FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AND RACE

All man was born free, and hence, freedom is a God given right to every human being. To be free, means no other human being can force upon another fellow human being to accept a certain set of belief systems, way of life, practices etc. – unless he/she, in his/her own free will voluntarily submits to it. Democracy, among today’s existing political system is the only one that fully supports this notion of freedom. Race on the other hand, in a fully democratic and free society should carry minor or lesser consequence, as the rights of the individuals are enshrined in the constitutions (or the laws) and these rights preside over all matters. Therefore, in a free and fully democratic society – race should not be the utmost concern. The question is, after more than 50 years of independence and “democratic practice”, why race is still an issue in Malaysia ?

The problem actually lies with the fact that Malaysia has never been a “fully free and democratic” society; our democracy has been at best “very limited” in its implementations. Therefore, if we want this race issue to be addressed properly, the major prerequisite is to shape and bring Malaysia to be a “fully free” (in the sense of human freedom), and “fully democratic” in the proper democratic sense. These are the two issues that I will address in this writing.

First, on the issue of freedom: We are lucky, that we have a well defined constitutions and laws in the country. Our rights have been properly defined in these documents. The Malays have their rights clearly protected under the “Hak-Hak keistimewaan Melayu” (“Malay Special Rights”) under the constitutions, and the other races have their individual rights sanctioned in it as well. Honestly, the fuss that’s going on today has nothing to do with the constitution and these enshrined matters – the issues at the core of it is about all of our rights and freedom being trampled, and abused by one group of people, namely – the UMNO ruling elites.

In fact, the UMNO ruling elites are the one that deprived the Malays of their own civil rights and freedom, through intimidations, threat, and abuse of the process of law (just see the record of how many Malays has been detained under ISA compared to the other races? More than 80% of the existing ISA detainees are Malays). Malays are not even free to practice Islam, as the Islam that can be practiced must falls under the strict definitions by the Jabatan Agama Islam (“JAI”). You are not free to organize Jumaat prayers on your own, unless you are authorized to do so; a number of good Ustaz are not allowed to give sermons or lectures in the mosques, as they do not subscribe to a certain brand of Islam defined by the JAI.

For most, we know that freedom of speech is something that never existed in Malaysia ; the same thing goes for the freedom of the media. We can go on and bring a whole set of lists on this matter. The poignant message is: we are not really a free country; and freedom is something that we never achieved. And it is affecting all of us from all races and background.

The second subject is about democracy: The basic tenets of democracy is that we have a government that is elected through a democratic process, whereby each citizen elect them by way of one person one vote, through a “fair, open, and transparent” process. A democratic society also is about a functioning check and balance within the system. One of the most important parts of this check and balance is the media and information. A democracy that is not supported by an open, free and fair environment of information dissemination – is a blind democracy. A blind democracy is never a properly working democracy, in the sense that leaderships and government are being appointed by a blind public, who firstly do not really know who they elect and why, and secondly, will not have any way to provide a check and balance on those whom they have chosen.

Pure democracy posits that society needs media that is: a) a rigorous watchdog for those in powers and for those who want to be in power; b) which can ferret out truth from lies; c) and can present a wide range of informed positions on all important issues of the day. In Malaysia , what we have is that our media is at best a charade for the ruling elite. The Media (Press act) laws are pretty much structured that any dissent among the media, means that you will not have the license to continue printing or broadcasting. The government owned (and funded) TV stations (TV1 and TV2), plus the GLC owned (the Media Prima), as well the newspapers (NST, Berita and Utusan) – all become the propaganda arm for the ruling elite.

Of late, they have deteriorated even further: the media now a spinning machine for Pak Lah and his cronies (as explained by Tun Dr. M himself in his blog). We can just observe how relentless (or desperate) they became in attacking PR in last Permatang Pauh by-election. The media is no longer a news medium and abide by the basic ethics of journalism; they became medium of lies and propaganda.

