In response to recent criticism of it, the Biro Tatanegara or BTN (National Civics Bureau) is being forced to modify its use of blunt propaganda and psychological manipulation.
According to incredulous participants, a BTN video once told a story that the sultanate of Malacca had fallen to foreign invaders with the support of Chinese and Indian "traitors".
One tearful young woman in the audience wondered out loud why the government had not held "roadshows" throughout the country to highlight this nugget of history that was "so little known". The reference to these "traitors" has now been deleted.
I was among a group of government servants ordered to attend a BTN programme. Our course was professionally run, featuring lectures by academicians, "discussions" or indoctrination sessions by retired civil servants, and light-hearted marching activities, helmed by likeable former commandos.
We had comfortable accommodation, which was a vast improvement on previous courses. Participants had traditionally been banished to isolated jungle camps to undergo various bonding activities there, such as sharing baths by scooping out water from a common trough.
The routine of indoctrination
Our day began with compulsory prayers among the Muslims, and a roll call: men in front, women behind. Women were singled out for praise from the male course organisers for being well-dressed, for having a fetching appearance, or for having an attractive way of walking.
Patriotic music preceded each lecture. The catchy 'Perajurit Tanah Air' accompanied an amateurish video of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak posing with various phallic objects: missiles, torpedoes and the infamous Scorpene submarines. A Najib quote flashed across the screen: "We know the things we need for the next 5 to 10 years".
A '1Malaysia' song followed, complete with mandatory waving of small plastic flags. Najib appeared on the screen, riding the LRT or monorail, and in some discomfort, wiping the sweat from his moustache on the sleeve of his 1Malaysia shirt.
In lectures, and in religious classes or 'madrassah' reserved for Muslims, the message of Malay solidarity and of the threat against the special position of the Malays by "the others", was constantly drummed home. We were warned of "militant" Islamists in our midst.
The problems faced by the government, we were told, were caused by "perception". For instance, we were told Rosmah Mansor, Najib's wife, had never owned a RM24.4 million diamond ring.
The Welfare Association of Ministers' Wives (Bakti) had, in fact, used Rosmah's name (as Bakti president) to import the ring, in order to display it to collect donations for charity.
True meaning of patriotism
The BTN lecturers made it clear that the true meaning of patriotism was to favour the ruling party. We were quizzed, for example, using a multiple-choice question:
"You are the head of a government department, planning a course in professionalism and integrity for your department. Three candidates are short-listed to provide the course, having fulfilled the technical criteria:
i) A foreign company with excellent competence, offering a competitive price;
ii) A local company known to be a strong supporter of the ruling party, but with limited competence; and
iii) A local company known to be a strong supporter of an opposition party, with ample competence, which pledges not to allow politics to interfere with its delivery of the contract."
Most participants chose (iii). However, the BTN facilitators revealed that the correct answer is (ii), because we must, as civil servants, obey the instructions of the ruling party.
Besides, how else can a local company with "limited competence" improve its expertise, without being given a chance?
However, a little bewilderment ensued over the complications arising when one party is in opposition at state level, but in government at the federal level.
One Malay woman participant argued that we must simply "do our job" to the best of our ability as civil servants, and not as servants of party politics. Her remark was greeted with applause.
Candid views on nationalism
Our lecturers stressed a narrow interpretation of nationalism. This was based on the so-called "social contract" that established citizenship for non-Malays, with an open-ended preservation of the "special position" of the Malays: quotas in education, the civil service, and permits and licences, as outlined in Article 153.
A BTN lecturer, a constitutional lawyer, announced at the outset of her talk that any constitution must be a "living document". She then proceeded to declare that the articles regarding this "special position" were immutable and fossilised.
In a question-and-answer session, the law lecturer also provided a candid insight into federal-state relations. She described how an unnamed friend, a High Court judge in Sabah, had told her that Sabahans considered themselves lucky that they had joined Malaysia, instead of Indonesia or the Philippines.
She asserted that the name "Malaysia" dated back to the 19th century, and therefore Sabah and Sarawak had "joined" the federation in the same way that Alaska and Hawaii had joined the United States of America.
She gave short shrift to the "20-point" and "18-point" agreements that Sabah and Sarawak had established before Malaysia Day, and added breezily that even Sabahans and Sarawakians themselves do not know the contents of these agreements.
If, as Samuel Johnson said, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, BTN must certainly be one of the last refuges of institutionalised patriotism. But BTN appears to have been compelled, with one eye on public opinion, to moderate its tactics of promoting Malay supremacy.
Perhaps the national sea change in political awareness, the openness highlighted by the "new media", and the growth of "social bridging", exemplified by the multi-ethnic Bersih rallies and anti-Lynas movements, is changing our society, and therefore our civil service. When a two-party system eventually takes root, the values of the BTN may well be weeded out.
