http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GA15Ae01.html Jan 15, 2005
The search for a Malaysian race By Ioannis Gatsiounis KUALA LUMPUR - From one vantage point, Malaysia is a shining example of racial and religious harmony in the post-colonial age. It has met the basic needs of its majority Muslim-Malays and its substantial Indian and Chinese minorities, not to mention myriad native peoples in the country's eastern regions, to the extent that there has been no major racial incident in Malaysia since the May 1969 riots, in which hundreds of Malays and Chinese were killed. Seen another way, however, the social construct of race pervades the national consciousness at almost every turn. All political parties, for instance, are race-based and have been known to use race to advance their own interests. Many schools are segregated; most Malay students choose to attend national or, increasingly, Islamic schools. Some 90% of Chinese primary and secondary students attend private, Chinese-run schools, according to Michael Yeoh, chief executive of the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute. Pent- up mistrust, resentment and condescension are a part of daily life here. In the end, however, acceptance has always prevailed; an acknowledgement by most Malaysians that while the racial situation is far from perfect, there is much to be grateful for. Theirs is a stable, fast-developing country. All Malaysia can take a little pride in that. Unfortunately, this "success" has not been matched by a collective and concerted effort to improve the "harmony" here - not in the government, not among the rakyat (citizens); in large part, the government censures and the public dutifully avoids substantive exploration of the matter. "There has been a self-satisfaction with the current situation and laziness to deal with certain problems and conflicts," said Sumit Mandal, a historian with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The authoritarian government, while flexible in its effort to accommodate, hasn't strayed much from its original post-riot social contract, the New Economic Policy (NEP), an affirmative-action program intended to help the Malays and other Bumiputeras (sons of the soil) catch up economically with the capitalist-oriented Chinese. The policy and its offshoots have played a crucial role in sustaining harmony in Malaysia. But they have been equally controversial and, say some analysts, a source of increased resentment. This can be better understood by considering what the NEP collectively stood for during its implementation in 1971: a compromise. It was widely thought that Malay economic progress would be matched by political gains for the Chinese and other minorities. But it hasn't worked out that way. Many minorities claim their political influence has waned, and thus too has optimism about the future of their communities: their outlook is built now less on hope and more on predictability. "From a [non-Malay] perspective, there has developed a weary acceptance of the way things are," said Ibrahim Suffian of the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. Malay economic advance has been matched not by an increase in power-sharing but by a consolidation of Malay political power. The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) heads a multi-racial coalition known as the National Front (Barisan National or BN), but the leading Chinese party's role has weakened in recent years. Samy Vellu, head of the Malaysian Indian Congress, Malaysia's largest Indian party, is widely thought to be a token of UMNO - and "more threatened by smart Indians than inclined to help them", as one young Indian businessman put it. Meanwhile, the Malay population, currently at 58%, is growing, while the populations of Chinese (27%), Indians (8%) and other minorities are shrinking proportionately. Previous hopes of gaining equal citizenship have become a distant dream for many. Potential unrest, however, has been tempered in no small part by the economic prospects available to Malaysians of all ethnicities - despite occasional grumblings of "institutionalized inequality". Gross domestic product looks primed to exceed 7% for 2004. Average household income is $9,000, higher than any country in the region save Singapore. Unemployment is at 3.5%. Poverty has been reduced from 49% at the NEP's outset to 7% today. The country is the world's largest producer of palm oil, pepper and rubber, and is a destination for people from across the continent. Thus, most Malaysians count themselves lucky, and those who don't are often reminded they should. In The Chinese Dilemma, a provocatively eloquent book that challenges conventional Chinese and other minorities' perceptions of themselves as second-class citizens here, Malaysian businessman Ye Lin-Sheng writes, "If the Malays had come to occupy India and China in a similar manner, how do you imagine the Indians and Chinese would feel? How would they have responded to these intruders? What would they have done? ... I also look at the lot of Chinese and Indian migrants to other countries and that of those who had stayed home. This is enough to make me feel thankful that I am [in Malaysia] and not there." But this logic may be finding fewer takers. Disgruntled Malaysians with the means have been known to relocate overseas. Even the government lately has expressed concern about its "best and brightest" not returning after being educated abroad, in what has been tagged the "brain drain". It is estimated that 30,000 Malaysian graduates work overseas. Many of them are Chinese. Khoo Kay Peng of the Sedar Institute, an independent think-tank, links this trend to the government's race-based policies. "If you don't create equal opportunity through a meritocracy, in the private sectors, high-quality people will continue to move away." Government leaders know the race-based policies are beginning to pose problems. So perhaps the question that now needs asking is how long will the Malays need assistance? The NEP was designed to run 20 years, but it has been extended to the present in various incarnations. