1Malaysia, a concept that exists in name only
This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 27/1/2014
When the Bangsa Malaysia concept was introduced to promote national unity and the Malaysian entity amongst its citizens, most of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s race-based policies were kept intact. Therefore, efforts aimed at fostering unity came to nought and Bangsa Malaysia turned out to be a mere window dressing.
Later on, when the Malaysian Malaysia concept was expounded by opposition leaders, the BN government condemned this concept, describing it as being anti-Malay, against the Islamic values and principles, a kind of ideology on republicanism which aimed to abolish the country’s monarchy system.
Then recently, the Malaysian Malaysia concept was also labelled as an attempt to create a Christian state by abolishing Islam as the official religion of the federation. These allegations were made by many BN-linked racial and religious extremist groups.
The 1Malaysia concept was introduced when Datuk Seri Najib Razak took office as the prime minister in 2009. According to Najib, 1Malaysia is to unite all Malaysians regardless of race and religion as a single entity under his administration.
However, as expected, the 1Malaysia concept too failed miserably as it also has become a mere window dressing for the BN government. 1Malaysia has become more of a political branding of the BN government than a real concept to instil unity and create a common entity. 1Malaysia has also been heavily commercialised by many businesses linked to the BN government.
Another disappointing chapter of the 1Malaysia concept is that it has been allowed to co-exist with the rising racial and religious extremism. On most occasions, the actions of racial and extremist groups rode roughshod over the so-called 1Malaysia.
Even in some government agencies and departments, civil servants and officials ignore 1Malaysia and preach racism and one-race supremacy, thus promoting disunity, hatred, violence and suspicion.
So, what is left of 1Malaysia? Technically, this concept has been rejected by both sides of the political divide. The government and the BN are still with their race-based set-ups and policies, thus allowing racial and religious extremist groups to flourish. On the opposition side, 1Malaysia was condemned as meaningless, a tool to cheat the people. In reality, the people are more divided than ever.
Citizens are not given the space to promote a more Malaysian approach in person and entity by downplaying racial and religious faces. Extremist groups would raise the spectre of another May 13 riot by accusing them of trying to undermine their well-being and deny them their “special rights”. What? To be more Malaysian is threatening the existence of one race?
Come on, Malaysia has been in existence for more than 55 years, and if you were to say that you are not Malaysian first because your particular race and religion should be on top of that, then what is the point of creating a nation called Malaysia after all?
Furthermore, since these racial and extremist groups as well as many of those BN leaders still prefer the multiracial communities to live in separate entities, is the BN government’s existence as a “Malaysian government” valid in the first place?
And if all these racial and religious extremist groups and BN leaders want to maintain such status quo, then abolish a one-government method and instead establish a government and legislation for the Malay community, a government and legislation for the Chinese community, a government and legislation for the Indian community and so on. For the record, this kind of communal-based governance has been implemented successfully in Belgium.
In the last two general elections (GE12 and GE13), the BN failed to get its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament and lost control of several states. What did the BN say about its electoral loss? It systematically blamed a particular race for its setbacks.
When the corruption index hit another high, the BN government and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) again singled out one particular race as the bribe-givers causing corrupt practice to increase in the government. When the crime rates went up, another race was singled out as the root cause of the problem. The charade was extended to the pressing issue of price hikes, with a particular race mostly involved in business blamed for the rising inflation.
For the BN government, it is all about race and religion. It is so used to looking at things from the lens of race and religion, instead of tackling issues from the national perspective. There’s nothing about Malaysian at all in this BN government.
What can this government offer to instil a Malaysian spirit in the people? Nothing. Its intention is to continue to divide the people so that it can stay in power for as long as it wants.
