Unity plan must feel pulse of the people, not be mere piece of paper

 

Congratulations Mr Prime Minister!

You have hit the nail on the head when you said Malaysians should steer clear of politicians who manipulate racial sentiments for political expediency. To a large extent, this is exactly what has led to the depressing political scene we see before us now.

Launching the National Unity Plan and National Unity Action Plan (Blueprint) 2021-2030, Muhyiddin Yassin outlined the biggest challenge facing countries with a multiracial population: politicians who try to raise their political stock by exploiting racial sentiments.

Such politicians have torn us asunder, making all efforts to unite the country an exercise in futility.

So, this plan, to be honest, is long overdue but as the saying goes, better late than never.

The blueprint contains three aspirations and 12 strategies, each with several strategic actions.

The aspirations are to build a patriotic and democratic society; develop a national identity; and strengthen the unity ecosystem. All sound like lofty ideals but these are what we actually need for a happier Malaysia.

But are they doable? This plan inevitably took me back to the two major socio-economic policies that were launched in the last 50 years which had lofty aims of racial unity as the basis to achieve their aims.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) launched in 1971 was supposed to create the conditions for national unity by reducing inter-ethnic resentment due to socio-economic disparities.

In practice, the NEP policies were seen as pro-Bumiputera, or more specifically, pro-Malay, the largest ethnic group in the country.

But, as many have admitted, the implementation failed miserably. Politicians scrambled to get more of the pie using the race card and, after 20 years, Dr Mahathir Mohamad had to announce a new socio-economic policy to replace the failed policy.

He launched Vision 2020, which was basically a plan for the nation to attain developed status, but the overriding objective was to establish a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny.

He said: “This must be a nation at peace with itself, territorially and ethnically integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership, made up of one ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ with political loyalty and dedication to the nation.”

Like the first plan, this one flopped too, and Mahathir is now blaming his two successors for the failure. I have to disagree. It was not the successors; it was a policy with some serious flaws.

Instead of a united nation, we now have probably the most divided Malaysia since Merdeka, with polarisation at its worst.

After two flops, Muhyiddin has launched a third. He, too, seems to be attributing our current problems to politicians.

Will this one be successful? Will citizens of all races and faiths hold hands and walk proudly calling themselves Malaysians? Or share a national identity of Bangsa Malaysia?

Not many are holding their breath but I am still optimistic. However, for the plan to succeed, technocrats drawing up the new plan must first do an honest assessment on where we have gone wrong.

The government must talk to all stakeholders, meaning all representatives from all levels of society and not just self-serving politicians and some set-in-their-ways civil servants.

This was how the two earlier plans were done, involving planners who had no regard for actual feelings on the ground. And we know what happened.

There is a story of a Singapore newspaper editor who, faced with falling readership, decided to get his non-editorial menial workers to read the frontpage reports before publishing.

He reasoned that if the man on the street or his clerks do not understand the story and its impact, it was pointless. With their input, the circulation of the newspaper started soaring.

The Malaysian planners, too, have to come down from their ivory towers. The moment you start depriving citizens of what they had worked hard for, the seed of dissent is planted. Further deprivation only acts as fertiliser for this anger and frustration to grow.

If the political parties are race-based and only champion communal issues, no policy, however noble, will succeed.

When we proudly identify ourselves as Malaysians abroad but go into a racial cocoon upon landing in KLIA, we fail.

If a Bumiputera tycoon gets a 7% discount on his multimillion-ringgit mansion while non-Bumiputeras who earn a fraction of what he does have to pay the full amount for an average house, those frustrations fester.

When Pakatan Harapan, which was considered a government with a fair representation of the races, was broken up by the racially charged Sheraton move, many Malaysians began asking if their children and grandchildren would ever have a chance under the Malaysian sun in future.

So, you can have all the policies you want, complete with pretty charts, graphs and artists’ impressions but if they lack sincerity with overzealous officers implementing it the way race-driven politicians want it, we may as well get set for a third flop.

This third attempt at uniting the nation is most welcome at a time many are exasperated with the ongoing race and religious diatribe. The fact is, there is still much goodwill among Malaysians on the ground.

I, for one, hope this unity plan will succeed and keep Malaysians together. But each and every Malaysian needs to make sacrifices.

But first, we must embrace the plan. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.