Ghulam Rasul, Prime Minister of Malaysia…

By Yin, Letters from Ward 5, T.R.

An article appeared in the Sun of 2/10/23 where a Bangladeshi man prophesised that “future Bangladeshis in Malaysia will become a prime minister”.

That has raised the ire of many Malaysians.

Why should it? There is nothing in our constitution that prevents anyone other than a “Malay” from being prime minister of the country. After all “Malay” prime ministers starting from Tunku are anything but Malay. Tunku has Thai blood, Najib is a self-proclaimed Bugis, in fact I would go as far as to say that many of our politicians including our current deputy prime minister (who admits that his people came from Java) have their roots in Indonesia. For that matter I guess most Malays can trace their roots to Nusantara. (Sorry to tell you you are pendatang like the Chinese and Indians – unlike the Orang Aslis and Natives of Sabah and Sarawak) In Indonesia Malays form a tiny percentage of the population – mainly in Riau and Deli – and so it is safe to say that none of the above mentioned are Malays in the genetic or regional sense. Don’t forget, our longest serving prime minister is an Indian who miraculously morphed into a Malay. I don’t blame him, like any good opportunist (aka politicians) he seized the chance afforded him by our constitutional definition of “Malay”.

Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution defines a “Malay” as a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, and conforms to Malay customs.”  (This is a definition which served a political purpose pre-Merdeka when the Malay and non-Malay population were about equal).

In other words, an Eskimo, a Kalahari Bushman, an Irish, in fact anyone can be a Malay as long as they conform to Article 160.

 So, if an Indonesian or Indian can be prime minister why not a Bangladeshi?

But our constitution says nothing about an Indian, a Chinese or an Iban or Dayak not being allowed to be prime minister be he Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.

Hah, but reality is something else. When Tommy Thomas was appointed Attorney General there was a hue and cry among the Malays. When Lim Guan Eng was made Minister of Finance there was an uproar from Malay quarters. I trust if there is a Chinese mayor of Ipoh tomorrow the heavens will fall, even though Ipoh is the most Chinese town in Malaysia.

Did you know that a former prime minister of Timor Leste, Mari bin Amude Alkatiri is a Muslim? In a country where 99% of the population are Christians, we ask ourselves how that is possible? How is it that in Britain in cities which have a majority population of non-Muslims can accept a non-White Muslim as mayors.  How others can have a big heart and accept everyone irrespective of race or religion and we are so closed minded. We should be ashamed of ourselves!

Judge someone not by the colour of his skin or his belief but what he can do for you. You must have heard the quote “I don’t care what the colour of the cat is as long as it catches mice.”

Alas, Malaysians wear RR-Tinted glasses prescribed by our political masters. Everything they see is Race and Religion focused. When you have the leader of a religious party proclaiming that it is not bribery and corruption when there is a willing giver and a willing taker and he quotes some anecdote from the holy book and many believe him, apa boleh buat, that is the power of religion. When you have a fugitive Muslim preacher allegedly telling his congregation that it is better to vote for a Muslim crook than an honest non-Muslim and the faithful agree; that is the power of religion over logic.

And when you have a prime minister swearing on the Koran that he is innocent of corruption when the courts don’t and thousands chant “Boss-ku apa malu” it’s a tragicomedy. It makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.

When will we get rid of the two Rs that is running our country and ruining it?

This is 2023! In that time we have had a Black as President of the USA, we have an ethnic Indian as Prime Minister of UK, the Prime Minister of Mauritius is of Indian ethnicity, the Mayor of London is British Pakistani, the CEOs of many Fortune 500 companies are Indians;  I can go on infinitum.

Yet in our beloved Malaysia we raise hell when an Indian is AG and a Chinese Minister of Finance and should a Chinese be made mayor of Ipoh . . . thinking about it is enough to send you to TR!

But getting rid of the two Rs is not going to be easy and will take time. How do you unclogg the brains of those who have been brought up on Race and Religion? From young they have been taught that they are special, the chosen people, “princes of the earth”. In school they are taught a revised history which lacks facts and objectivity and is Malay centric.  When they grow up they are brainwashed by the Biro Tata Negara about their special position and how little the other communities contributed to nation building. Worse of all the expectations stirred during their formative years are realised in life.

