Dear fellow Malaysians
I am addressing this letter from a place outside Malaysia trying to inform fellow Malaysians the reasons why I left the country and stayed abroad.
Strangers in our own house
I left because I felt I was no longer welcomed everywhere that I went. I want to feel free to choose where I go, buy whatever I can pay for and enjoy when I can find the time. But to no avail, there are only certain shops that I can frequent a majority of them owned by just one race. I have the money to spend but I can only go to certain establishments that do stock the ‘good’ items, again monopolised by just one race. I like to travel around the country but what do I see? Interspersed between the old and the new are the living monuments that only one race dominates in Malaysia. The countryside belongs to one race and the urban centres to another.
Skewed Affirmative Action
Since the troubles of 1969, the Government has taken steps to redress the imbalance between the various ethnic groups. Not all the policies have reached its targets. Many have been replaced by newer ones that perpetuated the gaps between the citizens. The idea is not to rob Peter to pay Paul. But what has happened is that the richer gets richer and the poorer becomes poorer. Anew elite has emerged that obtained the best of the system. This ‘new’elite has now clamoured for change and has made their votes count in the last General Elections of March 8. Both within and outside the Government they have been vociferous in their demands. Things are now more openly discussed. Every single understanding and agreements tacit or otherwise, are being questioned and willingly overturned to suit the new situation. Again only one race seemed to be benefitting eventually.
What defines modernity?
Over time one starts to question where are the Bumis now? We talk of the Malay Diaspora and the Nusantara Diaspora and wonder whether these are not the result of feeling as complete strangers in one’s own house? The progress we see around us surely is not enough to say that our country is now a modern nation. For in modernity it is more than just the tangibles. In the intangibles, the world of values, mores, value-added, we get to see what matters to the people. We want progress but it must not come with a cost on our future. It must also not merely come in the form of an epoch or a period of history. Modernity is a drive for sustainability. It is borderless and timeless. What we must strive for is a complete change of mindset to allow for acceptance that everybody has a place in the sun. No one should be made to feel that they are strangers in their own house.
Wishing all Malaysians a fruitful year ahead.
Bye.
A Malaysian Stranger
Comments