government adhered to cooperation with other countries to tackle the crisis.
As an important player in the international arena, China has actively participated in UN efforts for the settlement of some international hot button issues and has played an active role in promoting the handling of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and Iran. It has also made its deserved contribution on climate change and greenhouse gas emission reduction.
An open China has drawn more and more attention from foreign media. We welcome all opinion and proposals expressed in good faith, including critical opinion about our shortcomings.
But it is hoped that the Western media, including Germany’s media, will look at and cover the ancient and booming Asian nation in the true journalistic perspective and in an objective and impartial manner.
[The author is China’s ambassador in Germany]
Asia News Network
MySinChew 2010-07-06
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/41292
Kempen SSS 
Menuduh orang yang mahu mempertahankan hak dan kepentingan bangsanya rasis tiada ma’af bagi mu.
Imran,
Memang perlu berhati hati bila menuduh orang rasis. Penting mengtahui maksud orang yang dituduh. Jika tidak boleh diketahui, lebih baik jangan menuduh, Jika mahu juga menuduh, coba kaji halus-halus jika situduh ada niat tidak baik kapada bangsa lain. Jika dia hanya mahu memajukan kepentingan bangsanya sahaja, maka tidak wajarlah dia dituduh rasis.
Pada umumnya orang mengeluarkan perkataan rasis dengan tidak faham makna atau maksud sebenar perkataan itu. Stu tuduhan rasis akan mebawa balsan setimpal. Datuk Ibrahim Ali dituduh rasis, maka Donald Lim dituduh rasis pula. Maka berlarutanlah ceritanya.
Everybody is racist because they want to promote their own interest. Political parties along racial lines were allowed to be registered since before Merdeka, so semua yang camtu rasis la. Apa nak kata rasis sana sini, ngaku saja la. Even those claiming to be multi-racial like DAP is racist also.
hizan,
It is true practically everybody wishes to promote his or her own interest. From the minutest to the largest aspect of self aggrandisement or from the simplest to the most intricate aspect of righteousness, high values and everuthing else. It is very rare indeed a person does not want to be and appear better than the other. Maybe the simple rural folks, the wise and the fully secure ones. Well acclaimed Professors are sometimes said to be humble and simplistic in manners, ways and wants. Politicians, especially the rough and tumble ones, would always like to be in the limelight and claim some credit for anything they can claim.
Thus, in the United States, there is always a crowd of Congressmen or Senators or Mayors or whatever that get to their posts by way of politics, behind the President every time he signs anything marking a milestone in the country’s political life. And the President would use so many pens, changing them with every stroke of his signature, and passing them to those standing behind or beside him. Thank goodness this practice is not emulated in this country. Otherwise the Prime Minister’s signature may be crooked out of signing with so many pens!
Many people have said that the DAP is racist. Let us wait for more views and hear the reasons why they are thought so.
I also geli when watching Yasmin Ahmad and all of those Petronas ads,It’s all too fake. I had chinese and indian friends. I onc bickerfed with my Indian friend and called him keling. I knew it was really bad, but we are still friends and in contact and even went to Sunway Lagoo together some months back and the my chinese classmate who I meet occasionally when I jog around Wangsa Maju. We’d stop and have a little chat and then continue our separate lives. Whatever it is, If I see my chinese and Indian friends,. we will always tegir each other. We may not have the same interests and political views, but the strength of knowing each other will always ensure a bond between us.
That is why I despise any raciallly polarizes schoolsl.Even MRSMs. They concoct and brew the worst characteristsics of each race upon the students and unleaseh them upon each other. As a Malay who studied overseas, I noticed MRSM students have an indifferenece attitude towards anything not Malay. They study overseas but locked in their cocoon by having unvelieveabky long chats at any Malaysian cafe . The same with the UEC gradiates I met overseas, forever immersed in the Chinese oriented socities and programs. I even met a sillly Malay UEC graduate who spent 3 years practically alone bacause his Chinese housemates will not go out with him and he did not know how to play football with other Malaysians and Malays,
WHatever it is, I sincerely believe Satu Sekolah will make our country better.
Hijaz,
Good of you to have said and good on you for saying that you believe Satu Sekolah will make our country better. It will and it has to, because single-stream schooling affords the opportunity for children at their formative age to mingle and mix with those of different races. That would naturally lead them to understand one another better – whatever that they can understand at the primary school level, be it just what is Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Gawai and so on. More importantly, it will enable them to break barriers, not feeling strange and awkward when mixing with those of other races at a later time, like those who attend vernacular schools are likely to do. Most importantly, they have the opportunity to develop common values, common hopes and aspirations. These are very important for the evolution of a united and cohesive Bangsa Malaysia.
