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In recent days, there's been much debate on whether the Malay Special Rights should be preserved. Whether to banish the Malay Special Rights or not - there is no right or wrong answer. There are pros and cons for both answers. Wisemen like Pete and TDM could sit down together and debate all night and end up without any proper outcome.
The Malay Special Rights would instantly make the Malays a priviledged race in this multi-racial country. The orthodox Malays argued that they have all the God-forsaken rights to enjoy these priviledges, for being the sons of soil. On the other hand, the unorthodox Malays such as Pete and Neil, argued that they don't need such priviledges, because they don't want to be treated as handicapped. For them the acceptance of such priviledge would seem to be an indication of the inferiority of their race, thus they developed an abhorrence towards the NEP. The non-Malays, who seem to have inadequate understanding of the predicament that the Malays are facing, supports the idea of banishing the Special Rights that the Malays are enjoying.
Here are the basics:
If it is banished - the Malays will basically learn to stop receiving assistance from the government in climbing the economic ladder, improving themselves academically, socially etc. But how many generations do they need in order to achieve that?
If it is preserved - it will prevent the Malays from ostracism, and it will be easier to guarantee them financial stability, academic advancement, and better position in their own country. But how long will it takes for them to stop relying on it?
And the debate continues...
Whichever it is, I'm sometimes annoyed by the way the Chinese/Indians behaved and reacted towards it. Basically most non-Malays don't quite agree with the NEP and Malay Hegemony. They think it is an unfair policy. Yes, being a Chinese myself, I understand how it feels like to be forced to hire a Malay CEO in your company. And not the forget the pinch felt in your hearts when you see the word ‘quota’. But all these are the results of inadequate understanding of the Malay communities’ predicament. Or perhaps, should I say, these are the results of selfishness? Have you ever try to understand them? There's no need for me to elaborate their predicament and the positions that they find themselves in our country. We have already knew it.
Yes, we have poor Chinese/Indians too. But the rate of poverty is the highest among the Malays. And it is undisputable that they are in fact the sons of soil. So is it wrong to help them first? Perhaps it is time to understand them better, and to accept the painful fact that even the non-malays are of malaysian citizen, they are not the sons of soil. You might argue that they have traces of Chinese/Indian/Arabian blood so they can’t be sons of soil. But because they have adopted the Malay’s way of life and regard themselves as Malay, they can be accepted.
Okay, we are not the sons of soil. Does that mean the government completely deny our rights as citizen? Does that mean our position in this country isn't good enough? No.
Please, be thankful that we're here in this peaceful country - Malaysia. We can compare Malaysian-Chinese with Indonesian-Chinese. Chinese in Indonesia don’t speak/write/comprehend Chinese language anymore. They have indon names rather than Chinese. In addition, no Chinese schools and Chinese new year for them. They've lost their true identity, they're not Chinese anymore. Compare those with what we possess and are guaranteed to us under the Malaysian Constitution. So do you get the picture now? Be Very thankful. We should all stop the grumbling. So what if we need to hire CEOs? Our company won’t go bankrupt. So what if sometimes our chance are being denied? Work harder, i'm sure we can shine in somewhere else. Learn to 'yan' (in cantonese), or tolerance. And try to understand other races better and last but not least, respect.
Before I end, I'd love discuss a little about national unity. For pure and total national unity, there's only one single way - the non-Malays should give up their culture, mother-tongue language, way of life, racial identity, religion etc. and adopt the malay's instead. How many of us are willing to do so? But we didn't breach any law by not doing so, so aren't we lucky? I guess that's what makes our country so special and admirable. Somehow, there will be racial strife. It is inevitable. But if we can all develop better understand among each other, and with much compromise and tolerance, a close-to-perfect national unity is actually not far away. If taking a step backward could prevent racial strife, why not?
Finally, if what I've written have disturbed your feelings, I offer my sincere apology. Some might refute some of the contents. But hey, this isn’t an erudite text. My solutions are not complete. And I didn't state that it must be done my way. I'm just expressing my thoughts!
- CWL
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