"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain
A number of Malaysiakini subscribers have enquired as to why I have not commented on the recent DAP internal elections mess. The truth is I was in the midst of writing something on the matter when pro-opposition blogger Zorro Unmasked beat me to it.
His blog post, 'Shooting own goal is never premeditated', more or less sums up my feelings on the ‘mistake' which I have to admit, at this point in the elections end game, I am pretty ambivalent about.
As I have always maintained, Pakatan Rakyat is not running on its own record and policies (which has never been sufficiently scrutinised by its supporters) but rather against the abysmal record of BN. As in Zorro's blog post, I could care less what BN or their propaganda minions say about the recent DAP electoral debacle.
However, it would be foolish to dismiss all pro-establishment criticisms of the DAP central executive committee election fiasco, especially in the manner of the DAP apparatchiks. Helen Ang dissects both in 'Graf pola perkauman undi CEC oleh perwakilan DAP' and ''Guan Eng went to jail for a Malay girl' - oh puhleez lah', blog posts. The usual caveat applies. There are points I agree with and those I would dispute.
However, what I found interesting as far as the DAP is concerned is the endorsement of Hindraf's proposed Minority Affairs Ministry by none other than Karpal Singh in mid-December last year, but more recently by Lim Kit Siang's endorsement by way of publication of Dr Lim Teck Ghee'sarticle in support of Hindraf's proposal.
For those with a short memory, when Hindraf first came up with this proposal in its five-year blueprint, much blood was spilt in the comments section ofMalaysiakini. It did not help that Hindraf assumed that they should lead the proposed ministry.
For the record, I think Hindraf should play an integral role in this ministry (as should Orang Asli rights groups and other marginalised groups) but as far as "leading" goes, I think it would be more productive if "people movements" remain just that and not embroil themselves in the messy politics of administration.
A good starting point for Pakatan
Teck Ghee's article references points raised by Hindraf and the Human Rights Party, albeit in a measured manner instead of the polemical tone of the two. He (like most right-thinking Malaysians) is cognisant of the fact that race relations in this country are defined by the Malay/Chinese paradigm when he states:
"How do we guarantee that poor and needy members of small minority communities will be scrupulously and fairly targeted for assistance and do not disappear or are lost sight of in our national agenda of development that will be inevitably dominated by the concerns of the dominant Malay, and to some extent, the Chinese community?"
Or here when Teck Ghee (right) writes: "Also, unlike the Malay and Chinese communities that dominate our public and private sectors, Malaysia's small minority communities lack the resources and clout to compete for the opportunities ostensibly available to all stakeholders in our economy and society."
A ministry of minority affairs is but one possible solution. Another is by the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia activist group and their proposed Social Inclusion Act. Both solutions attempt to navigate the nebulous "need instead of race" based affirmative action waters that is the much hoped Pakatan Rakyat magic bullet that would solve all our racial inequality issues.
We don't know much of Pakatan's need-based approach except that the Malay community is constantly assured that they would benefit the "most" from it and that lip service is paid to the ideas such as inclusivity and meritocracy, which is linked to the need-based approach.
As a skeptic of big government or rather becoming a skeptic after the long Umno watch, the idea of a ministry of minority affairs fills me with trepidation. Understand now that I am cautiously optimistic whenever I read of such ideas but experience has shown that any time government gets involved in leveling the racial playing field, the exact opposite of what is intended occurs.
Teck Ghee nails it when he writes, "A just multi-ethnic society is judged by how fairly it treats its smallest minority communities and provides them with access to opportunities that can improve their material circumstances and future life chances."
And this is a good starting point for Pakatan to demonstrate how it intends to rectify Umno systemic abuse of marginalised groups in this country.
I have argued before that perhaps it is time we rethink our dependence on affirmative action policies as a solution to our "racial inequality" issues. I understand that this is ironically a minority view. Therefore, while we are discussing possible ways out of this Umno racial quagmire, what Pakatan has to do move beyond placating their two dominant voter base and highlight issues that these so-called "other minorities" face.
The best way Pakatan can get out of this Malay/Chinese paradigm and deal with minority communities is to address very vital issues affecting communities that have been suffering in extremis under the Umno watch.
Don't forget Orang Asli, too
I have often argued, much to the dismay of Indian rights groups, that the Orang Asli in the peninsular are the most disenfranchised community in the country (with the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak existing under a kind of colonialism), governed by laws specifically created to erode their culture and which is enforced by a ministry that blatantly contributes to their disenfranchisement under the guise of embracing them into the greater Malay polity.
