YOURSAY | ‘Muslims are taught to think being fair to all means being less fair to themselves.’

Unmasking the moderate Malay mind, and putting Malaysia first

Pokokelapa: "(Pakatan) Harapan politicians need to change the narrative and work harder to convince the Malays that their and their family's well-being is not at the mercy of a non-Malay PM," said Malaysiakini columnist Mariam Mokhtar.

I do not think this is possible, but if only moderate Malays can convince all the other Malays that what they need is a complete revamp of the political structure and get decent, capable, clean, fair and ethical Malay politicians up on the pedestal.

The non-Malays will accept a Malay leader, after all, we have them all this while. The only frustrating thing is the corrupt, bias and unfair mindset is unbecoming of them. The moderate Malay doesn’t care two hoots about the poor rural folks simply because they are well taken care of. Why do I want to rock the boat and lose that special status they have in the elite class?

One glaring and simple example is the Kelantanese folks. There are many Kelantanese elites in the country enjoying the fruits of the privileges provided to them. If only they go to Kelantan and help the people change their mindset, it will make a lot of difference to the folks.

Like the luxury cars provided to the politicians who have failed the state and its people. Did the elite raise or object to the issue? No. Do we expect the folks in Kelantan to protest and vote these useless politicians out? Never.

It will be the same. They are happy to be exploited by their own Kelantanese elites by keeping silent and enjoying their "rightful" status. Even worse, the Orang Asli are stripped of their livelihood. Does the Kelantanese elite raise a finger to help them? No.

Why? As Mariam you have aptly put it, it is "because he is the product of 50 years of brain-washing, our education system". I am very sure they all had very good religious teachings in rural Malaysia and brought up in the very poor rural living that has not changed since. Why?

It is basically the mindset, the lack of compassion and the big ego. They forgot the past and live in the world of luxury. They speak English and have no tinge of local Kelantanese dialect anymore.

This scenario will not change. Unless the wealth divide severely affects the poor or even then, the picture will be painted to adjust to the elites’ view. They will continue to keep silent and enjoy the life that comes which they fear to lose.

Dummies Dhimmi: Is there a moderate Malay? I believe Muslims can be labelled thus. But with every passing moment, ‘moderate’ is being equalled to ‘liberal’. And ‘liberal’ is a bad word in Islam.

Is Islam at fault? I don’t believe so. But Muslims are, in this country, taught to think being fair to all means being less fair to themselves. Even if non-Malay leaders bend backwards to publicly prove they care more for Malays, it’s simply not enough.

It’s years of indoctrination as Mariam points out. A narrative dressed up in selective religious ‘out of context’ phraseology. They will be told that to think outside of this will be apostasy of sorts and anyone with any kind of credentials (read: Zakir Naik) who opposes credible non-Malay leadership is ear candy for Muslims.

MS: Mariam, the "moderate" Malay is a myth like the Naga Seri Gumum monster lurking in Tasik Chini in Pekan, Pahang.

Going only by your conversation in English with this character, one can (sarcastically) see that he has extremely "moderate" reasoning abilities - the result no doubt of education tinkered with and railroaded by successive Malay ministers of education, most notably prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.

But seriously Mariam, how on earth does one recognise a "moderate" Malay? By his dress? By the car he drives? By the language he speaks with ease? By the things and people he surrounds himself with?

Or by his consistent and openly expressed views on non-Muslims and non-Malays - views characterised by common sense, irrefutable logic and always courageously inclusive.

If that be the case, the only "moderate" Malay who readily comes to mind is former minister Zaid Ibrahim. But then as most Malaysians will point out, Zaid is an aberration, an outlier, a non-conforming maverick, a freak of the political system and definitely not your typical Malay.

So Mariam's "moderate" Malay needs to be further defined with his defining characteristics easily and unanimously recognisable. One may perhaps look to the retired Malay civil servants in G25 or in Patriot for hints and examples.

But if we do that, if we acknowledge that the "moderate" Malay appears available only among the retired, those who grew up and were educated in earlier times and whose characters and thoughts were shaped by old values and norms, say something significant - that the "moderate" Malay is in fact an anachronism, a dying breed, well on the road to extinction.

Which then leaves us the "moderate" Malay with whom Mariam had her insightful conversation. This creature, going entirely by his responses, is clearly a fake moderate not unlike the fake Rolex watches once cheaply available in Petaling Street.

Mariam, it appears, was taken in by how he presented himself. And because the real "moderate" Malays are now as rare as a N95 mask, Malaysians may need to be content with the fakes, the ‘buatan tiruan’. And god knows there are millions out there.

FairMalaysian: In the course of my interactions with Malays, and these are urban Malays, it has been a similar encounter that I have come across.

I have had always considered Mahathir as the apex predator who devoured the Malaysia we once had, and had forcefully changed its landscape and demographics irreparably that even a muted attempt in this latest effort could not stand against his institutionalised and social divide he had created.

You think or touch anything, his footprints are all over the place. His dream has failed. He had failed and now it looks like that the country has failed in forging a multiracial identity, I mean the real one and not the phoney one our politicians continue telling us.

Indians believe in karma. I cannot say for certain if this is true but what it simply means is for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. After almost 60 years of Malay-centric policies, the Malay leaders and politicians are still "uplifting" the Malays.

Despite Umno's overbearing and dominance, the non-Malays know why the Malay leaders/politicians continue to parrot-talk the same mantra over and over again.

The non-Malays are resilient and have moved forward and away from MCA and MIC politics. They will continue climbing up the ladder and all the Malays can do is stare and be jealous. That is the hatred being spewed by these Malay politicians and NGOs - a jealousy that is consuming them.

There is nothing much they can do unless they start believing in themselves. That is the stark truth. The progress and achievements the non-Malays have chartered is phenomenal against the odds they faced.

Even in politics, Umno/BN cheated during the last delineation exercise, much against the constitutional requirement. We saw how they robbed the non-Malays of the fair weightage of one-man-one-vote and resulting in ridiculously unevenly populated constituencies but against the odds, the non-Malays fared reasonably well.

The Malay leaders have no faith in the democratic mandate decided by the people. So, they had to do it through the backdoor. And Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, despite his protestation against being branded as such and calling himself PM of all Malaysians, failed even in his first test. His cabinet was almost entirely Malay.

Despite his years in politics he, like the Umno politicians before him, have failed to understand how the "Malaysian" psyche works. Perhaps, I can sum up the reason for the resilience of the non-Malays - God helps those who help themselves.

Anonymous_1583047704476.44751583047602671: I think the Malays have forgotten their numbers are getting bigger but the cake is not. Every Malay will be getting smaller shares of the cake by and by until it is gone.

Oil will be depleted. As the country becomes more Islamic, industries will move out and many will be jobless.

Am I glad I won't be around to see it. I am 79. Special privileges will not benefit them anymore, and like the Chinese and Indians, they have to fend for themselves.

Unspin: Fifty years from now, when the population of non-Malays becomes insignificant relative to that of the Malays, there will definitely be a class battle between the poor and rich Malays per se.

If we want to avoid that inevitability, then it is imperative that we eradicate poverty and raise the standard of living of the marginalised Malays moving forward.

To do that, the Malays need to engage the industry of the non-Malays to grow the economic cake to a level where it is sufficient for everybody. In other words, the Malays need to view the non-Malays as partners rather than as threats.

Part 1 | Covid-19 exposes real crisis of racial, religious exclusivism

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

Malaysiakini is providing free access to the most important updates on the coronavirus pandemic. You can find them here.

Help keep independent media alive - subscribe to Malaysiakini.