By SV Singam
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When I was very young, I was blissfully unaware about race. I mean, I knew that others were Chinese or Malay or whatever, but that was a matter for curiosity only. The difference of race, or religion for that matter, was not an issue with us. We made friends, selected teams for games, visited each other, got into trouble… irrespective of race. As I grew up, I continued to wear rose-tinted glasses. I was one of those fortunate enough to get a place in our local university and didn’t really suffer from the encroaching NEP policies.
At MU, I did observe NEP implementation disparities but it did not cause me to become racist, in that I still treated everyone the same irrespective of race. But along the way, my ideals took a battering. I woke up to the reality that remaining unbiased was only contributing to the already skewed environment. I made a conscious decision to address the imbalance whenever it came my way. I still interacted freely with all races but my charitable contributions only went to Indians. Other factors being equal, I’d give priority to the indian who needed the job or my business or whatever. I had become a racist, in the full sense of the word.
This is the real impact of the BN implementation of the NEP. Even the most idealistic of persons can get skewed to some extent or other. Given this environment, the current behaviour of the former oppositionists and their supporters should be no surprise. They are in an unfamiliar situation – forming a state government. Pre-elections, everyone got swept along on the vote-irrespective-of-race wave but the real motivation for many was to simply kick BN butt. Despite the pre-elections rhetoric, DAP, PKR and PAS were startled by the massive vote of confidence they had received. And it went to their heads.
The people may have voted irrespective of race in GE12 but do not imagine that all of their racist feelings had suddenly been washed away overnight. When the euphoria of victory had subsided, the old racist anxieties came to the fore. Then bargaining along race and party lines ensued. Many of the arguments were presented under the guise of meritocracy or equality but one didn’t need to scratch very deep to discover the racist undertone.
The arguments that ensued in the blogosphere were fired up by two factors – news reports in the MSM as well as the alternate media that remained couched in racial language, and a new-found freedom to speak about race related issues. These kinds of argument are not going to die down anytime soon. So long as they remain in the virtual world, they serve as therapy. But things need to improve as we move along. The MSM may be a lost cause but I do hope influential blogs and, especially, Malaysiakini, can temper the language used and help leach the racial vitriol out of our exchanges.
Another, more serious matter is at hand. Ever the opportunist, Anwar is riding on the remnants of the people-wave to pick up enough frogs from the BN to form his federal government. The voters are in two minds about this development. A large number are aghast that the BR government they voted for is going to become diluted by BN turncoats. Others are angry because it appears that the BR government is going to be just as unprincipled as the BN. But there are also those who support what Anwar is doing. They feel that the BR was cheated out of an outright victory and that any means to recapture what was stolen is fair.
And that is the reality of a democracy. It is the politicians job to convince the electorate that what he promises to deliver is what the people want. The people have that single opportunity to state their case. Having voted, they are pretty much bereft of power, until the next elections. Meanwhile, the politicians who have been elected to office play their own power games, plotting and strategising and maneuvering to obtain maximum advantage. We can petition them, e-mail them, march or protest, but they are still free to do whatever they will. We can only hope that they do not deviate too much from the path we had set for them.
The consequences of GE12 are still rolling out. We haven’t seen everything yet. There may even be a few more shocks in store. Hopefully, whatever happens, this fledgling democracy is allowed to mature in its time. We may eventually reach a state where we can truly call ourselves non-racial.
aiyomanaboleh
March 23, 2008
So Singam, are you still a racist?
Mydeen Aboo Backer
March 23, 2008
Mydeen wonders, when Sdr Lim Kit Siang called for a DAP boycott of the Perak MB’s swearing in, many (including pro BR bloggers) castigated him and called him biadap. Now that Idris Jusoh, his assemblymen and the PM have thumbed their noses to the Terengganu Regent, why the silence ?
Do you think racism is at play here ?
RAJ RAMAN
March 23, 2008
HARIS,I DONT KNOW WHETHER U R RACIST BY HELPING THE DEBILITATE INDIANS DUE TO THE BN POLICY.THIS IS THE INDIAN DIlLEMA.I WILL TELL U MY STORIES.AS U,I GROWN UP WITH MULTIRACIAL FRIENDS,HOWEVER LATER PARTS OF THE LIFE,I AS INDIAN IS TREATED BADLY IN MY EARLY LIFE OF JOB OPPORTUNITY.THE GOMEN HELP THE BUMI,THE CHINESE HELP THE CHINESE AND THE INDIAN LIKE A CRAB.I DECIDED TO OPEN MY BUSINESS (MY HOBBY BECOME MY BUSINESS).LIFE IS TOUGH FOR ME FOR YEARS.MY FAMILY TOLD ME ONCE,I AM DREAMER.BUT I CONTINUE DREAMING WITH HUNGER.MY HARD WORK PAID OFF AFTER 10 SUFFERING YEARS.THE QUESTION ARE,HOW MANY INDIANS CAN BE SUCESSFULL WITHOUT THE HELP FROM OUR FELLOWS MALAYSIANS.I PAID MY PRICE FOR MY HARD WORK.STRESS TAKEN A BIG TOL IN MY LIFE.CANT SLEEP,BE HAPPY AND PEAK OF MY SUCCESS I WAS CHEATED BY BN POLITICIAN AND ONE IDIOT GLC CEO.I LOST MY CONFIDENT.WENT INTO DEEP DEPPRESION.EVERY MORNING AT 5AM I WILL WAKE UP FEELING TO COMMIT SUICIDE.EVERY CORNER I TURN FOR HELP FROM THE BN POLITICIAN TO SOLVE OR HELP MY PROBLEM CAUSE MORE MONEY.LUCKLY I STILL HAVE SAVINGS TO GO TROU LIFE.I GET PROFESSIONAL HELP.(DOCTOR).