The Orang Asli issue is the perfect opportunity for Pakatan to demonstrate its commitment to a more "just" multi-ethnic society and for Pakatan to establish grassroot-level approaches as to how to deal with minority groups.
As a minority community, the Orang Asli (and the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak) face a political reality that many assume as different from that of the majority. As Malaysians in majority communities, there are issues that we can identify with but there are many others that would shock us or are simply beyond our experience.
As it is, there is no real incentive to deal with this issue because there is not much political capital to be gained.
The record of accomplishment of Pakatan when it comes to the Orang Asli is extremely worrying. At this moment, there are ongoing scandals involving land grabs, violence and the ongoing harassment of the Umno state through the religious department working in tandem with the Orang Asli Affairs Department, which is ignored or downplayed by Pakatan because it involves Islam.
Moving beyond mere political rhetoric and dealing with the most disenfranchised members of our Malaysian community is the most practical way Pakatan can distinguish itself in terms of policy from BN. This can be done at a state level which Pakatan (in some states) have more influence but beyond that it can be done by clearly articulating polices (which would mean either reforming or abolishing the current system in place) when it comes to the most disenfranchised of minority groups.
The reality is that Umno has no real desire to deal with the Orang Asli issue since it deals with all those problematic concepts, such as "bumiputera rights" and Malay identity. A whole range of issues, which affect the greater Malaysian multi-ethnic polity, are embedded in the Orang Asli "situation".
Issues such as land rights, freedom of religion, etc, which is supposed to be the defining causes for Pakatan, is overlooked in the Orang Asli communities because especially in the Peninsular, their voices do not carry any "weight".
As a practical first step, Pakatan should deal with a community that is currently at the mercy of the state (through the Orang Asli Affairs Department and laws that are designed to marginalise them) and an Umno philosophy that seeks to divide us along racial and economic lines.
Perhaps in this way, any talk of establishing another ministry in an already bloated civil service, could be seen as a move beyond the business as usual of Malaysian politics and it would indicate that substantive changes would be in store if ever Pakatan comes into power when it comes to minority rights beyond the concerns of the Malay/Chinese dynamic.
His blog post, 'Shooting own goal is never premeditated', more or less sums up my feelings on the ‘mistake' which I have to admit, at this point in the elections end game, I am pretty ambivalent about.
As I have always maintained, Pakatan Rakyat is not running on its own record and policies (which has never been sufficiently scrutinised by its supporters) but rather against the abysmal record of BN. As in Zorro's blog post, I could care less what BN or their propaganda minions say about the recent DAP electoral debacle.
However, it would be foolish to dismiss all pro-establishment criticisms of the DAP central executive committee election fiasco, especially in the manner of the DAP apparatchiks. Helen Ang dissects both in 'Graf pola perkauman undi CEC oleh perwakilan DAP' and ''Guan Eng went to jail for a Malay girl' - oh puhleez lah', blog posts. The usual caveat applies. There are points I agree with and those I would dispute.
However, what I found interesting as far as the DAP is concerned is the endorsement of Hindraf's proposed Minority Affairs Ministry by none other than Karpal Singh in mid-December last year, but more recently by Lim Kit Siang's endorsement by way of publication of Dr Lim Teck Ghee'sarticle in support of Hindraf's proposal.For those with a short memory, when Hindraf first came up with this proposal in its five-year blueprint, much blood was spilt in the comments section ofMalaysiakini. It did not help that Hindraf assumed that they should lead the proposed ministry.
For the record, I think Hindraf should play an integral role in this ministry (as should Orang Asli rights groups and other marginalised groups) but as far as "leading" goes, I think it would be more productive if "people movements" remain just that and not embroil themselves in the messy politics of administration.
A good starting point for Pakatan
Teck Ghee's article references points raised by Hindraf and the Human Rights Party, albeit in a measured manner instead of the polemical tone of the two. He (like most right-thinking Malaysians) is cognisant of the fact that race relations in this country are defined by the Malay/Chinese paradigm when he states:
"How do we guarantee that poor and needy members of small minority communities will be scrupulously and fairly targeted for assistance and do not disappear or are lost sight of in our national agenda of development that will be inevitably dominated by the concerns of the dominant Malay, and to some extent, the Chinese community?"