Could this be the end, BTN?
According to incredulous participants, a BTN video once told a story that the sultanate of Malacca had fallen to foreign invaders with the support of Chinese and Indian "traitors".
One tearful young woman in the audience wondered out loud why the government had not held "roadshows" throughout the country to highlight this nugget of history that was "so little known". The reference to these "traitors" has now been deleted.I was among a group of government servants ordered to attend a BTN programme. Our course was professionally run, featuring lectures by academicians, "discussions" or indoctrination sessions by retired civil servants, and light-hearted marching activities, helmed by likeable former commandos.
We had comfortable accommodation, which was a vast improvement on previous courses. Participants had traditionally been banished to isolated jungle camps to undergo various bonding activities there, such as sharing baths by scooping out water from a common trough.
The routine of indoctrination
Our day began with compulsory prayers among the Muslims, and a roll call: men in front, women behind. Women were singled out for praise from the male course organisers for being well-dressed, for having a fetching appearance, or for having an attractive way of walking.
Patriotic music preceded each lecture. The catchy 'Perajurit Tanah Air' accompanied an amateurish video of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak posing with various phallic objects: missiles, torpedoes and the infamous Scorpene submarines. A Najib quote flashed across the screen: "We know the things we need for the next 5 to 10 years".
A '1Malaysia' song followed, complete with mandatory waving of small plastic flags. Najib appeared on the screen, riding the LRT or monorail, and in some discomfort, wiping the sweat from his moustache on the sleeve of his 1Malaysia shirt.In lectures, and in religious classes or 'madrassah' reserved for Muslims, the message of Malay solidarity and of the threat against the special position of the Malays by "the others", was constantly drummed home. We were warned of "militant" Islamists in our midst.
The problems faced by the government, we were told, were caused by "perception". For instance, we were told Rosmah Mansor, Najib's wife, had never owned a RM24.4 million diamond ring.
The Welfare Association of Ministers' Wives (Bakti) had, in fact, used Rosmah's name (as Bakti president) to import the ring, in order to display it to collect donations for charity.
True meaning of patriotism
The BTN lecturers made it clear that the true meaning of patriotism was to favour the ruling party. We were quizzed, for example, using a multiple-choice question:
"You are the head of a government department, planning a course in professionalism and integrity for your department. Three candidates are short-listed to provide the course, having fulfilled the technical criteria:
i) A foreign company with excellent competence, offering a competitive price;
ii) A local company known to be a strong supporter of the ruling party, but with limited competence; and
iii) A local company known to be a strong supporter of an opposition party, with ample competence, which pledges not to allow politics to interfere with its delivery of the contract."
Most participants chose (iii). However, the BTN facilitators revealed that the correct answer is (ii), because we must, as civil servants, obey the instructions of the ruling party.
Besides, how else can a local company with "limited competence" improve its expertise, without being given a chance?
However, a little bewilderment ensued over the complications arising when one party is in opposition at state level, but in government at the federal level.
One Malay woman participant argued that we must simply "do our job" to the best of our ability as civil servants, and not as servants of party politics. Her remark was greeted with applause.
Candid views on nationalism
Our lecturers stressed a narrow interpretation of nationalism. This was based on the so-called "social contract" that established citizenship for non-Malays, with an open-ended preservation of the "special position" of the Malays: quotas in education, the civil service, and permits and licences, as outlined in Article 153.
A BTN lecturer, a constitutional lawyer, announced at the outset of her talk that any constitution must be a "living document". She then proceeded to declare that the articles regarding this "special position" were immutable and fossilised.
In a question-and-answer session, the law lecturer also provided a candid insight into federal-state relations. She described how an unnamed friend, a High Court judge in Sabah, had told her that Sabahans considered themselves lucky that they had joined Malaysia, instead of Indonesia or the Philippines.
She asserted that the name "Malaysia" dated back to the 19th century, and therefore Sabah and Sarawak had "joined" the federation in the same way that Alaska and Hawaii had joined the United States of America.She gave short shrift to the "20-point" and "18-point" agreements that Sabah and Sarawak had established before Malaysia Day, and added breezily that even Sabahans and Sarawakians themselves do not know the contents of these agreements.
If, as Samuel Johnson said, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, BTN must certainly be one of the last refuges of institutionalised patriotism. But BTN appears to have been compelled, with one eye on public opinion, to moderate its tactics of promoting Malay supremacy.
Perhaps the national sea change in political awareness, the openness highlighted by the "new media", and the growth of "social bridging", exemplified by the multi-ethnic Bersih rallies and anti-Lynas movements, is changing our society, and therefore our civil service. When a two-party system eventually takes root, the values of the BTN may well be weeded out.
Could this be the end, BTN?
J BELLAMY (not his real name) knows the Malaysian civil service inside out, and is an occasional contributor to the letters pages of local newspapers.
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