Khamis, 6 Disember 2012

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Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News


Amokh ignores Najib as PM with Syed Feisal's appointment

Posted: 05 Dec 2012 03:09 PM PST

This is fuelling speculation that Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad will end his one year extension as Chairman and replaced by Syed Faisal.

The name Syed Faisal is sickening to the stomach. It reminds us of his arrogant and incompetence Arab tak sedar diri brother, Syed Hamid, during the reign of terror of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He lost Batu Putih island to Singapore and interfered to apply ISA on a reporter.

Syed Feisal is himself of questionable integrity and capability.

Doesn't Khazanah Nasional CEO, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar realised that he is not working for Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi any more?

Thus, why is he still bringing people that was part of the evil triumvirate of Kalimullah-Kamaluddin-Khary into important position? Or is this Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop in his elements?

Since Tun Dol resigned, this is not the first time Amokh is sticking to the cronies of the old regime that wrecked havoc to the Malaysian aviation industry. It is now left to Najib to put the pieces together and attempt a turnaround of MAS.

Amokh had engineered a heavily lop-sided "merger" between MAS and Air Asia that favour of Tony Fernandez-led Air Asia.

Air Asia was a beneficiary of crony capitalism involving Khairy and Dato Zaki Zahid who together with Tony F redid the cabinet-approved National Airline Rationalisation plan. By the following Monday, Tun Dol announced a different plan on the instruction of Khairy and Zaki.

Despite that move resulted in Air Asia taking over MAS routes and Amokh claimed he fought tooth and nail with Tony F for constantly "sailang" MAS, the MAS-Air Asia "merger" only indicate Amokh have a problem realising that the Prime Minister is no more Tun Dol but Dato Najib.

The fact that Dato Najib has set the precedent at IMDB to only bring in professionals and capable people on the Board of Directors and management, it raises issue on Amokh tendencies to bring in his cronies, particularly incompetent ones.

In the MAS-Air Asia "merger" he gave his partner in their firm Bina Fikir, Danny Yusof that failed in the WAU exercise of MAS, a leading role.

Amokh kept his failed MCKK classmate, Dato Harun Johari who repeated his failure at Iskandar Investment Berhad at Khazanah new start-up inolving agriculture. Even in area of logistic which is supposed to be his core competency at Shell, Harun failed also.

There are also Executives Directors retianed by Amokh like Tengku Dato Azmil who failed at MAS and the former Sime Darby's executive that bombed in the privatisation of IJN and Qatar deal.

Dato Syed Feisal Albar

With regard to the new appointment at MAHB, Syed Faisal is not politically and capability wise appropriate.  He still remain within Kalimullah circle of evil.

Despite New Straits Times withdrawing their lawsuit against blogger and former Malay Mail editor, Dato Ahiruddin Attan@ Rockybru, Syed Faisal remain with opposition backing The Malaysian Insider (TMI) owner, Kalimullah in their lawsuit against Rocky.

READ MORE HERE

 

UMNO Lost An Opportunity to Court Middle Ground

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 12:01 PM PST

As expected, the party and its delegates went full throttle against Anwar Ibrahim, Pas, PKR and Dap. There were attempts to use fear and threats to win support by summoning the battled spirit of May 13 to the forefront. A leader even suggested that the party is mandated by God to rule the country perpetually. Invoking the mandate from heaven is as feudalistic as you can get. Unsurprisingly, UMNO and its component partners are already using religion and race in their divisive campaigns to garner support.

Against the backdrop of several damning and serious controversies such as Lynas, PKFZ, Scorpene, Pengerang, RM40 million kickback for UMNO Sabah/Musa Aman, Sarawak fiasco, NFC, Selangor land grab and others the party had chosen to keep mum. This is inconsistent with the mantra of change the party president has tried to peddle in the assembly. How can the party change if it refuses to address its own shortcomings?

UMNO wants to attract first time and young voters.  How can the party gain the support of this segment if the party shows little initiative in trying to understand the issues and challenges facing youths in the country?

There is little to show that the UMNO led government has been successful in creating jobs, generating economic opportunities and provide a safer environment for youths in the country. Little is done to curb the arrivals of migrant workers who are taking away jobs from the locals and provide no incentive to local companies to scale up technology adoption and use better skilled an educated local workers to wean off their addiction of low cost and low skilled foreign workers.

