(Speech by Berita Harian Singapore editor Guntor Sadali, at the Berita Harian Singapore Achiever of the Year Awards ceremony on July 28, 2010)
It is a fact known to all that Malays in Singapore are a minority.
However this minority is quite different from other minorities in the world.
Similarly, to some, Singapore is just a red dot in this vast Asian region.
But it is no ordinary red dot.
It is a grave mistake to equate size with ability, just as it is wrong to assume that being small and in the minority is to be weak and insignificant.
The recent World Cup proved this. While Spain may be the world champion, it was minnow Switzerland that became the only country in the tournament that was able to defeat Spain.
Forty-five years have passed since Singapore left Malaysia, yet every now and then we still hear non-complimentary comments from across the Causeway about the Malay community here.
The latest came from former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who casually reminded Malaysian Malays not to become like Singaporean Malays.
He did not make it clear what he actually meant, but the comment was made in the context of the possibility of Malaysian Malays losing their power in Malaysia.
Again he did not specify what type of power, but it could safely be interpreted as political power.
Now, what could have happened to the Malays here in the last four decades?
What could have driven Dr Mahathir to voice his concern and to caution the Malaysian Malays?
I wonder.
The Malay community in Singapore, of course, know what has become of us here.
First and foremost, we have become a completely different community from what we were 45 years ago.
We have developed our own identity and philosophy of life that are distinct from our relatives across the Causeway.
We may wear the same clothes, eat the same food, speak the same language and practise the same culture.
However, the similarities end there.
We are now a society that upholds the philosophy of wanting to stand on our own feet, or what is known in Malay as ‘berdikari’ or ‘berdiri atas kaki sendiri’.
We do not believe in being spoon-fed or being too dependent on government help.
In other words, we do not have a crutch mentality.We firmly believe that a community with such a crutch mentality will soon become a “two M” community – the first ‘M’ stands for ‘manja’ (spoilt), and the second for ‘malas’ (lazy).
We definitely do not want to be labelled as a pampered and lazy community.
That is why our Malay community here constantly work hard to raise funds to build our own mosques, madrasahs and other buildings in expensive and land-scarce Singapore.
Over the years we have raised millions of dollars to become proud owners of these buildings.
Through our own efforts and with the help of other organisations, we have also helped the needy not only financially, but also in equipping them with new skills so that they can earn their living.
For Dr Mahathir, however, all that we have done and achieved so far are not good enough.
He takes a negative view of our changed attitudes and different mindset, and has therefore cautioned Malaysian Malays not to be like us.
What about power? For Malays in Singapore, power is not about wielding the keris.
For us, knowledge is power. In fact we believe that knowledge is THE real power.
The constant emphasis by the community on the importance of education and acquiring knowledge has led to the formation of institutions such as Mendaki, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), the Prophet Mohamad Birthday Memorial Scholarship Board (LBKM) and many others.
These self-help organisations not only provide financial help to needy students, but also strive to nuture our students to their full potential.
At the same time, these organisations help to tackle various social ills faced by the community.
Again, we do these all on our own. Malay children here attend the same schools as other Singaporeans with a shared aim – to obtain a holistic education and, of course, achieve good examination results.
Yes, it is tough. Like all other children, our Malay students have no choice but to work hard.
It is a reality of life in Singapore that we have come to accept – that there is certainly no short cut to success.
We do not believe in getting any special treatment, because it would only reduce the value of our achievements and lower our dignity.
The meritocratic system that we practise here is, without doubt, a tough system but it helps us to push ourselves and prevent us from becoming ‘manja’ and ‘malas’.
Still, Dr Mahathir and some Malay leaders across the Causeway do not like the way we do things here and have therefore warned Malaysian Malays not to be like us.
On our part, there is certainly no turning back.
Meritocracy has proven to be a good and fair system.
It pushes us to work hard and makes us proud of our achievements.
We can see how it has benefited us by looking at the growing number of doctors, lawyers, magistrates, engineers, corporate leaders and other professionals among us.
It is the successes and achievements of some of these people that Berita Harian wants to highlight and celebrate when we launched this Achiever Award 12 years ago.
Tonight, we have another role model to present to our community.
So, the question is: Shouldn’t our friends and relatives across the Causeway be like us – Malays in Singapore?
