Her critics dismissed her as an untypical Indonesian girl, and the wrong person to send to LA. They said (and she readily admitted), Miss Indonesia, Nadine Chandrawinata, does not look like a ‘typical’ Indonesian While dad is an Indonesian with a tinge of Chinese blood, her mum is German. It hasn't been surprising that she has a fair and European complexion and is tall by Indonesian standards. But she is an Indonesian, by blood and by law.
Here's what she had to say in an interview when asked what makes her unique and and different from other contestants. She said in her broken English, which has become the butt of jokes in Indonesian blogspheres and late-night TV shows: "Perhaps I look like a Westerner, while I have Indonesian blood, and by law I am Indonesian."
Now, it was a happy set of coincidence that around the time she gave the interview, the Indonesian House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the new citizenship bill that cleared up the legal definition of the magic bumi word ‘indigenous’.
The bill defines citizens of this republic as Indonesia asli, or indigenous Indonesians, and it goes on to define ‘indigenous’ not by one's race or ethnicity, but rather by one's being born on Indonesian soil, and never having taken up any foreign citizenship.
Now, what lesson does this hold for us Malaysians, when 4th or 5th or even 6th generation Chinese/Indian Malaysians are still not considered indigenous, while johnnies-come-lately who are Muslims from, say Indonesia or Philippines or even Pakistan, become expresso bumiputras.
The new Indonesian citizenship law of Indonesian asli may sound like a tautology, but it aims to avoid the accusations that the system discriminates against non-pribumi, or non-indigenous people.
Prior to this law, Indonesians of Chinese descent, and to a lesser extent those of Arab, European and Indian blood, have had to put up with discriminatory treatment because they were not considered indigenous, although they may have been born here or their families may have been here for many generations.
Well, the Indons have advanced, but Malaysia …? BTW, my post title "Beautiful Lesson from Indonesia" is not in reference to Nadine Chandrawinatra, but the new non-discriminatory inclusive citizenship law.
Anway, consolation prize for all of you poor non-bumis (including yours truly) – feast your eyes on an Indonesian asli …
Hi KTEMOC,
ReplyDeleteThose who have faith in the country live in hope. Those who no longer do, quit long ago. When will you realise that those in power will never give Non-Malays an inch? Below is a quote from an Australian immigrant from Malaysia.
Send In By Malaysian-Chinese Immigrant In Australia
"List of racial discriminations in Malaysia, as practiced by the Malaysian government and government agencies. This list is an open secret known by most Malaysian citizens.
This list is not placed in their order of importance.
This list is common knowledge to most Malaysians, especially those Non-Malays (Chinese, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, Tamils, etc) who are being racially discriminated.
Figures in this list are estimates so please take it as a guide only. Government of Malaysia has the most correct figures. Is the Government of Malaysia too ashamed to publish their racist acts by publishing racial statistics?
List of racial discriminations(Malaysia) covering a period of about 48 years since independence (1957):
(1) Out of all the 5 major banks, only one bank is multi-racial, the rest are controlled by Malays
(2) 99% of Petronas directors are Malays
(3) 3% of Petronas employees are Chinese
(4) 99% of 2000 Petronas gasoline stations are owned by Malays
(5) 100% of all contractors working under Petronas projects must be of bumi status
(6) 0% of Non-Malays employees is legally required in Malay companies. but there must be 30% Malays in Chinese companies.
(7) 5% of all new intakes for government police, nurses, army, are Non-Malays.
(8) 2% Chinese Malaysians currently emplyed in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), drop from 40% in 1960
(9) 2% of Non-Malays emplyed as government civil servants in Putrajaya. But Malays make up 98%
(10) 7% of Chinese Malaysians are government servants in the whole government (in 2004), drop from 30% in 1960
(11) 95% of government contracts are given to Bumi-owned contractors
(12) 100% all business licenses are controlled by the Malaysian government e.g. Taxi permits, AP permits, etc
(13) 80% of the Chinese rice millers in Kedah had to be sold to Malay-controlled Bernas in 1980s. Otherwise, life will be made difficult for Chinese rice millers
(14) 100 big companies set up, owned and managed by Chinese Malaysians were taken over by the government, and later managed by Malays since 1970s e.g. UTC, UMBC, MISC, etc
(15) At least 10 Chinese-owned bus companies (throughout Malaysia, throughout 40 years) had to be sold to MARA or other Malay transport companies due to the Malaysian authority rejecting Chinese application for bus routes and rejection of their application for new buses
(16) 2 Chinese taxi drivers were barred from driving into Johor Larkin bus station. There are about 30 taxi drivers and 3 are Chinese in October 2004. Reason given was becuase the taxi club properties was being damaged
(17) 0 Non-Malays are allowed to get shop lots in the new Muar bus station (November 2004)
(18) RM8000 billion is the total amount the government channeled to Malay pockets through ASB, ASN, MARA, privatisation of government agencies, Tabung Haji etc, through NEP over 34 years period
(19) 48 Chinese primary schools closed down since 1968 - 2000
(20) 144 Indian primary schools closed down since 1968 - 2000
(21) 2637 Malay primary schools built since 1968 - 2000
(22) 2.5% is government budget for Chinese primary schools. Indian schools got only 1%, Malay schools got 96.5%
(23) While a Chinese parent with RM1000 salary (monthly) cannot get school-text-book-loan, a Malay parent with RM2000 salary is eligible
(24) All 10 public universities vice-chancellors are Malays
(25) In the government universities, lecturers of Non-Malay origins had been reduced from about 70% in 1965 to only 5% in 2004
(26) Only 5% is given to Non-Malays for government scholarships over 40 years
(27) No Chinese or Indians were sent to Japan and Korea under "Look East Policy"
(28) 128 STPM Chinese top students could not get into the course that they aspired to i.e. Medicine (in 2004)
(29) 10% place for non-bumi students for MARA science schools beginning from year 2003, but only 7% were filled. Before that it was 100% malays
(30) 50 cases whereby Chinese and Indian Malaysians, are beaten up in the National Service program in 2003
(31) 25% Malaysian-Chinese population in 2004, drop from 45% in 1957
(32) 7% Malaysian Indians population (2004), a drop from 12% in 1957
(33) 2 million Chinese Malaysians has emigrated overseas since 40 years ago
(34) 0.5 million Indians Malaysians emigrated overseas
(35) 3 millions Indonesians had migrated into Malaysia and became Malaysian citizens with bumi status.
