… self-inflicted injuries.
*** *** ***
Ellese is an occasional commenter in my blog.
Ellese recently commented that ‘Moving Past the Issue of Race‘ written by Ong Kar Jin in the Loyar Burok website (17 April 2013) is a “rubbish article”. I agree with Ellese.
For comments disagreeing with me (and by extension with Ellese’s judgment), please read HERE and HERE.
My previous write-up on Ong’s “moving past race” essay can be read at ‘GE13: Chinese too loud, Malays too quiet‘.
Ong Kar Jin won The Star‘s 2011 public speaking prize for talking about how Malaysians are indoctrinated to become racists.
Ong’s article was reproduced in The Malaysian Insider (18 April 2013).
A reader in TMI responded to Ong’s article with the following comment; the reader calling himself/herself TC888 said (partial quote):
“Like YB Hannah Yeoh of Subang Jaya, I fill the race column with “Anak Malaysia” and “does it matter?” for religion.”
Another TMI reader responding to Ong’s article linked the issue to the Malays living in rural areas who are under the thumb of the “Umnoputras” (bold emphasis added by this blogger).
The TMI reader, mtelvira, had commented:
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.
.
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The comment by ‘mtelvira’ presumes that “the rural rakyat” are under the stranglehold of “the UMNOputras (who) use the posturings of race”.
Hence I’m bringing up the TMI discussion here since it might be of interest to some regular readers of this blog such as Orang Kampung and others who live in the “rural hinterlands”.
Excerpts below from Ong Kar Jin’s article titled ‘Moving past the issue of race‘:
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- “By being explicitly race-based parties, they [Umno, MCA & MIC] state they are their race first and Malaysian second.”
. - “The result has been a vicious cycle of spiralling communalism, of fear mongering and hate-inciting.”
. - “Now, I am not a diehard PR cybertrooper. […] But the main reason why I am supporting PR is because they represent a shift, however minor, away from racialism and towards nationalism.”
. - “And as such [viz. Pakatan parties not having constitutions explicitly based on race paves the way for further racial integration], I am also staunchly against any move to dilute PR’s policy, non-race based brand of politics by capitulating to Hindraf demands.”
. - “Come this General Election 2013, Malaysians have a chance to change the political narrative from one of race to one of policy. To move beyond an archaic, apartheid-like system that emphasises distinctions instead of commonalities.”.
<UNQUOTE>
The trouble with BN is that its purported media machinery fills The Star pages with Ong Kar Jin-type propaganda and delivers such ideas – like those expressed by Ong above – to an audience of 5.63 million, among which are young people belonging to Ong’s age group.
Urban youths make up the bulk of the two-and-a-half million newly registered voters who will be casting their ballots for the first time on May 5.
They are the ones who will kill the MCA.
POSTSCRIPT: Why does The Star still fail to ask the race of Hannah Yeoh’s second child since the paper had carried yet another write-up on her today?
Helen Ang 
Budak lagi, yang dia nampak tak hitam, putihlah warna kehidupan. Mereka tak tahu yang kehidupan ini dipenuhi dgn warna kelabu.
Malangnya budak dapat satu undi, kita yang dewasa bukannya dapat dua undi atau Dr M dapat tiga undi mengikut usia dan pengalaman. One man, one vote.
And they outnumber us plenty as M’sia is a demographically young country.
Tulisan Dr M (yang terkandung dalam blognya Che Det) tidak pula diterbitkan semula oleh The Malaysian Insider wor. Manakala The Star memberi begitu banyak ruang kepada warga Jerusubang.
You might be correct. You should fight to abolish Chinese School in Malaysia. Stop MCA and DAP to fight for Chinese School. Stop supporting Dong Zong.
Then you can talk about Bangsa Malaysia. Otherwise, you just make another advantage to Chinese.
I strongly believe with no Chinese School, Tamil School and only have Sekolah Kebangsaan & Sekolah Menegah then, we can stop this racist issue.
You should also stop Chinese Mentality ” Only buy from Chinese Shop” and impose higher price to other races beside Chinese.
