eASTiNwEST / 小黃不是狗

I have not lived in my motherland for nearly ten years, therefore I have my reservations about this article by Stefan Hu (Oct 9 2006, 5.06pm), especially the “poor Malays” (he has been known to attack homosexual rights according to a letter on malaysiakini.com). I only remember that my mum told me the Malays charge higher prices for services to Chinese Malaysians in my hometown of Yong Peng. I leave the decisions to my fellow Malaysians.

Why are Chinese Malaysian leaders so half-baked? Of course, Lee Kuan Yew is right. The Chinese have been systematically purged from the corridors of power and what the Chinese political leaders have left are the crumbs. Tell me one position of real power that the Chinese hold in the country? One that enables the person to decide the outcome of the country’s direction, now and in the future? While the MCA have been the traditional partners of Umno, Gerakan came into power as an opposition party. But once subsumed into the Barisan Nasional, it too lost its cutting edge and did not pursue Chinese interests as tenaciously as before. There was a time under Tan Koon Swan when the MCA became very proactive, and there was a sense of exhilaration among the Chinese but his political demise saw the MCA lose its fighting spirit.In fact, all the Chinese political parties in the Barisan are lame ducks. If the likes of Lim Keng Yaik can’t stomach the truth they should do the decent thing and resign and not pretend to represent the Chinese with utter stupidities. Yes, lah, minister, you, not Lee who should apologise to the Chinese.Lee is a smart man and speaks his mind. Instead of demanding that he apologise, Malaysian politicians should accept the truth. If Lee can make such a clear observation from across the Causeway about the plight of the Chinese, how much more the Chinese who face the hard edge of discrimination daily?As a Chinese, I am constantly questioned about my loyalty to the country, used as a scapegoat by racist politicians, treated as a second-class citizen, and the politicians don’t think I am marginalised? How blind or dumb can they be?

Since Merdeka the system in Malaysia – unlike in Singapore – has given rise to corruption that perpetuates elitism, exploitation, cronyism and abuse of power. All the public institutions are affected and a royal commission has exposed the problems in the police force. Yet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi drags his feet and refuses to act on implementing the IPCMC.The ever hypocritical Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the architect of much of what is now wrong with the country, is now desperately trying to derail those who stand in his way. If anything, his antics and those of his opponents in the government prove to what lengths they will go to get what they want.Now an independent body has revealed that the Malays own more than 30% of the country’s wealth. It is nothing new to those who have brains to do some calculations of their own. But the more important thing is what are the Chinese politicians going to do about it?In recent times, since the advent of the reformasi movement, the Malays have been rocking the political boat. This is encouraging and will expose the truth that the real war is between good and evil and not between the Malays and non-Malays. The corrupt Umno machinery faces unprecedented problems from disenchanted and now wiser Malays who won’t tolerate their abuse of power. Keadilan, Mahathir, and others are fighting in the open. Abdullah is proving that he is the prime minister of broken promises.With prophetical leadership, he infused the nation with hope of better governance but with a son-in-law that runs his government as Mahathir alleges, the people who continue to listen to him are hoping against hope. It is all proving to be an anti-climax.

More Malays now know that their real enemy is the group of opportunistic politicians who are dishonest and cheat them of their privileges. That there are so many Malays still living in poverty is an indictment of the government. Why anyone would want to keep them in power is baffling.I say kick them out so that they earn their right to get back into power. The slaves sing praises of Mahathir and how he built the country’s prosperity but they overlook the truth that anyone else could have done it, perhaps without the wastage and melodrama and destruction of the checks and balances.The country has always had a sound economy thanks to the foresight of its forefathers, its diligent and enterprising Chinese community and cheap imported labour. Not to mention the abundance of natural resources. But those factors can’t be taken for granted.The system of patronage and sharing the economic cake by the distribution of handouts, for example, projects to crony companies cannot last. As the people become more educated and have a strong sense of moral propriety and desire to see social justice in their society, the present government will suddenly find itself obsolete, and totally out of touch with the people.Race and religion will no longer save the racist, divisive and opportunistic politicians. The deprived Malays will themselves realise that they, as much as their Chinese and Indian brothers and other fellow Malaysians have been victims of a great con orchestrated by the cunning politicians.