The MRSMs are part of the affirmative action to help bridge the huge gap between the Malays and the Chinese. The British colonialists built only Malay schools far in between the kampongs for Malay children to study for a total of only four years at the primary level. The British wanted the Malays to continue being farmers planting rice etc and be fishermen. The Malays in Krian asked the British to build an English school there but was refused. The Malays in Klang – then a kampong – asked the same, the British built one but closed it down after only four months when the British bosses in Kuala Lumpur found out about it. But the British built ample schools, in the English language (the passport to success then) in the towns where most of the Chinese lived. These resulted in the Malays having less than 5% in the various professional fields in 1970 when the New Economic Policy was started. The bridging of the gap is necessary for inter-racial harmony and national unity and such affirmative action was conceived of after the racial riots occurred in 1969.
As far as mixing with children oof other races is concerned, the Malay children attending MRSMs have invariably attended national schools and mix with others at their formative age and are likely to be different from those who attended vernacular schools at the primary level in terms of their inter-racial disposition.
I think it’s equally important to note that the medium of instruction in MRSMs is Bahasa Malaysia which is in accordance to the constitutional requirement. This is clearly not the case in SJKs. The language of instruction is the issue at hand, and in this respect SJKs present a double detrimental factors towards unity — besides being racially segregated they are also not making use of the National Language as medium of instruction rendering their students less proficient in the language. Besides, MRSM’s and matriculation centers have also been partially opened to non-Bumi’s even though they form part of the constitutionally provisioned Malay/Bumiputera Special Positions. I believe that if the current leadership trend of compromising Malay rights to fill the hollow 1Malaysia propaganda continues, all MRSM’s, UiTMs and SBPs will eventually be fully opened to all Rakyat regardless of race. Academic meritocracy interlaced with responsible social engineering will eventually be the main considerations of their intake police. But can we honestly say that SJKs will also change in the way they operate with regards to the use of language and curricular used? Can we expect them to be reasonable and offer the same magnitude of compromise towards building a united country?
teman pun melayu obersea jugak,
You are right in that the MRSMs’ medium of instruction is consistent with the constitutional provision on Bahasa Malaysia whereas that of the SJKs is not. The SJKs are not only not using the National Language as the medium of instruction but also have a different syllabus and are allowed a lower standard of pass in Bahasa Malaysia. The Ministry of Education announced earlier this year a decision to streamline that syallabus and standard of pass with those of the SKs beginning from next year.
The Deputy Minister of Education who is also the Head of MCA Youth said that he objected three times at the meetings discussing the matter. The sad part is that he told the press about it. One would have expected that, after expressing the views of his party at private and confidential official meetings and a decision was subsequently made, a Deputy Education Minister and a member of the ruling alliance would have towed the Government line and, at most, only said to the press that his party disagrees with the Policy and was planning to take the matter up using the proper channel.
The Malays would not allow the “MRSM’s, UiTMs and SBPs will eventually be fully opened to all Rakyat regardless of race.” They have suffered enough under the British colonial rule where they received only four years of primary-level Malay schooling in kampong schools that were far in between one another, whereas the Chinese, who lived mostly in the towns, benefitted from an ample number of British-built schools at both the primary and secondary level, and in the English language, which was the passport to success in those times, for about 80 years, making them far ahead the Malays educationally and professionally. Despite the NEP, in the field of accountancy, for example, there are now only about 30% qualified Malays registered with the Malaysian Institute of Public Accountants whereas the Malays constitute about 60% of the population.
The “compromising of Malay rights” by the current leadership appears to be the reason for Perkasa and the over 100 Malay NGOs to have organised public meetings and made pronouncements demanding the preservation of NEP in the NEM. Gertak and the Melayu Bangkit Rally with 58 Malay NGOs in Trengganu followed suit. They have not said anything to the effect of asking anything from what the generally rich Chinese already have. They are asking only from the new economic pie. Nobody should feel threatened and it is not fair that the Perkasa President is called racist for doing so.
Under the present leadership which has been out trying to get the Chinese PRU12 run-away votes, it is difficult to expect the SJKs to change to a medium of instruction. Dato Seri Najib has been making official visits to Chinese schools, had dinner at one of them, announced during one of those visits that Chinese schools can continue, gave millions of Ringgits cash to Chinese schools at PRK Kuala Trengganu, Hulu Selangor and Sibu. He didn’t get the votes he ran after but there has been no change in his stand about SJKs. There needs to be a major effort within his party UMNO, or by the pubic at large, like at the coming PRU, for a realisation that a firm and drastic action is required to change the SJKs into adopting the National Language as the medium of instruction and for their reasonableness and compromise in the efforts towards building a united Malaysia. But realising it after PRU13 would be too late as the proponents of SJKs would have become hardened on their stand and the prospect of unity through single-stream schooling goes farther away.
Malaysia is a heaven compared to all developing countries of the same age. A racist label others racist. Malay hospitality is most tolerant. Only it has been abused by some ungrateful recipient. Up to now they still hold on to “live and let live”.
