MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Malay Ketuanan is responsible for the mess in Malaysia today

IF THERE WAS A CHANCE of Chinese tourists coming to Malaysia, the latest videoclip has made sure they will not. Pak Lah has ordered the Home Affairs Minister, Dato' Seri Azmi Khalid, to tell Chinese authorities that this will not happpen in future. Malaysia does not welcome Asian or African visitors. They are harassed at the immigration counters at the airport, although they have valid visas. If they escape that hurdle, they face harassment from the police. The 70-second videoclip that the MP, Ms Teresa Kok, produced in Parliament yesterday (24 November 2005) has put paid to any official explanation. It is now the perception that the Asian or African tourist will be badly treated, with the women stripped naked and made to do the 'ear squat'. In the light of the video clip, in fact well before yesterday, Malaysians do not believe the government explanations to the contrary. The Pak Lah administration is desperate that it is believed, for it need the Chinese tourist. There has been less than 65 per cent arrivals for the first nine months of this year compared to the last. Malaysia has all the facilties that are half- empty. The Chinese refusal to come to Malaysia is partly responsible. I have a cousin here with a valid work permit, but all he has seen Kuala Lumpur is between his work place and his flat 300 yards away. He dare not go sightseeing, even with others with work permit, because the police would harass him, and take away his money. The foreigner, unless he is Caucasian, will expect a hard time here. Most professional Indians come here en route to the United States or other Western countries. So they keep quiet about the harassment. The Indian government gets involved for political reasons, making a fuss for specific reasons. The Chinese vote with their feet, their Governments supporting them, especially when it has an edge over the foreign government. A visit by Dato' Seri Azmi Khalid would not reverse a trend caused by his underlings. Could not have Pak Lah raise the matter when he saw his Chinese counterpart in Busan, South Korea, during the APEC summit?

But the Malaysian government is not functioning as it should. A Malaysian cabinet meets to advise a policeman not to sue a student. What was his superiors doing when this was going on? What was the Inspector-General of Police doing? In this instance, instead of abrogating his responsibility, he has handed it to the cabinet. Need it be said that the policeman is Malay and the student a Chinese. But the IGP should have removed the police officer in charge, and told the policeman he should not file a legal suit. If he does not want to do it, he should resign. The Malaysian Police is for all people, The Malaysian cabinet is not involved in a disciplinary matter. Even the minister is not involved. In Malaysia, the politician has taken over the functions of the civil servant. But he does not want to take decisions for the greater agenda of Malay ketuanan. So he brings it to the cabinet. But the cabinet does not want to take a decision either. It has advised the policeman not to sue the student, and instructed the home affairs minister to tell the Chinese a watered down version of the situation in Malaysia. But Dato' Seri Khalid should already be in China if he had done his work properly! The cabinet discusses policy which the civil servant carries out. Here the prime minister makes policy which the cabinet echoes, but discards once the prime minister leaves the scene. Tun Mahathir's policies, some of which are execreble but most are relevant to the Malaysia of the future, disappeared from the government's world view once he left the scene. There is a hidden hand creating the problems, but that exists because it is easy to upset the politician. The divide between politicians and the civil servant has disappeared, and the average Malaysian does not know who is who.

All projects are done for the Caucasian. If the Malaysian benefits, it is accidental. This is drummed into our heads ad naseum. I saw a practical example of this when I went on Monday to apply for a MyKad. Those who had questions about it were told to take the Mykad in Putra Jaya, where there were officers who could answer the questions. It was as if the public upset the clerks and officers working there from their chats during office hours. There are messages all over the office on what happens to the public if they do not get their MyKads on time, and the fines imposed if the Mykads are lost. The officer in charge was looking over the public, as if he was in control when he was not. The computer was on the blink, and a European was busy telling the world he has repairing the computer terminals and the node. I saw no other race in the office. I wasted two hours waiting for the computer to be back on line, when the officer in charge told anyone who would listen to come the next day, and the numbers they had would be adjusted then. But the computer system went on the blink because of heavy usage. The new Mykad has the religion of Muslims visible to all and sundry; that of all others were on the computer chip. They will know the details are correct only if they put the card through the reader. No one has thought about the problems, only that the computerisation has been given to an UMNO functionary, who did not know anything about computers and could well have sold fish for a living. He bought the computer and having taken his cut passed it to others. The fellow who installed the computer had to make do if he wanted a profit. And what happened at the MyKad centre in the Maju building is typical. Not just for Mykads but all computerisation programmes. Look at Cyberjaya. What happened there is what has happened to the computerisation of the whole country. It is importantant that Malaysia is seen to be at the cutting edge, but more often it is the chopping block, because it depends on foreigners, who are engaged so that the Chinese and Indians are not engaged. The recent controversy over the new CEO of MAS, after it posted a large loss, is not typical. In the end, it got an oil man. Not a Malay this time but a Sarawakian native.

When the cabinet is responsible for municipal matters, the overall structure of the state disappears, as it has in Malaysia. The policeman takes the law into his hands because he knows he would not be penalised if he is a Malay. It is Malay ketuanan, Malay dominance, that holds sway. There is official crocodile tears at the lack of non- Malays, but the policy is not to engage them. The decision was taken after the riots. A non-Malay police officer who has retired said he had only desk jobs in his career, and he was sidelined throughout his career. Even in the states, he was given a desk job, and called to the ground only when the problem involving his race could not be solved by the Malay policemen or officers. Today, the order is to take in non-Malays in civil service, but those taken in are not the brightest and smartest who apply, but those who will make the Malay look good. The civil service has a political agenda which overrides what it is supposed to do. The non-Malays are subborned to make the Malay look good. This is so in politics. The non-Malay members are there to ensure that UMNO is always on top, and to answer questions the Malay cannot for fear of not believing in ketuanan. So the non- Caucasian tourist, especially the women, are badly treated by the Malay policeman, because he knows he would not be punished. It comes to the fore because Chinese tourists are important, and the mainstream newspapers report these without fear or favour. To the Malaysian, it only proves what he already knew or experienced. To the government, it means less Chinese tourists coming to the Malaysia. But long as Malay Ketuanan is hidden official policy, this would happen.

But this is questioned even by the Malay. The byelection in Pengkalen Pasir is a case in point. The deputy prime minister has promised a 10,000 strong procession to accompany the candidate. The Malaysian government is involved in a byelection in which the dead state assemblyman won by 65 votes. Pak Lah, no less, has taken the byelection as important, and has got the federal government machinery involved. Why? Because its opponent is PAS, a Malay party which does not believe in Malay ketuanan. The National Front, in this case UMNO, has asked the PAS state government to resign if it lost the seat. But has Pak Lah said he would resign, as would all state government it controls, if UMNO lost Pengkalen Pasir? Why not, given that it has UMNO throughout the country involved in Pengkalen Pasir? He will not order a fresh general elections. It is important that pressure be put on PAS to keep ketuanan as the UMNO agenda. Who wins does not matter, for it would change the balance of parties in the Kelantan state assembly. But to UMNO it does. Its leaders got carried away by their own rhetoric. The law does not allow a politician to resign and re-contest. The UMNO politician cannot afford to resign. But PAS state assemblyman will, for the party's future. There is nothing to prevent individual PAS state assemblyman to resign from now to the next general election. It might put UMNO in power but the frequent resignations will make its hold on the state moot. The National Front, and UMNO, may not know it yet, but its police of Malay Ketuanan is under attack, so it piles on the pressure on PAS. Islam Hadhari is forgotten in this byelection. How can UMNO talk of Islam Hadhari when its Malay ketuanan is on attack?

M.G.G.Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com