The conclusion that I would like to bring forth here are as follows: Yes, we should address and discuss about race, socio-economic arrangements between the races, and other sensitive matters among the races and across religious divides. But the precondition is we must first ensure that Malaysia is a FREE AND OPEN SOCIETY and WE ADHERED AND PRATICE STRICT MEANING AND INTENT OF DEMOCRACY (even albeit a “proper” Malaysian version of it). As I have started in the opening paragraph – UNDER SUCH ENVIRONMENT OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY, RACE WILL NOT BE THE DOMINANT ISSUE IN OUR SOCIETY. The problem why race is still important today is because we have failed on the prerequisites. Hence, the urgency now is to us get our priorities straight.

This is what ANWAR and PR is fighting for; and for this we must support and make sure that he can and PR will implement it.

Endnotes

On the status of TV1, TV2 and government owned and funded by tax payers money media.
My proposal is that these media should be “free from the government” hands if they want to continue to exists. In the same manner that PBS (Public Broadcasting Stations in the US , or C-SPAN networks), or SBS (in Australia ), for that matter BBC – all are managed, operated, and organized “independent” from the ruling government. Their funding is enacted by law, and they are no longer under the Ministry of Information. Their editors and reporters are free to report under clear guidelines of journalism ethics. The reasoning of this arrangements falls in line with what I explained above, about the role of media in a functioning democracy. Off course I am also against making it to be privately owned (privatized), as we know that the owners of these entities are then the one that will dictate the news. May be one of the way is to set it up as an independent entity, with the public at large on board (similar to an Independent Commission or Suruhanjaya Bebas) overlooking them. Any other ideas also may work; with one fundamental condition: they are no longer a subject of any one who is in power!

A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MALAYS AND MALAYSIA

The Malay race (consists into two groupings – Proto Malays and Malay Polynesians, or Melayu Darat and Melayu Laut), likely originates from the Yunnan province or surroundings. The early Malay (or Champa) civilizations are: Lin Yi (also called Fu Nan), located in what is South Vietnam and Cambodia today, the dates of the civilization is around 100AD until 1500AD during its peak, and finally ended with the last King of Champa who died in 1823. The remnant of this civilization is off course the Great Angkor Wat. The second great civilization of Malays is Sri Vijaya, located in Palembang (South Sumatera) – which I believe, the empire was established after waves of migration from the Champa continent by sea using the monsoon winds to South Sumatra. After the fall of Sri Vijaya, which was defeated by Majapahit of Java, Parameswara, the prince of Palembang migrated to Malacca, which in turns established the Sultanate and Empire of Malacca. From the Malacca Empire and Sultanates, then we saw the birth of many Sultanates and kingdoms in the Malay Peninsula (as most of the Malay Sultans are linked by marriage or by blood to the Malacca Sultanate).

Originally, Malaysia was occupied by the Proto Malays – which may migrate to the Peninsula in batches probably during the ice-age, when the continental plate and the Islands were connected by land. This Proto Malays are what we termed today as “orang asli”, the same is true for some other ethnics in Sabah and Sarawak (Ibans, Dayaks etc). The second major wave of migration is from the Champa (circa 500 AD till 1500 AD), as the great Champa Kingdom expands, the population expands southwards, which includes the southern Thai peninsula (what used to be called Pattani, which have the old Malay name of Langkasuka). These Malays are classified as the Malay Polynesians or Melayu Laut. They tend to settled around river mouths and of agrarian society in nature. Later on when the Arabs came to Asia by the sea, these Malays learned the seafaring activities, and then became sea faring people as well.

From the South, with the advancement of the Malacca Sultanate, the Malays from Sumatera, formerly of Sri Vijaya empires migrated to Malay Peninsula – which we saw the formation of Negeri Sembilan – immigrants from Padang, Sumatra; and the immigration of Bugis diasporas in Johor, Pahang, and Selangor (circa 1500AD until 1900AD). Later on we also see waves of immigrations from Java (central and east Java) to Johor and Selangor, around the period of late 1800s until early 1900s (the Javanese of Tanjung Karang, Kuala Selangor, as well as Batu Pahat, Muar, and the western coast of Johor). These immigrants, I would consider to be Malays, as they are from either Proto Malays origin (as some Javanese are), or Polynesian Malays (as most of others are). Other immigrants to the Malay Peninsula are either of Arabic or Indian origins (from the West), and of Chinese origins (from the East).

