KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Former U.S. ambassador John Malott criticised Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s ‘OneMalaysia’ with his opinion-editorial entitled “The Price of Malaysia’s Racism”, which was published in the Asian Wall Street Journal earlier this week.Some may have said that Malott was only expressing the views of the non-Malays, others that he had ignored Malay sensitivities.
Several like Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Aziz have accused him of telling lies to smear the Najib administration. They even want to ban him from Malaysia - all on a day that Najib himself told his country to reject extremism if the world was to be saved.- Malott noted from the feedback he received, that some Malays felt that their personal futures were bleak. He was unable to say if they felt that way because they were suffering the effects of an economic slowdown, if they lacked political clout or were marginalised because they were opposition sympathisers.
The Malays who feel that Malott has done Malaysia a disservice might want to have a rethink. Malott pointed out that even former Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad represented both views: “Years ago he was Mr. Bangsa Malaysia, and now he talks about Tanah Melayu”.
Indeed it was Mahathir’s affirmative action policies which divided the country into Malays and non-Malays. With judicious manipulation, he further subdivided the Malays into the elite and the ‘others’. Subsequent prime ministers continued Mahathir’s social engineering and helped keep the Malays ignorant, divided and demoralised.- Three or more decades of brainwashing helped reduce the Malay mind into believing that he was incapable of thinking and standing up for himself. Thus incapacitated, he failed to seize the opportunities that were available in Malaysia, but which were denied to the other rightful Malaysians; the non-Malays.
Mahathir and Najib played on Malay insecurities. They dominated the Malay psyche with a combination of methods which involved fear, division and a crushing of the spirit.- The Malays were fearful that if they did not preserve their national language, they would lose their identity and in time, the non-Malays would rob them of their country.
The fear factor came in useful as a blind to promote the affirmative action policies which would further cripple the Malay. The Malays were told that ‘Tanah Melayu’ was theirs. Mahathir and Najib massaged their wounded egos by talking about the Malays’ “special status” which entitled them to “special privileges”.- Mahathir and Najib carefully omitted the bit about having to work hard, be disciplined and to have aspiration. They conned the average Malay into having high expectations, that his racial status entitled him to profits and riches.
- These men realised the importance of education, so they undermined the national educational system.
- Why else would Mahathir, Najib and Muhyiddin flip-flop with the educational policies and amongst other things, the use of English in schools? Why has Najib failed to acknowledge and address the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE), a pro-English lobby group which is trying to get Maths and Science taught in the English language (PPSMI) again?
The Najib Administration reversed the PPSMI policy in a “political move” which was designed to help Barisan Nasional recoup its loss of rural Malay votes in Elections 2008. Prior to 1957, Malaya’s educational standard was one of the highest in Asia. Nowadays, our education has become ‘bog-standard’. This decline started under Mahathir. These men used fear to control the Malays, so that they could remain in power. They knew that the Malays formed their power base.
However, PAS’s increased hold over the Malays came at the expense of Umno. Thus, Umno set into motion the tug-of-war to see who could attract the most Malays, using religion as their bait.- All the while, they knew that there were some educated and opinionated Malays who refused to be cowed into submission. They were a threat and could not be depended upon for votes.
These Malays were effectively silenced with Malaysia’s harsh preventive laws like the ISA. Others elected to join the brain-drain exodus.- Mahathir and Najib’s trump card was their knowledge of the Malay psyche. They knew that the majority of the Malays would do and say nothing. Malays will not speak out against the injustices they see around them. Who knows if this a Malaysian trait or a flaw in the Malay character? There is one more weapon in the arsenal of control over the Malay.
In Malaysia, all Malays are born Muslims. One Muslim will not speak out against another, it is considered haram. The average Malay who dares condemn the subversion of the muslim religion by politically motivated Umno sycophants is singled out by the zealots and his life is made a living hell. He may even have a fatwa placed on him.- That is what holds Malays back. This single factor is so detrimental that it is enough to stop further positive development of the Malay character.
- Najib’s administration continues with a two-pronged attack on Malaysian society. He also demoralizes the non-Malays with simple name-calling, economic measures and educational policies which hinder them further.
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