The party president did not provide any clue how he is going to govern differently in his second term as the prime minister. His transformation plans are full of euphoria but short on results and real implementation. He needs to address sectors such as manufacturing and services which are providing employment to more than 60% of the workforce.

The party's chest thumping, ethno-religious rhetoric and senseless threats of violence is going to push away the middle ground instead of winning them over.

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Troubled and desperate ... Deepak could do anything

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:51 PM PST

There are issues and events to write about and comments to make. But who cares?

It is the holiday season and we are still in a "devil may care" mood. To pun Billy Joel's song lyric, "I am in a Sabah state of mind." In fact, we might be going again before Christmas.

It had to take one of PKR's "General Chief" attempted stunt to deviate public attention from UMNO's General Assembly to get us to get back in a writing mood.  

It is not the futile anti-Lynas group or Husam-initiated Royalti Minyak Kelantan  losing concern stunt or frogging in UMNO Semporna that are worth writing about

But the one on Deepak.

Simply because it tries to revive and link with the debunked Scorpene issue by still trying to slander Rosmah with the death of Altantunya. We still have a story waiting for the timing to release.

Frankly, only idiot would buy into Suaram's latest edition of French lawyer's press conference. It is ridiculous for French court to have jurisdiction on Malaysian soil on criminal issue?

Now ... the name Deepak first appeared in Raja Petra's Malaysia Today years ago when he was in his instruments playing up the link between Altantunya's murder and Rosmah that culminated in his infamous "reliably informed" Statutory Declaration.

Deepak's name was seldom bandied as a close associate of the Prime Minister's wife in the same stroke with names like Jho Loh. Since there is not enough story to play on, they created the story that Deepak was sent by Rosmah to deal with PI Bala and pay him off.

Boy Dugong

However, it is all suspicious. Maybe Deepak did meet or maybe he didn't meet PI Bala. If he did it, it is of his own accord to win the heart of Rosmah. But pleaz ... this dugong is no toyboy material.

In the first place, why would Rosmah entrust someone like Deepak, whom she just knew for few years, to do such a politically sensitive task?

Anyway this legend of Deepak could only have come out from the mouth of Dato Mumtaz Jaafar, the former national athelete and trainer to maam, and was behind many other leakage of private Najib household.

Raja Petra used to write that she was Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop "man."

It is heard that she was a toll collector arranging meeting with Rosmah and benefited financially. God knows, if there is any truth.

Since her name surfaced everywhere and had put the first family in bad light many times,  Mumtaz is now no more part Rosmah's household.  

Back to Deepak.

Deepak the carpet man but trying to be carpet beggar

Deepak Jaikishan is merely a carpet seller and taking over his father's business at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. He only knew the first family when Rosmah was interested in his carpet designs and commissioned him to install carpets at their private residence at Jalan Duta. It is heard that she came down to the shop.

Like any overly ambitous and opportunistic businessmen yang "tidak tahu segan dan malu" (have no shyness and shame), Deepak used the opportunity in supervising the installation to get to know the maam.

Perhaps, he did got help from maam to ask PM to help him help secure contracts for official residence of Deputy Prime Minister, Sri Satria and later at Prime Minister's official residence, Sri Perdana.

Deepak was quite an impressionable young man and he managed to gain the confidence of others to get appointed on the Board of Director of IMDB, George Kent and many others.

Basically, he managed to exploit the opportunity to the fullest by creating the impression that he is maam's orang kuat. If one is smart, getting negative expose on Malaysia Today does boost oneself sometimes. Khairy did too.

Deepak became greedy, reckless and ruthless

However, Deepak got greedy and reckless. He was selling maam's name to frequently and all over town that it reached Rosmah's ears that he is a conman.

The carpet man was becoming a carpet beggar ruthlessly pouncing on unsuspecting businessman. One former Tan Sri high flying corporate man had to pay him commission for fund raising which he was not part off.

It is heard and he himself admitted to Malaysiakini that he had amassed RM600 million of facility. Off course, the public would jump to make the presumption that he got those loans because Najib is Finance Minister.

Firstly, is the number right? Secondly, having facility is one thing but was he able to drawdown those facilities. Thirdly, if Najib did not help get him the facility, who then?

Deepak had raised a couple of banking facilities with the likes of Hong Leong bank, Bank Rakyat, Maybank, and bulk of it is with Kuwait Finance house (KFH).

