Malaysia 2012 – Open Letter To All Malay-Muslim Leaders

By Matthias Chang,
Future Fastforward (01-12-12)

In the last two years, under the hysteria of a pending General Election, several prominent Malay -Muslim leaders from across the political divide have been calling, “Muslims must unite to survive or lose power.” The sub-text is “Malay must unite or lose power.”

In the latest sub-plot, Zaini Hassan ofUtusan Malaysia takes the view that a Third Force comprising PAS and UMNO religious elements will become the power brokers in the country. He said, “Malay fence-sitters will be this wave’s target to ensure that power is achieved.” This frenzied call for unity was and continue to be a sinister ploy to create fear first among the  Malay -Muslim community and, as a collateral outcome, a paralysis within the non-Muslim community to discover the truth about Islam – to prevent them from grasping the fundamental truth that Islam is not, has never, and will never be opposed to their religious beliefs.

Both communities have been kept deliberately in a state of stupor and ignorance so that they can be easily manipulated to serve the hidden agendas of those who crave for power and wealth. Religion is but a tool.

I am a Catholic of Chinese descent. But I am a Malaysian first and no one did my family and I any favours when I became a citizen (by Operation of Law orJus soli (Latin: right of the soil)). My ancestors were here in the then Malaya much earlier than many who claimed to be Bumiputeras (sons of the soil). Just like the Native Indians in America and the Aborigines in Australia, only the Orang Asli of Malaya can rightly and constitutionally claim to be natives. They are the originals.

My citizenship is not as a result of any favours granted or any social contract agreed by UMNO, MCA and MIC or for that matter any organisation that fought and negotiated with the Imperialist United Kingdom.

The citizenship that I enjoy with all my fellow Malaysians is the undisputed recognition that all our forefathers, regardless of race and creed, have toiled with blood, sweat and tears for the country and that all future generations will do likewise as one nation.

The United Kingdom granted Malaya “Independence” not that we have become civilised and able to govern ourselves, but because she feared that this “Jewel of the Imperial Crown” would be lost forever as a result of the armed resistance of all races to her oppressive colonial rule which drained whatever little that was left in the vaults of the Bank of England after the Second World War. The pound was no longer the world’s reserve currency. The dollar and the new Imperial America ruled supreme.

Like many countries in Africa and Asia, Malaya was divided as to the path to be taken to achieve freedom from oppression and colonial slavery. This division resulted in a civil war encouraged by external powers locked in a life and death struggle for ideological supremacy, a struggle now more commonly referred to as the Cold War. But it was a “hot war” for many countries. There were victors on both sides of the ideological divide, and to them went the spoils of war and the “undisputed right” to write the history of their struggle as they deemed fit. This is the political reality.

As a Malaysian, I do not fear any community for I do not distinguish one from another as we are all Malaysians. I do not feel insecure about my future or my children’s future, or my grandchildren’s future. The destiny of the country is in our hands.

Before I pose my trillion ringgit question to all Muslim-Malay leaders of Malaysia, I want to put on record certain undisputed political and economic realities so as to enable one and all reading this article to come to their senses and not deny reality no matter how unpleasant it is to some, and to expose the lies perpetrated by the powers-that-be for the past few decades.

•  The Military is predominantly of one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Police Force is predominantly of one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Civil Service is predominantly of one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Government-linked Companies (GLCs) are predominantly of one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Agriculture Sector – specifically palm oil, rubber etc. is predominantly controlled by one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Banking Sector is controlled predominantly by one community – the Malay- Muslim.

•  The Oil & Gas Sector is controlled predominantly via Petronas by one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Transportation Sector (airways, railways, shipping etc.) is predominantly controlled by one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Public Educational Sector is predominantly controlled by one community – the Muslim-Malay.

• The Public Healthcare System is predominantly controlled by one community – the Muslim-Malay.

Contrary to what you  may be be thinking, I applaud unreservedly all these achievements by the Muslim-Malay community which were achieved under the New Economic Policy (NEP) that was introduced by the Second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, the father of the present Prime Minister.

But for these spectacular achievements, there would not be a Malaysia as we know it and we would have ended up as a banana republic living at the behest of the so-called generosity of the European powers.

Of course, there were mistakes along the way. Building and managing a country is always a work-in-progress. There are no standard textbooks to tell us how to develop a multi-racial, religious and cultural country such as Malaysia. We all made sacrifices – every community had to adjust to the new realities and adapt accordingly for the good of the country.

If truth be told, in my travels I have been frequently asked, “You are a Christian and a minority in Malaysia. Aren’t you afraid of the Muslim majority, the jihadists, the extremists, and their narrow outlook?” This question begs another question, “Why are people so ignorant and so biased to ask such a stupid question?” But this is the sad reality – the mindset of the brainwashed. They thought that I ought to be fearful, fearful for my family and the insecure future which a minority faces in most countries. They could not understand why I was not fearful for myself, my family or our future. They could not understand that there were no reasons to be fearful.

But there are reasons to be angry and frustrated – that as a nation, we could achieve much more, be more disciplined, more united, more ambitious and more daring to compete at the highest levels and succeed. However, we stumble just when we are about to take off to the next level of excellence in nation building.

Wondered Why?

Note: The message of the piece, which, I presume, is also intended for Tun Dr. Mahathir, will be ignored. In stead the messenger himself who is a close associate of  our Prime Minister No.4 will be “shot”.

1Malaysia and Vision 2020 (which calls for a inclusive and caring Bangsa Malaysia) are mere slogans if we do not stop thinking and talking in terms of race and religion, and do not end divide and rule politics. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, says President Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858). –Din Merican