It is definitely not for us to suggest or decide.
And we too have no intention of asking our own community if we would like to be like them either, because we have already chosen our very own path for the future.
We, the Malays in Singapore, should be proud of our achievements, because we have attained them through hard work.
It is true that what we have achieved so far may not be the best, and that we are still lagging behind the other races.
There are large pockets in our community facing various social problems.
We have achieved so much, and yet there is still a long way to go. But we should not despair.
We can do a lot more on our own if the community stay united and cohesive.
In critical issues, we should speak with one voice.
We need to help and strengthen each other while at the same time reach out to the other communities in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore. A successful and prosperous Singapore can only mean a successful and prosperous Malay community.
Can we do it? Well, to borrow US President Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, “ Yes, we can”.
well there you go… no more excuses for failing to compete with the other races.
The Malays are just as capable as any other races.
umno wants the Malays in M’sia to be weak. Or at least think that they are weak. So that everytime umno loses their popularity through corruption, crime against innocent rakyat, injustice, stupidity, etc etc…. they can EASILY get their support back – through FEAR, by SCARING them, by CREATING imaginary threats, by telling them “if you don’t vote for us, all your rights will disappear”.
All this done while umno continues to steal from the Malays through the back door.
But the GENIUS in this is – umno managed to fool some Malays into thinking all these theft are done by the PR, or the Chinese! The recent tantrum throwing in Penang is one solid proof that some people actually DO believe in umno’s lies.
All rakyat who can think clearly should work harder to spread the truth. forward emails, blog, talk about it to everyone around, etc etc
Generally the Malays in S’pore have backbones, walk tall, run straight & fast like champions. They have positive and progressive mentality. While generally the Malays in M’sia are hunchback, still need a tongkat, walk very slowly & crookedly, falling down often, going round in circle, getting lost, never seem to actually start the race, a blurred & regressive mentality, a born loser. My heartfelt sympathy to my Malay friends & fellow citizens. Whether you like it or know it, you are UMNO’s creation and manipulation.
This is the same as the Palestinians in Israel (I don’t meant in the West Bank). In the big cities such as Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv and nearby areas, we see many muslim villages. You may say they don’t have equal rights like the Jewish to join the military, they still want to be in Israel and not going ‘back’ to the muslim states. They enjoy better living standard, benefit and education.
These muslim states are equivalent to bolehland, and Israel is like Singapore. Singaporean muslims are like Israeli muslims.
Other than jealousy, don’t know why this tdm so concerned about spore malay who had a much higher living standard than average msia malay,?
why not he help (if he can) thai malay who are more numerous than spore malay and poorer than spore malay?
why not he say something about thai malay who are also just nearby msia?? or tell msia malay that they could be like thai malay or cambodia malay??
Malaysia is not Singapore. Malays in Singapore are being marginalised because the government does not help them, although they are lagging behind other races. Singapore only see Chinese as their assets as all the top posts in government and private companies are held by the Chinese. The Malays in Singapore lose out in terms of both politics and economy. They are just nothing to the Singapore government. The Malays in Singapore also do not enjoy all the privileges that the Malays are enjoying in Malaysia. That’s why a lot of Malays in Singapore prefer to stay in Johor. Moreover, they do not get help when it comes to government contracts, bank loans, purchase or properties and scholarships when they are the natives of the country, compared to those Chinese who are outsiders. The so called “Meritocracy” policy is just a shield to weaken the Malays in Singapore. It is hard to believe when we hear that the Malays in Singapore are happy.
Its true the riches people in Singapore are disporportionately non-Malays but they are 2% of the population and its not like there is still a number are Malays. But for the 98%, the difference between Malays and non-Malays are not big -smaller than the differences here in Malaysia. And if you speak of the social ills of the Malay community in Singapore, the numbers are EVEN worst in Malaysia.
The bottom line is meritocracy is worst for Malay elite than it is for the average Malays. That actually is why UMNO, which are Malay elite will fight to the death against rather than the average Malays. But the problem even don’t exist for Malaysia today because the Malay elite here already are competitive unlike when Singapore was first founded. If some Singapore Malays are able to join the elite rank in Singapore despite being disadvantaged all these times, there is no reason why the Malay elites in Malaysia, the real ones not the cronies, would fall behind.