I think you only know how to complain but you deny fact of life about your …….
Tq
Can be done or not? Even Najib mati mati want to recognize vernacular school.
Why, pray tell, don’t the idealistic young man say nothing of PAS’ religious tendencies?
Try living in the real world dude, away from a sheltered life under the coconut shell. Try seeing the vagaries of an unpredictable life. Try removing the rose tinted glass of idealism. Most importantly, replace idealism with realistic expectation with a dash of cynicism & a liberal dose of hope.
The propagation of DAP & by extension, PR ideologies to young, enthusiastic & idealistic yuppy dappies still in nappies reminds me a lot of cult groups worldwide. They tell you what you want to hear & feed your need for more with even more promises of a brighter, better future this life & the next (here the evangelicals are concerned).
And the thing about cults; they don’t end well, that I can tell.
And they collect in tithes 10 percent of the monthly income earned by the yuppy duppies.
10 freakin’ percent or you burn in hell. Ok, maybe not that drastic but your life would be less blessed. I didn’t know God was so materialistic. I find it strange lah… After all;
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6: 33-34)
Yet these chosen people of God so kancheong in their tithe collection. If only our IRB is as kancheong as them huh? Hmmmm… Maybe the evangelists will be filling up IRB positions if PR wrest Putrajaya from the evil clutches of UMNO eh?
As for the 10% & self righteousness, the evangelists should consider this;
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18: 11-14)
See, see, see… The Pharisee don’t rob from the people, don’t do evil things like UMNO/BN & don’t commit adultery worrr… He even give 10% leh of his income… Why a’ah the DAPharisee, I mean Pharisee don’t find favor with the God who enlightened them & gave them new life?
Confusing laaaa…. Maybe have to hear Hannah’s preaching lah one of these days.
As much as I despise UMNO for their racist behaviour, I fear more of Islamic bigotry that will make Malays jumud and inflexible.
DAP can’t contain PAS nor is PKR. Only UMNO can.
DAP’s Christian Taliban are the kindred spirits of the PAS mullahs, and employ similar methods of kafir-mengkafir, sembahyang dua imam, mengumpat
Read comentary by Sinchew editor, ‘Taliban a la Malaysia’
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/85539
Yes I know.. I agree with that, seeing how commentors responded to political issues on Malaysiakini, Malaysiatoday etc. They really want to banish people who are not sebulu with them. View as kotor and others.
I love my Islam. But for those kafirs who think PAS is kind and baik-baik in front of them, they don’t know how PAS treats or views people less Islamic. I am surrounded by them including within close family members.
Memang PAS dah berubah tetapi bila kita dah pernah bersama mereka dan kita tahu cara mereka berfikir.
Agree with zack. PAS dah banyak berubah…… terlalu banyak….
Essays like the one OKJ wrote, probably have moved some people to tears while reading it, so I don’t think it’s rubbish, *smile*.
PS: Election fever now (made me feverish as well). Even my barber reminded me to vote this time by hook or by crook. Just as I’m typing here, al-Jazeera is reporting about Malaysian election; mentioned PY Wong’s haul up, DAP/ROS issue, Ibrahim Suffian (of Merdeka Center) and Ambiga were interviewed (she said this is the dirtiest election…), no level-playing field in this election with advantage tilting towards the ruling coalition…
Unfortunately most poor Malaysian especially Malays are still too poor to pay the cronies to access al-jazeera
Why do people talk of kampung people like as if we are from outer space? We are the same as you, we breathe the same air ( well, ours is cleaner), drink the same water (oops, in my area its cleaner too), and we live in houses ( cheaper and more green surrounding than you urbanites). Damn, we are on a different planet!
There is no playing field but who says mainstream media is the only source. Many can go online, print articles from Malaysiakini and influence their family members.
Those reading TV3 news, writing Utusan articles, some of them are not forced to support BN. They do so willingly. Some of them really despise Anwar.