JUST NAME IT,THE MEDICATION I TOOK,ITS A COCKTAIL OF VALIUM,ZANAX,PROZAK AND REMORON.LIKE A WALKING ZOOMBIE,BUT GOD IS GREAT,I STILL ABLE TO WORK AT LEAST 4 HOURS A DAY.NOW ALMOST 3 YEARS IT PAST,I MADE A COME BACK IN LIFE AGAIN.SO TELL ME ARE YOU RACIST BECAUSE YOU HELP THE DEPRIVED INDIAN? AND HOW MANY INDIANS WILL BE ABLE TO GO THROU TOUGH LIFE WITHOUT SOME HELP FROM OUR MALAYSIAN BROTHERS.INDIANS ALWAYS PAID THE LOWEST SALARIES,LESS JOB OPPORTUNITY AND PROMOTION ALTOU THEY CAN PERFORM.THIS IS RACIST LIFE IN MALAYSIA.thanks.raj raman.religion;my problem to anwser to god;race;dreaming to be malaysian putra
Malay Women in Malaysia
March 23, 2008
Sorry to blow everybody’s bubble but racism can never be eliminated from humanity. It will however become irrelevant one day but we might not live to see it.
RAJ RAMAN
March 23, 2008
ANYWAY FORGET TO ADD HARIS,YOU ARE NOT A RACIST AND NEITHER DO I.I DO MAKE A COME BACK IN LIFE AND SUCESSFULL AGAIN.THANKS HARIS.raj raman
vic
March 23, 2008
Last sentence of the article:
“We may eventually reach a state where we can truly call ourselves non-racial.”
I want to be as optimistic as you but we are all racists, whether we like it or not.It is very hard to see past our skin tone. It is only the degree of racism that we are measured by as we engage other races in our community at large.
As for me, I try to minimise my actions so as not to cause undue perception that one is in someway mightier,smarter, or better than other races. There are also internal conflicts of thoughts and tinges of regret when I , on occasion overstep my boundary of proper or decent interaction with other races.
Like the author mentioned, I reckoned we did indeed inherit a form of racism that is evidently very glaring in a society like ours.
It may takes time and effort to move towards an egalitarian society, but not in the near future as I see it. Just observe the actions of our politicians on both side of the political divide and the folks that engage in those vicious comments on the internet recently and are unsurely silent when “the shoe is on the other foot”.
Yes, to varying degrees, we are all racists. Can’t help ourselves but at least we can try to be better people by the deeds and actions that we execute in our daily going-ons.
fenway
March 23, 2008
Bah….sorry, but I don’t buy your arguments, SV Singam.
To blame the NEP in your remarks:
“Other factors being equal, I’d give priority to the indian who needed the job or my business or whatever. I had become a racist, in the full sense of the word.
This is the real impact of the BN implementation of the NEP”
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I don’t see race as an identity to help out a person or persons. Helping out even it means contributing to those poor estate plantation families or those poor Malay families in a kampung or even donated some monies to a Chinese family asking for donation to help out their child’s operation needs.
You are going overboard this time….
pavlova
March 23, 2008
Well, let’s face the truth. We are all racist in one way or the other.
A recent Time mag survey also showed that the nicest, kindest nurses on earth also have a slight tendency to be biased against the blacks in the US.
I’m not living in Malaysia, but I admit that I am a bit intimidated by the Maoris and Polynesians.
That wasn’t BN’s fault, but it’s just because crime rate and violence is more prevalent in the aforementioned group. On an equal note, I also admit that the Polynesians have a warmer personality.
However, I do not help people of my own race only. Just because purely, a lot of Chinese that I, have come across are selfish and conniving. A lot of times they do not talk straight either.
Undoubtedly I also do give credit to those Chinese that are good citizens and have a model personality.
But according to my personal experience ( and I am just quoting my experience only, not generalising at all) people of the other races have helped me more than my own kind.
So as much as we say that we want to live a racist free environment, it exists is our minds, whether you like it or not. We can only just endeavour to be as fair minded as possible in every situation.
SV Singam
March 23, 2008
aiyomanaboleh asked “So Singam, are you still a racist?
That’s an excellent question. I can tell you how I feel and what I think right now. But I fear I’ll only really know the truth when push comes to shove. For now, I have this to say…
1. I was excited to learn that there was a movement that was seeking the non-race-based political environment that I had visualised for this country.
2. I was elated at being able to contribute in some small way towards achieving this goal.
3. I am honoured to be in the company of people like Haris, who are sincerely dedicated to making this land of ours a better place for all, irrespective of race.
