Unity minister Dato Sri Aaron Ago Dagang, please make Mahathir listen, not talk

Malaysia-Today:


Unity minister Dato Sri Aaron Ago Dagang, please make Mahathir listen, not talk

Mahathir, by the way, is the only “constitutional Malay” in Malaysia. There is no other person in Malaysia, or the entire world, who will describe themselves as a “constitutional Malay” except for Mahathir.

Nehru Sathiamoorthy


Mahathir is now asking for an appointment with the unity minister, Aaron Ago Dagang, to explain his racist remarks against the Indians.

Even if the unity minister is agreeable to Mahathir’s request, I implore the unity minister to set a condition to Mahathir before agreeing to meet him.

If the unity ministry can arrange it so that Mahathir will get a chance to listen to people, especially Indians, about how it is actually like to be an Indian in Malaysia, that is better for him and the country. But if Mahathir just wants to see the unity minister to get a platform to talk about and spread his self-evidently failed concept of identity and racial relationship, I hope the unity minister will tell him no thank you la.

When it comes to the issue of race relationship, Mahathir needs to listen more than he talks.

He has been talking about identity and racial relationship since the 1960s, and the only thing that happens when he talks is that not only does his unrest, tension and agitation increase, the state of unrest, agitation and tension in Malaysia increases too.

Just because you are good at something, it doesn’t mean you are good at everything. Mahathir was a good salesman, of this there is no doubt. During the late 80s and 90s, he sold Malaysia to the rest of the world and brought in an immense amount of foreign investment which did indeed bring a boom time to Malaysia.

But just because Mahathir is a good salesman, we cannot assume that he is good at everything. Mahathir’s abysmal record in managing race relationship both in his personal and public life for more than half a century is a clear indication that Mahathir’s idea about racial relationship and identity will only get us lost, confused and angry, just like how he has become lost, confused and angry, because of his worldview.

If you ask anybody about their race, they will answer you with one word. When you ask Mahathir about his race, you will get a long and tortuous answer, starting from his grandfather and circling Yemen and Kerala before finally arriving at a point where he will say that he is a “constitutional Malay”.

Mahathir, by the way, is the only “constitutional Malay” in Malaysia. There is no other person in Malaysia, or the entire world, who will describe themselves as a “constitutional Malay” except for Mahathir.

Mahathir has such a traumatic experience in coming to terms with his race and identity, that although he is not a non-Malay, will presume he knows how it is like to be an a non-Malay and although he claims he is a Malay, he will accuse the Malays of being everything from lazy to ungrateful to weak, as if he himself is not a Malay.

Yes, we have a problem in our racial relationship and national identity.

Mahathir has long proposed a solution by using himself as the example, and all this has led us is to a horrific race riot in 1969 that still haunts us till today, and a continuing state of mistrust and tension between the races.

Einstein has a saying. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different listen.

He also has another saying. “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”

Considering that Mahathir’s proposed solution to our racial and identity problem has failed repeatedly for more than half a century , I think it is time for us to stop driving ourselves insane by giving it another chance while hoping it will get us a different result.

I think it is time that we see Mahathir as a part of the problem, instead of listening to him as a part of the solution.

I hope the unity ministry will start this paradigm shift, by getting Mahathir to listen to other views so that he might change his views, instead of letting him tell us of his deeply flawed views yet again, which not only we, but our father and grandfather knew as well, and cause us to become as lost, confused and agitated, as he is.