Time to Unite through Malaysian Malaysia

Malaya achieved its independence from the British on 31 August 1957 after months of negotiation.

The people then were really united. Unity and harmony among the the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians reached the zenith in the real sense of the word. The three races organised into UMNO, MCA and MIC and they spoke with one concerted voice to opt for freedom from the colonial rule under the banner of PERIKATAN.

Racialism was never the issue or problem. The three races mixed and integrated well with one another. It was nationalism at its height that finally won Malaya the much vaulted Merdeka.

On introspection, we may well posit the question as Malaysians now what and where had the Government gone wrong?

In my view socio-economic degradation commenced after the riot on May 13, 1969. The riot got the people to think and find out the causes therefor. The blame was attributed naturally to the British for dividing the people into economic vocation; Malays to the padi field, Indians to the railways and the Chinese to trade and business. It must be borne in mind that the Chinese and Indian migrants did not obtain help from any quarter except through their hard work.

The country was under emergency rule after May 13, 1969 under the National Consultative Council, NCC, which conceived the birth of the Naional Economic Policy, NEP, which aimed to eradicate poverty and economic imbalances among the races by according the backward Malays special privileges in all spheres of social and economic programmes and development. Where the twin objectives of the NEP were noble in principle, it was selfishness, greed and corruptibility that contributed to its dismal failure; in that after more than five decades, majority of the Malays did not seem to benefit from the NEP. It was a situation of diamonds cutting diamonds.

On hind-sight, the UMNO-led BN government over-looked seeemingly or deliberately the primary objectives of the NEP. As a result of its over-emphasis on and over-zealousness in helping the Malays at whatever cost and expense of the other races, the results turned out otherwise. The Malays have woken up to realise that they have become too overly dependent on UMNO. For all these years, UMNO played up the racial and religious cards and mixed them up with politics to stay in power. The people are tired of their games.

The non-Malays who contributed to the economic success of the country felt betrayed. frustrated and disappointed. Election pledges were made but never fulfilled. And this phenomenon persisted through the past ten general elections until great damages resulted. Their children were deprived of scholarships to pursue their intended or desired courses in local tertiary institutions. Many dropped out and started to enter the employment market because their parents could not afford to send them to private colleges or universities or overseas.

Meanwhile, the one-year matriculation programme was introduced for the Malays to gain easy entrance into public universities without having to compete with non-Malays who have to study and pass the two-year STPM or HSC. Employment into the civil service, para and military services was nearly proferred to the Malays for many years. No wonder, the Malays dominate in these service arms.

Encouragement of Malays to enter business through Governmental financial assistance has not been successful as it should. After five decades, it is most disappointing to learn that the equity held by Malays in the corporate sector hovered far below the 30% benchmark. Many of the failed businesses had to be bailed out by the Government during economic adversities through public funds. There was an obvious and stark lack of commitment and motivation among those 'appointed' Malay entrepreneurs to succeed as the capital did not in the first place came from them.

The profits from Petronas never really benefitted the masses. Instead, twin towers were more important than the people's welfare. The profits were kept highly secret from people for many years and much of which had been squandered and siphoned off through creative accounting, transferred pricing and imprudent overseas investments.

Despite all the above signs of doom and gloom, UNMO leaders still talk about their race and religion. One leader proposed the 1 Malaysia Policy while another talked about identifying himself as a Malay first and then Malaysian second. This contradictory attitude seems to send the wrong signal to the masses. In the light of the 1 Malaysia Policy, all races must now shake off from the racial shell and start identifying themselves as Malaysians first and their races second.

We must teach our children that we are Malaysians of Malay, Chinese or Indian origins. And this will go a long way to foster racial unity, harmony and peace.

Unless this basic is adhered to by all races in the country, we are not going to change for the next five decades.