MELAYU YANG BUTA HATI DAN SOMBONG

~MataHatiJohor~ : Hari ini, apabila seorang Melayu telah berjaya mendapat pendidikan tinggi dan memegang jawatan dan kedudukan yang baik di dalam masyarakat, individu Melayu itu sering cenderung untuk lupa diri dan asal usulnya. Dia sering lupa apakah dasar kerajaan yang digubal dan dilaksanakan yang mengambil semangat Ketuanan Melayu sehingga membolehkan individu Melayu tadi berjaya dan mampu bersaing dengan kaum-kaum lain. Bagi mereka Ketuanan Melayu tidak perlu dan hanya sesuai pada zaman feudal sedangkan pada zaman feudal soal ketuanan Melayu tidak timbul kerana Melayu tidak perlu berkongsi kuasa dengan kaum pendatang yang lain.

Mereka sering memperlekehkan soal kontrak sosial yang telah terbentuk di antara kaum-kaum pendatang dengan bangsa Melayu sebagai pribumi Tanah Melayu ini.

Bagi saya individu Melayu seperti ini adalah mewakili watak Melayu yang sombong kerana kejayaan yang telah dikecapi serta perlarian dari perasaan telah dijajah selama lebih 450 tahun. Mereka ini cuba menonjolkan kehebatan tanpa merasa bahawa kehebatan mereka itu sebenarnya kerana dibantu oleh dasar-dasar yang didakwa (malah mereka sendiri mendakwa) sebagai perkauman seperti dasar pendidikan mahupun dasar ekonomi kerajaan.

Mereka bangga berpegangan sebegini sebagai suatu tiket untuk bersosial dengan rakan dari kaum lain dan tentunya akan mendapat pujian dan pengiktirafan sebagai seorang yang tidak mengamalkan perkauman. Mereka lupa, mereka sebenarnya menjadi alat kepada kaum lain untuk menjatuhkan kaum nya sendiri. Contoh rencana yang saya sertakan dibawah menunjukkan Melayu ini menjadi alat kaum Cina dari akhbar The Star untuk memperlekehkan soal ketuanan Melayu.

Watak Individu Melayu sebegini semakin berkembang di dalam masyarakat Melayu hari ini. Mungkin mereka menyangka kejayaan mereka ini akan pasti ditradisikan kepada anak cucu mereka. Rencana di bawah ini adalah ditulis oleh Azmi Shahrom, seorang pensyarah undang-undang yang bagi saya mewakili watak Melayu Sombong dan Lupa Diri seperti yang saya contohkan tadi. Bagi saya, walaupun mereka berpendidikan tinggi, mereka ini buta & pekak sejarah sehingga menafikan hak-hak kaumnya sendiri. Kalau Kaum Cina dari Tanah Besar China dan Kaum India dari Negara India, Penulis ini asalnya dari negara mana???? Tidak ada secubit pun perasaan nasionalisme Melayu mengalir dalam darah penulis ini. Sayangkan Bangsa Mu...
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Thursday April 17, 2008


Under threat? What threat?
By AZMI SHAROM (is a law teacher)

Since the recent general election, voices have risen up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now ‘under threat’. But perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony.

AND so it begins. Race-based rhetoric has raised its ugly little head in response to a democratic process. Over 49% of the people of Malaysia have voted for parties that have rejected race-based affirmative action in favour of a needs-based platform.

It did not take very long for voices, both common and royal, to rise up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now “under threat”.

“Under threat” from what, may I ask? Let’s take a bit of time to look at this so-called “threat”. Firstly, Malays are given special protection under Article 153 of the Constitution.

Article 153 is titled “Reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits, etc, for Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak”. Article 152 states that Malay is the National Language. The Supreme Head of the Federation, according to Article 32, is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, a Malay ruler.

This is the foundation of Malay “special privileges”.

None of the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, including the DAP, have said anything about removing Articles 153, 152 and 32. They remain safe and secure with no sign whatsoever of any sort of threat.

Besides, in order to change it, you would need a two-thirds majority in the lower and upper houses of Parliament plus the support of the Conference of Rulers. The last time I checked, no one has a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Secondly, due to simple demographics, it is unlikely that a totally non-Malay party is ever going to win absolute control of the government. Of the five state governments in the hands of the Pakatan, four are led by a Malay Mentri Besar.

Penang is an exception, but Penang has been led by non-Malays since the 60s. Why was there was no outcry before this?

Thirdly, the proposed doing-away with the NEP (or whatever it is called nowadays), I suppose, can be seen as a threat to the Malays.

But how it can be a threat is beyond me, because the replacement suggested by the Pakatan is not some sort of laissez-faire capitalist economy. Instead, it is an economic system with affirmative action promised to those in need.

If the Malays are the largest group of people in Malaysia who are in the most need, then they will get the most help. If they are not in the most need, then why on earth do they need help then?

This is the point where I will get angry letters about how the NEP is needed; because in the business world – the real world which I know nothing about because I am just a lowly-academic trapped in my ivory tower – Malays are discriminated against by the Chinese. So we need a policy like the NEP to provide some balance.

I disagree.

If there are racist business policies being conducted against the Malays, then you face it head on with anti-discrimination laws.

If some person feels he is being discriminated against, no matter what his race, then let there be a law to help him, and let us punish the racists with a hefty fine or jail term.

You do not meet racism with racism; you challenge it by destroying all traces of it.

The problem with the NEP, as I see it, is that it breeds a mentality of entitlement based on race and not merit. This mentality seeps into governance, and it creates an atmosphere of mediocrity. One example of this is how the Constitution has been disregarded in relation to employment issues.

The Federal Constitution states that you can set quotas at the entry points of government services, for example, the civil service and public universities. However, this is counter-balanced by Article 136 that says all federal employees must be treated fairly regardless of race.

This means that once inside a service, everyone is to be treated equally based on merit. In such a situation, only the cream will rise to the top.

However, since the introduction of the NEP, the practice in government services has been to promote Malays mainly. This has in turn led to a drop in the number of non-Malay actors in the service of the public.

Taking my profession for example, the closeted unrealistic world of academia, I look down south and I see that 30% of the staff in the National University of Singapore Law School are Malaysians.

How come these clever fellows who are good enough to teach in a university that is among the top 20 in the world are not here in the land of their birth? Why are the blinking Singaporeans enjoying our talent? Is it because that talent is all non-Malay and they feel they have better opportunities there than here?

This is a complete waste, and in the end this loss of talent means a loss for the university, the country and the people of this country, including the Malay students who miss out on the best possible teachers.

Perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony, in which case my answer to that is this: clean up your act, live up to your promises and listen to what the people are saying.

Make yourself electable by proving that you can create good government.

That is called democracy.

Dr Azmi Sharom is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely his own.
azmisharom@yahoo.co.uk