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi warned at last year's UMNO annual assembly that Malays need to abandon their "crutches" or risk ending up in wheelchairs. But Abdullah was met with strong resistance within UMNO. (See Abdullah stirs a hornets' nest , October 2, 04). Abdullah has set up a National Unity Council to better unite the races, but few are holding their breath. He has shown a pension in his first 15 months in office of announcing grand programs, such as the Royal Police Commission, National Integrity Plan, and "Islam Hadari" (civilizational Islam), but none have begun to show substantial results, or necessarily appear determined to do so. The National Unity Advisory Panel, according to a member, has had one meeting since its inception in October and is in the process of trying to schedule a second. "I don't see any headway in the government's strategy," said social scientist Dr Norani Othman, despite much talk among a band of younger overseas-educated members of the United Malays National Organization, who have witnessed more egalitarian means of managing multi-racial societies. "There continues to be a lack of critical thinking, of examining how this problem has arisen in the first place." Some problems can be linked to tactics used by former premier Mahathir Mohamad. He may have coined the term "Bangsa Malaysia" (Malaysian race) in 1991, but by most accounts he did more to emphasize differences than de-emphasize them during his 22-year reign. He tended to point the finger at the plight of ethnic groups in other nations when the going got rough at home, sometimes in the form of bigoted tirades. And it was under Mahathir that UMNO and the opposition Islamic party, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), began their feud to out-Islamize each other and win over the Malay heartland. The battle exacerbated an Islamic revival already underway and that has continued to the present. Non-Muslim as well as Muslim analysts say that these two developments, feeding off each other, have impeded ethnic relations in Malaysia. "There needs to be greater questioning of traditional teachings [of Islam] that do not support equality, inter-faith, and inter-ethnic relations," said Othman. Abdullah, softer in style than Mahathir and with Islamic credentials to boot, has introduced Islam Hadari to encourage Malaysians to see and live beyond atavistic dimensions. Indirectly it is an acknowledgement that all is not as progressive as it might seem in this "model Islamic democracy" - and that seems like a fine start. But Malaysians have grown cynical of government programs and sloganeering, and many question the motivation and substance of Islam Hadari. (Publication of a book detailing Abdullah's vision of Islam Hadari has been indefinitely postponed.) Even, however, if Islam Hadari proves successful, it alone cannot solve Malaysia's inter-ethnic tensions - because Islam is hardly the only force at work in Malaysia's complex social fabric. In The Chinese Dilemma Le suggests that the Chinese could help improve matters by taking a closer look at themselves: "Malay success is always ascribed to the privileges and special support they get under affirmative action, but non-Malay achievement is invariably put down to innate ability and hard work ... have the Chinese forgotten all those licenses, concessions and contracts that they have won through patronage, connections and bribery?" Le encourages them to "try looking at themselves through Malay eyes", but concludes that the possibility of this has been "undercut by more recently acquired feelings of inferiority. Much cultural baggage, then, stands in the way of a change of Malaysian Chinese attitudes toward Malays." Of course, a less fragmented Malaysia will depend on all communities taking a closer look at themselves and their own legacies of racism, as well as taking greater steps to better understand the grievances of each other's communities. (Indians, for instance, among Malaysia's poorest communities, don't qualify for Bumiputera perks, yet few outside their own can be found championing their cause.) But these steps are unlikely to happen if the trend in schooling continues and if Malaysians don't learn, first and foremost, to talk through their differences. As it stands, when race is brought up outside one's own community, many Malaysians are astonishingly awkward in expressing themselves. Many would rather not. And the state-regulated media all but avoids meaningful discussion on the topic. "The [government and media] should create a sense that people should talk about their differences," said Patricia Martinez, head of Intercultural Studies at the Asia-Europe Institute at the University of Malaya. Instead, there's been a "sheer infantilizing of all of us to the point that we're unable to articulate ourselves on an issue that has become central to defining ourselves as Malaysians." Martinez, however, cautions against placing all the blame with the government and media. While draconian legislation such as the Internal Security