And you can read Sinar Harian, which is owned by Kelantanese, and they have coverage about the Opposition. In fact, they have organized many forum featuring opposition leaders like Nik Aziz. Many Malays in Kampungs also read Sinar Harian.
Malays living in rural areas who are under the thumb of the “Umnoputras”
Dia pernah duduk bermastautin lama di kawasan luar bandar ke?
Ok, saya cerita pasal luar bandar kerana saya kini menetap di antara 2 parlimen yang terletak di luar bandar iaitu P092 & P093. Kalau dikira semasa tahun 1980-90an, saya setuju penduduk disini terikat di bawah rejim BN(UMNO) kerana sepanjang tempoh tersebut penduduk di sini kebanyakannya adalah penduduk asal. Tetapi sekarang keadaan sudah berbeza. Sebahagian penduduk adalah penghijrah dari negeri lain dan sebilangan penduduk asal berhijrah ke kawasan bandar.
Lihat keputusan majoriti pada pru lepas
P092
http://ww2.utusan.com.my/utusan/special.asp?pr=pilihanraya2008&pg=kawasan/selangor_p92.htm
Majoriti pada parlimen P092 tinggi dan N1&N2 sedikit
http://ww2.utusan.com.my/utusan/special.asp?pr=pilihanraya2008&pg=kawasan/selangor_p93.htm
Majoriti P093 & N3 banyak, N4 sedikit
PRU 10 (sebelum persempadanan semula) – Dun N3 PAS menang tipis
Click to access DUN_PRU10.pdf
Rumusan : Sungguhpun majoriti pengundi adalah Melayu keputusan keseluruhannya adalah “rojak”. Majoriti yang diperolehi oleh calon yang memenangi kerusi parlimen adalah berdasarkan kekuatan calon tersebut, jawatan di peringkat negeri & pusat serta sumbangan kepada penduduk.
Trend pengundi di Selangor kini adalah berasaskan faktor calon bukannya parti. Saya tidak mahu menyentuh di negeri lain kubu kuat UMNO kerana ia melibatkan strategi GSPS sesebuah parti di sesebuah negeri tersebut berdasarkan demografi pengundi.
Secara pemerhatian kasar, generasi baru di kawasan saya lebih cenderung untuk menyokong PR berdasarkan faktor ledakan maklumat dan pengaruh perubahan politik dari kawasan bandar. Apa yang membantu undi BN setakat ini, kebanyakannya adalah orang-orang lama.
Isu yang berlegar di kawasan luar bandar tidak sama dengan kawasan bandar. Ia lebih berkisar kepada isu calon dan sumbangan calon terhadap pembangunan dan kebajikan rakyat. Ya, ianya kelihatan di takuk lama. Kami tidak mempunyai masalah terhadap tol, harga petrol, harga kediaman/hartanah,ekonomi dan segala usaha ke atas pembangunan rakyat telahpun dijalankan sepanjang pemerintahan BN. Cuma bahan-bahan kempen masih disertakan dengan isu semasa negara dan keperibadian/kewibawaan calon/parti masing-masing.
Yang menjadi masalah mungkin hanya berkaitan harga semasa komoditi mengikut perkembangan semasa. Ini bergantung kepada persekitaran global dan kecekapan kerajaan pusat untuk menanganinya. Malasah kemiskinan telah di atasi.
Jika DAP berkata politik Malaysia berasaskan Melayu saya setuju. Itu sebab saya penah nyatakan, politik di Malaysia bukan hanya untuk orang bandar. Ia meliputi setiap inci muka bumi negara. Tetapi perlu diingat, politik DAP adalah berasaskan “bandar”.
Saya pernah menanya kepada anak-anak muda yang menamatkan persekolahan dan ada juga yang memiliki ijazah, mengapa memilih untuk tinggal di kampung dan tidak berhijrah ke bandar. Mereka menyatakan faktor kos sara hidup dan pemilikan aset dan desakan hidup di bandar adalah punca utama. Di kampung ada sawah bendang, kebun yang boleh diusahakan. Setidak-tidaknya tanah yang kosong boleh disewakan kepada orang lain/Cina untuk membuka perniagaan mahupun membina sarang burung walit. Amalan bersederhana telah lama wujud dalam masyarakat Melayu di luar bandar.
