1. In recent days we were all saddened by the death of a towering Malaysian and a “glokal” talent called Yasmin Ahmad. For years she has given us much joy and tears from her great Petronas advertisements and enjoyable “Made in Malaysia” movies. I personally am a big fan. She started the whole One Malaysia spirit even before it became a thrust policy of the new administration. Her One Malaysia makes us laugh, cry and smile.
2. Yasmin has always pictured us all as One Malaysia and showed us the true meaning of One Malaysia which was already in existence a long time ago. Ask your parents and they will tell you how life was a better bed of roses among different ethnic groups and races but we forget along the way as we become more insecure with our own kind. Yasmin often reminded us of what it means to live with mutual respect, love and honor among the various races (Bangsa Malaysia) that this country is truly blessed with. Funny how just 2 weeks ago I had coined the idea to someone for the PM to engage Yasmin Ahmad as an icon to drive the One Malaysia message because she would have gladly done it not for the money but for the love of integrated racial and economic societies which she truly believes in and most important of all, for the love of her country. Very few fill such great shoes.
3. I remember the days as far back as 30 years ago when we never saw the need to distinguish ourselves by our skin color or racial background and we played together, studied together and enjoyed together as one multi-racial group let it be in school or in the neighborhood. Maybe its more apparent to me growing up in the city but my friends who grew up in the outskirts tell me the same thing.Today we see much less of that even in urban areas and let’s not even begin to talk about clearly segregated rural areas.
4. So then, if we were all harmonious before why are we talking about integration only now? After 50 odd years we should be fully integrated and mindful of our individual and racial roles in our country. One Malaysia to me means one country but with many racial ethnicity and eccentricities that have equal rights to what Malaysia has to offer. Is this what it is meant to mean?
5. If we are still talking about rights and equality then we can never have One Malaysia. The contradiction ridicules it. Let’s change the concept a bit. Let’s strive for a mutually agreed concept of what Malaysia should mean predominantly to the Malays and the others. If the Malays can agree that things have to be more fair and perceived to be done right, then the non-malays would not question our divine right in our own country. For as long as we continue to abuse the privileges and distribution of controlled wealth then we would always be subjected to scrutiny and even to the point of ridicule. We even have a “One Malay” issue now where we are not united anymore in pursuit of common goals and ideologies that should make our “M” race a responsible and respected force in our own country. Frankly, from my own findings the non-malays have no issue with the “Kesultanan Melayu” or even the “Ketuanan Melayu” but they have a big problem with blatant abuse of power and selective prosecution. We can all live with some abuse but since March 2008 even the general Malays are sick and tired of it. Now that is telling something!
6. There is no substitute for merit and any affirmative action of economic assistance must be carried out for the good of the mass and in this case, the majority group of the Malays regardless of origin, place and political affiliations. Merit is to be emphasized and political charity can take place in the form of minority equity participation innately infused into the distribution system. In other words as silly as it may sound, all major projects can have the BN (or BR) party own a default 20-30% equity so the professionals and entrepreneurs can be left alone to execute and manage a business that is cost efficient and of high quality. It is cheaper and better for everyone!
7. Education is another pillar of One Malaysia. Integrate all schools into One Malaysia schools! Have extra classes for vernacular studies or whatever but let us not confuse the future (and present) generation on what One Malaysia should mean but yet we go to different schools. I can’t think of an arguable excuse as to why we should not have just a one system education for One Malaysia. Please put politics aside for our children sake.
8. The Prime Minister MUST take responsibility of all individual actions that tarnishes One Malaysia’s divine efforts to unite all Malaysians and if this means that he has to remove the cowboy individuals or institutions or even mini governments he must do it swiftly. Its not the PMs fault so why must he take the heat for it? The MACC case is one in point. Much have been speculated about the death of Mr Teoh but I am sure it is not the general policy of MACC for such things to happen. The fact that it did, then some individuals directly involved should be removed instantly even if they did no wrong. Show that you mean business because perception in trying times means everything. Its for the good of the bigger group. The few must have screwed up somehow and somewhere even to have led to such a disastrous tragedy. Honesty is not the best policy… it is the only policy but manage the impact professionally. Heck, even spin it like a gasing if they must but be transparent on the core issues. People don’t care for the frills anymore. Malaysia lacks this ownership of responsibility and transparency.