and Sedition acts have been designed to curb freedom of expression, and the mainstream media have with rare exception dutifully toed the line, self-censorship often is a greater problem. "We self-sensor ourselves more than government sensors us. There's a reluctance [among Malaysians] to be offensive," Martinez said. That tendency has both helped and hampered community relations. But there's a growing sense that a fully-realized "Bangsa Malaysia" will require greater expression between communities and that anything less will hold the country back. Movement toward a Malaysian race Taking the leap, said Mandal, are a handful of film directors, website writers and editors, non-governmental organizations, playwrights and visual artists. One is Yasmin Ahmad, whose film Sepet, a teenage romance centering on a Chinese boy and Malay girl, will open next month. Without harping on differences, it subtly examines some of the realities and myths about ethnic groups here. And while the film's conclusions about inter-ethnic relations are far from rosy, Mandal said it also manages to emphasize what many of these artists are highlighting: trans-ethnic solidarities. "There's far more boundary crossing going on [in Malaysia] than some would like to believe," he said, adding that transethnic solidarities are among the least researched features of Malaysian society. This is unfortunate, though unlikely to change as long as the government maintains its race-based initiatives, which non-Bumiputeras equate with inequality. They tend to confirm suspicions, emphasize differences, perpetuate resentments - potentially obscuring positive changes on the ground. For those thinking along racial lines, perception is everything. That being said, outright scrapping, as opposed to a gradually repealing, of the ethnocentric policies is an unrealistic option, and those who have been calling for this tend to think in terms of the aspirations of their own community rather than the whole of Malaysia. Such thinking is potentially as invidious and insensitive as its advocates claim the current economic arrangement is. It's worth noting too that Malays have joined the chorus calling for an end to race-based government subsistence. But assuming the government adopts a system of greater equality, one based less on race than actual need, gulfs between communities will still persist. This is in no small part because race has been so politicized here; it has become a highly manipulative social construct by which Malaysians consequently and centrally identify themselves (even if, as Mandal rightfully points out, identity here extends beyond these boundaries). This has piqued some interest for a multi-racial party, though a successful one has yet to emerge. UMNO, it seems, is not capable of evolving in this manner, as its past makes it irretrievably suspect in many eyes. PAS is suspect too, due to its clearly Islamic agenda. However, other less typecast parties are tinkering with the idea of evolution. "What we see is that religious issues divide, even among Muslims themselves," said Syed Hussein Ali of the opposition Malaysian People's Party. "So we are, though not cutting ourselves off from those issues, slowly disengaging ourselves from them." Ali added: "We don't want to be drawn into issues of religion and race anymore." The party was founded by Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who was acquitted in September after spending six years in jail on what was widely thought to be a Mahathir-led witch hunt against the charismatic Anwar. And while the party is seen as a Malay party, its bread-and-butter issue has been social justice. The party, though, was weakened by March's parliamentary elections, when Abdullah's promise for reform propelled UMNO to an overwhelming victory. Yet Abdullah has shown few signs of fulfilling his promises, leaving the country without a clear sense of direction, and raising doubts about his commitment to reform. This has opened the door slightly for Anwar. And though he hasn't declared his allegiances with a particular party, his recent actions suggest he may well pursue a polyethnic platform. (See Anwar the Malaysian chameleon , November 25, 04). The point is, politicians on both sides of the divide intuit that change will be necessary,although to what extent remains unclear. Beyond economic and infrastructural considerations, however, Malaysia has in many respects been coasting. This has led to some anxiety and restlessness over the future. Which raises the persistent big question: will Malaysia explode along racial lines? The government's fear of this brought about the NEP in the first place and has guided policy ever since. To its credit, it has been dexterous and somewhat flexible. So have Malaysians. They have shown a remarkable ability to tolerate each other, not to overstep certain boundaries that may fuel tensions. It's also worth noting that the UMNO-led BN gets much of its support from minorities; when in 1999 elections the opposition scored upset victories over UMNO, it was mostly on the backs of disgruntled Malays. This suggests that intra-ethnic fissures might be greater than inter-ethnic ones. But the true test may be how Malaysians of all backgrounds are made to feel in their country. Ioannis Gatsiounis, a New York native, has worked as a freelance foreign correspondent and previously co-hosted a weekly political/cultural radio call-in show in the US. He has been living in Malaysia since late 2002. (Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. 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