Dal,
Chinese who have been to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines know that despite them being required to use local names, use local attire, speak the local language, they are still not quite local as far the latent feelings of the locals are concerned in many cases. Malaysia allows them so much leeway – after citizenship right, continuation of Chinese schools, the right to use mother tongue for other than official business, they have unfettered access to the opportunities to make money in this country.
They need only to comply with their part of the bargain – respect the Special Position of the Malays, which is the quid pro quo for their citizenship right. When they do not respect that and are antagonistic towards that, blame Ibrahim Ali, Perkasa and the others trying to get the Government continue New Economic Policy in the New Economic Model, that’s when they become racist. Take as much wealth of the country as they can, they would not be racist. But the moment they say or think that the Malays do not deserve or should not be allowed to get their share of the economic wealth of the country, they are definitely racist. We need to continue our exhortations that they do not do so for the sake of long term peace and unity in this country.
Tay Tian Yan says racism is the dumbest and most dangerous thing around. Agreed. But then he says: Wasn’t Ibrahim Ali aware of it? Didn’t anyone tell him about it? Tan is implying Ibrahim Ali is racist. He is stupid.
watusi,
Datuk Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa appears to be asking only for Malay rights and interests be protected and promoted by the Government. On that basis, he can’t be said to be racist. Otherwise everybody or organisation doing that are racist. All political parties based on race have in their Memorandum of Association the objective of protecting and promoting the rights and interests of members – those of the race that party represents. UMNO, MCA, and the others.
As far as we know, Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa did not attack or criticise or say anything te other races, including grudging the Chinese for the wealth and the educational advancement they have, or say or do anything that prevents the Chinese from acquiring more wealth or better education. Asking the Government to continue NEP in NEM or to give more scholarships to the Malays is not being belligerent towards the Chinese.
It appears to us that whatever confrontational statements or actions Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa took were in the form of reactions to the accusations made against them. As such, it is highly questionable whether they are racist or not. Those who started the accusations and sounding confrontational to Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa may be racist.
Diaorag cakap rasis macam diaorang tak rasis …….. Ikut snang cakap saja……. Tak tahu apa makna rasis…….. Apa ukuran diaorang guna mengata orang rasis? …………Fikirlah sikit…………… Rasis tu bila busuk hati kat race lain.
Abra,
Kami bersetuju bahawa rasis itu ialah bila sesorang busuk hati kapada sesorang atau sekumpulan bangsa lain. Sebagai suatu bangsa, Melayu tidak rasis. Sebaliknya, Melayu terlalu merendahkan diri, baik hati dan pemurah atau “accomodating”. Di pertengahan abad 19, Menteri Larut membawa masuk dari Pulau Pinang orang Cina bagi tujuan memabantunya menjalankan perusahaan lombong bijih timahnya.
Kemudian dia memberi modal kapada beberapa orang Cina dan menyediakan tanah perlombongan untuk mereka membuka lombong bahru yang dia boleh pungut cukai dari hasilnya. Tetapi orang Cina membawa masuk kongsi gelap, penjahat dan gengster. Bila bergaduh bunuh membunuh antara kongsi gelap dan gengster, Melayu terlibat hingga melarut kapada apa yang dipanggil Perang Larut.
Tidak nyata keadaan rasis sehingga ketahap itu. Tetapi apabila ada pihak yang coba mengatakan Melayu yang menyebabkan Perang Larut – seperti ada yang ditulis diWikipedia – maka itu nyata rasis. Busuk hati kapada Melayu walhal Ngah Ibrahim banyak bermurah hati dan menolong mereka.
I rather have a Chinese client than a Malay client…does that make me a racist?
I rather have a Chinese landlord if i wanted to rent a place…does that make me a racist?
But I prefer to have a Malay mechanic to send my car to rather than to a Chinese mechanic.. does that make me a racist?
I rather have a Chinese lawyer as my partner than an Indian one….does that make me a racist?
I rather be a sparrow than a snail….does that make me Simon and Garfunkel?
The Oxford dictionary says:
Race = 1. group of persons or animals connected by common descent, posterity of (person); house, family, tribe or nation regarded as of common stock; distinct ethnica stock (Caucasian, Mongolian etc)
2. descent, kindred 3. Class of persons etc with some common feature (the race of poets, etc)
Racial = Of, in regard to, due to, race. Hence racism – tendency to racial feeling, antagonism between different races of men.
Therefore the key to being racist or not is whether a person is antagonistic towards another person of a different race.
But I didn’t know that race also means a group of animals. It looks like a dog can be racist towards a cat! Damn racism! Racist human beings and racist animals! Hahaha.
Thank you for your blog article and the interesting comments above. It made me curious and looked up the dictionary. Now I’m richer in knowledge by some racist animals!
What about sneering or looking down on other races like the Australians do, like the lead article says? What about attitude towards colour. “Colour Bar” in Britain and US, and special entrances for blacks and signboards saying “Entrance for Blacks and Dogs” quite some time ago? Apartheid in South Africa, a system dismantled only recently?