Talk of KWH, it reminded us of BCCI that went under decades ago.

KWH had a character who was the Managing Director by the name of K Salman Younis or Dato K Salman Younis. This guy was giving facility on name lending and Deepak sold himself real well.

He has since left in 2009 or he would have been in the slammer under BAFIA. Here is The Edge report

With facility available and the yearning to be a billionaire in a hurry by 40, Deepak went about town  to secure, hustle and even extort deals and investments.

One such scheme was to get himself into his failed joint venture with Wanita UMNO Selangor, Dato Raja Ropiaah's privatisation deal with MINDEF.
She got it when she was not a position holder but a struggling business women.

How convenient that Deepak sued Raja Ropiah at around now when he does not have a legal fighting chance of winning the lawsuit?

For him to make a police report against  Raja Ropiaah on claims of CBT, can the bloke differentiate between alleged CBT and alleged non-fulfillment of agreement?

Isn't it obvious that Deepak is lending a hand to assist PKR Selangor from Wanita Selangor's planned onslaught?

With the money standing by, it is easier to get and secure deals. The trump card Deepak used was Najib and Rosmah's name. How is anyone going to check with Najib and Rosmah? More so, with Malaysia Today's help to create him into an urban legend..

But since 2009, after Salman left, and his relationship with maam gone sour by 2010, things were not looking up for Deepak. His board membership were pulled back.

True he was investigated by MACC and IRD by him. Opposition made noises of him and so sure they will go in. Only thing is MACC do not make noise.

It is heard that he called maam for help to remove all the officers. Apalah Deepak, since when first lady can order around government agencies like that?

Banks begin to recall their loans. It is raining so Bank will pull back their umbrellas.

It is heard that Maybank had forsold his land to recoup the loan. Kuwait Finance House also pulled the plug on him when they found that there were elements of conmanship or fraud in the manner Deepak secured the facility.

Deepak couldn't pay back Kuwait Finance House. It is believed in the tune of more than RM100 million. Some say it is as much as RM140 million. This is part of the reason behind his debacle with Raja Ropiah because he wants his money back or give the project wholly to him.

Obviously Bank had to sue him and it is also another of Deepak's many ongoing case with Banks.

He fits in the maxim seldom heard in the securities industry, "high flyers get shot down."

This amateurish wheeler dealer but smooth talker was flying high. He once flew by private jet to Las Vegas to impress one sexy leggy Chinese girl. Smart girl .. take the money and run.

Deepak tried to seek Rosmah's help, tried to seek Rosmah's name when being investigated, tried to get Rosmah to ask Najib to ask investigators to pull their brakes and get banks to allow him to use his facilities, etc.

READ MORE HERE

 

P I Bala, Deepak, Musa - who next?

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:35 PM PST

Musa Hassan?

After what he did to Anwar Ibrahim surely at the request of his superiors including a former UMNO chieftain, surely it must be seen that he was a player in a whole scheme to rid the country of Anwar, the man who knew too much and who had publicly declared that there would  be no more nepotism, cronyism and corruption in UMNO.

In UMNO this could not happen, no one could get into UMNO and declare such "nonsense,"  so anwar had to go at all costs, and they madee sure he did, so now when the Truth is coming out there is fear in the corridors of power, UMNO power.

This man Musa Hassan is not going to come out in the open to say such things like the government intervened with his work unless it really happened and unless  he has some really compelling reasons to.

No Malaysian in his proper frame of mind would have accepted that PI Bala was forced to come out with the Statutory Declaration to implicate Najib, everyone believed him when he said that the carpet man was involved, that carpet man has now come out and is revealing the truth albeit in installments.

So why is the truth coming out  in installments?

Well we'll dwell on that later, and now all these men who were their trusted lieutenants are now looked upon as conniving opportunists working together with the opposition to oust Najib for no rhyme or reason does that make sense?

The  key to the truth lies some where in the home of our Prime Minister it does not take a genius to figure that out, a moron would be able to have figured that out, and we have many of that kind of people in UMNO, I might have mentioned a few names earlier in this article and it is the duty of one of those to direct a full investigation, unless it was his office that ordered Altantuya's entry records by the Malaysian immigration removed.

Surely if they could get a Deputy Prime Minsiter on trumped up charges they can easily get this cop, they could and would for their own convenience  they would even use the Anwar's  case to get him,they are capable of doing that but why aren't they?