Dan percaturan politik rasis antara kaum yang dimainkan oleh mana-mana parti bukanlah sesuatu yang menakutkan masyarakat luar bandar tetapi yang membimbangkan adalah krisis sesama kaum iaitu Melayu sesama Melayu yang berbeza ideologi politik.
Umum tidak mengetahui politik Melayu di kawasan luar bandar seperti di Selangor sebenarnya telah terpecah kepada beberapa etnik iaitu Melayu, Melayu-Bugis, Jawa, dan Banjar sebagai etnik utama di samping Kampar dan beberapa etnik yang lain-lain. Sekiranya etnik Jawa/Melayu memonopoli jawatan-jawatan di dalam UMNO, kebarangkalian etnik lain berpecah untuk menyokong PR mungkin akan berlaku. Begitulah sebaliknya.
Adakalanya Melayu juga rasis/ethnicist sesama Melayu. Melayu dengan kelompok Melayu, Jawa dengan kelompok Jawa, Banjar dengan kelompok Banjar, dan sebaliknya. Hanya Islam yang menyatukan mereka. Tetapi itu sebahagian sahaja, kerana generasi baru telah menolak fahaman tersebut.
Tetapi jika melihat kepada calon yang dikemukan BN melaui PRU 13 ini, ianya boleh dikatakan majmuk dikalangan etnik Melayu. Cuma ianya bergantung kepada kredibiliti calon dan kekuatan lawan masing-masing. Belum lagi kita lihat dari aspek Melayu yang islmik dan liberal.
Sekiranya DAP takut melihat politik Malaysia berasakan kaum Melayu mengapa kaum lain tidak mahu berhijrah ke luar bandar bagi mengimbangi demografi pengundi dan arus sokongan politik? Kecuali mereka telah mempunyai ramai calon-calon Melayu yang ingin diletakkan di kawasan luar bandar.
In 2004 the people will say if you vote for BN in DUN that vote opposition for parlimen and vs versa. That DAP idea.
in 2008 it said that try give selangor or if possible malaysia to them and they can give you the cleanest gorverment ever exis. But by 2010 what we view happen to Selangor was everything that they promise not to do. See the different.
This is really happen.
When pakatan take over, Suddently some kampung having 2 village head. One by pakatan and one by BN. Why, when they take over the state they make the existing village head resign due to ….jeng…jeng…jeng… corruption.
Than when the pakatan village head do not functioning, some villager fed up and request the old village head to be reinstate back. this create conflic. And at some village the Sultan need to resolve this issue.
As I write this, it’s a known secret that this pakatan village head still receive a monthly incentive while doing nothing. If you think it never happen and I create this story by myself please ask people who really come from kampung. Not the one who just going back during weekend but the people who lives in it. It a saga of never ending stories.
Sebut pasal JKKK atau JKKKK ni, saya secara terus terang senang merujuk kepada Ketua Kampung dari PKR di kawasan saya kerana beliau nampak lebih bekerja dari Ketua Kampung BN. Respon beliau lebih pantas dalam menangani sesuatu masalah dan kebanyakannya diselesaikan dalam tempoh masa. Komunikasi bersama beliau juga lebih mudah dan senang dihubungi. Saya tolak tepi parti atau bayaran mereka. Saya cuma perlu khidmat yang mampu memudahkan urusan.
Lim Tat, terus terang saya katakan anda bernasib baik kerana yang terpilih menjadi ketua kampung adalah yang berkerja. Saya merasakan beliau mungkin selama ini selalu bekerja keras membantu orang ramai dan kebanyakkan – tidak semestinya – mereka seperti ini datang dari NGO.