Prejudice = racist? Prejudiced perspective about China, 70% of Germans hold negative opinions about China = racist?
Very interesting this thing called racism. Adolf Hitler’s prejudice against Jews, killed 6 million Jews = racist? All those Jew haters for hundreds of years in Europe racist?
Alamak,
Sneering or looking down on people of other races without the element of antagonism or hostility may be in the realm of prejudice or snobbery, not quite racism. After all, there are the rich who don’t have time for the poor, the fashionable who can’t stand the “badly dressed”, the educated who “don’t suffer fools”, they like to say. It does take all sorts to make this world. That there are these kinds of fellows, including the bloody racists, makes this world ticks. It also makes for the frustration, hardship and suffering the world over and throughout history. It cost tens of millions of lives and hundreds of billion dollars to put Adolf Hitler and the Nazis down during World War II.
Colour Bar by any other name or definition anywhere in the world is racism. The antagonism that goes with that “devilish institution” is well known over the years. In South Africa, the official policy and overall system of apartheid has been dismantled but racism in one form or another still exists. The German older generations who still have memories what carnage Adolf Hitler and Nazism brought to Germany would be abhorring racism but one wonders whether the younger generations’ negative opinions about China is simply prejudice or snobbery. And the Chinese have not been the most diplomatic or politest of people, anyway. Thrown asunder from the throes of militant communism, violent revolutions – cultural or whatever it was called by the adherents of Mao Zedong – of the 1960s, the utter chaos and destruction of millions of lives, property and, most importantly, the people’s values on law and order, the Chinese rode their economic progress with pride not without arrogance. It is quite natural to feel ecstatic when they rose from economic ruins during the so-called Cultural Revolution to being the third largest economy in the world. Shunned by the West to almost a pariah existence 20 years or so ago, they now are demanding a place in the World Trade Organisation.
Even the Chinese in Malaysia feel some ecstasy – they not only demand a continuation of Chinese schools but also tell other Malaysians to learn Mandarin because of the trade or business with China, they say. The Prime Minister, who has been running after Chinese votes since PRK Hulu Selangor and Sibu, played to their tune and has a son studying Mandarin for a few months in Beijing. All may be well and fine, except that the National Language of the country is Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese schools should have BM as the medium of instruction, not Mandarin.
There’s no racism in insisting on BM as the medium of instruction because BM is stated in the Constitution as the National Language and the Constitution must be respected and abided by all citizens. The Constitution is the basis for determining loyalty in this country, just as any other. With the attitude of the PM on Chinese schools, even offering millions of Ringgits to Chinese schools during by-elections, one wonders what to him is the basis for loyalty to the country. Surely not just by saying “I love my country” or paying tax, because even the foreign labourers pay tax by way of annual levies charged on them. We would, nevertheless, continue calling for single-stream schooling for the creation of a united and cohesive Bangsa Malaysia.
Ameer Shah,
Thank you for providing the dictionary definition of those words. Yes, even the dictionary can give us surprises at times. And there are racist animals in this world. Of more than one kind, too. It is said that human beings at times behave like animals.
The British philosopher Bertrand Russel said that man is never satisfied. The insatiability of man’s desires sometimes lead them to cross the rules of decency and become racist. In wanting more wealth and whatever the country has, people even try to thwart the efforts of those who ask for a fair share of the riches of the country. In accusing the Perkasa President racist, the accuser is antagonistic towards the accused who belongs to a different race and is himself racist. Especially when the racist nature of the accused is not an established fact.
Dato Ibrahim Ali began Perkasa for the purpose of asking the New Economic Policy be incorporated in the New Economic Model. He did not ask for anything that would entail the taking away of what the Chinese and others already have. The NEP has been there since 1970, in pursuit of the Special Position of the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak. He was accused of being racist. He appeared to have responded in kind to those who called him racist.
Are You Gonna Go My Way,
As has been pointed out by Ameer Shah, there needs to be an element of antagonism towards another race to be racist. On doubtful cases, a lot depends on the intent and the motive of a person in his or her dealings with another before the label racist can be applied. As in legal cases, no intent or motive, no case.
Unfortunately there has been rather rampant use of the word racist. The sad thing is that it occurs among politicians who are leaders of sorts and who are supposed to lead by example. The political motive often takes the upper hand and clouds the real meaning of the word racism. In the case of Dato Ibrahim Ali, even the writer of one of the articles above says that “it may have been incidental” but that there may have been exploitation by some members of his group who in the process of promoting their cause uttered words that appear antagonistic towards others. But clearly the movement is not aimed at taking anything away from the rich Chinese and others. It was merely trying to protect and promote Malay rights and interests.