(36) 600,000 Chinese and Indians Malaysians with red IC's were rejected repeatedly when applying for citizenship for 40 years. Perhaps 60% of them had already passed away due to old age. This shows racism since Indonesians easily get their citizenships compared to the Chinese and Indians
(37) 5% - 15% discount for a Malay to buy a house, irregardless whether the Malay is rich or poor
(38) 2% is what the Chinese new villages get compare with 98% of what Malays villages got for rural development budget
(39) 50 Chinese road names (at least) had been change to other names
(40) E.g. Dewan Gan Boon Leong (in Malacca) was altered to amother name (e.g. Dewan Serbaguna or something similar) when it was being officially used for a few days. Government try to shun Chinese names. This racism happened sometime in 2000.
(41) No temples/churches were built for each housing estate. But every housing estate has at least one mosque/surau built
(42) 3000 mosques/suraus were built in all housing estates throughout Malaysia since 1970. No temples, no churches were built in housing estates
(43) 1 Catholic church in Shah Alam took 20 years to apply to be constructed. But was told by Malaysian authority that it must look like a factory and not look like a church. Still not approved in 2004
(44) Publishing of Bible in Iban language banned (in 2002)
(45) None of the government TV stations (RTM1, RTM2, TV3) have directors of Non-Malay origins
(46) 30 government produced TV dramas and films always showed that the bad guys had Chinese face and the good guys had Malay face. You can check it out since 1970s. Recent years, this tendency has somewhat lessened.
(47) 10 times since 1969, at least, Malays (especially Umno) had threatened to massacre the Chinese-Malaysians quoting May 13 riots
(48) 20 constituencies won by DAP could not get funds from government to develop Chinese majority constituencies or will be the last to be developed
(49) 100 constituencies (parliaments and states) has been race re-delineated so Chinese voters were diluted such that Chinese candidates, particularly DAP candidates lost in elections since 1970s
(50) Only 3 out of 12 human rights items were ratified by Malaysian government since 1960
(51) No elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (UN human rights) has not been ratified by Malaysian government since 1960s
(52) 20 reported cases whereby Malay ambulance attendants treated Chinese patients inhumanely, and Malay government hospital staff purposely delay attending to Chinese patients in 2003. Unreported cases may be 200
(53) 50 cases each year whereby Chinese, especially Chinese youths being beaten up by Malay youths in public places. We can check the police reports provided the police took the report, otherwise there will be no records
(54) 20 cases every year whereby Chinese drivers who accidentally knocked down Malays were seriously assaulted or killed by Malays
(55) 12% is what ASB/ASN got per annum while banks fixed deposit is only about 3.5% per annum
"There are hundreds more examples of racial discriminations in Malaysia to add to this list."
While there have been cases of racism similar to the ones you quoted, regrettably you have not provided any verifiable source for your statistics. For example, No 44, the Iban language bible is not prohibited, contrary to your claim.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, recently my Chinese friend's uncle died on a bus (peaceful death during a sleep). And who were the people who helped his widow? Chinese? Nope, two Malay young blokes helped "auntie" by carrying her dead husband down from the bus.
While I do not doubt the general racism of our government, and I had experienced some racism myself, I believe we need to distinguish that from animosity between races. The example I gave showed the Malays in better light than the Chinese.
I agree that on the ground the effect of racism is less. Usually people of different races tend to help each other, it is only the government which remind us of our 'differences'. It is a wonder that there is not another racial riot in spite of BN.
ReplyDeleteA Chinese friend told me a story about her two aunts who married Malays. The whole family hated it and the aunts were regularly criticised for having left Christianity to become Muslims in order to marry their husbands. One day, the patriach of the family died in the hospital. The favoured Chinese son-in-law was too busy to deal with hospital procedures. Other favoured children and family members were also busy with other duties. But the two Malay sons-in-law took leave from work and went to the hospital to claim their father-in-law's body. The hospital staff were confused and thought they had come to claim the wrong body. Two Malays claiming the body of a Chinese when other Chinese were too busy to do it.
ReplyDeleteA Chinese patriach who is not able to prevent two of his women from betraying his race and religion does not deserve any respect. He is shit.
ReplyDeleteLet the Malays have his body. May he rot in hell.