10 June 2009

Inter-racial distaste is at its height

It is disquieting to read the ungainly, and to some extent of uncultured remarks in our cybersphere community on racial issues in place, for this reason it makes our lives too nervous and anxious.

The reservations, suspicions and mistrust among races are at the highest pinnacle. I can safely say that the situation is more awful than the environment before the spark of May 13 1969 and there is an urgent need for the issue to be politically and scientifically addressed.

The character of commentaries in the internet, bass beat and disparaging each other is too disturbing and unsettling as if there is no more option for racial tolerances and co-existence any longer.

No one should disagree that racial harmony is the only ingredient for Malaysian to live in community of civility to give scope for Economic, Social, Culture and other aspects of developments to set in motion.

In the absence of racial unanimity standing upright, everyone; Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Dayaks, Dusuns, Kadazans or any other Malaysian are not going to live without stressfulness in this great but mismanaged nation.

No one gains by being nasty to each other but instead we only have to endure sufferings and misfortunes that would be a dreadful inherent of our future generation.

Obviously no one is going to win a prize for the misgivings; in fact everyone is going to disburse high compensation for it.

No one race or individual is perfect for each other as nature wants it that way for everyone to withstand and co-exist within the community of diversified races, religions, and culture with full understanding of idiosyncrasies of each race and community or even individuals.

God create us with difference from each other in order to illustrate his Greatness to mankind. He does not create uniformity as that would not actualize the element of respect and recognizing for each other.

It is only through diversities that we can demonstrate the constituent of respect and regards among human beings. Being able to live within the diversities that God creates makes the difference between us and other beings.

Can one imagine if God were to create all human being in uniformity; same race, identical appearances, same value, same in everything. Would there be any live?

Surely there won’t be any element of respect as everybody is the same and have the same values and feelings; hence there would not be any quarrel as they perceive things the same way.

So, there are no struggles, no politics, no police, no army, and no nothing to make up lives with struggles as there is nothing for one to accomplish.

There is nothing to know about others and nothing to co-exist with as everybody is the same and indistinguishable.

Thus, by the differences between us, we are having the option to understand the other or to respect and to accomplish individual struggles within the diversity created by nature.

In shorter way of saying it, ONE who does not respect another creation of God means he does not worship God…and that’s it.

The young may not have the experience of lives in tribulations and we are here to impress upon them that learning through others in the past is the best way of detouring from committing mistakes for our own selves.

Don’t ever go through the soreness yourselves to learn like my generation did, as it would take too much toll to your lives and you would surely meander towards despondency of lives for you and your families.

Lives are short and let us enjoy what God bestows upon us to the fullest within the parameter of IMAN. It is too inane for one to go through the evils and troubles when we can bypass it for harmonious and quietude live.

We have enjoyed this atmosphere of lives and we were all working towards one goal that was national unity through processes of assisting each other to rise economically and other aspects of importance.

I have been blaming the leadership after Hussein Onn for these unambiguous distortions in the effort to unite the people as they spent so much focus on physical development progressions without realizing these physical development would mean nothing if there racial disharmony.

BUT those have passed, and we should struggle for a new phase of politics if the old is already of no corollary. After all our lives are always the struggles with the old forms to give way for a new ones and politics has always been part of it.

BUT the candid questions are what the real new emergence out of the old forms? What is to crystallize out of this new emergence? Can all those changes be adjusted to the desperate need of unity among different races?

Can political contours of our Malaysian politics be pre-determined and ensures excellent environment in place of unambiguous interracial distortion?

OR are we going to let the situation go its own way and just accede to the water finding it own level?

AND in whose account would it be if racial misfortune really takes place?

I say it conclusively; it’s the leaders of all races who are now on the wheel, who have to account for it.

AND to recompense it all, will be exceedingly costly.

So, to all Malaysians, let us live in solace and I still believe that this country is the best sanctuary for nice living.

The only handicap that this country has, is her leaders are perceived to have great passion for corruption. Their towering love for cash is too obvious while their love for the people is too petite.

The public perceive corruption has gone to the core; and they jibe that many of our leaders are experts in ‘Cash & Carry’ business.

Any way the rakyat is going to engage themselves on this issue democratically in the coming General Elections, I am sure.