Under a meritocratic system, the Malay elites will change in composition but not in size. The average Malays will catch-up eventually. It is really a win-win for almost everyone BUT the cronies of UMNO.
Kasim Ahmat have appointed himself as spokesman for Singapore Malays.
He knows everything……like Mahathir…yet know nothing when situations suits him to act as a fool.
But Kasim is not acting. He is a real fool..to talk cock of Singapore Malays.
I guess he is very proud of Mahathir’s achievements in …making Malaysia’s Malays weak and depending on UMNO B’s ….year in year out.
To Kasim,
Why is it necessary to have assistance, scholarships, perks, government posts and soft loans etc to be happy ?
Since you mentioned that the Singaporean malays are marginalized because their government don’t help them, does it means that you admit that the other races in Malaysia are being marginalized because it is a very obvious fact that other races are getting less from the Msian government compared to what the S’porean malays are getting from their government.
Yes it may be true that S’porean malays prefer to stay in Johor because of the lower cost of living but have they given up their citizenship ? If no, why didn’t they ?
Why is it important to enjoy the privileges of Malaysian malays ?
This is the exactly the 2 M mentality “Manja” and “Malas” that the article is discussing.
For government contracts, there is not one single term that states only Chinese-owned companies are allowed to bid BUT in Malaysia it is plainly stated that only Bumiputera companies are allowed to participate.
WHAT DOES THIS SHOWS ?
“Meritocracy” policy weakening the Malays in Singapore, TOTAL BULLSHIT !
The top student in Singapore’s PSLE exams is a Malay child and in every public exams there is at least a Malay in the top 5 achievers, this is a very obvious statistics as the Malay community is only about 10% of the total populace.
Compare this with our public exam rankings, are there more than 50% of the top achievers of Malay race ?
Malays in Singapore can stand on their own feet without help from anyone and definitely can stand proud and respected by others.
Can the Malays in Malaysia claim the same ?
All your achievements and accomplishments will always be tainted by the so-called Ketuanan Melayu.
Sorry, my friend at the end of the day, no matter how much you’ve done and accomplished, looking back, you just won’t get any respect because of the uneven playing field.
Kassim Amat,
You are not far off the mark when you said “a lot of Malays in Singapore prefer to stay in Johor” You know, in my place those corner lot houses costing some 500k are owned by Singaporeans and quite a number of them are Singaporeans of Malay origin. I would not dare to call them Malays because, having made friends with mamy of them, I realize they prefer to be Singaporean first……..(to be continued because a passenger just borded my taxi)
It is a well known fact Chinese from Singapore buys most properties in Johore…who prefers to be known as Singaporeans proudly.
PS: to continue….got appointment at kopitiam.
Kasim Amat,oh poor Kasim Amat you have never changed because you never wanted to let go the crutch. your ” manja ” talked and your “malas ” action is all due to your dependent of this crutch. Don’t you realised or pretend not to know why malays in malaysia are lacking pretty far behind the Singaporean malays in term of interpendence,quality education,quality housing, quality health,good jobs and better income ,hence why should they needed to have such privileges like malaysian malays do. It’s all these privileges that are making most of you guys “manja and malas” The sooner you get rid of this crutch,the sooner you get better. Frankly why do you think most malaysian chinese are doing well ? Similarly why do you think most if not all singaporean malays are doing pretty well ?..The answer is “the curse crutch”
Although vast majority taxi drivers are earning an honest living…Malaysia do have a bad reputations with some taxi drivers that try to take his customers for a ride..with a meter clocking crazy fast….when the said ride should cost half the amount.
How sad…so many hard working and honest taxi drivers being labeled as dishonest blokes….just because one sickening smart ass try to fool all his customers.
Sorry guys, It should read as such ” the answer is no such curse crutch “
Maybe a small remote area ….where Muslims are staying…some Singaporeans of Malay race…may invest as second home.
But all the expensive areas in Johore are bought up by Singaporeans of Chinese origin…who wants to be know as Singaporeans with great friends of all races..as Singapore is trully a Cosmopolitan country…no talking this or that race at all.like some racists in Malaysia…but we must talk like them…to give them a taste of their own medicine.
