To the Malays, fear not the Chinese

 

From Moaz Nair

A PAS member was reported as saying that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was promoting communist ideology. DAP, a party with a significant number of Chinese members, is part of the PH coalition.

Probably, his insinuation is that “anything Chinese must be associated with communism”, if they do not belong to the same political camp. The Chinese are also represented in two other major political parties – through MCA in Barisan Nasional (BN) and Gerakan in Perikatan Nasional (PN).

The intention of the PAS member here is nothing more than to divert the Malay focus from the emergence of new trends in politics in the country.

This is not the first time that a member of a political party has used this ruse to stir the minds of the Malays. Associating the Chinese with the communist agenda is for political expediency.

Ironically, PAS was at one time with DAP in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in 2008, after the 12th general election (GE12), having previously formed the Barisan Alternatif in GE10.

The term “communist” or “communism” is often used by bigoted political leaders as a bête noire to shudder local Malays into not accommodating those people whose roots were from Communist China.

Malays in general, however, are sensible enough not to be influenced by this political stance. The word “communist”, no doubt, is quite an aversion to some rural Malays in the country.

However, Malays in the majority are now so immune to this term, having realised that it is used as a political pun or propaganda to demonise the Chinese.

As a matter of fact, no local political party in the country today is that naive to carry any “communist” tag in their struggle.

Stories of the past

Dreaded stories of the past about communist atrocities in the country have become irrelevant today. The long skirmishes with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), from 1930 to 1989, during the pre- and post-war eras brought untold misery to many foreigners, as well as Chinese, Malays and Indians. The CPM recruits, for that matter, involved the Chinese, Malays and Indians.

The era of pain and agony the people went through during the period is etched in our history. Those belonging to that generation, especially the army and police officers of all races who took charge, can never forget the ordeals they went through.

Nor could the peace-loving, helpless civilians among all races forget the plight faced by the innocent victims of atrocities inflicted by those who wielded authority over them, all in the name of seizing power from one another.

No doubt, there were Chinese, Malays and Indians who subscribed to the communist ideology in those days due to poverty and their hate for the British colonialists and the Japanese conquest of Malaya. Many were also forced to support the communist agenda for fear of retribution.

No Malaysian would want this history to be repeated. Malaysians of all races in the present generation are seeing the present and the future from a different perspective.

Whatever, PAS needs to be enlightened that communism is a social, political and economic ideology that creates a classless social order in a state. This movement, in its Marxist-Leninist broad interpretations, ominously influenced the history of the 20th century where there were communist states ruled by communist parties versus socialist states under socialist parties, aside from the free world comprising countries with market economies.

Though it was the Dutch radicals who first introduced Communism to Southeast Asia, this ideology was given impetus by the rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was the political situation in China, with the CCP leading China’s two great revolutions – the democratic and the socialist revolutions – that had major influence on the local scene.

The influence of these events started to penetrate Southeast Asia with the inspiration and unconcealed support from China then.

China of this era

China of this era is a relatively peaceful country under its own system of governance and is developing rapidly. This ideology of having a centralised government has worked well in China, a country that has a population of 1.4 billion people.

Today, China is a Communist country only by name. In reality, China has tacitly embraced a socio-capitalist system that has made it a progressive nation.

The China of today does not export its archaic communist political ideology to Malaysia. This is substituted with multi-billion ringgit investments and with all types of economic commodities pouring into the Malaysian market.

The world today can learn a lot from China. It has evolved into a nation of economic prosperity and the resilient people of this nation have respectable work ethics.

Since opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free-market reforms in 1979, China has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies. Chinese products and investments in many parts of the world, including Malaysia, are just phenomenal.

The country has become one of the most favourite tourist destinations for Malaysians, especially the Malays. They dine in halal Chinese restaurants and visit many historical places, including the famous mosques in the country.

There is a huge Muslim population in China, too, especially in the western region of this vast land. These tourists return home with a better perspective of the country.

Malaysians of all races are also studying in universities in China that are offering world-class education. They pick up Mandarin during their course of study and return home with an important language of commerce and business to add to their academic and business repertoire.

Today, Malaysia’s rapport with China is cordial. China is now not seen as an “exporter” of communist ideology to other countries but has become Malaysia’s largest trading partner, bringing shared prosperity to all Malaysians.

Political zealots

Unfortunately, there are still some political zealots who belong to the old school of thought trying hard to cause anxiety among the locals – especially the Malays – of the possible “resurgence” of communism in the country.

Malaysians have long left the communist ideology just like what the people of many other nations have done. Some countries may have socialistic tendencies in politics but this cannot be equated with communism.

Socialism exists even in some theocratic and European countries. It is, therefore, unwise for some leaders and supporters of race-based political parties to bring in communist ideology to paint their nemeses in an undesirable manner.

PAS has to be reminded that the most successful leader in this region who managed to wheel-clamp communism was the late Lee Kuan Yew during his tenure as prime minister of Singapore.

It was a daunting task, no doubt, but he did it by showcasing Singapore as a success story economically through a democratic process. No Singaporean of today would want communism to make a comeback. Neither do Malaysians of the present generation want communism to be adopted as a way of life.

For sure, Malaysia will not succumb to any communist threats under a fair and efficient democratic political structure.

When there is good business and economic strategies devoid of economic exploitation, no tyranny and political oppression, a government that is not corrupt, and there is social justice for all its citizens, there is no reason why the people must resort to communist ideology as the way forward.

Diverting the attention of the Malays

Let history be kept at its rightful abode and read to remind us of the importance of peaceful living. It can be used as a measure for the success or failure of a system but not as a political bogey to alarm the people.

Politics in the country represents the old and young. When political leaders engage in politics of hatred towards other races this does not reflect well on the nation. Fortunately, the majority in the country do not subscribe to racial politics. Their wishes are to build a better Malaysia by building bridges among all the races in the country.

Being Chinese or associating with modern China is not going to make Malaysia a communist country. New Malaysia is not going to bring back communism into society.

The fact is, no local political party subscribes to, or is, promoting the ideology of communism as perceived by the PAS member. Thus, it is premature for the PAS member to insinuate that a local Chinese-dominated political party is promoting a communist agenda.

To the Malays, fear not the Chinese in the country. Fear more the unbridled corrupt practices among all levels of our society that will cause irreparable damage to the country. - FMT

Moaz Nair is an FMT reader.

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