Thanks………………………………………………..Aspan Alias

8 comments:

danial aziz said...

Betul tuan, Tuhan memang menjadikan manusia itu berpuak puak untuk menhormati disantara satu dengan lain. Itu adalah firmannya.
Syabas sdr.

garylim said...

You are very passionate with reality of situation today.
You are truthful in your thinking and i think you deserve some commendation from me bro.

susan said...

unity government...so they say, does it include Chinese like me?

Anonymous said...

Aspan,

Again u r been diplomatic!

What u have been penned r sparks for thought. & yet how many of us can see through the trees for the forest, when ABN is the slogan for a section of the populace.

Why not NBA, for the good of the whole nation?

What u have written, should they be inter-racial or intra-racial for M'sia? Can anyone distinguish the differences?

Bearing in mind that diversity in unity is a dirty word for some bigots within the political divides. Only assimilation within the main culture is acceptable!

What takes, Aspan? Do share the thoughts.

anomie

Ted Torrence said...

I think so lah ...
http://thextalks.blogspot.com/2009/06/dap-doesnt-want-you-to-learn-english.html

flyer168 said...

Aspan,

Another great article on what every "Anak Bangsa Malaysia" must strive towards....

An inspirational experience & struggle to achieve his/her "Malaysian Dreams".

In these days of predatory capitalism and money politics, altruism and personal sacrifice for larger goals are rare commodities.

It is the same for a community or a nation: we look for our heroes, people who can propel us to greater heights.

If it is true that the search for such towering Malay figures has so far been futile, it is probably because the people concerned have been looking in the wrong places.

We perhaps will have to look beyond UMNO and the Malay community as well - for, after all, there are towering figures among many ordinary Malaysians, irrespective of ethnic origin, if we care to look closely.

Indeed, the attributes and values that we speak of and cherish are universal: high intellect, a high value system, successful careers, good economic standing, and well-respected culture and religion.

In multiethnic and multicultural Malaysia, one can and must draw valuable lessons from the experiences and important values of each of the ethnic communities.

In doing so, one is nudging society in the direction of the once much-touted ideal of Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian race).

There are hardworking people, for instance, in all of the ethnic communities in Malaysia just as there are intelligent people in these communities who can be a source of human capital and an inspiring example to all Malaysians.

These are important attributes especially if they involve people who STRIVE and PERSEVERE in a situation where they eventually prevail and succeed with no (or little) state assistance such as scholarships and other facilities.

Other equally important values and attributes are moral uprightness, critical-thinking and a principle-centred life.

A towering figure - whether in industry and academia, as an example again - is someone who is not only intelligent, resourceful and creative, but also sticks to his/her beliefs and principles even though these may go against the mainstream or status quo.

These industrious people should in fact be given recognition by the powers-that-be so that, firstly, they become a shining example for other Malaysians (not just Malays) to emulate and, secondly, their hard work and intelligence is given due recognition, which would encourage them to propel themselves further in the quest for excellence.

More importantly, this kind of recognition can help stem the brain drain out of this country.

This effort could involve industry and academia, for example, where talent needs to be nurtured, recognised and duly rewarded and where academic and professional excellence is crucial.

The country as a whole would benefit from such people who make principled decisions and take carefully considered actions.

Giving views and ideas that are different from the management of a factory or a university should not be erroneously perceived as undermining its authority.

If anything, they should be considered as a very useful contribution to knowledge building.

If the search for towering Malaysians were to be "liberalised", then we would be able to appreciate the good in many of us Malaysians....

In this 21st century context of Malaysian Nation Building & the creation of the TRUE GRIT "New Breed of High Yield Technocrats".

Despite the ravages of modern capitalistic living and rapacious politics, there is still a pool of Malaysians who are altruistic, disciplined, principled and loving and whose actions and beliefs can easily leave us humbled and inspired.

Cheers.

flyer168 said...

Aspan,

Here is an article on MM Lee, I hope Malaysians can appreciate & LEARN from this "Towering Asian & International Political Icon".

I had been exposed to the LKY's "Critical but Rewarding" Values inculcated in the 60s to the 70s whilst with Malayan Airways through to MSA & SIA.