9. One Malaysia should also mean no more selective prosecution and I don’t necessarily mean “just” justice. If someone can be caught with a rm2000 bribe, then leaders should also be hauled up for rm24m or rm2.4b accusations etc. Don’t let the public ridicule the system that should never “pick and choose” because this is exactly why future election results is anyone’s guess. The people are no longer blind and accommodating.
10. These are indeed trying times for Malaysia and by hook or by crook, One Malaysia has to save the day with a comprehensive, holistic and a honest sincere plan to integrate all Malaysians on a single agenda. People first! It’s a tough call but if such noble efforts can withstand differing political, racial, social and economical mindsets… only then can this blessed country be truly blessed.
Malaysia will miss you Yasmin Ahmad. Al-fatihah.
shaik rizal sulaiman
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Good one!
For each of us and our families, ensure that the circle of friendship and goodwill extends beyond our own ethnic group/ race/ culture/ religion. For instance, sponsor an event in one another’s community instead of sticking to one’s own!
I admire her, her movies and her ads.
Most of us failed to appreciate such great individuals until they move into another world. We have to make a point to recognize these individuals while thy are still alive.
My friend Dr. Gan updated his Facebook status moments after Yasmin left us:
“I will remember to absorb the transient and fragile beauty in the next rainbow he sees”
i thought that was the best status I saw on Facebook on that very sad day.
Al-fatihah.
yes but most importantly is what the young children see and do because if it stops with them, then unity is a heritage term! Govt must instill drastic measures in schools especially to foster “classless” unity and make our universities less racial biased.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGOoIp93LJA
perhaps you should hear what yasmin said about PM’s 1Malaysia, before thinking that she would agree to your idea. Yasmin has had the idea of ‘One Malaysia’ already, and so did many others – as opposed to the divisive politics of the day. PM’s 1Malaysia concept is nothing knew.. what’s most troubling about it, and that which yasmin said very diplomatically in her interview, was that it is extremely difficult to believe the sincerity of the PM as he has not said or done anything to reflect such values before this. I hope you can understand that point better and take the PM into account, looking at fundamental changes to foster understanding and not mere lip service and expensive PR. Also, do respect the dead in understanding the values she lived for before suggesting what she would otherwise support or do – don’t misrepresent her or use her name to further your agenda.
Thanks for your comment emptycanvas. There is no agenda here and my observation was merely a broad enough gesture to think of her as the perfect icon for such a tall order. If she has her own way and it works why not? but its all too late now and hopefully her great works will always remind us of what and how onemalaysia should be… no lip service no PR just sincere comradeship among all malaysians.
Shaik,
She may be gone but there is much that we can all learn from what she has left us. Many Malaysians that I spoke to are very touched by her work despite not knowing her personally. My daughter and I had the opportunity to casually chat with her a few years ago . She definately made an impact .Despite some setback and criticism about her movie, she suceeded to reach out to all ethnic groups. Remarkable !!!.
I am indeed upset by the article in Kosmo which to me is trying to mar her image. We do not need this two cents worth of news.
“Racial polarisation in the country is not caused by the country vernacular school system but more by the government political, education and economic discriminative policies.” – an educationist said today.
The prime minister and all the Umno ministers will never admit that polarisation arises more out of the race-based policies and privileges one race gets over another.
Similarly, there are other areas of our daily lives where terminologies used have made us view certain practices as privileges rather than sacrifices. For instance, the bumi discount for houses.
The total sale value to the developer is still the same. It is just that the non-malay buyer is likely to be required to pay for some of the discount given to the malays.
But the longer the NEP policies continue and the greater the vehemence with which Umno politicians issue threats, terminologies will change and more people will talk about these practices or policies in words that may not sound as pleasing to the ears of the beneficiaries.
Obviously, at that point we shall probably see a new round of discriminations and disagreements. Unfortunately, as long as only weak people take on leadership roles within Umno, threats will continue, NEP policies will be sustained and corruption will prevail.
That unfortunately is the legacy we have as Malaysians.