They confuse us….we confuse them………..hahahahahahaha
cintanegara kassim and gang insist that singaporean malays need crutches despite the latter’s unwavering clarification to the opposite.
jib jib boleh
one one oooleh
mak mak mamak
Imagine this. Just imagine. If only all malays in the country could be like singapore malays – berdikari and high achieving, and given our rich resources and land space and the chinese’s ability to do business and bring money into the country, we could well be like japan today, or not too far away from them.
But umno, no its cintanegara and kasim and gang, have their own selfish agenda. They want to keep all the goodness to themselves. They created umnoputra.
“It is hard to believe when we hear that the Malays in Singapore are happy.” – Kasim
Hard isn’t it?
It’s also hard to believe that many of your fellow Malays actually worked hard to get what they want isn’t it?
It’s also hard to believe that your own race are disgusted by your crutch mentality isn’t it?
It’s also hard to believe that respect & status are earned, not given, isn’t it?
It’s also hard to believe the fact that the other races are ahead simply because they worked harder isn’t it?
Yes, Kasim. Life is a struggle. We all know that. Everybody has to work to put food on the table.
Please DO NOT cheapen the struggles of the Malays who are actually honest & work hard to support their families.
Get lost. Stay in your little ‘denial island’. along with your umno thieves.
Malalaysia = 3M = Malu, Manja dan Malas
Guntor Sadali, it is not true that all the achievements of Malays in Singapore are through self help. I think you have totally negated the role of Singapore government in providing assistance to the Malays. Malay students entering Singapore universities are generally given scholarship or financial assistance. Similarly, organisation like Mendaki does get the matching grant from the government.
Singapore Malays worked hard and many of them achieved success. Many Malaysian Malays worked hard too, but with many of them remained miserably poor.
YOU want to know why? Well, many of them could only work with rudimentary skill (due to poor education and incompetent government) and also whatever they produce are siphoned off by Kasim and its (yes it is “its” or his) gang of corrupted Malays.
Continue from my comment #8 specially for Kassim Amat………..
These Singaporeans who own houses here only come with their family during weekends to relax after working so hard for 5 days in their own country which, of course, refers to the little Red Dot.
And Mr Kassim Amat, these Singaporeans of Malay origin do not travel to Johor by commercisl buses, they drive their own expensive cars here! But the reason they come to stay here. It is because during weekends the traffic in little Red Dot is a bit congested, making driving tedious. moreover, they find it cheaper to shop and makan besar here because of the favourable currency exchange rate because of which also attracts droves of Singaporeans of Chinese origin to 1Malaysia.
So, Mr Kassim Amat, I believe from my comments that they paint a thousand pictures.
If the Singaporeans of Malay origin had been oppressed of marginalised by their government, how could they ever afford to buy big houses here. They work hard to succeed to be on par with Singaporeans of other racial origin. They are very proud to be citizens of Singapore; so unlike the UMNO Malays who are still dependent on the tongkat after 40 years!!! Singaporeans of Malay origin are NOT Malaysian Malays of UMNO origin. They are a class above.
I would advise Mr Kassim Amat that if he ever travels to the little Red Dot and meets a person whose skin color is similar to his, better for him not to be too quick to extend his hand to salam and claim to be bangsa sendiri. They will despise you and just walk away. They are SINGAPORE……..S-I-N-G-A-P-O-R-E-A-N-S.
Yeah, the Malays in Malaysia should be treated like the PAP govt in Singapore (from which the DAP hails from) treats the Malays on that island. Work hard or perish. What choice do they have? After all what they have left to their ‘Malay’ name are the national anthem and the rubber-stamped so-called ‘national language’. Ask any Malay in Singapore, the PAP govt would not hesitate for even a moment if a S’pore Malay intends to relinquish their citizenship and go elsewhere. “The less or you the better, no more reminder of the island’s real history. Easier for us to change the history books” – seems to be the guiding principle.
Every family in singapore owns at least a cosy 3-room HDB worth more than 250k in sing dollars(not ringgit). the Singapore government do not give 7% discount to any one particular race like do the UMNOB led government in1Malaysia? They claim doing so is neccessary to close the economic gap between the Malays and the other races and yet, after some 40 years a huge number of our Malay brothers are not benefitting in any way. Worse still, most do not own houses but are living in government quarters, renting government flats or squating on state lands!
