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Is the Rukun Negara a panacea for race relations?

THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, Dato' Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadhir, has suddenly discovered the Rukun Negara, enunciated more than 30 years ago, and promptly ignored, to give a sense of longing to the Chinese and Indians. It was the brainchild of Tun Ghazali Shafie, who was a thinker in residence in addition to the other portfolios he held. His mind is acute then as it is today, although he is in his 80s and confined to a wheel chair. He was unusual among Malaysian minister in that he read widely. But he also wore his arrogance on his sleeve. And that pushed Rukun Negara into the background, its five principles forgotten, ensuring that the New Economic Policy and Malay Dominance without the restraining influence of the Rukun Negara ensured the Malay is dominant and arrogant. Today, Rukun Negara is said to be 'the principle of life', that Malaysians must accept it. It is not the prime minister who says it but his minister of information, who has been fighting as hard to keep his job as the Prime Minister wants to replace him. But the call for Rukun Negara means nothing. It is brought from the dusty cupboard because the powers that be have decided that it is relevant. Does this mean that for 30 years, when it lay forgotten, it did not have any relevance? It is yet another sign that the National Front government flounders.

In Malaysia, if a policy is announced by other than the prime minister or the deputy prime minister, it is ignored. As in the Rukun Negara policy. It did not matter it was inaugurated by the then prime minister, Tun Razak. A great effort at making it work was made. Schools throughout the country were often made to pain the five principles on the walls. There was important speeches by Tun Razak and Tun (then Tan Sri) Ghazali. But it was slowly put on the backburner, and forgotten. It could have have made a difference. We do not know. But it would not now. It is implemented now to get alienated non-Malaysians back into the fold. Then it was to prevent alienanting non-Malays from leaving. It requires different methods. Using a discarded policy from the past as the panacea for today's problems is not the best way to address it. There is silence after Dato' Seri Kadir announced it. There was the usual 24-hour intense interest in radio and television, and then silence. It the National Front government was serious about it, it would have run with it.

Dato' Seri Kadir is aligned to Tun Mahathir, but fighting to stay in the cabinet. He has come a long way. I first knew him in Saigon in the 1960s, when I was working for Reuters and he was a cypher clerk at the Malaysian embassy there. The charge d'affairs at that time was Dato' Hamzah Majid, the youngest head of mission in Saigon. The three were born in 1939, and the oldest was four months older than the youndest. On Wednesdays, Hamzah instructed me to take Dato' Seri Kadir for breakfast, and release him only in the office when he called. It was Dato' Seri Hamzah who put the idea of reading law to Dato' Seri Kadir, got him a Mara scholarship. But he did not trust Dato' Seri Kadir with it, and I got Mr Jimmy Hahn, then manager of Reuters in Southeast Asia and incidentally father of Lorraine Hahn of CNN, to post it. The rest is, as they say, history. He passed law, formed a law partnership – Hisham, Sobri and Kadir – entered Parliament and is now in the cabinet. He has not forgotten how he got there. When he was deputy foreigh minister, he stood up when Dato' Hamzah, who had left the foreign service to be tourism director-general. As minister of information, he has now got into the news by asking for a return to Rukun Negara. That will not work now, for the intellectual underpinnings of it is forgotten, and the new organisers do not have the capacity for it.

The non-Malay is downgraded in Malay eyes. He is never given a supervisory position. The Malay decides what is good for him, and carries it out, whether it is or not. There is much distrust between them. The Malay made sure they would not join the government or public services, imposing a glass ceiling for those who did. Over the past 30 years, the bright ones did not bother and went into the private sector. It is now said the non-Malays did not want to join the government or uniformed services because the pickings are better elsewhere. Perhaps it is, but most would join the public and uniformed services if they are promised a fair deal. It is said in the British Army there is ever private's knapsack there is a field marshal's baton. Only one man has becoming field marshal after joining the army as a private: Field Mashal Robertson. But the way is open for anyone who wants to get to the top. This is not so for the non-Malay. Now there is in every department a Malay Mafia which blights Malay officers if they promote a non-Malay. Even the secretaries general are afraid. So it is the non-Malay who is squeezed. The rationale for the NEP and Malay Dominance could be argued in 1970, but not in 2005. The suggestion that Rukun Negara will help in 2005 is a sign the National Front does not have any policies to prevent the race and religion from creating havoc in Malaysia.

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