Quake

I know it’s a bit late to feature this article in this blog, but hey…better late than never :) As Malaysia celebrates her 50 years of Nationhood, many speeches, expressions, opinions were written but this article written by Rafidah Abdullah has truly captured how all Malaysians feel today.

Fifty years ago, the people who were domiciled in this land made a social contract with each other. I wasn’t around then, so I don’t really know what went on, but this was the result: The Malays, who until then had constituted a people, a polity agreed to become a community among several communities in their own land and accept the huge numbers of Chinese and Indian migrants as co-citizens in a wholly new country. In today’s terms, this would be roughly equivalent to, for instance, China absorbing a billion Malay and Indian migrants and agreeing to form an entirely new nation with them as equal citizens. The Non-Malays, in return, were to accede to the Malays certain privileges for a limited time, with regard to land ownership, scholarships, business licenses and civil service positions, as well as to a political system that ensured Malay pre-eminence.

Fast-forward fifty years. What does all this mean to my generation, a generation divorced from this contract made by national leaders, all of whom have since passed on? Thanks to the particular brand of communal politics born all those years ago, my generation has inherited a divided nation with one side feeling denied and frustrated and the other feeling insecure, and clinging desperately to a sense of entitlement. Very few understand why things are this way, or take a moment to pause and query why things have become this way. Don’t get me wrong; what was decided all those years ago was probably the best way for the country at that time. What is disturbing is that as a nation, we haven’t been able to move on from that starting point to create a real sense of belonging for our plural family.

Thanks largely to ‘ethno-nationalist champions’, we are still harping on how Malays get all sorts of privileges, at times entirely un-deserved, and how Non-Malays should just keep quiet and be grateful to be given a home here without even having to give up their culture and identity. Given that both sides have valid points, how many more years will it take for us to move on? We have such a long way to go still, and so many more issues to deal with. And this year, our 50th year as an independent nation, seems to be an opportune time for us all to take stock of what we have and set some goals for this dear country of ours…..

Sometimes I don't like the way my country is being run…till now I’m still very curious whether the Malays have already achieved their 30% quota of the economic structure. If they still haven’t – does that mean that all the government efforts, initiatives and policies all these years are a failure? Or if they have indeed have achieved that 30% - isn’t it about time that the truth be reveal and let everyone compete as equals? Can Malaysia have Non-Malays Prime Minister in the future? The next time I fill up forms – will I have to tick in the small box that says that I’m a Non-Bumiputra? What will happen to Malaysia & her rakyat in another 50 years time? By then I’m already 75…perhaps I will stay, maybe I won’t :)

* England beat Russia 3-0. Two beautiful goals from my boy Michael Owen. Whee :)