“Our ‘adopted’ Malaysian daughter -
ethnic Indian, daughter of a close friend - gained three degrees in
Adelaide and now has a senior appointment. Her brother with an honours
degree in engineering, obtained in Australia, plans to remain here.”
Another good friend responded:
“These real-life stories of migration illustrate your point about no option but to leave. I underscore the same point.
“Your
commentator also says something else of real consequence: ‘No remedial
action about the brain drain will have any effect at all. That horse
bolted years ago.’”
Well said. Cosmetic remedies no longer fool
anyone. Part of the magnificent irony is that the very Malay elites who
created the racist policies that triggered the brain drain and continue
to feed it will travel overseas to get their specialist care from Malaysian Chinese and Indian specialists who have migrated.
The
political climate in Malaysia has long been such that you cannot have a
rational debate about such issues in Malaysia. Burying your head in the
sand may work well for Malays. So be it.
Further strengthening of racial policies
On the nation’s future, the following warning was sounded by prominent Malay blogger, Yusuf Abdul Rahman:
“The
Malay elites will do anything to stay in power & to
maintain/increase their wealth & positions of influence, even if it
means creating racial and religious strife.
“They have absolutely no conscience. Feudalism and feudal thinking is just another tool to them.”
In
the immediate future, we can expect that the growing majority
population and voters of Malays and bumiputera will provide
justification for the retention, and even further strengthening, of
racially based political, social, and economic policies.
Non-Malays and liberal bumiputera have to live with the fact that the
government, whether the present political coalition or any new one
based on the opposition, after GE16, will reject any dismantling of the
system of preferential policies for the Malays.
Talk about it will be labelled as unpatriotic, anti-national, or seditious.
What
this means is that non-Malays who choose not to migrate will have to
resign themselves to second-class status as citizens unless they fight
back.
A less difficult dilemma faces liberal Malays who are in opposition to the restrictive religious environment that has come with ketuanan (supremacist) Islam.
Political
change through the ballot box is possible as shown by current Harapan
rule. But political change alone as we see from the coalition government
is not enough if not accompanied by a mindset change and, more
importantly, policies and practices.
The following are actions
that non-Malays and concerned bumiputera have to undertake in the fight
for an equal, just, and secular society:
Put the issues of Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam
into the forefront of public discourse. There should be no sector that
should be regarded as taboo or improper in raising objections and
opposition to, including against the conduct of religious bodies,
judiciary, and other agencies of the civil service.
Openly challenge the culture of racism and religious politics and discuss how best the public can fight it.
There are at least five important groups of voices that can shine their light on ketuanan and racism and lead in fighting it. These are:
-
The religious institutions by raising the consciousness and voices of
their religious congregation in rejecting racism, religious supremacy,
and extremism.
- The academic community through the exposure of
policies, practices, laws, and institutional structures that create or
perpetuate racial and religious division.
- The print and social
media through news coverage and fearless analysis of everyday happenings
on the racial and religious front, in particular those that impact
negatively on Bangsa Malaysia.
- The think tanks in identifying
ethno-populist and ethno-supremacist ideologies and ideologues and
rebutting their interpretation of policies and conduct.
- Civil
society organisations through rejection of race-related policies and
programmes and continuously advocating for a truly multi-racial and
multi-religious inclusive society.
Before
the next general election, concerned public members should pressure the
nation’s political parties to declare their stand on Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam.
There
should be a demand for parties to publicly state in their manifestos
the party position on institutionalised racism and the covert
encroaching religious state as well as their plan on how to counter
them.
Ultimately, the fight against the ethnocratic hegemonic
state will rest on the shoulders of the present and younger generation
who choose not to migrate.
They will have to fight much harder than their parents have done.