Having said that, I must echo what some others have already stated here. “Race-consciousness” is hard-wired into our genes for the purpose of survival of species. Even if we all had gone through a massive cross-marriage exercise and ended up having the same skin tone, we would still look for and find differentiating factors to identify “people like us” and “people unlike us”. So what really matters is how we react or respond to such differences.
Human beings are only capable of addressing the “higher qualities” of an egalitarian society when the “lower levels” in their hierarchy of needs have been satisfied. For people living at subsistence levels, bread & butter issues come first. Until and unless such issues have been resolved satisfactorily, the utopia we dream of will remain within the circles of the urban elite.
But we can still do whatever is within our means to get to a better place than we are today. 50 years ago, even 40 years ago, we were in a somewhat better place. I remember that fondly. I’d like my children and their children to be able to experience that. Eliminating race-based politics is the first stage in the process of getting there.
SV Singam
March 23, 2008
Fenway accuses me of going overboard and refuses to buy my “argument”. Perhaps there is a gap in the communication. I am not arguing a case. I am describing what happened.
The NEP did not cause what happened. Unfortunately, the BN implementation of the NEP was focused on enriching the UMNOputra elite. To maintain an electoral power base, they flooded Malay society with every advantage available. As I saw it, the Chinese community did what they could to sustain their own economy in spite of the skewed playing field. The Indians remained marginalised. I felt compelled to do what I could to help them. That was my perception and my response.
So sue me!
Ahmad Navi Abdullah
March 24, 2008
Dear Harris,
However much we try, the differance in race, religion and wealth will always play a part in our lives. How often have we seen when a mptor cyclist is knocked down, it is another on a motor cycle who stops to help; not the one driving a Mercs or BMW. Again the assistance comes mainly determined by race.
Once before my conversion to Islam, I had my malay, chinese and indian friends eating food prepared in my mother’s (a hindu) kitchen. As time went on, the number of malays dwindled to none. Religious fanatism or whatever had taken its toll, even though we had taken lots of trouble to ensure the food was ‘halal’.
My working for the government becme a chore as frustration set in when my juniors whom I had assisted were being promoted over me. Of course resentment was there and I joined the others in the same predictament; my Indian colleagues. The reasons we were overlooked did not make sense, as some of us had worked real hard to try make a success of our vacation.
The divisive policy of the BN Government, so so called NEP to correct racial imbalance and divide was actually doing the reverse, the so called leaders living in a world of their own where only they and their cronies mattered.
We were made recists by the cicumstances, not by nature.
As Singam so candidly said life had changed for the worse. Our childhood days, when we mixed so readily with members of the other races has disppeared.
The last elections have given us hope. For once race and religion were set aside in the choice of candidates. We just hope that representatives we have sent into parliament realize this and do the needful to bring in an environment where we can forget race, religion and wealth in determing our future as Malaysian.
Paul Warren
March 24, 2008
I was once told by this English lady, “But….., you are one of us”!
She made that statement in contrast to some other Malaysians we were all dealing with in an environment where greed, power, control and such inertia were at play.
I could understand where it was she was coming from. Looking at the issues and you remove the power play and the greed whatsoever, I knew my position together with the English lady’s was the right one as supported by facts and future events.
So wht exactly did she mean that I was one of them? Surely not “race”. It was more like thought, word and deed.
The people I have met at PP, Haris, Shar, Tony, Zorro, Helen, Farida and a number of others are all united in thought,word and deed. We may differ in approaches. WE may differ in our preferences as well. We also differ in our characters. But there is something else that is far beyond all this that unites us. And I did not even get to meet them until about half a year ago or so. And I felt united with them even before.
So, what the hell is race for heaven’s sake? I know I hate the idea of someone usurping me just because he claims to “represent” me in cabinet or parliament. I hope Prof. Ramasamy is not representing Indians of Penang in the State Legislature. I would hate for BR MPs to claim that they represent me. Please represent Bangsa Malaysia first and last. Be as passionate about the Chinese marginalised as you might be the Indian or the Malay. And God forbid me ever looking up to an Indian MP or politician to represent me if only because he might for he is a fellow Indian!
tuah yong
March 24, 2008
During my childhood and school days in the 60′s in English medium school, we were “all” like “brothers” and never bothered about race and religion, but now it’s very sad that we are polarised more than ever after May 13 and the implementation of the “hijacked Umnoputera’s NEP(DEB)”.
I hope that Pak Tidor and Najis can scrap the PLKN as this can’t and won’t integrate the younger generation and a waste of taxpayers money and “filled” Najis/Ros coffers. Hope BR MP’s can bring this up in Parliament to abolish this “PLKN” as many “unreported deaths of trainees under abnormal circumstances”.
Ahmad Navi Abdullah
March 24, 2008
We are I believe all for the abolishment of race based politics. Peoples Parliament is the start and the prime mover of this concept not forgeting RPK. Thier writings have and will continue to influence and lets look forwards to non racial Malaysia. Do away with the needs for stating your race in all official forms, the ICs, and other documents. Let us be known as Malaysians and we will be of to a good start.