Show me the money!

The Chinese look down on the Malays and say that the Malays would be nowhere without the New Economic Policy (NEP). Some Malays have made it only because they are the beneficiaries of the NEP. Without the NEP most Malays would still be living in the kampongs and would not own the lavish houses that they live in and the fancy cars that they drive.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Bernama) - Kelantan Umno Liaison Committee chairman Mustapa Mohamed is disappointment over reports claiming that money politics is still being used by some candidates to win votes in the upcoming party elections.

He said although the party election rules did not at all allow money politics, it appeared difficult to be eradicated.

“Money politics is worrying. According to the reports we received, although not in writing, even with the new election system, there is still money politics.”

“It is true there is greater democracy now in the party, but the scourge of money politics appears to be still there,” he told reporters, here, yesterday.

Mustapa said money politics must be stemmed immediately as it could destroy the party if allowed to continue.

In this regard, Mustapa wants the party delegates to think wisely and choose only candidates who could steer the party to a brighter future and make it acceptable to all groups.

“I am not accusing anyone. May be there are people who are reluctant to lodge reports on cases of money politics, hence making it difficult to prevent the malpractice,” he said.

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You probably need to be a graduate of sociology and anthropology to understand the Melayu Baru culture. Why are the Malays of today so different from the Malays of, say, 1953? What happened along the way over the last 60 years or so? Why have the values of the New Malay or Melayu Baru changed so much? And whose fault is it?

Those critical of the Malays would probably say that the Malays have become corrupted and now place wealth above all else, even above religion. The Malays have become greedy, you might say. The Malays just want to make money without having to work for it. The Malays of today are more materialistic than the Malays of 60 years ago.

In a way this assumption is partly true. But that is not the entire story. It is more than just greed or materialism that ails the Malays. It is how the world has changed and how the Malays are just aping what is happening all over the world.

Today, you are judged by your wealth, power, position and titles. The more wealth and power you possess the more respect you gain. And this is true the world over, not just in Malaysia. If you have money, position, power and titles, you command the respect of the masses. Hence Malays, just like any other race all over the world, crave for things that bring this respect.

Take, for example, the so-called debate that I was supposed to have with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. Actually, in the first place, it was not even a debate. What happened was that Wikileaks wanted to interview both Anwar and me and they wanted to do it simultaneously to save time instead of in two separate sessions.

The response from PKR was, “Who is Raja Petra? He is just a Blogger while Anwar is an Opposition Leader? He is not worthy to debate Anwar.”

As I said, it was not supposed to be a debate but just a joint-interview. But because I am just a Blogger, PKR felt I was too low down the ladder to appear on the same stage with Anwar Ibrahim, a Yang Berhormat and the Opposition Leader. In other words, your position and power is very important. And you are nobody and not worthy if you do not hold any position or have any power.

Even PKR thinks like this.

So people crave for positions and power. And they also crave for wealth because only if you have wealth, position and power will you be somebody. If not you will be nobody.

The opposition too thinks like this.

Over the last 60 years, Malays have been taught that wealth, position, power and titles are very important. Malays have been taught that fishermen, farmers, plantation/factory workers, etc., do not command respect. If you are a mere fisherman, farmer, plantation/factory worker, etc., then you are a failure. You are nobody. You are not respected. To be somebody, you need to have money, position, power and titles. Only then would you command respect and be considered successful.

The Chinese look down on the Malays and say that the Malays would be nowhere without the New Economic Policy (NEP). Some Malays have made it only because they are the beneficiaries of the NEP. Without the NEP most Malays would still be living in the kampongs and would not own the lavish houses that they live in and the fancy cars that they drive.

In other words, the Chinese are telling the Malays that wealth, power, position and titles is the measure of someone’s success. And without all this you are a failure. And the only reason some Malays are successful is because they had an unfair advantage of the NEP.

The Malays have been taught that you need these trappings of success to gain the respect of society, in particular of the non-Malays. Hence the Malays crave for what they view as the things that success is measured by. If not then everyone will look down on them. You must be rich and powerful. You cannot be a simple worker in the factory, plantation or padi field.

So there is a lot of pressure being put on the Malays to become successful. And you will not be viewed as successful unless you have money, power, position and titles. And the shortcut to obtaining this money, power, position and titles would be through politics. So everyone wants to be somebody in politics because through politics you can achieve success.

What we are seeing today is the end result of more than 40 years indoctrination of the Malays since 1969. As Deng Xiaopeng said, “To get rich is glorious.” So, today, the Chinese are chasing wealth and you can see this Chinese wealth all over the world. Soon the Chinese will be chasing power and this is going to be demonstrated in the South China Sea region.

The Malays, too, were told over the last 40 years that to get rich is glorious. And you need not only wealth, but power, position and titles to be glorious. And if you do not have wealth, power, position and titles you will be considered a failure and people will look down on you and will not respect you.

So, who is to be blamed here? Now you see what more than 40 years of indoctrination has done. It has created the Melayu Baru. And the values of the Melayu Baru are very different from those Malays of 60 years ago.

So, yes, the government has succeeded in changing the mindset of the Malays and succeeded in making them more ambitious and more competitive. But many of you do not like what you see in these Melayu Baru. But then you cannot have it both ways. Either you have the Malays remain complacent and satisfied or you get them to join the rat race. And once they join the rat race they become just like rats.

That is the unavoidable result of teaching the Malays that to gain respect you must become successful and that success means you must have wealth, power, position and titles.

In closing I want to bring your attention to the Commission of Inquiry below. An interesting part of this episode, which was not mentioned thus far, is that Anwar Ibrahim was the head of Umno Penang at that time and the man behind Umno Penang’s building.

I wonder what PKR has to say about this matter.

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Amended Penang Umno building plans submitted and approved within a day, inquiry panel told

(TMI) - The Commission of Inquiry into infrastructure failures in Penang today heard that amended plans of the Umno building were submitted and approved on the same day, without approval from any engineer.

The Penang Umno building has become the centre of an inquiry after a lightning arrestor atop the 21-storey structure collapsed on June 13, crushing seven vehicles on Jalan Macalister and causing two deaths. Either others were injured.

The first inquiry witness, Tan Lin Hai, an architect with the Building Department in the Penang Town Council (MPPP) since 2003, told the three-man panel that the building plans were approved on July 30, 1997.

The amended plans were submitted on July 23, 1998 and were approved on the same day. The building then received the occupancy certificate four days later.

"This means that the building was fully constructed before the amended plans, which included an amendment in relation to the lighting arrestor, were submitted," said the chairman of the inquiry, Datuk Yeoh Yang Poh, a former Bar Council president.