The original religion of the Malays is of some form of Animism or Paganism, which worships the Nature. But prominence among them is the belief in what we called as “Adat” or customs. In fact, the position of Adat is so high that it ranks higher than the religion itself (remember the sayings: “Biar mati anak asalkan jangan mati Adat”). Therefore, it is quite easy for Malays to accept new religions into their society, as these religions by belief do not pose any conflict with Animism, and as long as it does not threaten the Adat. Because of this, Malays embrace Hinduism, when they came to Asia; and in the same manner embrace Islam as it came. One thing that we must understand, when the Malays embrace Hinduism or Islam, they never leave their Adat. In fact the version of Hinduism or Islam that they embrace, is very much a mixed of religion and Adat. And this probably explains why the Sultans in our present constitution are called as Ketua Agama dan Adat Istiadat Melayu. This also explains why the names of the old Malay kings are interchangeable between Hindu names and Arabic (Muslim names).

The other major waves of migrations to Malaysia were during the British dominance of Malaya: where many Chinese and Indians were brought forth by the British, as well as general migration encouraged or allowed by the British into what then was called Malaya. This is when many new “cities” in the hinterland were then developed, and replace the river mouth cities of the old. Examples are Ipoh in Perak replacing Telok Intan, Kuala Lumpur replacing Kuala Selangor and Klang, and of course the populations of the Straits Settlements were expanded. All of these took place in the period of 1700s until early 1900s.

So all in all, the establishment of the Malaysian population took place from around 1500 until early 1900s – about 400 years in waves of immigrations. Starting with the Champa Malays, and then followed by the Sumatran Malays, then we have the Bugis and other sea faring Malays (from 1500s until 1700s). After that we have waves of Chinese, Indians, Javanese immigrants and other sorts of immigrants from 1700s until the 1900s. And thus explains what I claimed that Malaysia is really a “Nation of Immigrants”.

I hope this explains about my claims that claims of racial superiority over the land are rather dubious and incorrect. In fact those Malays who are “anti-Chinese” should understand that the Malays and Chinese pretty much originate from almost the same place: the Chinese continent (Yunnan and Champa). We all are immigrants to this Land. And for those Malays who are anti Indian, he must understand that in terms of Adat, the Malays are very integrally defined with the ancient India (Hinduism –as it forms most of the Malay Adats). Similarly, the same is true for any Chinese or Indians who are anti-Malays, should realize that our origins are so intricately close and linked. The bottom line is: We all share much more things than we differ. The racial divides that being promoted by some – are in actuality Political Divides – that is to expand a political agenda using racial justifications.

Hopefully now, if anyone wants to rebut you on this subject, please ask them to understand the history and culture first.

TOLERANCE IS THE WORD

Tolerance, even though easier said, is a very tough act to do; especially for political organizations and when it relates to religion or race. Fortunately, there are many examples that we can learn, from age old history as well as recent ones. In this article, I would like to bring forth a few samples for us to share.

India is one of the most divisive society when comes to race, religion and ethnic groupings. There are more than few hundred ethnic groupings; it has many major religions (Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Buddhists, Christians, and even Judaism). Indian leadership has one massive challenge: How to keep the whole country intact, and prosper as a nation; to do this they have to content with the issues on how to keep all the religious and racial conflicts at check. The key word that we can learn from them is “tolerance”. This is the basic message of great Indian leaders such as Akbar (a Muslim Moghul Ruler), Ashoka ( A Buddhist King), Mahatma Ghandi (Father of Independence), and Rabindranath Tagore (great Bengali poet). Despite all the news that we hear about religious violence in India (such as the desecration of the Babri Mosque by the Hindu activists), these are minor compared to the challenge that India is facing.

