Better to call a spade, a spade
KIM QUEK
The writer is a political commentator
and author of the Malaysian best-seller, Where to, Malaysia?.
IN the chorus of protests against Singapore Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew's recent remark that Chinese Malaysians have been
marginalised, one simple question remains unanswered.
.
If there has been no racial marginalisation, why has the word
meritocracy been a taboo in Malaysian politics ever since the
racial riots of May 13,1969?
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A few more simple questions: Why has there been a massive and
unrelenting brain drain since then, resulting in many Chinese
Malaysians excelling in many fields in foreign lands? Why has there
been a virtual monopoly by one race in the whole spectrum of the
public sector, from the army and civil service to the judiciary and
universities?
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Why have there been, year after year, top Chinese Malaysian
students barred from universities, only to be admitted later (for
some) upon begging by Chinese Cabinet ministers?
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No doubt Mr Lee may be faulted for lacking diplomatic niceties in
his remarks, but he has spoken the truth. And I think every
Malaysian knows that, at least in the deepest part of his
heart.
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Yes, we have been practising racial discrimination, and that is a
zero sum game. When race A is barred so that race B can get in, it
is one side's loss and another side's gain.
.
It is sheer dishonesty and hypocrisy to deny that no race has
suffered a disadvantage as a result of this policy.
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But the real question is: Is such policy justified? To answer that,
we have to go back to where such policy started the New Economic
Policy (NEP), formulated after the racial riots in 1969.
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In its original concept, the NEP's prime objective was to achieve
national unity and the strategy was two-pronged: To eradicate
poverty irrespective of race, and to restructure society so as to
eliminate the identification of race with economic function.
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There is nothing wrong with such an affirmative action policy, but
the tragedy is that over the years, through racial hegemony, it has
been transformed into a policy synonymous with racial
privileges.
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There is no question that in spite of the misapplication, the NEP
has achieved its limited objective of elevating the status of
Malays to a respectable level, compared to that of other
races.
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But such anachronistic and regressive policy has no place in the
globalising world or in any civilised society. As it is, the
pressure to dismantle such policy does not come from within as
the deprived races seem powerless to redress this wrong but from
the whole world who are our trading partners.
.
Our trade negotiators should be able to testify how tough the going
is when it comes to negotiating free trade agreements whether it
is regional marketing pacts or bilateral agreements due to the
presence of Malaysia's race-based protectionist policies.
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These NEP-inspired policies stand as stumbling blocks to the
opening of a wider window for two-way trades and investments.
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Even worse is the loss of Malaysia's economic competitiveness in
the face of rising competition from abroad.
.
Our prime minister has correctly diagnosed this malaise as the
prevalence of our third-world mentality, but he has not done enough
to correct our uncompetitive culture or to stamp out our worsening
racial and religious divide.
.
Mr Lee's comments have understandably riled many Malaysian leaders,
but it should also have struck resonance among many who have
silently put up with these unjust policies all these years.
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The great silent majority should now ponder what would serve their
interests best: To save face by angrily rebutting Mr Lee, or to
stare at the ugly truth and institute changes that will put the
nation on the right path?
.
We have reached a stage in our history critical enough to warrant
caution in putting too much trust in incumbent leaders. The fact
that we have scraped through as a nation despite such policies does
not guarantee we will be similarly lucky in the future.
.
Internal and external circumstances have so altered that we can no
longer commit such major errors without putting our future in
peril. From this perspective, Mr Lee's bitter medicine may yet work
to our advantage, if we are humble and brave enough to do some
serious introspection that may lead to our common good.
