Race-based parties perpetuate racism. Some may prefer to call this phenomenon racialism. But, what is the difference?
It is, therefore, the height of irony that the Barisan Nasional government should now choose to be a proponent of a Race Relations Act. If such a piece of legislation is truly intended to eliminate racism from the Malaysian community, it should outlaw any race-based political parties and organisations. Only then can we see the Malaysian community that is sensitised to racism.
Within the BN coalition the dominant parties are race-based. UMNO, MCA and MIC only permit membership based on race. When these parties hold their meetings it is attended by members of one race. The discussions can only be framed in racial terms. Is it any wonder, then, that party policies are race-based?
Thus, when these race-based parties meet at the BN coalition level, the discussions center on the allocation of political power and economic resources based on race. After the bargaining ends the resulting policies are termed social contracts.
In truth, as many political analysts have concluded time and again, these so-called social contracts benefit only the governing elites within the race-based parties and their members.
It is ironic that the BN ruling elite continuously dish out lessons in history by criticising the colonial divide and rule policies as the root of the evil that still haunts Malaysia. The BN, dominated by UMNO and its willing partners, MCA and MIC, has had 51 long years to attend to the eradication of racism. That they didn't do anything about it; that they encouraged it - merely confirms that racism is the main reason for their continued existence.
The damage done over the past 51 years include policies on staffing of the civil service and the education of young Malaysians.
It is not impossible to reduce and remove the racism that is embedded in government policies. But it will take time. Sadly, the Race Relations Bill is only a small step albeit in the right direction.
5 comments:
if BN is to be blamed for racism, the structure of Pakatan should also be scrutinized especially its rogue semi-political organization Hindraf. How does one fathom ethnic cleansing in this relatively peaceful nation?
DAP reeks of chinese domination while PAS and PKR are still dominantly Malays. Of course the multi-racial memberships of DAP and PAS can be credited as being 'Malaysian', same with UMNO and its Sabahan counterparts. The ultimate power and influence in the party is another issue. The National Front structure provides the solution for a 'Malaysian' identity. Agreed that it has lost ground in support but that's a different causality.
There is nothing wrong with racial identification, that is what defines culture. Tolerance is what's lacking in our society. Freedom of speech and openness are also over-rated.
I agree with you. The Pakatan alliance certainly needs to do a lot of work to re-order their approaches to many matters. certainly they are a work-in-progress. The reason for the focus on BN is the fact that its components are unabashedly race-based. Granted that the UMNO-MCA-MIC core alliance within the BN has brought fantastic progress to Malaysia and, overcome many unwieldy developmental issues, the issue is whether we, as a nation, have arrived at a point in time where policies can be framed along the lines of income-disparity and needs.
If it were ever possible for the BN to frame policies and developmental issues along the lines that de-emphasises the deficiencies of one race over another, it would be a major step forward to change the psyche of the nation.
In our daily lives, as we have all experienced, race is hardly ever the issue. But when political leaders resort to race as a crutch to lean on to generate political support and, they blast out rhetoric about "us" and "them", then race is always in the forefront when many of us know that it isn't.
A multiracial political party forces everyone to sensitise themselves. We are forced to frame our arguments and debate matters based on needs. But, within a race-based party, it is easy to descend to a level where talk centres on "us" and "them".
I believe that Malaysians want to see a sincere attempt by BN, which is still the dominant political party, to review and revamp paradigms that were created in 1951-1952. The Malaysian society and polity has moved forward from that ethos. In due course, BN risks being an anachronism in the context of having race-based political philosophies.
Review and revamp paradigms is what you say in a reply here. I totally agree. Then, it would matter not who was in power.
But the race way is the only way that the parties in the BN seem to know. It would seem like it is the only formula that they know, even though it seems to be getting them nowhere right now.
And truly, we are all so fed up with it. It is an old broken record and we are so tired of listening to it. Especially tired would be the poor and destitute, and the marginalised - no matter their race, this has certainly not worked for them.
Time to change already lah.
Let's see Anwar reshape the political landscape by 'integrating' all components of Pakatan Rakyat into one viable and cohesive Malaysian party. It's also the party members democratic rights to determine what the majority wants. So if the component parties are affiliated to racism, therefore we could conclude their members are. Because BN won majority yet again, therefore majority of Malaysians are racist? Funny how democracy works.
You're quite right. It would be an unfair generalisation to say that BN component party members are racist just because they are members of race-based parties. Anwar may not be the panacea.
Anwar is probably just part of the transition and transformational process for Malaysia as a nation - moving from race-based discourse and economics to a possible discourse based largely on economic needs. This is so whether he ever becomes PM. The same goes for Pak Lah. At face value, Pak Lah had good intentions. But he gets poor marks for execution and implementation. To most voting Malaysians this got Pak Lah the "NATO" award ("no action talk only").
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