Why is Syed Hamid claiming that this is all a political ploy by the opposition?

The only reason  is it has to be the  truth, what these people are saying must be the truth, Deepak was a close friend of Rosmah, why did he suddenly turn against her and Najib?

There must be some elements of truth in it, and f the government goes for them, the truth will come out, that is something they can't afford, after all they have Mahathir Mohammed as the Prime Minister, the man for whom the ends justify the means.

If what Deepak is now saying is not the truth, then Najib should use the full force of the law  to protect the sanctity of the office of the prime minster because the attacks are personally targeted on Najib bin Tun Razak, and it was whilst he was in office as the minister of defence.

It is not for the current minister of defence to come  out to clear the issue he knows nothing about this he was not even in government at that time, so why is Najib so quiet?

Should he not sue Deepak? Should he not go to clear his name? Had it been the Lees down south they'd have sued the pants off Deepak?

Najib has failed to do this when in his personal capacity when he was accused by Raja Petra Kamaruddin, now when he is openly accused by PI Bala, and Deepak he is still hiding, is he afraid to come out in open court?

Well if that is no the case, and especially with all the implications  derived from the interview with Deepak, will Rosmah at least subject herself to an interview with the press both international and local on these issues since there seems to be so much directed towards her too?

After all she is the "first lady" very eloquent, been overseas, held meetings with so many other first ladies, and even visited heads of states for which once Najib bragged that our students in Egypt got out safely because of her connections, she surely  must have the ability, the eloquence and  the presence of mind to handle these small time reporters on these issues. Can't She?

I am sure she is more than capable (she is the first Malaysian PM's wife to have declared herself "First Lady") and ever willing, surely this  "first lady" who delights at the slightest opportunity for some of the limelight will given the opportunity,  but Najib will not allow her to, he is so scared he will not allow her to.

When he was preparing to come to office I wrote an article on the need for him to first clear his name on the Altantuya case or,  the office of the Prime Minister would be compromised, that was something that any decent man would have done before assuming such high office but, Najib Tun Razak did not see that necessity, neither did his mentor the Doctor because that would  be so very convenient for him - the doctor>

A compromised PM would be easy for the picking, he can easily dictate terms like he so often does these days.

You can't hide too much under the carpet, it will swell with the heat and the carpets will even though well bound wall to wall burst at its seems and all the dirt will spill out for the world to see and that is what is happening now.

All the mantharam imported from Kerala will not work, mantharams are evil, it abhors the Truth, but the Truth cannot be suppressed for too long it will surface as is now happening.

I have my doubts about  the sincerity of these players, I am convinced  they are telling us the truth, but why  in installments?

I believe, they are doing this because they are short changed, and so are reveling the truth in installments  in the hope that the big pay day will come so that they can decide to keep quiet, but if that big pay day comes then they will look forward to another bigger pay day, after all it pays and it pays big.

I doubt Deepak's claims that he will tell all, he is waiting for the big payouts as soon as possible, he knows as much as Rosmah, Mahathir and Najib know that the end is near the BN government is going to be dumped, they all know that, they are trying their level best to intimidate the people, but this time it will not work.

Before this government falls all these players must collect their ill gotten gains promised to them by the big boys, they have to leave the country less they get caught for all the bad things they have done in concert with the BN and so they are letting out this truth in installments.

Remember that for the government to fall the majority of the Malays must vote the opposition and that is the definitive score today, all their polls have indicated that,  so there is this feeling of deep despair amongst the top brass in UMNO, they can't give in to every PI, Carpet man or Cop or there won't be enough pay the UMNO division chiefs if they win the elections, and if they do not deliver there then all hell will break loose in UMNO itself.

Remember that  the majority of the Police Force and the Military are made up of Malays, many of whose brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and children will be with the opposition, vote the opposition  so if this government were to fall they had best do the right thing and hand over power without any abuse, not the type that was applied when Selangor  and Perak fell, and time was given to the outgoing government to take away with them so many "secrets" from office.

READ MORE HERE

 

The pathologies of Malay nationalism

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 12:32 PM PST

The nation

The problem begins with the nation-state ideal; for its coherence depends on there being a people deemed as the rightful owners of a land. It is rooted to the belief that territory is property – a thing to own – and that loyalty to the people means, among other things, the readiness to uphold the integrity of territory to ensure it belongs to the nation.

