Of Halimah and national unity

The National Unity Ministry was established in 1973. I remember fondly its first minister, Napsiah Omar.

Napsiah was, in my view, one of the more remarkable ministers in the cabinet at that time. She was dedicated and down to earth in dealing with issues of the day. She was able to garner women support and participation in the development of the nation.

The current minister, Halimah Mohamed Sadique, is a political star from Johor, and she is preparing a four-year plan for national unity, which she hopes will bear fruits in 2025.

We are not told how much money will be budgeted for her to revisit and promote, among others, the principles of Rukun Negara, the establishment of kindergarten classes, and other activities to make Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ a success.

I do not want to pour cold water over her plan to bring unity to the country. We have, after all, tried it for over 50 years.

But I can’t help writing this piece, as unity comes from the heart, not what programmes we devised to promote it.

It is a daunting and almost impossible task because unity can only be achieved by “give and take” and consensus building from the various ethnic groups. This is the recipe prescribed by Tunku Abdul Rahman, our first prime minister and the founding father of our country.

The more dominant groups in the country, however, only want unity on their own terms. Give and take is a weakness, they say.

First Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman

They believed Tunku had “given too much away”. The legacy of the past had to be corrected; history had to be revisited.

That’s why real unity is almost impossible. It’s akin to asking American Republicans to be considerate and objective about the principles of the founding fathers crafted by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and not blindly follow former US president Donald Trump. They are not capable of that as Trump is their truth.

Tunku, when asked about his hope for the country, said that all he prayed for was for the people to be happy. A simple wish from the man with a good heart, hoping only for the best for his people.

He did not wish for us to be rich, or a superpower. He wanted this country to be united, and for that to happen, Malaysians need to be happy. He told us of the difficulties and challenges we had to face to bring together peoples of different economic situations, ethnicity, and religions in order to be happy and united.

However, he was confident of the goodwill of the people, and that the "experiment" would be successful.

'Economic tiger'

Unfortunately, his successors were not interested in making Malaysians happy. They wanted Malaysia to be "an economic Tiger”. They wanted Malays to have privileges and special rights without being questioned.

As if their plans were not bold enough, they also wanted the country to be a "religious country", where the official religion provides the guidance of truth as explained by the religious leaders.

Democracy and the Constitution are just symbols. The status of other religious faiths is not on par with the official one. 

That's why an attempt to set up Interfaith Commission in 2005 to foster dialogue and understanding failed. It’s a sense of superiority that led Islamic civilisation (as opposed to world civilisations) to become a mandatory subject for students.

The ambitious leaders of the country then started changing the framework and the principles upon which we were set up. History had new and revised meanings; education had a new purpose, and even the words in the Constitution were ascribed to different interpretations.

They started a new experiment of building Malaysia on another platform - the religious platform - but led by Malay leaders who excel in creating wealth, at times for themselves.

A nation's family (now touted as Keluarga Malaysia) is just like our own family. To be united and harmonious, the family members need to be happy. They need to trust and be comfortable with one another.

If our parents persistently use their authority to impose their will, the children will not be happy. Nor will the kins stay harmonious if they are treated "differently" where some are more special than others. 

The children will not be happy if only some of them get to go to good schools while others are not so lucky.

Tough job for Halimah

Halimah will not be able to explain why discrimination is rampant and institutionalised in the country. For example, why do we exclude non-Malays from holding top positions in the civil service and the universities?

Halimah will not be able to explain the massive brain drain to the benefit of Singapore and other countries. She can’t explain why we still need the Malay-first policy for the country's national unity and well-being after 60 years of independence when we lost so many talented and extraordinary Malaysians to other countries?

Remember the Malaysian (a non-Malay) who invented the first Covid-19 tracker (like MySejahtera) and gave it for free to New Zealand, his newly adopted country?

Remember the Chinese boy who invented the “pen drive” after being supported by Taiwan because he could not get help here?

Remember the GrabFood pioneer who left the country and relocate to Singapore because his motherland could not help him?

How can Halimah explain to the young the meaning of democracy, equality, fairness, justice and the other principles of Rukun Negara without tackling the issues I raised.

We are a democracy, and yet Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman can't register his political party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance for years, while others can.

We are willing to revisit the cause of death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim but will not do so for Teoh Beng Hock.

We talk of the rule of law, but the police allegedly ignored the High Court order in M Indira Gandhi's case of her missing daughter.

What did we do about the deaths of so many Indian youths in police custody; and will we be so detached and uninterested if those who died were Malays?

Halimah has to stand up and fight for justice and fairness for all Malaysians if she really wants a happy Malaysia. She can’t expect them to be happy and remain united as one Keluarga Malaysia if things do not change.

Perhaps some of the Malay and Muslim groups do not care about national unity as generally understood. They see accommodation and compromise as a weakness. National unity and Rukun Negara are just showpieces.

Many unity ministers have come and gone, where lofty pronouncements and big plans were made about unity, but fundamentally the basic purpose was only to garner votes and get elected at the next election.

There is no intrinsic belief in the value of unity and harmony for the country, in the manner Tunku did. The politicians here do not believe in them, just like the Republican politicians see no merit and value in democracy, but only in Trump.

That’s why I feel sorry for Halimah and the country. - Mkini

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ZAID IBRAHIM is a former de facto law minister.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.