Tapi nasib beberapa buah kampung terutama di parlimen P101 tak ubah seperti dadu. Dilempar buah dadu dan hasilnya perlantikan yang tidak sepatutnya berlaku. Yang tak berkelayakan tetapi kerana beliau menghuni sesuatu parti maka beliau dipilih – apalagi bila sewaktu PRU12 dia paling lantang bersuara. Akhirnya kerja tak jalan dan antara alasan yang diberi kerajaan pusat tak bagi budget. P101 adalah Parlimen di Selangor……
If bn could effectively nail religion issue in governance, we could finally be strong…. Im willing to bet, if malays are united, under one intent, which is the betterment of the country, we would be really good hosts to other minorities.
With good hospitality, comes stern governance, strong rule enforcement. Keyword is win/win….. But it must honestly be win/win. As majority, there is no point kow towing to minority… But must be humble enough to listen to views from everyone.
Problem is, every malay wants to play the holier-than-thou part…. I actually dont need to point out that the more religious one is, the more bullshit they churn. Usually its because they go into defense mechanisms, when upholding falsehoods. And the tendency is to produce more blarney.
Enough with people being the mouthpieces of the rural malays. I live in a small town but the great thing about being in a small town in Perak is the bigger town is just around the corner and KL is 2 hours away (just adjust your speed limit). It also means that I’m part of the “rurals”.
Quoted from above: “I, too root for change and I can only hope the PR and their allies have strategies up their sleeves to enable messages like yours reaches the rural rakyat so that they can make informed decisions.” My comment is – GET REAL!!!
Let me tell you, we are not under the stranglehold of UMNOPutras or anyone else. Yes, we read Utusan, BH, Metro and Harakah, and we watch RTM and TV3 and AlHijrah. But unlike the young people in the urban centres who swallow everything fed to you like a hungry oink, we have learnt to separate the padi from the sekam. You know, we actually use our brains to remember our history and look to the future, and we are grounded. We have ideals but we know which ideals to strive for and which are the liberals’ tools. We don’t look to the UMNOPutras because they are not really good role models.
You think that PR is non-racist. Think again. Better yet, come to my state and talk to the Chinese be they in urban centres or some small towns and ask them who they want to run the state. They will tell you they want a Chinese government for the state and take a guess on who planted that idea in their thoughts?
Don’t talk to me about racism, until you can get a group of non-malays to talk in the national language when in a crowd with Malays. Don’t talk to me about meritocracy until you can stop publishing ads with “Mandarin-speaking candidates preferred”. Don’t tell me you’re second class citizens until you have walked in the shoes of some Bangladeshi or Myanmars who worked in your factories. And I can go on and on ….
well said
Helen,
It is an irony that people who talks so much about hating racism are ussualy the most racist.
DAP talks about the great fantastic idea of ‘anak Malaysia’. Yet, when Guan Eng wanted to have a debate with Dr Chua, he chose Mandarin
I can go on and on. “mandarin is preferred’. in USA or Australia, in no time you will be hauled for racism should you put a preferred language. and we have a peculiar system of separating students from tender age that no other countries able to fathom why on earth we do that. And they insist that separate school is vital for survival of Mandarin.
We have DAP that told how democratic it is. Yet it has the dubious honor of being controlled by a family for almost 5 decades. And the CEC election is filled by Chinese with a token Indian only.
ORANGKAMPUNG is spot on. All these nonsense about the need to dismantle barrier is a facade to get Malays renounce whatever legitimate rights while Chinese tighten their grips on their rights.
I smile when Dr Chua said MCA is willing to “berkorban” by allowing Ghani to take on Kit Siang in Gelang Patah. Nobody seems to care that for 5 decades UMNo also “berkorban” allowings seats like Gurun, Tapah, Alor Setar, Teluk Kemang , Tanjung Piai, contested by non malay BN candidates.
The reason why UMNO prevails is not due to it playing to racial gallery as Ong KarJin alleged. If that is UMNO’s intention, it would have done that 50 years ago,
The only reason why it is able to occupy the dominant place in Malaysia is actually very clear. UMNO is able to get the lion share of Malays who happen the form the largest etnic group. It is that simple.