The reward has been worth it & I am now enjoying my Malaysian Dream from the fruits of my perseverance to be the "Master" of my "Vocation & Destiny".

May I share this with you & your readers....

Lee Kuan Yew on Malay vs. Chinese Culture
George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University; Distinguished Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore, 1998-1999

In Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas, his biographers relate how Lee sought explanations for the different economic approaches -- and degrees of success -- found in Singaporean Chinese and Malay communities.

Long before becoming Singapore's Prime Minister -- in fact, while still a student -- he had rejected colonialist notions that some races were superior to others, and so he sought other explanations.

Turning to contemporary anthropology, he came upon a convincing one in the work of Bryan Parkinson, a Fellow at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hull, whose 1968 article in the journal Modern Asian Studies argued that Malays and and Chinese had different "maximising postulates" or ways of conceiving success:

This desire to succeed is no more absent from rural Malay society than it is from any other, but to the Malay success means something different from what it does, for example, to the Malaysian Chinese.

The Chinese seem to regard success as being the improvement of their economic position even if this requires fundamental change or innovation.

The Malays seem to regard success as doing what their forebears have approved and practised, but doing it as well as they can.

Wealth and economic advancement are desired by the Malays, but not at the expense of renouncing utterly the traditions and traditional occupations of their forebears to which they have grown accustomed.

Parkinson further argued that although there was "nothing irrational about Malay values," they would explain why Malay economic advancement has been and will likely "remain relatively low" in comparison to what Lee termed the "achievement-orientated, striving, acquisitive" Indian and Chinese communities.

Attempting to solve this "extremely delicate problem," Singapore has tried several approaches,

The first being a form of affirmative action that provides....

"Free education from primary school right up to university for any Singapore citizen who is a Malay.

This is something we don't give to the majority ethnic group -- the Chinese.

They pay fees from secondary school onwards."

Second, the government has employed "judicious intermingling of the communities so that, thrown into the more multiracial milieu we have in our new housing estates,

Malay children are becoming more competitive and more striving"

[147].
References

Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez, Sumiko Tan. Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas. Singapore: Times, 1998.

Contd....2

flyer168 said...

Contd....2

Aspan,

flyer168 Question:

If LKY has been "Magnanimous" towards the "Minority Malays" in Singapore to provide that affirmative action, why are our UMNO/BN Leaders "Marginalising & Depriving" the Anak Bangsa Malaysia from achieving MERITOCRACY?

Bapak Borek...Anak MESTI Rentek & tak boleh LEBEH PANDAI pada Bapak?

Malaysia has been embroiled in racial politics and due to the fear of losing political power, all actions taken by the main party in power was never targeted towards bringing wealth to all.

Wealth was distributed to the chosen few only. They were the cronies and the backers of the party leadership to perpetuate their own selfish ends.

Seeing the efficiency and the progress achieved by Singapore caused the Malaysian leadership to suffer from an inferiority complex.

That Malaysia should suffer from this complex was of its own making.

In a recent interview, Kuan Yew said that Malaysia could have done better if only it treated its minority Chinese and Indian population fairly.

Instead they were completely marginalised and many of the best brains left the country in drove.

He added that "Singapore was a standing indictment to what Malaysia could have done differently".

He just hit the nail right there on the head.

In 2009 we are witnessing that "Ketuanan UMNO Ideology" going "Horribly Wrong" with Denials, Intimidations, Threats, etc convoluting it into "Gutter Politics & Law of the Jungle".

The PRESENT LEADERS on BOTH sides of the Political Divide are "Trapped" in their "OWN QUAGMIRE" with no Win-Win SOLUTIONS....

Malaysia NEEDS NEW LEADERS with Political MATURITY to ACHIEVE its Financial, Economic & Social CONSOLIDATION & STABILISATION.

Until such times Malaysia can IDENTIFY “Role Model” MATURED, EDUCATED, INTELLIGENT, ESTABLISHED Leaders & Politicians of HONOUR with Calibre & Tolerance without Fear or Favour,

Malaysia CANNOT even THINK of having a 2 or 3 PARTY Political System of Government to mitigate the IMPENDING Political & Financial fallout.

Cheers.