UNMOB-JUARA BANGSA, AGAMA dan NEGARA?
Bangkitlah Rakyat Malaysia. Bersama-Sama Kita Tumbangkan Kerajaan Diterajui UMNO-PENIPU BANGSA, PENGKHIANAT AGAMA dan PENJUAL TANAH MALAYSIA!!!!!!!!!!
Just put a Singaporean Malay and a Malaysian Malay together and you will definitely see the difference! One is a jelly fish while the other isn’t!!!! Malaysia has been breeding jellyfishes for 4 decades now and they would have matured and be able to swim into the open ocean just to be “SWALLOWED” by others!!!!!!
It is not easy to tell out a Singaporean of Malay origin from a Malaysian of Malay origin. But if the Malaysian Malay is of UMNOB origin, then the stark difference shows because they walk with a tongkak, cannot stand straight.
Relax people!
Facts:
1) Look at what the Government of Singapore has done for its citizens irregardless of their ethnicity compared to here locally.
2) No one government is perfect, not even Singapore.
We must look at a balance here and I must say they did pretty well.
Singapore Malays worked hard and many of them achieved success. Many Malaysian Malays worked hard too, but with many of them remained miserably poor.
YOU want to know why? Well, many of them could only work with rudimentary skill (due to poor education and incompetent government) and also whatever they produce are siphoned off by Mel_a_Yu and its (yes it is “its” not his) gang of corrupted Malays.
Singaporean Malays are real Malays
Many Malaysian Malays are Mamak, etc, … like rozak
Malaysia is a unique country in that every damn thing from scholarships to the kitchen sink is about race. The entire country is obsessively embroided in race relations and race politics which by the way ranks very low in productivity. This divide and rule strategy of the UMNO has been too successful and has harmed the nation greatly. I am in Singapore most of the time and after a while there you tend to forget what race you are from because it makes no bloody difference. Everybody works hard for a living and those not doing so well or not as well endowed gets help along the way. It is a truly a United Nation country, highly meritocratic and on its way to achieving one success after another.
Some of the most common professions …taxi driver, security guard, low rank immigration officer, clerk etc…What is the greatest achievement to date ? One minister holding insignificant position?
As a matter of fact,, DAP knew NEM is beneficial for the majority. Some facts one simply cannot deny. “Sour grapes” refers to things that people decide are not worth having only after they find they cannot have them
Malays in Singapore have ‘regressed’ to be like the Malays in Malaysia back in the 1960s in this sense: they help when help is needed, without the caring about the race of the recipient.
What a pity! Malays in Singapore regressed while the Malays in Malaysia had advanced to such as esteemed position where they are served and not to serve.
#30 yeah, back in the 60s when Malay men don the songkok and served as drivers for their tuan’s limousines.
Malays, wherever we are are still the same hospitable, warm, friendly, people. It is when we are taken for granted and too much taken advantage of, got our heads climbed over that we ‘sting’ back, where necessary. Its the unselfish, warm hospitality of the Malays in the first place which made this country the multi-racial haven that it is today.
#28 don’t think the kitchen sink is about race.
The reason why when you’re in S’pore you’re not even aware about what race you belong to is because the majority (what is it, more than 95 percent?) there is Chinese anyway. So, when they sing s’pore, you too sing S’pore.
And I don’t think UMNO is to be blamed for the racial profiling of politics in this country. It is more the accusation by the opposition who are themselves racial in composition and interest, in the guise of religion, in the guise of ‘democracy’.
I am still thankful that for a country with different races belonging to different religions and culture, we still can live together in peace.
Let not politics divide the people, like politics is dividing the people of Thailand (although they are mostly one religion, and one race, where the chinese have also assimilated themselves with the native Thai, except for the south).
Idiots talking.
Leave them alone.
Mel_a_yu trying hard to invite few to DEBATE.
We stay FOR or AGAINST…and those subjects.like race and religion….made UMNO B loss 12th GE.
Round and round …UMNO B spinning wheels going nowhere.
Malaysians are going somewhere and Mel_a_yu is afraid to loose his job…poor fella.
/// In other words, we do not have a crutch mentality.We firmly believe that a community with such a crutch mentality will soon become a “two M” community – the first ‘M’ stands for ‘manja’ (spoilt), and the second for ‘malas’ (lazy). ///
This is classic – the two M community.
