WHY WE CAN’T SOLVE MALAYSIA’S RACE PROBLEM

But first of all we need strict anti-discrimination and race laws. You must be punished if you call someone a pendatang just like you would in some countries if you call someone a Nigger. Pendatang must be declared a racial slur just like Nigger, Paki, Keling, Pariah, Chink, etc.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

First of all, do read Wong Chin Huat’s article, Imagine there is no NEP (READ HERE), if you have not already done so. I think it is a very good article and one that hits the nail on the head.

I have said the same thing many times although not in the same way that Chin Huat put it. Basically, we need (or maybe needed, to be more precise) the NEP because without it we would have been plagued with problems. However, the NEP itself triggered other problems. Hence the solution to a problem became a problem.

However, today, I do not wish to talk about the NEP. If you want to debate the good and bad, or necessity or otherwise, of the NEP, then go to Chin Huat’s article to do that. What I want to talk about is the responses to the last few articles I wrote regarding the Malay-Chinese divide and how the Malays and Chinese (plus Indians and people from Sabah and Sarawak) perceive each other and treat each other.

I suppose I have always been called the Devil’s Advocate or someone who throws the cat amongst the pigeons to watch the feathers fly. And I never denied this because sometimes people need to be provoked to make them think.

The problem with Malaysians, however, is that they are too lazy to think. And this is why most of the comments talk about something else and do not discuss the matter that we are supposed to talk about.

The majority of the comments were totally off-topic and this says a lot about the Malaysian mind. If this were an assay in an exam most would fail for being out of point.

More importantly, though, most look at the issue as a black-and-white issue, or what some would call a zero-sum game. But then the world is not in black and white. And even if it were there would be many shades of grey in between.

As long as Malaysians look at issues as black-and-white with nothing else in between, we shall continue to argue till the end of time.

Even in the very strict Islamic laws of Hudud, it is not always black-and-white. You cannot say since you stole then your hand needs to be amputated at the wrist. In a black-and-white situation there would be no discussion. You steal; you lose your hand.

But even in Hudud, how strict these laws may be, there are still different shades of grey. Why did you steal? Because you are hungry? Because you have hungry children at home? Because you are destitute and the government is not giving you financial aid?

In such a situation the thief would not be punished and instead the court will summon the religious department and will be ordered to put this thief on the zakat list so that he can feed his family and no longer needs to resort to stealing to survive.

Hence there is no black-and-white even in Hudud. Hudud must take justice and compassion into consideration. So instead of losing your hand you now become a recipient of financial assistance. And if the religious department fails to look after you then the zakat officer would face punishment instead.

To solve the Malay-Chinese divide and to get to the bottom of what ails Malaysian society we must also get out of this black-and-white syndrome. The Chinese are not happy because they view certain government policies (such as the NEP, quotas, etc.) as discriminatory. The solution, therefore, as far as the Chinese (and other non-Malays) are concerned, is to end the NEP, quota system, and whatnot.

This is a black-and-white approach to the problem and the solution to this problem triggers other problems — in that while the Chinese and other non-Malays are now happy, the Malays will not be happy.

So we are just transferring or shifting the unhappiness from one group of people, the non-Malays, to another group, the Malays. Hence we have not really solved the problem. I have just taken my problem and given it to you. I have just ended my unhappiness by making you unhappy.

Have we, therefore, really solved the problem of the Malay-Chinese divide?

We need to explore how not to turn black into white or white into black. We need to explore how to mix the black and white and turn it into grey. Or, better still, how to remove both black and white totally and come out with a new colour, say green, blue, red, yellow, etc.

And this is the work of the powers-that-be. That is the whole reason why we voted them into office — to address issues such as these and make sure that Malaysians are happy and do not go for each other’s throats.

Do I have the solution? If I did then I should be the one in government, not that bunch of jokers from both sides of the political fence that we now have.

No, I do not have the solution. We need the best brains to sit down and come out with the solution. But the solution has to be not one where you rob Peter to pay Paul, which is currently what is happening.

But first of all we need strict anti-discrimination and race laws. You must be punished if you call someone a pendatang just like you would in some countries if you call someone a Nigger. Pendatang must be declared a racial slur just like Nigger, Paki, Keling, Pariah, Chink, etc.

In job vacancy advertisements you cannot state race, gender, religion, language, and so on. No one must be discriminated because of race, gender, religion, language, and whatnot.

And if you are denied the job even though you qualify and the reason you are rejected is because you are female or Chinese or do not speak Mandarin, then a crime has been committed.

This is not my recommended list of ‘reforms’ but merely some examples to trigger your thoughts. Basically, it may not be enough to just ponder on how to improve the system or modify the policies that have gone wrong. We may have to think outside the box and go back to the drawing board and start afresh.

In short, forget about how to turn back into white or white into black. Those who like black would hate white and those who love white would hate black. Hence we shall just be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

We need to consider how to remove both black and white and come with an entirely new colour.

And this was why we voted those politicians into office and why we are paying them salaries from the tax that we pay. It is so that they can solve puzzles such as these.