WHAT MORE DO MALAYS WANT?

Mainstream media today are filled with politicians telling us what we want and how they giving us their noble sacrifice of fighting for our rights or the “ketuanan” of our people.

As a Malaysian of Chinese descent, I grew up to the news of politicians blaring their mouths about this race encroaching the rights of that race. That this race isn’t respecting the other enough or what is mine you cannot use.

It is easy to grow up with the view of "us against them" where our rights are equivalent to contested battlegrounds and if we let our guard down, it will be taken by the "enemy".

What is this battleground of rights we are all bickering over? We all need to work really hard for a living (except for me I guess since I seem to have the time to be writing this). Does the everyday hardworking Malaysian actually has time to take part in this madness?

I am taking a step back from this toxic environment to consider what a Malay would want. Bear with me here and if I get any of it wrong, know that it is my honest opinion and humble attempt to find common ground with my fellow Malaysians of another culture and religion.

The Malays want... a peaceful country to live in? They want country with a low crime rate where their children are able to play in the parks safely and their belongings not at risk of being robbed. The Malays want access to quality education and knowledge, to enrich their intellectual wellbeing and with that, the necessary skills and qualifications for their careers? They also want to live in a nation with a healthy economic growth, in order for them to have proper paying jobs to feed themselves and their loved ones.

Naturally they also want to live in a nation with little or no corruption that limits our workforce’s competitiveness and misplaces our nation’s resources.

Religion is an important aspect of the Malay culture. I believe they want to be able to practise their religion in peace without the purity of their religion being compromised or politicised. They want to be able to feel pride in their religion and culture and would love to share the richness of it all with their fellow Malaysians.

Their Allah is great and magnificent beyond the speech of man. Their relationship with Allah is a personal and spiritual one and must never be turned into political ammunition.

Ultimately, what a Malay wants is the same as every single one of us sane Malaysians.

We want peace, security, growth, education, liberty, dignity and respect. We want to be able to be proud of Malaysia out of substance and love not out of empty rhetoric.

Beneath the loud noises screaming to defend Islam in Malaysia, to burn Bibles and to kick out the "pendatangs", we all want the same thing. We are all connected to each other through our bonds to this land we live in.

So what are the ulterior purposes of these “Rights Screamers and Whiners”? What role do they serve in our Malaysian society?

Deep inside, we all know that for peace and progress, religious and racial tolerance is a prerequisite.

We also know such tolerance does not come by drawing lines and defending these fragile lines. Once we break down these boundaries, we see that we are ultimately not that different from each other.

We acknowledge that dialogue and consensus are the way forward rather than radical demand of rights that pollutes our news media far too often these days.

All these Rights Screamers seeking to polarise our society should be muted and sent away. Malaysia has got much pressing issues to be dealt and we would very much appreciate if we can nurture our homeland without them turning every issue into a racial call for arms.

When Malaysia achieved independence 57 years ago, our economic standing was roughly the same as a Taiwan and South Korea.

What happened along the way? Were we distracted by petty politicking? Is the situation for Malaysia today getting better or worse?

A nation is but an artificial construct of man and all men are bounded by the law of gravity. Thus, a nation is confined to the law of gravity too and if the nation is not progressing, surely it must be falling, it must be failing. There is a point where enough is enough, and that point is past 57 years!

So what are we Malaysians fighting for today?

We are fighting for the collective future of all Malaysians. We want to live in a nation where there are no oppression of any kind, be it economic oppression nor racial oppression nor limits to our freedom of expression.

If politicians were to know only one thing in their entire existence then let them know that our rights are not theirs to give. When there is opposition from the people, it means there is a problem. It does not mean they are arrogant or "kurang ajar"!

We do not owe you any whiff of respect, politicians serve the people, respect comes strictly only when you do your job well. Even then, we do not owe anything to you.

I remember hearing Pak Samad Said, the Sasterawan Negara, saying that he is now old, he does not know how many more years ahead he has and so it is pointless to be fighting for himself. He said, “Saya perjuang untuk masa depan anak cucu saya."

Allow me to conclude with an extract from Paolo Nutini’s "Iron Sky":

To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed,

the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.

The hate of men will pass, and dictators die,

and the power they took from the people will return to the people.

And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men –

machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!

You are not machines, you are not cattle. You are men!

You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful,

to make this life a wonderful adventure. –TMI