The basic building blocks of unity, whether you are uniting different ethnic groups in a country or trying to re-engineer a corporation of differing cultural values, are the same.
The principal parties have to be treated as equals – nor special privileges no favours that would favour one group over another. Any privilege that is given should be given to all on the same basis – for example, special privilege given to the financially poor regardless of race or ethnic origin.
It is only on this equitable footing that you can foster true nationalism and build lasting unity, since each component group will have the same stake in the nation and has equal likelihood in reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences.
My recommendation to the government, not simply as a businessman but also based on pragmatism, is not to waste any more taxpayer ringgit on nationalism programmes until it has established the pre-conditions for its success.
What is sad is that, after almost five decades of independence, we have been unable in Malaysia, to bring globally-vision leaders to the forefront – leaders who can see beyond racial boundaries to recognise the immense sociological and economic potential that can benefit all Malaysians.
Is the language diversity in our educational system a stumbling block to so-called “national unity”? Despite the insistence of this idea by the self-interested ruling elite, it is simply wrong.
And the common use of English did not stop Americans from fighting Britons in the War of Independence. And let us not forget the American Civil War – both sides spoke English.
And to the contrary, we see Europeans of different mother tongues coming together in a democratic manner to forge a united continent in the form of the multilingual European Union with common standards of human rights, governance and democracy.
English-speaking people with different mother tongues are also now living peacefully in five different sovereign and independent countries namely the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
It is time for the Malaysia ruling elite and their ideologues to stop spreading the voodoo of that language diversity hampers national unity.
The root cause of national disunity is none other than the existence of race-based political parties like UMNO, MIC and MCA, which perpetuate race-based affirmative action policies and which only benefit the upper class BN gangs and their sons, daughters and cronies.
The truth is that the ability of education to bring people together is limited. On top of that, education – at least secular one – is about the pursuit of knowledge and truth, and hence whatever is taught in schools should be based on the reality and truth in order to unite the students.
But when our society is already polarised by the laws and other economic realities, and we tell our children otherwise in school, it is likely that the unity lessons will never stick for long or even worse result in a backlash.
What is more distressing is the fact that national education policy is only meant for the masses while our political leaders send their children overseas. Can we believe they have faith in our own educational facilities and that they are sincere in wanting the best for us?
In Malaysia, unfairness is institutionalised. For example, it is alright for certain schools or universities like the Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara to bar non-malays.
So it piques me to hear some blaming vernacular schools for racial tensions. Vernacular schools have never barred malays from enrolling into them unlike Mara educational institutions. If vernacular schools are to be blamed, so too must the Mara institutions.
(A minister responsible for higher education who can make such inflammatory statements confirms that the so-called meritocracy system of university entrance is a sham, since he was able to promise that the percentage for malay applicants will never fall below the previous quota percentage.
Is he suggesting that we should rejoice over our poor education? Please do not confuse quality with quantity.)
I cannot help but think that the politicians have an ulterior motive. If so, please be honest and brave enough to admit it.
With such narrow-minded people in charge, it is difficult to have confidence in any of their suggestions.
When it came to choosing a career, I avoided public services for the fear of being excluded from promotions just like how I was excluded from matriculation etc. Many employers are also very racially defined.
Now, as much as I miss hanging out with people of other races, I end up being with people of my own race.
Looking back, I don’t think our primary vernacular system is the cause of disunity. On the contrary, it enriches our Malaysia heritage. The real problems are with the uneven playing fields that split malays and non-malays from secondary school onwards.
Another examples are the Chinese Indonesians. Most of them don’t even speak their mother tongue, nor do they even carry Chinese names anymore, yet come any major political turmoil, they are targeted by the majority. Is this due to vernacular education?
The government should be aware of the fact that the number of Chinese schools has not increased over the past 30 years despite the need for them due to increased demand from both Chinese and non-Chinese students.
The diversity of education methods in the country is a national treasure and should be upheld. Unity will come from mutual respect and fair treatment for all – not necessarily from a uniform education.
Whether they will take concrete steps to address the imbalance is another matter for, while I am optimistic about the people of Malaysia, I have very little faith in politicians.