DEC 13 2009 — "Ketuanan Melayu" or Malay supremacy has always been a
concept that I've never been able to grasp. Not so much what it is
supposed to mean — that the Malay race is somehow superior — but rather
how it should be so.
Is it a genetic superiority? That somehow, somewhere, laced in the
billions of strands that make up a person's genetic code lies that little
bit of magic that makes Malays superior. And superior in what way?
Physically superior? In the stronger, faster, higher vein? Mentally
superior? Smarter, wiser, and all round more intelligent?
Or is a cultural superiority? That the Malay culture is better than other
cultures in the country. A culture that makes them more diligent, more
responsible, more magnanimous, more generous, more caring, more faithful,
more honest, more... well, you get the point.
I also wonder whether the Malays who keep getting this whole supremacy
idea rammed down their throats understand it, either. Especially when
they get told so many other things that conflict with the notion of their
unquestionable racial supremacy.
For instance, they kept being told they are poor. That the non-Malays —
Chinese especially — are making money hand over fist while they, the
Malays, continue to languish in poverty and misery. They are made to
believe that the fruits of their labour are being sucked dry by conniving
Chinamen in palatial mansions.
Did nobody stop to ask why the "superior" race is also supposedly
economically crippled? Does nobody want to know how it is, with every
effort made to provide them with crutches from womb to tomb, that Malays
have made no headway in usurping the dirty foreigners as the economic
masters of the country?
As an extension of the "poor Malay" spiel, they're also told that they are
gullible. They are told that they are being cheated of their birthright —
their country raped, its riches plundered (true, but not by who they're
told are doing it) — while they are exploited in their lives, and taken
for a jolly good ride. Yet in the next breath, they are reminded of their
superiority.
How do you consolidate being told that you are superior, for pretty much
no reason other than you were born such, while also being told that you
are lazy, gullible, and poor?
With so much fervour being shown in protecting "Ketuanan Melayu", I think
it's only fair that the purveyors of this noble idea step forward and
spell out what the two words encompass.
Just what on earth is "Ketuanan Melayu"? What is it, exactly? How does it
work? What does it do?
Because from current evidence, it's very difficult to see just where the
superiority is.
There are intelligent, strong Malays just as there are intelligent, strong
non-Malays. In the same vein, the Malays also don't have a monopoly on
stupidity, either, as it's long been established that stupid is, well,
sadly universal and non-racial.
There are rich, entrepreneurial Malays just as there are non-Malays who
are the same. And while the top two richest men in Malaysia are a Chinese
and an Indian, there are also many, many rich Malays on the list of
Malaysia's wealthiest, including a couple of sons of an ex-premier. Bona
fide billionaires, those. Or don't they count as Malay?
And just as there are affluent non-Malays, there are also non-Malays —
Chinese included — who live in abject poverty. Bad luck and bad breaks
don't care what colour your skin is.
Poverty breeds more poverty, regardless of race. This might not be obvious
if you only spend your time in places like Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya or
Penang; these are affluent areas in and of themselves. But away from the
cities, Malaysia's poor only have one colour: grey.
Anyway, I do hope someone will give us an answer as to what "Ketuanan
Melayu" really is all about.
I hope even more that the answer will be more concrete than "something
nice".
I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort,
based on force.
Albert Einstein
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere . . . Whatever
affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us
is responsible for the misdeeds of all the others. I cannot detach myself
from the wickedest soul."
"The True Measure Of A Man Is How He Treats Someone Who Can Do Him
Absolutely No Good."
Samuel Johnson
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