I went through the BTN behaviour modification and racist indoctrines many-many moons ago and I found myself troubled by all the racist propaganda. Late nite discussions with my roomie at the time (the late Benan RIP), and we concluded that the BTN wanted to brainwash us into believing that:
EVERYBODY (at one time, in one way or another) is a racist.
This means that you, the reader, are a racist, your father, your mother, your siblings, your cousin to the son of a brother who is an uncle of a nephew who is also a son-in-law to the cousin who is twice removed to a politician is also a racist.
Mahathir is a racist. Bodowi is a racist. KJ is a racist. Hishamuddin is a racist. Karpal is a racist. Same goes for Kit Siang, racist. And let’s not forget Anwar. He is also a racist. Wow.
Really?
If every single human being in Malaysia is a racist, have we any hope to co-exist? Is it impossible to have racial harmony and with that, social justice? Can we still achieve racial harmony; build trust and commitment in a pluralistic society? How do we fight racism while having a long history of racial injustice?
It is interesting to read the definitions of racism found by searching ‘define:racism’ with google.
‘Believing that one race is superior to another. Used historically to justify imperialism and human rights abuses.’
In another light, racism marginalizes groups of people, depriving them of the privileges that others routinely enjoy. Exclusion. Alienation.
As I grew into adulthood, my world-view expanded and had many opportunities to work with so many people, numerous penjajah from the portuguese, dutch, japanese to the brit, and even played footie and worked with the Jews. It’s not haram to work with a jew-lah. Tak mati pun.
I believe in Malaysia for Malaysians. We share the same air, drink the same water and our blood is red from shedding blood for this country..
According to Rawls, to have racial harmony or peace in a nation state that is pluralistic in terms of race, religion and ethnicity, the basic institutions must be arranged in a manner that all members of that society have good reasons for thinking these institutions are just and that they are legitimate members of the society.
Let’s look at the Pakatan Rakyat. The PR is a notion of coalitions taking the form of consensus-building. The goal is to build actual consensus in real political context and the concept of PR works on the belief that there is a level of cooperation between racial groups to shape negotiated norms that will allow us to tolerate each other as we pursue common ends. A common allegiance to ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ provided a unified perspective from which people of different color can adjudicate their differences.
Someone wrote:
“The fact that the PKR had performed better than previous elections is because it had fielded its candidates from a broad spectrum of race, religion and creed. Unlike its associate, PAS which campaigns solely on religious platform, both PKR and DAP are able to attract a broad spectrum of urban voters. The strong performance by non-Malay candidates in Malay majority constituencies clearly shows that racial cards and the politics of intimidation are NO longer the name of the game for Malaysia in the 21st century. In majority Chinese communities, both Gerakan and MCA were performing badly. The Hindraf movement had to some extent swung the votes from traditional MIC to the Opposition parties. Both MIC and its rival, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) which played on racial cards lost badly.”
True. Ketuanan Rakyat. Good. Ketuanan Melayu. Racist. Ketuanan Islam. Racist. Or is it? Racism can take many forms and be defined in different ways. When we add the ‘Tuan’ to indicate superiority that may result in the social, political and economic advantage of one group in relationship to another, then hell yeah, let me put this bold. RACIST. Who are certain factions within PAS trying to fool?
Like many young ‘arranged’ marriages, time is needed for the relationship to mature and in the process love quarrels may occur. Consensus assumes that people are willing to agree with each other and that any conflict can lead to creative, intelligent and mutually beneficial decisions. Despite these conflicts, I would like to think racial coalitions can be used to create a racially harmonious and just society, but we must realize that is a society where there has been and continue to be wide-spread racism, any small disagreement between members of different racial groups can serve to undermine any common ground that has been established . The threesome coalitions of PKR, PAS and DAP at a glance may be difficult to maintain and it seems like they will require constant maintenance for their continued existence. Goodwill is not enough and weeks ago, I imagined them breaking down because of a possibility that members of the coalition do not see in their best interest to continue. Or it may also occur because of some misunderstanding between members of the coalition. I could be proven wrong today.
(The Star) – Perak Umno has offered the state PAS to team up with it but Perak Mentri Besar snubbed the offer saying, “PAS in Perak will be in Pakatan Rakyat forever and ever.”
Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin … well done sir!!
The PR has good leadership. When we talk about the interests of members of the Pakatan, we should note that they may have long-term and short term interests. Whatever it may be, you and I would agree that very often it is extremely hard for people to look at their long-term interest, especially when they seem to conflict with their short term interests. My run towards financial independence by my 40s was derailed somewhat by recent events. Courageous leaders play an important role in getting people to focus on short term as well as long-term interests. We still need the redistribution of wealth to the rakyat this will require large scale government intervention to assure access to basic goods. I suspect that when this is done, people from different races (racist that they may be) will come to see that they have a great deal in common.
PAS members need to see that it is not in their interest to adopt such a narrow short-term interpretation and look closely at this UMNO muzakarah, muqabalah thingy (why can’t they come with an easier word to understand). What are the aims of the participants in this new proposed coalition? Is it to achieve a common good? Maybe. But will it be to ensure racial harmony? I think not. Each party is not attempting to achieve the common good of the rakyat, to promote racial harmony. They only want to maximise personal interests and survival of certain individuals. A by-product of their efforts may be the promotion of common interest, that is the so-called ‘Ketuanan Islam’, but seriously, this is not the true objective. In this regard, this merger talk is quite similar to the social contractarian approach in political philosophy. In the social contractarian approach, members of the state of nature are rational egoists who are attempting to agree on principles that will maximise their own interests. UMNO is a sinking ship and they only want PAS to help them stay afloat.
‘Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering’ – You know who.
It is hate that makes the housewife throw down the daily newspaper in fear, repulsion and anger, after reading yet another child-molester or rapist. It is hate that makes the Malaysian man curses to read yet another police brutality, corruption and court scandal. It is hate that brings rage into the heart of the Malaysian farmer when he reads billions loaded and given away as ‘incentives’ to aid cronies when he cannot get the smallest break from an unmerciful government to save his farm.
Emotions do things, and they align individuals (including racists) into communities. Aristotle differentiated anger from hatred in that ‘anger’ is customarily felt towards individuals only, whereas hatred may be felt towards whole classes of people’. More generally, hate also names an intense emotion, a feeling of ‘againstness’ that, according to Sartre, is always, in the phenomenological sense, intentional. We are as responsible for what it is we do as well as what it is we don’t do. Hate is a choice and the rakyat, refused the racism game and have channeled that other kind of hate to a common goal which is ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ and true enough, the ruling coalition was made to suffer. Padan muka.
Do it at your peril PAS. Sleep with the devil and the rakyat will make you pay.