But one seriously wonders the motive of Donald Lim in calling for a Chinese Perkasa. It clearly was a reaction to Ibrahim Ali’s Perkasa. Those calling Ibrahim Ali racist sound antagonistic and are themselves racist. Donald Lim’s motive also appears as political – a desire to please and attract the Chinese to support the party of which he is President. He wants to appear at least to MCA members that he is protecting and promoting their interests. Alas, it was not a happy platform, it was not an original thought. It was merely a reacton to what Ibrahim Ali has tried to do for the Malays and without being confrontational.
First time I agree with that TAY TIAN YAN guy. He said:
All that Donald did was to suggest that a Perkasa kind of thing be set up for the Chinese community. But that alone was good enough to bring in all the reprimands, from his own party or rival ones, from his own community or other communities.
But why did he have to react when Perkasa is all about asking NEP to be in NEM? He thinks you all don’t have enough ha? He and his wife already has a lot since the time he was Tourism Minister. Can read that at Rocky Bru’s blog.
Halim,
Demagoguery is the hallmark of politicians desperate for power and lacking in principles. It is also called fishing in murky waters. It can be an attempt at diverting the attention of MCA members from the series of leadership problems that they have been having for the past one year or so. A rallying point of sorts. President Sukarno of Indonesia tried to divert the attention of his people away from the economic woes of his country and brought Indonesia to a military escapade in the form of “Confrontation” against Malaysia in the 1960s. Donald Lim may be trying these when he suggested the Chinese Perkasa thing.
Good that he got “all the reprimands, from his own party or rival ones, from his own community or other communities”. Many, including his own party, have realised the folly of his action. Let us hope that he himself realises it. He has to be responsible as a leader of a Party that is a component member of the ruling Barisan Nasional. Although Ibrahim is an independent Member of Parliament and Perkasa is not linked with UMNO, their objectives are the same as UMNO’s – protecting and promoting the rights and interests of the Malays. They appear to be doing so when the leader of UMNO appears to be placing those matters low on the priority of national development. Perkasa has been asking that the New Economic Policy be incorporated into the New Economic Model.
Who says Ibrahim Ali is not racist? He calls people all sorts of names. Dato Wee, Deputy Minister of Education, Donal Lim, Deputy Minister of Finance.
Steven,
It may be a case of an action evoking a reaction. As Halim has pointed out above, even those from his own party “reprimands” Donald Lim for reacting by proposing a Chinese Perkasa. One has not seen Ibrahim Ali expressing antagonistic sentiments against the Chinese when he first started Perkasa. If any, Ibrahim was critical of the Government, rather than the Chinese, for sidelining the New Economic Policy in the New Economic Model.
Ibrahim’s spat with Wee was on the issue of scholarships. Wee is the Deputy Education Minister of the Barisan Nasional coalition government. He has been criticising his own Government. One would have expected that he takes matters that he or his party disagree with through the proper channels. His own boss, the Minister of Education cum Deputy Prime Minister, chairs many meetings of the Barisan Nasional. Obviously what Wee brings up are those that either the UMNO leadership or the Barisan Nasional do not agree with.
When matters have been discussed and not agreed on, the coalition members should then stick to the party or Barisan line. Airing party grouses in public is not the normally accepted thing. Especially in advanced countries like UK when they always behave in decorum. Air their grouses at closed door meetings, then present a united front to the public. This so even in the United States where there is the so-called open society, freedom of expression and all. But, for example, on the matter of standardising the Bahasa Malaysia tests at Chinese schools with those of the national schools, Wee told the newspapers that he had objected to it on three occasions. His views on the matter of scholarships are not in line with those of the Government of which he himself is a member. It is this sort of matters that led to the spat between Ibrahim and him.
The question is who started what. Action or reaction. Antagonistic or confrontational. Spontaneous or long, thought-out remarks that may constitute motive or merely reacting on the spur of the moment. These are some of the basic elements that need to be considered when labeling any one racist.
Racism begets racism Steven. Intolerance and ungratefulness leads to never ending feud between races. Do we want that in this country?
jebatmustdie,
The unfortunate part is that often there is absolutely no reason for the intolerance. In the case of Dato Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa, they were out to protect Malay rights and promote Malay interests. Each and every race-based political party does that for their own communities. Such parties were allowed to exist and were officially registered since British colonial times.
Asking for the NEP to be continued in the NEM is protecting and promoting Malay rights and interests. It is not an attempt to take away what the rich Chinese and others already have. It is not antagonistic towards other races and is not racist. On the other hand, those who accuse him of being racist are being antagonistic and are racist.
There is simply no justification for the others to grudge against the NEP. It was derived from the Special Position of the Malays that was written into the Constitution as a quid pro quo for the citizenship right of the non-Malays. The Malays did not get anything, really, from the bargain because it was merely a matter of writing into the Constitution the Malay Special Position which has always been there “since day one”, as stated by the British Colonial Secretary to the British Paerliament when debating the Malaya Independence Bill. The non-Malays got a huge benefit – citizenship for them and their descendants. Hence, being intolerant of the Malay Special Position is being ungrateful.