This requires clearly defined, finite, national borders, which – at least at the face of it – appears as a simple enough idea. Matters become complicated when we ask who those borders are meant for. There cannot be a nation-state, if there is no nation to begin with.

But identities unlike land cannot be enclosed and demarcated. Cultures do not flourish in vacuums. They develop out of interactions and fusions with one another. New words, outlooks and practices are adopted while others fade, in a slow, arbitrary and often ambiguous organic process of contact and migration through time.

The nationalist agenda is at odds with this reality. The belief in the congruence of identity and territory – or indeed identity as territory – at the face of inevitable cultural change that can neither be controlled nor predicted, means that each nation will always find itself in the position of having to redefine the conditions of membership, to determine what or who should or should not be excluded. Culture too is given boundaries as a result.

The nationalist imagination must, in other words, assume however implicitly that there is some supposed essence underlying the flux of culture and identity, out of which the 'Otherising' so common to nationalist politics is legitimised. The marker could be anything from a common language, religion, ethnicity, race or history. It could even be a set of values or general traits. None of this is exclusive, of course. At any given time, depending on the issue and occasion, different factors can be evoked to proclaim dissimilarity.

Islam

Islam as we've seen time and time again has featured prominently in attempts to imagine a core to Malay identity. It is in fact presented as a condition: the protection of Malays, we're told repeatedly, depends on the preservation of Islam.

History has had much to do with this. The growth of Islam in 15th century Nusantara converged with the Malay apex of imperial grandeur, where for centuries Malay kingdoms dominated commerce, producing diplomatic relations and maritime armies that placed the Malaccan Straits on the map of world trade.

This began as a very much elite affair, for the earliest Muslim converts in the Peninsula were among the feudal and merchant classes. It was not only until Islam eventually reached the commoner that its defining presence in Malay notions of identity began. Gradually, Islam became appreciated as a force of enlightenment, as it inspired Malays to leave their supposedly superstitious animistic ways of life towards a higher stage of civilization. The necessity of learning the Quran for basic rituals meant that Islam was also the context with which Malays experienced their earliest exposure to systemic, although largely informal, learning. In fact, Islam as education remained the case for common Malays for centuries.

But while education and memories of empire shaped Malay attachments to Islam, its legalistic thrust ensures that it would remain a useful tool. One would be right, for example, to dismiss the recurring Hudud polemics as mere political ostentations between two parties seeking to out-Islamise one another, but in doing so we must not forget how much Islam, with its endless list of dos and don'ts, makes for a convenient resource of conformity and control.

Islamisation

That would not be so troubling, if not for how the pressures for more and more Islam are actually coming from the ground up. Today, Islamic validations are increasingly sought for things as mundane as medicine, fashion and entertainment, as can be seen in the rising trend of halal living. Academic discussions on Islamic science have produced volumes of theoretical literature, albeit with little effects on actual scientific practice or meaningful discoveries. Unsatisfied with the already rigid curriculum of Islamic studies in national schools, more and more private Islamic schools, including kindergartens, continue to be established throughout the country. The list can go on and on.

The state has had little need to take issue with the above demands, for the simple reason that any Islamisation, given present circumstances, would only secure a more Malay definition of Malaysia anyway. Thus it was not at all surprising to see the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), always already seeking to solidify Malay rule, having no qualms about competing on this turf. They seemed to have even relished the challenge, excelling – in realpolitik terms – in ensuring the drastic insertion of Islamic policies into the Malaysian state.

Historians highlight the early 1980s as the point of no return. The revivalism of Islam was the demand of a strong Malay grassroots then. The regime, eventually armed with the credibility of Anwar Ibrahim's Islamist background, launched its deep and thorough project of Islamisation in response: Islamic banking was introduced. The International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM/UIA), now heavily sustained by Saudi funding, was established. So was the Institute of Islamic Understanding (IKIM), which has since then served as the intellectual mouthpiece against pluralism and apostasy. A more Muslim oriented foreign policy was initiated. New laws were imposed, banning imports of non-halal beef and Muslim entry into casinos. Marriages and sermons were made subject to Islamic certification and approval.