But why UMNO is able to get the Malay votes. Because despite its warts and all, it does deliver according to Malays. and majority of Malays despite being looked down by DAP do realise if UMNO is Gone, it is gone with the wind for them.
UMNO does have its share of weaknesses. no doubt about it. But that is natural for human species.
People change. So do the values. Many young Malays I admit sometimes forget that changes can be to their detriments. This is not a scare tactic. but being young and high spirited, they tend to ignore advices from people who “had seen things happened”.
re :. Don’t talk to me about meritocracy until you can stop publishing ads with “Mandarin-speaking candidates preferred”. Don’t tell me you’re second class citizens until you have walked in the shoes of some Bangladeshi or Myanmars who worked in your factories. And I can go on and on ….
I agree with this statement….
know why…. Once upon a time I face this problem. You see, I’m a malay who look like chinese and during the interview some said to me ” If you can speak chinese we will take you in”…
Sarah,
And yet they complained that the govt (meaning the malay led govt) discriminates against them. What they want is total control. They want everything for themselves.
@orangkampung,
Memang ada banyak orang yang boleh bersua dalam bahasa malaysia dengan orang Melayu. Tak da masalah pun. Cakap-cakap sahaja ba, Saya orang Cina, tapi saya suka cakap campur-campur, campur english la, campur cina, anything also can!
Tambi, please la, why you complain so much about language? The most important is the general mindset of the people, regardless of what language I speak, it makes no difference, you and I, we live in the same country, same, food, same vacation, same education and all.
PR is less racist then BN. How about that? Tell me why SPM need to fill whether Islam or Non-Islam. Why so focus on religion? Does it matter? JPA scholarship, need I say more? Look at our education system, it is a piece of crap. The reason the chinese want to keep their education is because the national one is not sufficient to compete with the world.
See our country now, full of debt, no money, so many poor people. Why is there such an income gap? Because the government has spent so much effort to brainwash people.
Let me assume that you are young and coming from urban city. This is why you are easily fooled by internet/alternative media. You don’t have critical thinking.
Your last paragraph clearly shows how weak your ability to think. You talk about debt but you know nothing about the different between internal debt and external debt. You don’t know from where the debt come from and you can’t relate the debt with investment that contribute to the economy growth. You have shown your idiocy when you said `no money’ and `so many poor people’.
I should ask you, for once please use the organ inside your head. Don’t tell me you have none.
The only thing I can take away from IloveMalaysia’s comment is that our country is full of dumb people.
I doubt equality and social justice has been achieved.
“The reason the chinese want to keep their education is because the national one is not sufficient to compete with the world.”
– IloveMalaysia
This argument also means that the Chinese don’t give a flying coitus to national school students and THEIR ability to compete with the world.
Racism? Check!
It is cheap and easy to brainwash stupid people. It is much more work to try and milk the dumb masses and enrich themselves. No money? You mean some people got no money, who is buying the RM1 million semi-Ds and bungalows and snapping up all the luxury goods?
Why do i harp on language? Because communication is the glue of the nation. If you migrate to France, you will learn French to get nationalise, in Spain, Spanish, in UK, USA English, in China, Chinese and in Malaysia, Malay. Its part of what you are as a Malaysian. It’s something to be PROUD of. It’s part of your NATIONAL PRIDE.
Aiyoyo, susah sangat ka mahu faham?
That’s absolute correct. Non Malay especially Chinese not really want to go for vernacular school. The SK are just too bad in quality and especially in discipline plus too much emphasis on islamization. This makes us no choice but to send to vernacular school.
If there is no financial constraint, we will send our kids to Int Schools. SK are just too bad in quality, some are training Talibans as well. If gov want to ‘eliminate’ vernacular school, just reestablish the English medium school, I am sure the VS will disappear by itself.
Hehehe.
And there are those who said that SK is not Islamic enough thus they send their kids to Sekolah Pondok. Check with your PR friends please.
Because the government has spent so much effort to brainwash people.- IloveMalaysia
The other side (read DAP) have also spent a lot of effort brainwashing people like you.