Nazir Razak forgot that ‘May 13’ benefited his father

Extracted from Malaysia-Today:

In Plural Societies, Everything’s Clouded By Race, Says Nazir



(FMT) – Malaysia’s plural society is by nature “difficult to manage”, according to former CIMB Group chairman Nazir Razak, who says the problem has led to matters of race clouding other issues and the push for reforms.

Nazir said that the problem of racial and religious narratives holding back reforms is not unique to Malaysia, and is a speed bump that many similar, young democracies have faced.

“What we have seen all over the world is that in plural societies, when democracy tries to evolve, it has difficulty because every reform or improvement gets attacked by vested interests, and the attack becomes effective because it is invariably wrapped in race and religious narratives.

“We saw this with Najib’s (Najib Razak) proposal for a needs-based affirmative action back in 2009. That was major, and it was killed at the beginning,” he said, referring to the policy initiative of his elder brother Najib when he was prime minister.

WTF do you keep pampering the Chinese who won't vote for you anyway?

”And then we had fairly benign reforms, like under PH we had the (recognition of the) UEC (Unified Examination Certificate), you had the desire to sign ICERD (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) for instance, pretty benign reforms, but still they could not be done as they were attacked because one community felt they were disadvantaged.”

He said that the stoking of racial tensions had blocked reformists of the past making their planned reforms a reality.

“If you remember at the beginning of his administration, Najib was the transformation PM. And you remember when Mahathir 2.0 came in, they had the Pakatan manifesto, which (aside from) fixing everything under the sun, (had) this incredible, long list of reforms.

“Even Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) was a reformist prime minister in the beginning.

“The system is built against reforms. Politicians will basically act according to their incentive system. And what is their incentive system today? It originates from the electoral system. Look at where our electoral boundaries are, how electoral boundaries are constructed, that drives the behaviour of politicians.”

He said that with some constituencies, where almost 90% of the electorate was from one racial group, it was only natural that politicians would “play to that gallery”.

“We need to have a process, where the people from all sides, and I would recommend that the government, the leader of the opposition, as well as NGOs, come together and go through a discussive process of selecting the right people to constitute this assembly, and I would like people of all types, not just intellectuals.”

“I’d like the vast majority of Malaysians to look up to this council and say ‘Okay, at least one or two or more people are people I thoroughly respect, and I can believe, and then, by extension, I feel included in that process’.”

“And our version of representative democracy, if I vote for you for the next 5 years you vote on my behalf on everything.”

“The reality is, for the next 5 years, you vote according to what your party whip wants, or according to what you need to do for the next elections. There’s a flaw in that system.”

“The system we inherited in 1957 was because we were a British colony, there was no rhyme or reason why we needed that system. In those days, the Brits thought their system was the best. But is it right for a Malaysia of multiracial composition, of our history, etc? I think it is time for us to reflect on these kinds of questions.”

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RPK commented [images are mine, wakakaka]:

Nazir Razak may have been the former CIMB Group chairman, but he is so naïve if he really believes what he said.

Striving for racial harmony and religious tolerance is like chasing gold at the end of the rainbow. It is merely a mirage.

Malays, Chinese and Indians have lived apart since 1850. That is 171 years, or six or seven generations.

We go to separate schools. We pray to different gods. After we die, we will go to different places (Malays believe they will go to heaven and Chinese and Indians will go to hell — unless they are Muslims). We eat different foods (Malays do not eat pork and Indians do not eat beef). Malays believe the Chinese and Indians are pendatang (immigrants) even if they may have been born in Malaysia and are Malaysian citizens.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad's remarks on how the Malays were forced to accept orang asing (foreigners) during British rule in exchange for independence is downright insulting and unbecoming of a prime minister who represents all Malaysians, said DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh.

Ramkarpal was referring to the prime minister's speech at the Malay Dignity Congress, where Mahathir said:

“... Orang asing berasa selesa dengan negara kita dan mereka ingin tinggal di sini. Nak tak nak pun, kita terpaksa terima, kalau tidak kita tidak akan mencapai kemerdekaan.”

(Translation of above: The foreigners felt comfortable in this country and wanted to stay. Like it or not, we were forced to accept or we would not have achieved independence)

Mahathir's "orang asing" or "foreigners" refer to non-Malay Malaysian citizens (to wit, Chinese and Indian Malaysians)

Most of these beliefs could be mere fallacies and perceptions. But beliefs are powerful. If you believe something then it must be true, it cannot be false. It is like you believe that there is a God and that when you die you either go to heaven or hell, or you will be reincarnated, and that there are many prophets, or many Gods, and the ‘Holy Books’ came from God, or were inspired by God.

Yes, beliefs are powerful, and your beliefs are the truth even if you cannot prove it or offer any evidence that they are true.

Malays cannot marry non-Malays unless the non-Malay is Muslim or converts to Islam. That sets a barrier on interracial marriages, which would have been one way to achieve racial harmony. Hence Malays marry Malays, Chinese marry Chinese, Indians marry Indians, and so on. Mixed-race marriages are the rare exception in Malaysia.

One very important aspect of racial harmony and religious tolerance, which Nazir seems to have overlooked, is that racial discord is ‘good’ politics. If all political parties are the same, how do you choose who to support and who to vote for?

If Umno, PAS, DAP, Bersatu, PKR, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, Warisan, PSM, PRM, Pejuang, Muda, Putra, Amanah, PRS, PDP, SUPP, PBS, UPKO, PBRS, LDP, MyPPP, Ikatan, Berjasa, PCM, STAR, PAP, PBK, PBDSP, PEACE, Anak Negeri, MUP, etc., all fight for the same thing, Malaysia will not need 35 political parties for just 20 million voters.

Yes, for 35 political parties to remain relevant, you need to position yourself in a special place, different from all the others. And you need a reason for people to support you and vote from you.

Umno needs to sell itself by telling the voters it is protecting the Malays from the enemies of the Malays. PAS will offer to protect Muslims from the enemies of Islam. DAP says it will protect the non-Islam religions, Chinese interests, Chinese language, and Chinese schools, from the racists, religious extremists and the ‘Taliban’ Malays.

as FM he allocated RM100 million to Tahfiz schools but held back matching grant for TARUC until Penang hawkers had to rally around to contribute portions of their earnings to TARUC

Yes, every community needs to be indoctrinated with a siege mentality. The Sabah and Sarawak parties offer to defend their own tribes. They will warn Sabahans and Sarawakians about the colonisation tendencies of West Malaysia and the infringement of their autonomy and violation of the Malaysian Agreement or MA63 and the 18-20-Point Agreements.

Yes, everyone down to the smallest village must be told there are enemies at the gates. And these 35 political parties offer to protect Malaysians from these enemies. There are enemies hiding in each nook and cranny or merata ceruk. And Nazir Razak is surprised that Malaysians are not one but twenty?

Without this siege mentality and enemies at the gate syndrome, no one needs politicians and political parties. In the UK, only 67% of the voters come out to vote in the parliamentary general elections while 34% come out to vote in the local elections (which is supposed to be more important than the GE since the local councils have more impact on your lives.)

Basically, the British do not feel they are under siege and need protection from ‘others’, like Malaysians do. And this is because race and religion are not political weapons, like in Malaysia.

Maybe Nazir Razak forgot that ‘May 13’ benefited his father. It was because the Malays were convinced the Chinese are a threat to them that ‘Chinese-lover’ Tunku Abdul Rahman was ousted and replaced with the Young Turks of Umno. Umno became more nationalistic and militant because the Malays needed to be protected from the non-Malays.

Hello, brother, why tell us that water is wet and ice is cold? We already know that. Tell us something we do not know yet.