They get into university even if their academic qualifications are below that of children of other races. They are in schools and higher institutions of learning reserved only for them but paid for by the public (and if Mahathir is correct, most of the taxes are paid by non-Malays). They are almost guaranteed a job in government, Petronas and the GLCs when they graduate. When they retire there is a sinecure somewhere waiting where they can draw a fat salary especially if they have been “helpful” during their stay in government service.

On the other side there is white hot resentment but apa mau buat? You are the minority and majority rules – might is right in this dog eat dog world; though it shouldn’t be like that if we follow other more “civilised” developed countries or even a poor less developed country like Timor Leste.

But the Chinese don’t fuss too much, they are a pragmatic people. Instead they put their noses to the grindstone. By the way, Swettenham apparently described the Chinese as the easiest people to rule, they work hard, mind their own business, pay their taxes and don’t cause trouble. . . but I digress.

Coming back to the topic at hand, what do the Chinese do? Yes they vote for the party they think will help them in their aspirations but they never trust their politicians 100% and rightly so.  So, they work hard, send their children to university abroad if they cannot get a place in our public universities. If they don’t have enough money they mortgage their house or borrow from relatives. They make sure their children get the start in life they did not and they tell them not to return. Build your future there, bring up your children so that they can contribute to their new country which treats them fairly. Perhaps one day one of them can even be prime minister of their adopted country.  Lawrence Wong the next prime minister of Singapore was born in Johor Baru. It is obvious that his parents thought that the future for their children will be bleak in an apartheid Malaysia.

Those who are in big business either pull out – Robert Kwok, Genting etc – or have contingency plans to relocate their business especially when Malays are asking for 51% of businesses they have not built or contributed to. In Robert Kwok’s case because Razak demanded again and again shares from the shipping company he built up with his own money and no government help.

Razak thought it was his right to demand shares just for giving Kwok a license to start a business; and this has been the thinking of the governments that followed – the prerogative of dispensing licenses to whoever they favour or taking away licenses as the case has been on innumerable occasions.

This is an abuse of Article 153 of the Constitution which safeguard the interests of the non-Malays; giving license to operate businesses is not a privilege to be given at the whims of those in power but a legitimate right of every citizen.

Meanwhile those who can’t send their children to university, teach them a trade or let them learn the family business so that they can cari makan. The Chinese are not people who put their hands out for freebies easily, they have maruah.

They are also not people who will make trouble. “You don’t want me, you don’t want my skills, my business acumen, my knowledge, you don’t appreciate my contribution to the nation, no problem I go!”

They have been thrown out before – The Chinese Exclusion Act 1882, America,

The White Australian Policy 1901 – but they survive and thrive and contribute to those countries which accepted them. The Chinese are not a burden to the taxpayers wherever they go – they become net contributors. Just like in Malaysia.

Is it the intention to drive the non-Malays out? By all that is happening, whether it is the intention or not, the result will be the same.

Do the Chinese (and Indians) want to leave? NO, of course not! But if they have no choice; if they are pushed to the limits by Malay ultras they go with a heavy heart. This is their tanah air, their grandfathers and even great grandfathers and before, were here, many before the new wave of “Malays” from Indonesia and “Celup Malays” from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh etc. The food here is great, the climate good and people are friendly – and that includes their Malay friends (who don’t want to see them go). Going is the last resort forced on them by successive  governments which have grown increasingly Race and Religion obsessed.

There is a current video which has gone viral about a Malay NGO or group which forbids in their community:

1. Drug Abuse 2. Alcohol Consumption 3. Prostitution 4. Indecent Attire

There is no argument about 1 and 3 but they think they have the right to impose their standards concerning 2 and 4 on others. They claim they have because they are the majority, really? Who is to decide what is decent attire? There is a civil law against indecent exposure let the law decide.  Until we become a Taliban State where hudud applies in the country this is not something that they can impose on others just because they are the majority. In any case how can a group make “rules” for the community where is the government in all this?

Perhaps these people don’t know that in Tajikistan despite being a Muslim country, Tajiks drink a lot especially beer and vodka. “For Muslims, Krygyzs can be surprisingly big drinkers. . .” Vodka and beer are the most popular followed by sweet wine and sweet champagne. (http factsanddetails.com).

