Looks like this country is finally showing its true inner self – or is the silent majority doing just that, by remaining silent?
As a kid born in the then Malaya in the 1950s before Merdeka (what does it mean anyway?), I grew up in what I thought was a fascinating world. I never had another country (except the Little Red Dot) to compare with until I left for the United Kingdom at 20.
The Catholic-run kindergarten that I attended in Ipoh had Malay pupils as well – and I am sure they were “little Sunnis”, not that it mattered.
The schools I attended all through had a good mix of students and I didn't really notice if my friends were Malay, Chinese, Indian or whatever. We were mates. Full stop.
The canteen operators were largely Chinese (even when I moved to KL).
The teachers were – when I think about it – mainly Chinese or Indian with the Malay teachers teaching Malay or Ugama (as it was called). But in our eyes, they were teachers. Full stop.
Our school's sports teams were of all races – we never saw them as anything other than the best players or representatives for whatever team.
Our University of Malaya was held in such esteem that I considered it a privilege just to play tennis or hockey on campus. It was a wonderful campus with a fantastic atmosphere.
Today, it's just like a dried katak that got run over by a Proton labouring to ascend Frasers Hill. No soul, no life, no vigour.
I was miles away academically to be considered good enough for this august institution so blokes like us ended up overseas or in the few local colleges in KL mainly.
Today, the good ones will stay miles away and not even bother to apply to this institution.
Fast forward 30-plus years – after the country has had its soul and fabric destroyed by a succession of Umno leaders, post-Tunku Abdul Rahman, we see a very different country.
Whether by design or not, systematically, the country I was born in has changed.
The Malay girls who wore shorts and with whom I socialised with now cover their heads, leave alone their legs.
The guys who used to sit in coffee shops downing stout seem to have gone into hiding or morphed into put-on personalities – conscious of how they should appear, as opposed to what they are in substance. We had a live-in Malay maid.
If it were the case today, the mufti of Perak would probably have raided our home and accused us of trying to convert her out of Islam.
It looks to me that when Tun Onn Jaafar was bitterly opposed to opening Umno to all Malayans, the opposition felt by the members was indeed the true feeling of many Malays. Because of the British, Umno had to jump into bed with MCA and MIC otherwise, there would have been no Merdeka to speak of.
Today, MCA and MIC are mere eunuchs that exist to only ensure Umno can claim whatever legitimacy – through Barisan Nasional – that it looks after all the communities.
From Tun Razak Hussein onwards, the stage was taken over by him and Tun Dr Mahathir. The others – Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi – were more of the genteel breed.
The picture I get now is that these Sunni boys of Umno actually want a country run by them, their kind and for their benefit.
Others may be tolerated – provided they pay their taxes (official and unofficial), do the donkeys' work and make no attempt to have a say as to how the country is to be governed. Belief in their faith has really got little or nothing to do with it. Sounds similar to Iran or Pakistan?
What is emerging is a feudal state of sorts – among states, among government departments, among Umno chiefs. Each is carving out his own turf and throwing in anything and everything that will mark his turf.
Hence we have deeper fissures within race, religion, neighbourhoods, occupations, etc. Having used religion to draw a boundary – that is, Islam – they now see a need to divide that into the Sunni Boys and the other Islamists, purely as tools to perpetuate their hold and distinguish themselves from possible competing persons/groups.
Against this backdrop, what beckons for the non-Malay, non-Muslim inhabitant who has been there for generations?
Datuk Seri Najib Razak postulates that by 2020, Malays will be 70% of the population. By extension, it does not take much to read what he is telling the 30%. So to the 30%, you have some choices to make:
1) Do you put up with buying inflated properties since you are carrying the cost of the discount accorded to the 70%?
2) Do you send your children to government schools with all they represent or fork out and send them to the private schools when the 70% can get into residential schools at almost no cost?
3) Do you continue to pay taxes even when it is blatantly clear that they are then splurged on wasteful buildings, projects and icons ?
4) Do you continue to send your children to our universities and upon graduation, become graduates who struggle to find a job competing with the overseas graduates – or do you spend or borrow to send them abroad for that piece of paper that gives them a perceived better shot for their future?
5) Do you spend on medical insurance just to ensure you have decent basic healthcare or go to government hospitals and likely be at the mercy of some doctors who qualified from any of our 50-odd (and counting) medical colleges?
6) Do you continue to pay inflated prices for cars instead of taking our public transport – and risk having your handbag snatched in the process?
7) Do you continue to pay thousands of ringgit in fees for a maid or opt to stay home and be a home-maker - even if you cannot afford it?
The questions are limitless – to each person and family, the situation differs.
When we come to a point where it is deemed necessary by a ruling government and its ruling party to brandish one's Sunni credentials, its a low and dangerous point and the 30% needs to do some hard thinking.
If from the 70%, a Mandela-type figure can step out, then there is hope that the 30% will be made inclusive in a nation as opposed to mere passengers in a bus driven by road bullies.
Given that the overwhelming majority of Umno are today products of our maligned education policy, the chances of a Malay Mandala appear slim to remote. I hope I am proven wrong.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer from Malaysian Insider
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