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Sunday, October 5, 2014

National unity more an ideal than a reality

NUCC council member Ramon Navaratnam says Malaysia has good policies but poor implementation.
malaysian300PETALING JAYA: Head of the Inclusive Development Committee of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), Ramon Navaratnam said lawyer and human rights activist Ambiga Sreenivasan was “not entirely wrong” when she claimed “there is a concerted effort by the government to keep races apart in Malaysia.”
However, Ramon, who is also chairman of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s Centre for Public Policy Studies, denied it was in fact Putrajaya’s policies that were keeping the races apart.
He said he was more inclined to believe it was the flawed implementation of well-intended policies by the government that had resulted in the racial tension gripping the nation today.
Speaking exclusively to FMT, Ramon said, “It’s wrong to say Putrajaya (has that view), but there are elements and little ‘Napoleons’, both in the political circles, and the public services sector who are ultras, nationalists, racists and bigots.
“The government generally tries to promote national unity through its policies, but there are a lot of people who undermine it through the wrong implementation of well-intended policies,” he explained.
Ramon added that he was of the opinion that the original ethos of the nation as envisioned by Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak was no longer being subscribed to.
He also said that the ultra nationalistic movement developed only after the 70s.
“Once the ultra nationalistic rhetoric started to take hold, it became difficult to articulate the 1Malaysia spirit, which the government genuinely promotes,” he added.
In addressing current racial tensions in the country, Ramon urged the public to go back to the Malaysian values of the past which were rooted in celebrating the equality of all races.
He said the current tendency to use race and religion in politics was something Malaysians had to refrain from doing.
Ramon also said there was much more that could be done to promote unity among Malaysians, citing taking care of the poor as a means to this end.
As a former government official who helped draft the New Economic Policy (NEP), Ramon clarified that the NEP was supposed to eradicate poverty regardless of race.
“I stand by the NEP, in its original form and intention, but not the way it is implemented.
“When you bring politics, racism and religious bigotry into national unity, it becomes a problem and a challenge to reap the intended benefits,” he added.
The statement by Negara-Ku patron, Ambiga about the government’s hand in deliberately keeping the races apart, was also dismissed by another NUCC council member, Madeline Berma who believed it was not Putrajaya’s intention at all.
Berma agreed however that poverty and income inequality were two of the biggest stumbling blocks in bringing about national unity among Malaysians.
She also said that the implementation of existing policies did not completely address the issue of race in its entirety.
“If you look at the NEP and National Development (NDP) Policy, the intentions are clear, which is to eradicate inequality and poverty.
“While it (the NEP and NDP) may possibly address inter-ethnic poverty, we now have problems of intra-ethnic wealth inequality and poverty,” she explained.
Berma said that wealth inequality existed among all races in Malaysia, explaining that non-Muslim Bumiputras were far behind in wealth compared to Muslim-Bumiputras, and that the same was seen within the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities.
“It’s difficult to foster national unity when these inequalities in wealth still exist,” she added.

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