The forces of “separation” and “extremism” are always at works; an example is the Hindutva movement, which takes the political form of the BJP party. Using Hinduism as a base support for the party, BJP manages to take control of the Indian government for a term. The Hindutva movement, whilst in power tries to rewrite everything possible, to shape what is called as the Hinduism world view, as well as Hinduism brand of politics, socio and economic policies, even to the extent of rewriting Indian history based on Hinduism bias. They failed miserably. During the next election, the BJP lost everywhere, and almost becomes a marginal party in India. Why did they fail?

The answer lies to the subject that I have brought, “tolerance”. India as a society has been taught with a very strong culture of tolerance amongst it people through ages of education by various leaders, that when any forms of extremism took place, the society as a whole will revert back to the basic: tolerance. And they practice this through the democratic process – i.e. the ballot box.

Racism and religious extremism – in the history of mankind stands testimony to killings, genocide, violence, and years of misery and sufferings. Therefore, any society should resist and detest anything that brings us into such direction. The recent events in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans, and of late the Russians and Georgians, the Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka – are examples of racism and religious conflicts – that tells us that this “monster” in this modern day and age are still alive. Therefore, we should be on guard against it.

Of late, the events of May 13^th 1969 were being brought up to stir old memories of racial conflicts in Malaysia. To what benefit does it bring? To most Malaysians, May 13^th is not well understood, and what exactly happened was never being explained. In honesty, my view is that, the event is nothing more than a ghost from the past. It should just be forgotten and buried. Why? Because the truth is May 13^th was in many ways “staged” for justifying policies favoring the Malays (which NEP is one of the result), and resulting the BN and UMNO at the helm of power for the last 30 years. In another word, May 13^th event is UMNO and BN, main reason for existence. And no wonder why now, UMNO is reminding the Malays (and warning the non-Malays) of May 13^th, because they can see that their influence and status under a severe threat. Honestly, this is treason of the highest kind and should be condemned.

I wonder what the Malays are worried about?. The federal and state constitutions have enshrined a lot of things to protect the Malays – and unfortunately most of us Malays don’t even know or realize or understand it. Furthermore, many of our rights are even being denied by the same people (Government or political party), such as many of our civil rights. Malays are being prosecuted politically by other Malays in power. The National Land code on Malay reserves lands actually hurt the Malays more than help them. Just imagine what Kampung Baru can be – another Bukit Bintang; a slum versus a modern development. So on goes the lists. This so called Malay racial “supremacy” is so vague to me: is it Malay supremacy with the objetcive that Malaysia will be the most competitive nations in Asia ? Is it that Malay supremacy such that we become the best educated, most modern and advance nation that can compete in the global economy? Or are we going back to the world that dominated by Keris and Tombak, and the “Glory” days of Kerajaan Melayu? Which are in reality a shame, as the history shows how these “small kingdoms” are mired by politicking and bickering, as well as conspiring against each other – to the point that they need the Chinese (Ming dynasty) earlier on to help them; and the British (later on) to unite them. (Historically – there were easily about few hundred small kingdoms in the Malay archipelagos during the years 1000 to 1700 AD).

If we learn from the history of the United States – it is a nation of immigrants. Over a short period of time (about two hundred years), it rise to become the main super power of the world. How did they achieve this? It absorbs the best of the people. The immigration and adaptation policy was the key to their success. They receive the best thinkers, the best brains; they attract capital from all parts of the world. They have an open society; they encourage entrepreneurs, and so on. Even though the US has its own share of other problems (of racism and religious intolerance), on the overall, we can learn a lot from it.

Why Malaysia can’t be another model of melting pot in Asia? We have multi race and religion in existence. This can be seen as the strength of Malaysia rather than as its weakness. In fact, by virtue of this composition, Malaysia has prospered over the last 50 years since independence. So are we turning back and taking steps backward, to undo the many steps that we have taken forward? We all should resist such actions.

Therefore, we should preach tolerance among us and among our children. We should preach acceptance and embrace each other, because that will strengthen us and our country. We should call for integration, as it will insulate us from the evil of extremisms. We should pray that God protect us and our beloved country.