Or here when Teck Ghee (right) writes: "Also, unlike the Malay and Chinese communities that dominate our public and private sectors, Malaysia's small minority communities lack the resources and clout to compete for the opportunities ostensibly available to all stakeholders in our economy and society."A ministry of minority affairs is but one possible solution. Another is by the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia activist group and their proposed Social Inclusion Act. Both solutions attempt to navigate the nebulous "need instead of race" based affirmative action waters that is the much hoped Pakatan Rakyat magic bullet that would solve all our racial inequality issues.
We don't know much of Pakatan's need-based approach except that the Malay community is constantly assured that they would benefit the "most" from it and that lip service is paid to the ideas such as inclusivity and meritocracy, which is linked to the need-based approach.
As a skeptic of big government or rather becoming a skeptic after the long Umno watch, the idea of a ministry of minority affairs fills me with trepidation. Understand now that I am cautiously optimistic whenever I read of such ideas but experience has shown that any time government gets involved in leveling the racial playing field, the exact opposite of what is intended occurs.
Teck Ghee nails it when he writes, "A just multi-ethnic society is judged by how fairly it treats its smallest minority communities and provides them with access to opportunities that can improve their material circumstances and future life chances."
And this is a good starting point for Pakatan to demonstrate how it intends to rectify Umno systemic abuse of marginalised groups in this country.
I have argued before that perhaps it is time we rethink our dependence on affirmative action policies as a solution to our "racial inequality" issues. I understand that this is ironically a minority view. Therefore, while we are discussing possible ways out of this Umno racial quagmire, what Pakatan has to do move beyond placating their two dominant voter base and highlight issues that these so-called "other minorities" face.
The best way Pakatan can get out of this Malay/Chinese paradigm and deal with minority communities is to address very vital issues affecting communities that have been suffering in extremis under the Umno watch.
Don't forget Orang Asli, too
I have often argued, much to the dismay of Indian rights groups, that the Orang Asli in the peninsular are the most disenfranchised community in the country (with the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak existing under a kind of colonialism), governed by laws specifically created to erode their culture and which is enforced by a ministry that blatantly contributes to their disenfranchisement under the guise of embracing them into the greater Malay polity.
The Orang Asli issue is the perfect opportunity for Pakatan to demonstrate its commitment to a more "just" multi-ethnic society and for Pakatan to establish grassroot-level approaches as to how to deal with minority groups.
As a minority community, the Orang Asli (and the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak) face a political reality that many assume as different from that of the majority. As Malaysians in majority communities, there are issues that we can identify with but there are many others that would shock us or are simply beyond our experience.
As it is, there is no real incentive to deal with this issue because there is not much political capital to be gained.
The record of accomplishment of Pakatan when it comes to the Orang Asli is extremely worrying. At this moment, there are ongoing scandals involving land grabs, violence and the ongoing harassment of the Umno state through the religious department working in tandem with the Orang Asli Affairs Department, which is ignored or downplayed by Pakatan because it involves Islam.Moving beyond mere political rhetoric and dealing with the most disenfranchised members of our Malaysian community is the most practical way Pakatan can distinguish itself in terms of policy from BN. This can be done at a state level which Pakatan (in some states) have more influence but beyond that it can be done by clearly articulating polices (which would mean either reforming or abolishing the current system in place) when it comes to the most disenfranchised of minority groups.
The reality is that Umno has no real desire to deal with the Orang Asli issue since it deals with all those problematic concepts, such as "bumiputera rights" and Malay identity. A whole range of issues, which affect the greater Malaysian multi-ethnic polity, are embedded in the Orang Asli "situation".
Issues such as land rights, freedom of religion, etc, which is supposed to be the defining causes for Pakatan, is overlooked in the Orang Asli communities because especially in the Peninsular, their voices do not carry any "weight".
As a practical first step, Pakatan should deal with a community that is currently at the mercy of the state (through the Orang Asli Affairs Department and laws that are designed to marginalise them) and an Umno philosophy that seeks to divide us along racial and economic lines.
Perhaps in this way, any talk of establishing another ministry in an already bloated civil service, could be seen as a move beyond the business as usual of Malaysian politics and it would indicate that substantive changes would be in store if ever Pakatan comes into power when it comes to minority rights beyond the concerns of the Malay/Chinese dynamic.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
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