Rasis le kalau bencikan sesatu bangsa. Teman tak kisah rasis kerana bencikan Yahudi. Celaka deme mengaut tanah Palestin. Merana orang Palestin dibuat deme dengan macam macam bencana. Dah berpuluh puluh tahun dibuatnya. Sekarang kapal nak bawak masuk bekalan perubatan pun tak dibenor deme. Zalim punye maanusia.
Sayong,
Gejala rasis ini timbul disisi maanusia diawal perkembangan maanusia, apabila muncul apa yang dinamakan bangsa beribu tahun yang lalu. Yahudi dibencikan berbagai bangsa dan merempat dimerata dunia dengan sifat tamak, haloba dan pentingkan diri sendiri dengan tidak terhingga. Mereka telah dapat memegang kuasa disuatu dinasti diMesir dizaman Fir’aun anggaran 2,000 tahun yang lalu tetapi telah dinyahkan keluar dari Mesir dalam suatu episod yang dipanggil didalam sejarah mereka sebagai “The Exodus”. DiEngland, seorang Yahudi bernama Benjamin Disraeli telah dapat menjadi Perdana Menteri. DiAmerika Syarikat, “the Israeli Lobby” mempunyai kuasa dan pengaruh yang tidak terhingga – “with unmatched power”, mengikut dua orang Professor dari Harvard University dan Chicago University yang telah membuat kajian bersama berkenaan dengannya. Mereka terus dibencikan.
Berbagai bangsa diEropah, diAmerika dan lain lain adalah rasis sebab bencikan Yahudi sejak beribu tahun. DiPerang Dunia Kedua, dalam rangka “membershikan bangsa German / Aryan”, Adolf Hitler telah membunuh 6 juta Yahudi menggunakan gas dsbnya, walau pun Iran mendakwa angka itu dida’ayahkan bagi mendapatkan simpati dunia antara bangsa diatas penubuhan Israel ditanah Palestin. DiFrance sekarang masih banyak yang bencikan Yahudi walau pun sudah mula tidak sukakan orang Islam yang pakai purdah kerana susah mengenal pasti identiti mereka didalam suasana pengganas antarabangsa sejak peristiwa mengebom Twin Towers diNew York beberapa tahun yang lalu.
DiMalaysia yang berbilang bangsa, rasis senang berlaku dan kita perlu mengelakkan dan membendongnya demi kepentingan keharmonian dan keamanan negara. Perlu diingati bahawa Melayu, Orang Asli dan Bumiputera Sabah dan Sarawak adalah bagsa yang sama. Kesemuanya adalah berasal dari “Keluarga Melayu” yang sama, apa yang selalu disebut sebagai “Rumpun Melayu”, walau pun berbeza agama dan suku bahasa. Ini serupa dengan bangsa Cina – banyak yang berbeza agama dan suku bahasa diantara mereka. Perkara Keluarga Melayu dan Rumpun Melayu ini telah dinyatakan dengan panjang lebar dibuku bertajuk “Tamadun Alam Melayu” atau “The Malay Civilization”, penulisan Mohd Arof Ishak, terbitan The Historical Society of Malaysia, ditahun 2007. Buku itu menerangkan penyelidekan dan kajian yang telah dibuat oleh berpuluh puluh pakar dibidang kaji bahasa (linguists), kaji maanusia (anthropologists), kaji purba (archeologists) dan lain-lain, sejak pelayaran Captain Cook diabad 19, diteruskan disetengah pertama abad 20, dipertingkatkan dengan banyak disetengah kedua abad 20.
Dengan orang Melayu sama bangsa dengan orang Asli dan orang Bumiputera Sabah dan Sarawak, maka so’al rasis yang kita perlu awasi dan coba elakkan diMalaysia ini ialah diantara “Rumpun Melayu” itu dengan rakyat keturunan Cina, India dan lain-lain. Perlu semua pihak berusaha mengurangkan timbulnya perasaan dan pendirian rasis diantara kita.
Betul ke Ketua Pemuda Umno, Khairy Jamaludin, “tidak begitu popular dikalangan sayap yang dipimpinnya dan parti Umno secara keseluruhannya”? Saya baca orang lain pun ada cakap dimasa Tun Abdullah Perdana Menteri, Khairy begitu berkuasa dan begitu berpengaruh didalam keputusan-keputusan bapak mentuanya menyebabkan banyak orang benci dia, termasuk pimpinan dan ahli biasa Umno.
Baru-baru ini masa Pengerusi Perkasa, Ibrahim Ali, bertikam lidah dengan Ketua Pemuda MCA Wee Ka Siong fasal biasiswa, Khairy membela Wee pula. Ini dah rasis terbalik ke?