And as regards, attire do these people know that Saudi Arabia has legislated against wearing hijab in schools? On 22^nd December 2022 the Saudi Government banned the wearing of hijab and abaya in schools.

Do the Malays know that in Saudi women can drive (since 2018) women can go out without a chaperon, females can even go abroad without a male guardian, in Dubai you even have female taxi drivers. There are no more male and female entrances in restaurants in the Middle East, yet you have male and female queues in supermarkets in PAS states. Today unmarried foreigners can stay together in one room in Saudi. Yet not too long ago our religious police demanded to see the married license of an American couple – waking them up at 3 am. Only last week the Minister of Tourism said he had complaints of tourists wearing shorts in Langkawi being harassed. And what about the case of the lady who was summoned by the authorities for wearing shorts in her own shop in Kelantan?

 We have seen attempts like this in the past – attacks on Christmas Carolling, telling Muslims they cannot extend Christmas/Hindu/Buddhist Greetings to their fellow Malaysians. Mission schools forced to remove symbols of their religion. Little Napoleans dictating what the public can wear in their departments even against the orders from their ministers about attire. Attempted banning of Oktober Fest, forbidding convenience stores to sell alcohol in certain (Malay majority) areas. Banning performances by foreign artistes because of their costumes – if it offends you don’t go to the show; why prevent others from enjoying themselves?

You even have a laundry which openly declares that it will not accept clothes from non-Malays. A dental practice in KL has put up a notice that it will not take non-Muslims. And what about those who want separate trolleys for Muslims and non-Muslims.

TV news on CNN, Aljazeera, BBC, SKY, CGTN and others showed a woman dragged out of a train in Iran by the Morals Police apparently for not wearing a hijab. It will come to that here if we allow religious Fascism to take hold.

Islamic countries are progressing and coming into the 21^st
Century while we have people who want to take us back to the dark ages.

These people should come out of their tempurong to see what the real world is.

          Where will this madness end, with more Pastor Kohs et al going missing?

           If Racial discrimination does not drive out the Nons , Religious extremism will – not just the Nons but also liberal Malays.

Anwar Ibrahim makes noises about an equal Malaysia, he says he is against race politics (and religious politics too? I am not sure, he is vague on that). Anwar wants Malaysian talents to return to contribute.

By the way someone just sent me a WhatsApp about Malaysian student Shu Lam and her team in Melbourne University, developing a superbug which can replace antibiotics. Any chance of her coming back? Until hell freezes over, NO.

 Talk is cheap. If Anwar wants Malaysians to return to contribute to the country; address the two Rs, give us equal citizenship if not even the few remaining non-Malays will leave – never mind those overseas coming back.

Syed Husin Ali the former deputy president of PKR has come out openly to say that race must not be a factor in granting assistance and that the rich (Malays) should not use their race to further enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else. Anwar has more allies among the mainstream Malays than he realises. It’s time he shows some leadership, some moral courage and conviction and once and for all break the RR Mentalilty which has destroyed our country.

Sixty-three years and instead of becoming a more united Malaysia; a Malaysia for ALL Malaysians, we are more fragmented, driven apart by those who practise Race and Religion Politics, while many who know better dare not act because their own kind will turn on them. Those who speak out like Siti may find a bomb under their car. I can imagine the harassment Maryam Mokhtar, Prof. Radzi and others have to put up with.

This is the tyranny of the majority!

Malaysians just want honest people to run the country and race or religion should not matter. Except that we are all so brainwashed that like Pavlov’s dog we react to Religion and Race at the tinkle of a bell.

To the Bangladeshi who prophesised a Bangladeshi future Prime Minister of Malaysia, Bro, you have a better chance than any Chinese or Indian with deeper roots in this country than you. After all you are a Muslim and you can morph into a Malay – never mind if you are celup.

After all we are Pavlovian Dogs aren’t we? Arf! Arf!

Malaysia Boleh!

(The views expressed are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rebuilding Malaysia.)

By Yin, Letters from Ward 5, T.R.

Credit pic:Sun daily

.