Ramasamy confronts 'big racial lie'

 

“We must know what we want to achieve, what is our belief and if our understanding (of the matter) is based on principles that lead to harmony, peace, justice and humanity. This is very important, especially when we are living in a multiracial country like Malaysia," – Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

Amanah central committee member Mohd Sany Hamzan's contention that Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy “is looking for trouble and attempts to be the hero of his race with cheap publicity” is exactly the kind of strategy that proponents of the ‘big racial lie’ engage in.

An element of this big racial lie is that non-Malays are not patriotic enough to accept the low wages that come with civil service.

Umno Youth secretary-general Hasmuni Hassan said the same as reported in the press – “In a statement today, Hasmuni said the lack of non-Malays in the public service sector was due to low wages. He said this is different from the Malay community who are more willing to serve the government out of a spirit of patriotism.”

Remember when DAP’s Teresa Kok stirred the hornet’s nest because she dared push the government for a more racially balanced civil service? Then Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat said: "Most who join the civil service - especially in the security and defence sector - do so out of patriotism and love for the country.

This propaganda is thrown at the faces of non-Malays every time this issue is brought up. It ignores the decades of politicisation and Islamisation of the civil and armed services, not to mention the agendas of the political apparatus to ensure a reliable vote bank for the Umno/BN hegemon.

All of this is institutional. Government agencies paid by our tax ringgit propagandise a narrative that these institutions are the provinces of the Malays. Remember Biro Tata Negara (National Civics Bureau)? The newly minted ambassador to the United States of America, Nazri Abdul Aziz, took the old maverick Dr Mahathir Mohamad to task when the former prime minister said that there was nothing to reform in this agency. Well, Nazri called him a racist.

"If they have a problem with that, I want to know what their problem is. Do they want to say that Malaysia belongs only to the Malays and the government is only a Malay government? Should only the Malays be given the spirit of patriotism?

"Other races are not patriotic about their country? So I want them to point out to me where is it that I have gone wrong if I disagree with the past syllabus," Nazri said.

To understand the low enrolment of non-Malays in the state security apparatus, for instance, people should read Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan’s (to which I used to belong) letter.

One paragraph from the letter: “The government’s affirmative policies of the 1980s had seeped into the military administration. Strange sayings like ‘orang kita’ (our people) have crept into the minds of military commanders. Slowly and surely, the commanders saw some of those under their command as half-brothers or stepsons, unlike the 'all are equal' mindset of previous years.”

The above quote from the letter is just a primer on why non-Malays are reluctant – unlike before – to join the state security apparatus. The reality is much worse.

By corrupting the racial and religious make-up of these public institutions, these institutions then became Malay institutions, beloved by Malay political operatives who not only use them as a reliable vote bank but also as a cudgel to bash non-Malay political operatives.

Systemic racial dysfunction

Ramasamy, in confronting the big racial lie head-on via a Facebook posting urging this reform government to confront the reality that the civil service has become a racial bastion, is of course in the crosshairs of not only the ketuanan (supremacist) types but also the ‘don’t spook the Malays’ crowd, which unfortunately make up this unity government.

As always, non-Malay political operatives, activists and citizens who point to the racial and religious dysfunction of this country are labelled “racists” or racial provocateurs, while those who support the system are engaging in the social contract.

The civil service which Umno political operatives refer to as “Malay institutions” is now a political battlefield for the ketuanan types, after Umno fell from its lofty height of power.

Religious zealots and racial supremacists attempt to use the civil service not only for their pecuniary corruption but also to spread propaganda and sustain animus among people of different races.

In 2017, former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim opined that the government of the day should cut down on the oversized civil service.

As reported in the press, he said the country's bloated civil service has created inefficiencies in the economy and failures in the financial disciplines of ministries and government departments.

Non-Malay political operatives who head portfolios linked to the civil service have to be mindful of “sabotaging” the agendas of their Malay comrades. This is why this Amanah operative is in conniption because, ultimately in the Malay game, non-Malays have to be “pak turut” (yes men).

The systemic racial dysfunction of the civil service is of course not something that is unheard of in the political and social discourse.

Just last year, the always provocative professor, Mohd Tajuddin Rasdi, wrote an extremely interesting piece titled “From a Melayu Civil Service to a Malaysian Perkhidmatan Rakyat” which included a quota system but also a draft to fulfil said quota system. Like I said, provocative.

Personal anecdote time. Back in the day when I was part of the state security apparatus, I was involved in a flood relief operation which was a joint effort between the civilian and military branches of government. The divisional head of the emergency department was a Chinese man who later became a close friend.

Those days flood relief was hampered by the fact that communications and logistic aspects of operations were technologically rudimentary.

But there he was, waist deep in it, rescuing and providing support – which was his job – to rural Malay villagers and something a head of division would not even attempt to do now. He was there with his “men” because, as he said, he needed to be there. I understood him. Those days, there were no “orang kita”.

If you think that the good professor is wrong to bring this up now, then this country is really lost. There will never be a good time to confront this because there will never be a time when political operatives will say the Malays are no longer spooked. The flawed electoral system is predicated on the don't spook the Malays narrative.

Eventually, if no reforms are carried out, the non-Malays will become an insignificant polity as they will continue to seek their fortunes elsewhere. The country will go through a period of balkanisation before the dominant polity will be warring with themselves, proxies to regional powers.

Now for the big racial truth. The fact is that non-Malays have never stopped loving this country. The country stopped loving us. - 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.