Nampaknya ada fan club antara mereka berdua. Wee memuji Khairi pula – di berita dalam The Star 19.7.10 Wee kata “Khairy taking the moderate path” and supports 1Malaysia “because he understands that it is what Malaysians want ” and “his objective was to bring the nation into a brighter future”. Syiok sendiri ke mereka berdua? Ada peluang le Khairy dapat undi MCA atau undi Cina yang Dato Seri Najib coba tak dapat diPRK Hulu Selangor dan Sibu.
Tengku Razaleigh pulak kata “the growing popularity of Perkasa was due to the failure of Umno Youth to champion the rights of the Malays … Khairy’s support for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was just a ploy to get a position in the Cabinet”. Sedap juga cerita Khairy ni.
Orang Muda,
Berdasarkan apa yang ditulis dialam citra dan yang dibualkan disana sini, memang nampak Ketua Pemuda UMNO itu tidak popular dikalangan Pemuda UMNO, UMNO dan orang ramai. Dipemilihan Ketua Pemuda, dia mendapat hanya 304 undi, tidak sampai separuh pun dari jumlah perwakilan Pemuda UMNO. Dia didapati bersalah politik wang oleh Jawatankuasa Disiplin UMNO sebelom pilihan tersebut. Rekod itu lekat dinamanya dan politik wang masih dikaitkan dengan pengundiannya.
Dia dikatakan mengetuai kumpulan “Budak-Budak Tingkat Empat” diJabatan Perdana Menteri, menggunakan pejabat dikompleks pejabat Perdana Menteri, iaitu bapa mertuanya. Banyak yang bertanya-tanya apa jawatanya dan bagaimana dia dibenarkan ada pejabat diPejabat Kerajaan. Dia dikatakan banyak berpengaruh diatas keputusan yang dibuat bapa mertuanya sebagai Perdana Menteri dan sebagai Presiden parti. Maka tidak semua keputusan itu menyenangkan ahli UMNO yang lain, Pegawai Kerajaan yang berkenaan dan pemerhati-pemerhati politik.
Penglibatannya dengan ECM Libra dan kemudahan yang didapati syarikat itu dari Kementerian Kewangan yang bapa mertuanya menjadi Menterinya, dan dilain lain tempat, mencecah perasaan masyarakat perniagaan yang kebanyakannya bertungkus lumus tetapi tidak mendapat kemudahan seperti itu. Angkuhnya dia mengumumkan mahu menjadi Perdana Menteri bila berumur 40 tahun, tidak menyenangkan hati pemegang-pemegang jawatan UMNO yang lain, malahan ahli-ahli UMNO biasa dan orang ramai pun, kerana itu bukan tabi’at Melayu biasa, janggal dan tidak pernah dilakukan oleh mana mana Melayu lain.
Disuatu masa dahulu dia pernah mengkibar keris dan menyatakan diMesyuarat Agung Pemuda UMNO bahawa, jika bukan Melayu bisingkan Melayu mahukan 30% kekayaan korporat, Pemuda UMNO boleh naikkan angka yang diminta itu kapada 70%. Sekarang jauh sekali pendirian dan bunyi suaranya terhadap perkara Dasar Ekonomi Bahru diteruskan diModel Ekonomi Bahru. Malahan dia membela Ketua Pemuda MCA yang bertelingkah dengan Presiden Perkasa berkenaan perkara berkaitan dengan itu. Nyatalah dia berpaling tadah mengikut kesesuaian politiknya sendiri dari masa ke masa. Banyak orang yang tidak suka pendirian begini. Banyak orang bertanya apakah sumbangan Pemuda UMNO kebelakangan ini.
Kami setuju dengan pendapat Tengku Razaleigh bahawa “Khairy’s support for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was just a ploy to get a position in the Cabinet”. Sehingga sekarang DS Najib tidak melantiknya kejawatan Menteri atau Timbalan Menteri. Kaum Cina bertepuk tangan dengan pendirian Khairy sekarang, seperti yang dipuji Ketua Pemuda MCA itu. Jika Najib memikirkan Khairy boleh membawa undi kaum Cina kapadanya diPRU13, mungkin akan diberinya jawatan diJemaah Menteri atau sebagainya. Kerana Najib nampaknya sangat mirip kapada undi Cina dan memberi perhatian lebih kapada kepentingan kaum Cina, sehingga Perkasa, Gertak, Melayu Bangkit dan lebih 100 NGO Melayu keluar bersuara.
