Cold comfort from Ismail Sabri

 

“Propaganda... serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda.”

- Eric Hoffer

Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s “Malaysian family” propaganda, like the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid, are similar in that both are used to deflect from the failings of the political class that has gaslighted the public for decades.

People are quick to denounce the current prime minister for this kind of propaganda but the reality is that there has never been, and there will never be, an alternative to the race-based politics of this country. 

For Pakatan Harapan to win in any election, they will need the support of a sizable faction of the Malay polity to have any legitimacy or credibility.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that the creation of Bersatu was a response to political reality on the ground that required a "Malay" party because the majority of Malays would not accept a multiracial party as head of government. All of the old maverick’s creations are to tap the Malay vote bank.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang is on record as saying that Bersatu was needed to court the Malay vote, especially from the rural heartland. Umno has said that Bersatu was created to destabilise the Malay vote. So history repeats itself and people are left wondering, is this all there is? 

The system is predicated on this self-fulfilling prophecy and any kind of outlier thought is sanctioned.

Harapan not only has to contend with its non-Malay base who are just looking for baseline equality policies but has to temper such expectations to the racial and religious concepts embedded in the Constitution which have always been open to misinterpretation and abuse.

It is sad this desperation of non-Malays to be accepted in this country and every little ounce of inclusivity and race blindness is gulped down with such fervour when the reality is that relations on the ground by and large are fairly convivial. 

And let us not forget that not only do we have to deal with the institutional racism, bigotry and policies which are considered “constitutional” for ethnic harmony, we also have to contend – for the non-Malays – with the bigotry and racism of our communities.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang

'Embodiment of evil'

Malaysia’s diverse cultural history and polychromatic political landscape have been obliterated by decades of the ketuanan ideology, part of which is enabled by the non-Malay political class. 

The non-Malay political class have done this because to step outside the box would invite not only sanctions from the state but also from political allies.

Everyone knows their place. Everyone knows that there are certain things Malaysians just do not talk about. 

It has been drummed into our heads that race and religion are taboo subjects and there are sanctions in place to discourage citizens from discussing such issues because national harmony is jeopardised.

In 2017, Kit Siang made statements to assuage the unease of his allies – which included the old maverick – that he never had any intentions for the highest office of the land. 

He said: "If I had never thought of becoming prime minister when I was in my twenties, thirties and forties, why should I be thinking of becoming the prime minister of Malaysia when I am in the seventies?

"I am also on public record as saying that although the Malaysian Constitution provides that any Malaysian can be a prime minister, I do not see any non-Malay becoming prime minister of Malaysia during my lifetime."

Isn’t that just sad? As someone who is extremely sceptical of the political class, I have to say, it really perturbing that non-Malay parents have to teach their children to curb their ambitions, suppress their desire to serve because it would be politically radiative for their other members of this supposed Malaysian family. 

And you can take your Bangsa Malaysia horse manure and shove it too because this particular propaganda forces you to disregard the systemic inequalities while believing in the delusion that we are all equal.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman

If someone like Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has to write about how he once thought that Lim Guan Eng was the embodiment of evil, it should tell us – non-Malays – of the kind of propaganda that has taken hold of the majority community. 

As someone who has very specific criticism against the DAP, I have never thought of anyone in Malaysian mainstream politics as an “evil incarnate”. Can you imagine the level of toxicity that propaganda organs spew to incite such levels of fear and mistrust?

Dysfunctional family

What binds us as a society, the rules of engagement if you will, are the policies, rules and ideas that we subscribe to as a collective, even though we may subscribe to individual or community ideas of culture that include religion.

Hence, it is not a question of how individual ethnic groups view each other but how the state views diverse communities and how those communities interact with the state. 

Hence, if we subscribe to policies based on a value system we all share (regardless of ethnicity) and this is reflected in the governance of the state, it does not matter how each community views one another.

But we will never have concepts or ideas of governance that we can all subscribe to because everything has been tainted with race and religion. And it is not as if this is done in a sub rosa fashion. It is all out in the open. Political operatives have admitted that race and religion have been used to shut down dissent.

So if you are a non-Malay or a progressive Malay who believes in democratic as opposed to ethnocentric or theocratic first principles, you are not part of the family. 

Indeed being a member of this Malaysian family means that you will always have to sublimate and deflect from the political, social and economic reality of this country.

It is cold comfort, that while we may get along, we will never be a family, or at least not in the kind of “we are all in this together” way, that defines healthy functional democracies. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."

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