Malays threatened by their leaders

MARCH 31, 2009 - The recent congregation organised by a right wing Malay NGO, Perkasa has threatened to steal the thunder from Umno.
Led by controversial Pasir Mas MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali and former Hulu Klang assemblyman Datuk Fuad Hassan, Perkasa has put forward resolutions as a façade to safeguard the Malay race.
For a start, Perkasa seem to be competing for the same target group with Malay-Muslim political parties - right wing nationalist Malay supremacists.
The resolutions passed by Perkasa demand for a return of the supreme position of the Malay Rulers, for Malay rights to be upheld including the restoration of New Economic Policy (NEP) and the strengthening of the Malay economic position.
The assembly was attended by some 1,500 people from 65 NGOs and could have been considered a curtain raiser to the Umno general assembly which ended recently.
In a democracy, any formation of a group or NGO should be allowed to prosper as long as they subscribe to the rule of law, whatever their inclinations might be as long as they are not anarchic.
The theme of Perkasa assembly that the "Malays are in danger" seem to be a bit far fetched and is designed to instil a feeling of being under threat of extinction.
If indeed the Malays are under threat, where is the threat coming from?
Are the Malays under threat from the other races?
Or are the Malays under threat from its own race, which I can be persuaded to agree.
Or as I am more inclined to believe, is that the perceived threats to the Malays are mere illusions or false threats than actual significant threats by design.
The 'dilemma' that has befallen the Malays has been made into a political tool to project certain individuals and organisations that being portrayed as the ultimate champion of the Malay race.
However, as the Malays become more educated, they tend to take these self mutilating attempts by politicians with a pinch of salt.
The Malay community has had a long history of parochial and feudal system entrenched within the society.
In the past, the community would usually submit to the whims and fancies of its leaders - from the Malay rulers right up to former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Never before have the Malays raised up to show their disgust and anger on the excesses, abuse of power and maladministration of their own leaders like they did in the 12th general elections last year.
This tide maybe attributed to the wave of advances in information technology that allowed people to access news and opinions which are now much more readily available.
An ever increasing young population has also contributed to this phenomenon creating a more inquisitive and critical society.
Wealth creation has led to a bulging middle class among the Malays and has developed a thinking that the Malays need not hang on to their leaders to survive.
In short, the Malays have begun to realize their true worth and that they will not allow their leaders to take them for a ride.
Even though the older generation still hold their leaders in high regard and have not shifted out of the stale paradigm, the rest of the Malay population are starting to warm up to egalitarianism which many hoped is not a masked heroism.
The Malays are beginning to shift their allegiance from one icon to another - dismissing and ridiculing an old and haggard warlord and replacing it with a zesty rebel.
The Malays have begun to reject an old system in favour of the new guard, many a time influenced by emotion and hate rather than backed by a rational and an objective mind.
The worry is that heroism will lead the Malays back to their old mantra of "the leader can do no wrong", which is exactly what the Malays do not need.
There ought to be a more thoughtful and pervasive debate among the Malays on the state of their affairs - politics, economy, social, etc.
The lack of objectivity among the Malays is borne out of frustration and anger that their anointed leaders have time and again abused and misappropriated their rights.
The lack of depth of discussions on the Malays is a reflection of the failure of the Malay academia and intellectuals.
The discussions seem to be revolving around quotas and shareholdings rather than paradigm shifts, information knowledge or transformational process.
The sentiments seem to be centred on minute significance like the keris or that sort of thing.
The Malays are now being offered with two political icons as their choice - a battered and bruised Umno-BN that underwent a rejuvenation process or some say cosmetic surgery led by Najib Razak and high riding PKR-Pakatan but lately beset with internal problems and scandals led by Anwar Ibrahim.
To the politicians or these so-called heroes, the Malays, just like any other race in this world, are human beings and are not commodities that can be sold or traded with throat roaring shouts to defend their honour when these leaders themselves are the ones reaping all the benefits, leaving crumbs for the rest.

- published in The Malaysian Insider : Mar 18, 2009