The Malay Dilemma (Part One)

by Arjuna

The Malays are one of the most hospitable people you will ever find. They will accept you as their own if you are well versed with their culture. This has been proven in singing competitions like Akedemi Fantasia season one and Malaysian idol season one. In Akedemi Fantasia and Malaysian Idol season one both the winners were non-Malays, but majority of their voters came from the Malays.

But certain political party has abused the Malay people hospitability and made them into their scapegoats to fulfill their own political agenda. They promise the Malays that they will bring them out of poverty and make sure that the Malays are at par with other races, but sadly this are all empty promises. The worst thing is that these political party leaders are the Malays themselves. This party not only creates disunity among other races in Malaysia but also among their own race. We still see ultra poor Malays without basic needs like electricity and water. Only their leaders are the ones that bear fruit from their own policy.

The whole problem is attributed from a political leader who is of Indian Muslim origin. This leader was the one that change not only the education system but the legal system for his liking. He was the one that change the education system from an English medium to Bahasa Malaysia. By doing it so, not only did he kill the non-Malays but he also poisoned the Malays. I used the word poison because it means slow and experiencing currently. Our education system which was passed down by the British was at the Cambridge system which was recognizes in Commonwealth countries for its quality and legacy.

Even someone with a low secondary education during that time could be a qualified teacher. But as soon as this leader change the system, our quality dropped tremendously and not only we were not been recognized by the British but the Commonwealth as well. What was the main purpose doing so, after him himself being educated from the English legacy? Why deprive your own people of quality education? Compare the Malay university graduates during that time and now, “what vast contrast”, the Malays who had the privilege at education during those times were off quality thinkers and were respected not only from the non-Malays but the English as well. The Malay university graduate now can’t even speak English, no wonder there are a lot of unemployed among the Malays. The main agenda of this leader was to make the Malays weak, so that he could manipulate them and win majority of their votes for his own well being.

Take a look at our neighbor Singapore who inherited the same British legacy like Malaysia, but they are much much more advance then us in all fields. Why is that so? It’s simply because their leaders are concerns with giving them a quality and comfortable life. Unlike some leaders who are willing to throw away first class education and give its citizen second class education. Even Malaysian parents are now sending their children to Singapore for primary and secondary education. See how inferior our education system is compared with theirs.

Due to the constitution implementing its policy that if anyone born after independency and if he or she is a Muslim of any race, he can automatically became Malay. By doing so, i feel the Malays suffer from identity crisis. If you look at Penang even though the Malays make up about forty percent of the population, but you barely see any Malays. It’s because most of the Malays there look like they are related to Datuk Seri Samy Vellu or Rajnikanth, the Tamil movie film star. This is due to the fact that they are from Indian stock. A gentlemen once remarked that the Penang UMNO should change its name from United Malay National Organization to United Mamak Naina Organization because almost all its members look like MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) members. I was once walking along Penang road when I came by a group of Indians demonstrating. First I thought it was the Kavadi procession and after seeing a man holding a banner which read “hak orang Melayu tergugat”, only then I knew what was happening. This is not a laughing matter. I won’t be surprise that one day our prime minister will look like a Tamil movie superstar and can you imagine him looking like that wearing a keris and shouting “Hidup Melayu”.