Wonder who was gave birth to the two M race?
Wonder which Malignant Megalomania caused these people to be addicted to crutches?
Wonder which Malaysian Maverick started the racial divide and pit one race against another?
Wonder who is this Mischievous Machiavellian?
Hi Me_la_yu,
I totally agree that Malays are generally very hospitable, warm, friendly, people. TOTALLY agree.
But what do you mean by “……we are taken for granted and too much taken advantage of, got our heads climbed over……”?
From your way of writing, you sound like a very well-educated person. You talk about this beautiful country being a multi-racial haven & that you don’t want the people to be divided.
Then what’s with lies about being “……we are taken for granted and too much taken advantage of, got our heads climbed over……”?
Are you trying to create yet another racial issue?
#35 No, I’m not trying to create another racial issue at all. My point about “..we are taken for granted bla bla bla” is >>
respect la skit where respect should be give and we respect you too where respect is due. But when Malaysians start questioning about the Malay Rulers, about Islam being the official religion and Bahasa Melayu being the National Language and condemn the efforts that had been made to redress the economic handicap of the Malays, too much gross exaggerations and generalisations have been made for political mileage, so much so that you can’t see the wood from the trees. Be rational. Be tolerant, give and take. And be fair. Is that too much to ask? Just because some politicians in the ruling party have indulged in unethical and corrupt practices, you cannot say all the Malays who support the ruling party or ruling coalition are in the same basket. Its just not fair and not sincere to simply make that assumption.
Its well and fine for people of some education for they can know what is for politics and what is actually true. What about the masses? They gulp everything especially when they are just rhetorics. Does that in any way help to foster inter-ethnic goodwill? To me it is an irresponsible act.
errata: respect la skit where respect should be giveN.
Some of the most common professions …taxi driver, security guard, low rank immigration officer, clerk etc…What is the greatest achievement to date ? One minister holding insignificant position?//cinta-my-ass
Sure, here we have cinta-my-ass and Mel_a_yu holding high positions and that is why the country is going to the dog. High positions according to this cinta my ass is equal to ability. Dream on, dream on. You idiots don’t even know how you get there in the first place, really sh!t people.
too much gross exaggerations and generalisations have been made for political mileage// Mel a yu
Ok, give us specific examples where criticisms were exaggerated or generalised. We can debate about it, no problem. I still want to say that most of the affirmative programmes were hijacked and abused by your own people. If all the programmes are properly implemented, I think all the Malays by now would have been a par with others. So don’t talk nonsense here. Your raison d’ etre is ketuanan, period. Yes high positions without knowing working for it and worse still without knowing any damn thing.
It’s not Melayu but rather “me-layu” as in “WITHER”!
///The latest came from former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who casually reminded Malaysian Malays not to become like Singaporean Malays.///
Tun Dr Ismail said that Malays would willing give up the special position in the constitution out of pride, at the right time. The right time would be when Malaysian Malays are like Singaporean Malays.
The special position provided for Malays is because they are weak, and thus they need help. Tun Dr Ismail wanted Malays to be independent of government but Mamakthir does not.
Mamakthir wants Malays in Malaysia to retain the special position forever so that politicians including his children can take advantage of the racial division in the country to perpetuate the corrupt practices. Certainly the continuation of the special position of Malays does so at the expense of the pride of the community. Unlike TDI, Mamakthir has felt no lost of pride for the Malay race because he is not a Malay. In fact he is trying to dilute the Malay race so that Malays become unrecognizable. But as a group of persons so classified Mamakthir wanted to utilize their number to divide and gain unfair advantage at the expense of the nation. Mamakthir thinks that he could still fool the Malays.
///But when Malaysians start questioning about the Malay Rulers, about Islam being the official religion and Bahasa Melayu being the National Language and condemn the efforts that had been made to redress the economic handicap of the Malays, too much gross exaggerations and generalisations have been made for political mileage, so much so that you can’t see the wood from the trees.///
Only UMNO politicians dream that Malaysian question the status of Malay rulers. In fact it was Mamakthir that questioned the right of Malay rulers to the extent that constitution amendment was effected to make Rulers answerable to their personal behaviour in court special constituted when needed. UMNO politicians use that to inconvenience Malay Rulers.