Diaorang ni apa nak takutkan Dato Ibrahim Ali dan Perkasa…. Kan diaorang dah kaya raya… Dah leading dlam macam macam hal…..Takut Melayu nak ambik hak dia ke?…… Mana ada pernah buat cam tu pun ….. Kekayaan diMalaysia ni dia orang punya semua ke? …..Cukai diaorang saja yang bayar ke…….Melayu tak bayar cukai ke…….Meluat aku nengok …….. ……..Yang ngata Pak Berahim macam macam itu memang rasis la……..
zabidi,
Semua penduduk dan rakyat Malaysia harus sedar dan berterima kasih bahawa Melayu tidak pernah mahu ambil harta pesaka dan hak yang dipunyai sesiapa dinegara ini. Malah, Melayu telah sangat bermurah hati menyetujui lk satu juta bukan Melayu mendapat hak kerakyatan negara ini dimasa Merdeka. Kerajaan yang diterajui oleh Melayu UMNO selepas Merdeka bermurah hati lagi dengan melonggarkan syarat pengeluaran sijil kerakyatan untuk mereka. Ujian kemahiran Bahasa Malaysia diketepikan. Ini telah di akui oleh pemimpin mereka seperti Tun Tan Siew Sin. Ini ada akibatnya kapada generasi berikutan, sehingga banyak yang tidak mahir, malah tidak dapat berbual dengan baik didalam Bahasa Kebangsaan sekarang.
Maka kita ingin lihat kesemua bukan Melayu membalas budi itu. Tidak susah pun sebab membiarkan usaha-usaha memajukan Melayu dibawah DEB adalah mengikut Perkara 153 Perlembagaan berkenaan Kedudukan Istimewa Melayu. Mereka perlu menghormati dan diam dinegara ini berlunaskan kapada Perlembagaan negara. Kemudahan-kemudahan yang diberi kapada Melayu itu adalah dari kekayaan negara. Perbelanjaan yang berkaitan adalah dari khazanah negara. Sebahagian dari sumber khazanah iitu adalah cukai. Tetapi cukai yang paling banyak dibayar adalah dari badan-badan bukan kerajaan (NGOs – 40%). Kaum Cina membayar lebihkurang 30%. Kaum Melayu pun membayar cukai juga. Mereka bersama yang lain-lain, termasuk orang asing, lebih kurang 30%.
Marilah kita terus mengeluarkkan maalumat dan pendapat supaya lebih ramai lagi rakyat dan penduduk diMalaysia ini sedarkan keadaan sebenarnya berkenaan perkara ini. Penduduk yang bukan rakyat tidak berhak mengambil bahagian didalam politik negara ini tetapi mereka boleh memanjangkan maalumat yang baik kapada yang lain supaya aman dan damai negara ini secara berpanjangan.
For me, personally, I would rather mention “ethnic” than “race”. There are many ethnic here in Malaysia. As defined in Perlembagaan, there are:-
1. Orang Asli (senoi, negrito, jakun etc)
2. Melayu (kelate, jawo, minang etc)
3. Bumiputera Sabah (kadazan, bajau etc)
4. Bumiputera Sarawak (dayak, murut etc)
5. Kaum-kaum lain (cina, india, benggali etc)
To me, all the above is one race. The Malaysian race. Is there is no such thing as Malaysian race, then start to have one! Start to recognise it! Was there American during Aryan time? Was there British during Stone Age?
Anyone who do not live, day in and day out, by the Rukuin Negara & Perlembagaan Persekutuan, his race as “Malaysian” is questionable. Can you start with a simple one first to prove that you are a Malaysian, not only by word-of-mouth-claim, but Malaysian at heart and soul as well? Can you speak Bahasa Melayu and continuosly putting its status as Bahasa Kebangsaan every single second of the day and at every inch-corner of the Malaysian boundary? Can you do away with your vernacular madness?
Can you undividedly pledge your loyalty to the Raja-Raja Melayu? the States? the Country? And then can you respect the people before you, the Orang Asli, Melayu and Bumiputeras by not trying to twist and turn to deny their rights?
Can you?
If not, then you are DAMN RACIST !!!
Kenn,
Perhaps “ethnic” is a better word. The dictionary definition of the word includes the word “gentle”. How nice it would be if that characteristic is pervasive in all mankind. However, language evolves and depends on popular usage.
Indeed, we need to have a Malaysian race. A united and cohesive one, too. In order that we would not perish as a failed state, destroyed by constant bickering and grudging, endless antagonism and vengeance, perpetrating riots and anarchy, all of which we must avoid. We at Kempen SSS have started out speaking for single-stream schooling or Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua (SSS) and the creation of a united and cohesive Bangsa Malaysia. We need to prod on continuously despite the odds.
The guideline to the creation of a Malaysian race is the Constitution and the Rukunegara. These must be the basis of the Bangsa Malaysia that needs to be forged. We cannot go on forever living separate lives, diverging interests, hopes and aspirations. The rights of the individuals exist but must be in conformity with the Constitution which also spells out Bahasa Malaysia as the National Language and the Special Position of the Malays and the Buiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak under which they, being disadvanted as a result of 80 years of British colonial policies, can try to catch up with the generally rich and well educated Chinese to an acceptable level.
Once a truly united and cohesive Bangsa Malaysia has emerged, racism will gradually dwindle and die out by itself.