WHEN MALAYS ARE ASHAMED OF BEING MALAY

The Malays, however, look up to foreigners. They treat foreigners as tuans (lords). That is why it is very easy to colonise the Malays and the Malays have been colonised by foreign powers since the time of Jesus Christ. (And some say that since Merdeka the Malays are being colonised by Umno).

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Raja Petra Kamarudin

Some Malays are ashamed of being Malay. They are ashamed of being Malay because they feel that Malays are racists. Malays are racists because they have been granted a special position and this special position is protected under the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

Furthermore, there is the New Economic Policy on top of Article 153 in the Constitution that not only allow Malays a special position but give them preferential treatment as well. Within this preferential treatment are quotas for government jobs and places in universities plus a discount when they buy houses and whatnot.

And this is racism, the Malays are told. And racism is so yesterday. So Malays should be ashamed. They should be ashamed of being Malay. By being Malay that means you are racist.

Malays are weak, they are told. They are backward. And they are further being weakened and will forever remain backward because of this special position and preferential treatment plus the New Economic Policy that does not teach the Malays how to compete.

Malays should adopt the policy of meritocracy. They should learn how to make it in a climate of survival of the fittest. If the Malays can learn how to fight it out and survive in a dog-eats-dog world then the Malays would become very strong and very successful.

Are the Malays not ashamed that they are lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, and so on, not because they are smart but because they happen to have been born Malay? The only reason they are lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, etc., is because they are Malay and not because they are smart.

If Malays were not given special treatment they would not be where they are. They would be nothing. At best they would be farmers, fishermen, land settlers or back in the kampung surviving on pittance and living in wooden shacks that have no toilets or running water.

No Malay who has gotten to where he or she is deserves it. They only got to where they are because they happen to have been born Malay. If not for that most Malays would have not gone beyond secondary school. University, especially a foreign university, would have been impossible for most Malays.

So do not be too proud of your so-called achievements. Do not be proud of your career, your house, your car, and whatever. You have all this not because you are clever or because you deserve it. You got them because you are a racist who made it through this racist policy.

Some Malays may be ashamed of being Malay but they are also scared. They are scared that without this special position, preferential treatment, quotas, and so on, they will fail. They will never make it in life.

Malays accept the fact that they are weak. They accept the fact that they are not as clever as the others. They accept the fact that they made it only because they were given special treatment and if not for that they would be failures. And they are worried that under a system of meritocracy and on a level playing field and based on survival of the fittest the Malays would be wiped out.

And some Malays also accept the argument that because of this fear that makes them a racist.

But then if this is what concerns the Malays how would that make them a racist? Racists have a superiority complex. Racists think they are far better than others. Racists look down on others. Racists call those of other races ‘foreign devils’ and ‘barbarians’.

But Malays, as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad always grumbles, are too feudalistic. Dr Mahathir said he wishes the Malays would be less feudalistic and more like the Chinese. In fact, Dr Mahathir lamented that his greatest regret in his 22-years as Prime Minister is that he could not change the mindset of the Malays.

For thousands of years other Asians such as the Chinese and Japanese looked down on non-Chinese and non-Japanese. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese also look down on each other. They even consider Koreans as second-class people. Anyone who is not Chinese (or not Japanese) is a foreign devil and barbarian. And foreigners are treated as people who should not be treated as humans.

The Malays, however, look up to foreigners. They treat foreigners as tuans (lords). That is why it is very easy to colonise the Malays and the Malays have been colonised by foreign powers since the time of Jesus Christ. (And some say that since Merdeka the Malays are being colonised by Umno).

For more than 1,000 years the Malays were colonised by regional powers. And for 500 years up to Merdeka the Malays were colonised by the Europeans. And the Malays regarded these colonialists as superior people. And they accepted these colonialists as superior people because the Malays regarded themselves as inferior people.

Racists would not regard themselves as inferior and others as superior. It would be the other way around. Racists regard themselves as superior and others as inferior.

Malays, however, regard themselves as ‘inferior racists’ and others as far superior to them. And that is why Malays are scared. They are scared they are not good enough. They are scared that on a level playing field they will fail. They are scared that they are weak. They regard others as far better than them.

I think the Malays are a very confused lot. And this is probably why they fail. They think they are weak and at the same time they think that this weakness and the fear of failing makes them a racist. They do not realise that to be a racist you must have a superiority complex and regard yourself as better than others and you must look down on others and regard others as inferior people.