Nobody question the position of Islam as the official religion, or Malay language as the official language. What Malaysians question is the treatment of other religions practised by Malaysians when Article 11 clearly states that Malaysians are free to practise any religion of their choice.
Malaysians question the way government continues with the so-called NEP implementation in the name of helping Malays. First of all, NEP is to be in force for only 20 years, but now it is 40 years, and yet NEP continues. The excuse that the 30% target has not been achieved is a lie. In November AAB and Najib, in response to a report by ASLI stating that the 30% had long been exceeded, declared that EPU would within a month show the methodology to refute ASLI’s findings> It is 45 months with a change of PM, the EPU has not yet given the ‘right statistics’. NEP has been used as a system to enrich UMNOputras, making some of them billionaires, and yet others remain poor. The poor deserved assistance, but they should not be implemented in the name of NEP, and using the same approach.
Sooner of later, Malaysian Malays will become extinct … due largely to consumption of NEP drugs.
respect should not be given –
it must be EARNED
No country can become a progressive nation when the people are not being treated equally. This is particularly so when the law and the country provides for such distinction between different groups of people in the country. The institutional discrimination such as provided by Article 153 has caused disaster as it has been wrongly interpreted. The constitution was clear however that those who were beneficiary under Article 153 were so treated because of the special position they were in; it was not a special right accorded to them. What then did the special position refer to? It refers to the fact that some Malays were poor, or perhaps the fact that a higher proportion of Malays compared to other community were poor at the time of independence, and the poor deserved assistance. It was certainly a slip-shod approach to drafting the constitution when Malays were generalized as needing assistance, rather than specifying a mean test to clarify who were the deserving candidates.
After NEP has been implemented for twice its expected duration, some argue that because there are poor families in rural areas, NEP should continue. The argument is misleading. If it is the government intention to help the poor, it does not mean that the government should extend such assistance to others who happen to belong to the same community as the rural poor. The poor families in the rural areas are not only Malays. Assistance to poor families should not be restricted to Malays only. It is most ridiculous that in the name of helping rural Malays, the urban rich Malays who should not be the target beneficiaries hijacked the lion shares of such funds. Indeed, through the approach adopted by UMNO in the NEP mode of assisting the Malays, the poor got poorer while those who had connection became fabulously rich.
NEP was a program initiated by the late Tun Razak to delink race with occupation or economic activities. Before the advent of NEP, some 75% or more of civil servants belong to Malays. Now, there were less than 1,000 non-Malays in the civil services numbering around a million. Civil service is now an extension of UMNO. So NEP as implemented only made the situation worse than it was before.
NEP as implemented was more discriminatory than that provided under article 153. Tun Razak could have considered that after NEP has run its 20-year course, there would be no relevance for Article 153, since Malays would no longer be required to be identified as a group who needed special care, like an endangered species. Tun Razak might have the prescience that 20 years was the upper limit for a racial divisive policy before more harms set in, like a sick person consuming poison as cure. NEP has now been in force for 40 years. In addition to making the country polarized by race, it has become a failed state having Myanmar as its peer. Najib would be in denial if he does not recognize that NEP has converted Malaysia into a secret society with the civil service accounting for the largest membership. No modern government in the world has sunk to the position as Malaysia where all its institutions fail to perform their function. The personnel in these institutions are there to use their position for personal gains, in addition to being a financial burden for the state. It is a poetic justice that though Malays were able to exert unfair advantage over non-Malays, they suffer eventually in living in a low income country where their efforts do not earn them a decent standard of living because the government is presiding over a failed state. The moral hazards arising from the belief that their livelihood is the responsibility of the government make Malays believe that a large family earns Malays more political power. But until some members become UMNOPutras, they have to bear the consequence of large family and low income.
Nobody would deny the government its intention and actions to help the poor, but it is certainly against civility and moral ethics that people who bear the racial or religious characteristics of the poor should avail of assistance given to the poor. Indeed the politicians who fought in the name of the poor would not declare that they would not partake in the programmes for the poor. These politicians were the first to enrich themselves on behalf of the rural poor. It is ridiculous that government should have formulated policies to make Malay rich richer, such as the AP scheme while the poor non-Malays have to subsidize the rich Malays. The 7% discount given to Malays on house purchase while non-Malays pay the full price is a classic example of how UMNO government was good at implementing perverted policy.
The 30% target of Malays participation in commerce and industries was never written in the New Economic Policy. It was only listed as a memorandum as what Tun Razak perceived as an example of Malays’ participation in commerce and detaching race with economic function. Razak could not have considered that Malays would run amok just because they collectively own less than 30% of equity share capital. If it was so, riots could not have limited to one occasion in 1969.
The succeeding governments after Razak took equity share capital in limited companies as proxy for Malays participation in business. Since 1970s all newly listed companies were required by law to provide 30% of its share capital to Malays. There are certainly Malay companies which have more than 30% share capital themselves, if not wholly owned by Malays. As the companies listed in stock exchange before 1970 account for at most 10% of the total current market capitalization, Malays equity share in the limited companies have already accounted for more than 30%, if they have retained their shares in the companies. Najib mentioned that many Malays have cashed in on the shares. Even if that was so, Malays who sold their shares could have used their proceeds to undertake other investments. The government should not insist that Malays after having taken their cake should still see them on the table. It is illogical for the government to insist that Malays should have 30 % share capital in limited companies when it did not restrict Malays selling their shares which were offered to them to achieve the NEP target. Indeed, even by 1990 Malays had been issued 30% shares at its 1990 value, and NEP should have stopped then. It is most unreasonable to insist that NEP should continue just so that Malays would attain 30% share, if they had not done so, when the shares of 30% issued to Malays after 1990 was beyond what was envisaged by Tun Razak, and yet the government still insist that Malays should own 30% of the amount 20 years later than the target date of 1990.
Mamakthir claim that if Malays are not united under UMNO, they will lose political power and be worse that Malays in Singapore. One Singaporean Malay said that if they had the same treatment as Malays in Malaysia, they would become malas and manja. He should have added that they would also be living in a poor country, like in Malaysia.
The non-Malays were accommodating to allow assistance to be extended to the relatives of the poor rather than the poor themselves. The relatives of the poor insist now that they should continue to have government assistance to become rich when the poor remain poor. And worse, they now think that just because they have the number, they can call the minority group pendatang, and with that distinction, they now have a special rights, not recognized by the constitution.
Is somebody in Malaysia trying to tell Malaysia Malay it is very pitiful to be Spore Malay whose SG$1000 is = RM2380 ???
so if a Spore Malay pay SG$500 for a TV, Malaysia Malay pay RM1190?? who is pitiful??
Hey,
Kassim & Gang is brainwash and can not wake up.
and it is better for some people that they do not wake up at all.
Everyone know that the crutch is a bad thing, example:-
1. If you broken your leg in an accident and need to be in a crutches, everyone want to be out of crutches the soonest, the crutches will only slow you down and add further burden after you are heal, it is that simple, nobody will ask the doctor to extend the usage of the crutch. ( r you nut ?).
2. Two boys goes to the same school, the same class and teach by the same teacher but one get extra homework and higher passing requirement while other can get thru by just attending, at the end of 12years, everybody know that the boy who get the extra homework and higher passing requirement is the stronger winner, it is shown in countless movies and many dramas. ( hv you seen movies?).
Ok, why some people do not what them to wake up?.
1.This is how the not-some-smart-elite maintain control over the majority of the population.The elite children goes to the international school where there is no crutches.
2.This is how to make everbody pay 3x time the price for car just to provide the crutch for local brand and side income for AP Kings.
3. There is no free lunch, the crutches are not free, you will be charge one way or another.
Over the years, it is hurting the Malay in Malaysia, I would said the Singapore Malay have escape this suffering.
For Kassim & Gang, are you happy with the NEP? How about the result NEP?
If you are happy with NEP and what to continue the NEP, than I can tell you the result in the next 30 years will be the same, because you can not do the same thing and expect different result, if you have kids you better prepare them to live like you do now.
I know everybody else want a better Malaysia.
What is this limkaput talking about?? He himself is the product of a failed affirmative action policy, having wasted taxpayer money studying at a community college in the U.S., given the long service medal for spending record number of years pushing pen and paper for an UMNO run government. Who is he pretending to be this time??
Is limkaput still masquerading as a Chinaman after all this time??