Today, JAKIM (Malaysian Department of Islamic Development) is the third most funded department under the Prime Minister's Office, receiving RM 402 million in 2010 alone. It stands among several other Syariah institutions that were recently erected in rapid succession such as Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah, Malaysia (Department of Syariah Justice) in March 1998 and the Syariah section of the Attorney General's office in 2003. The latter is to ensure that all laws – including international laws Malaysia are to ratify – are Syariah compliant. In 2009, planning for a Jabatan Penguatkuasaan dan Pendakwaan Syariah (Syariah Enforcement and Prosecution Department) began.

Power

But what is all that power for?

Curiously, the persistence of conservative presence in Malay politics suggests that the increased Islamisation of government, on top of the huge representation of Malays in the military, police, civil service, the cabinet, petit bourgeoisie and banking, in addition to our nine monarchs, are still somehow not enough to assuage insecurities.

It can also be argued that the significant powers that Malays have amassed through the government and bureaucracy over the years are mere catalysts for greater conservative demands, for in apprehensive hands no amount of power will suffice if it cannot translate to total control.

Thus it may be more accurate to look past the power held to see what the power is meant to protect in the first place. And for this we will have to inquire into a prior anxiety, one that is more essential in driving the politicisation of Malay identity as a whole, and that is the fear of losing control over Malaysia's multicultural complexities.

To clarify, the conservative claim is not that the Malays were here before everyone else. Rather, the Malays, at one point the subjects of a glorious medieval empire, were the ones who shaped the customs and civilization, and by consequence the historical significance, of the Peninsula.

It was therefore the bitterest injustice for the Malay nationalist imagination that independence from centuries of colonialism began with the masses of Malays in wretched poverty. They were 70% of Malaysia's poor at the time, confined mostly to low level-menial work. University education was far from reach and with little, in fact inconsequential, ownership of capital (Malays owned only 4% of all businesses) Malay control of the country was nothing more than ceremonial despite the triumphant proclamations of Merdeka (Independence).

Malays in fact became poorer in the ensuing decade, a reality that soon compelled the demand which we are all too familiar with by now: that only the material enrichment of Malays can mend inter-communal relations since they would no longer have to bear the shame of being poor sons of the soil.

Shame and self-loathing

This shame left a deeply bitter mark, for the little real political power that Malays could claim also translated to a crisis in self-esteem. The worst of this fermented into the long tradition of self-loathing that one can find in bourgeois Malay thought, whereby Malay poverty is often explained away as an obvious outcome of laziness.

The Malay Dilemma by Mahathir Mohamed (Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister at 22 years) has for some reason survived as the most frequently reissued attempt to defend that thesis. Not only did it draw a direct causal link between Malay laziness and poverty, they were also somehow taken as certain proof of Malay racial inferiority.

But if we are at all to recall that book for its originality, it would have to be for the rather taxing attempt it made to explain that link with pretensions of evolutionary science. Otherwise, the Malay Dilemma was merely reiterating an impression that was already prevalent among early Malay bureaucrats. After all, it was published only a year after Revolusi Mental (Mental Revolution), a longer book comprising of essays that also insisted on the Malay poverty-laziness-inferiority idea, this time by the most prominent Malay educators in government then.

It is painful, though not unfair, to acknowledge that there was some hint of inevitability to all that, especially when viewed from a broader historical perspective. Munshi Abdullah, the pioneer of Malay reformist thought, was already lamenting Malay inferiority – also in the manner of simplified sweeping claims about Malay laziness – as early as the British takeover of the Straits. Indeed, it was against his profound awe of British science and technology that the lazy, inferior, bumbling, dumb and superstitious Malay which he took constant note of was often "portrayed" in his works (although always, somehow, in the pretext of some deep care and concern he had for Malay progress).

This spirit of supposed tough love resonated again in the early 20th century, this time in Pendeta Za'ba's works which was also not short of bile. The modern man of Malay letters said that the Malays were poor in "all aspects of life" – in demeanour, attitude and worldview, "in all the conditions and necessities that can lead to the success and greatness of the nation". Malay youths spend too much time on wasteful activities, he said, and "are perverse in indulging in their carnal and animalistic needs" while having no foresight or prudence in spending. Their elders, on the other hand, are too caught up in stupid superstitions. The works of Malay literature are also "poor and not of the kind that can uplift spirits and improve thought".

One can argue that such frankness is common to all nationalist rhetoric. It can be likened by analogy to the kind of direct criticism we have all encountered in one way or another in heated family arguments, only the end message in this case is of course broader and more political, to provoke Malays to wake up and strive.

But what makes the above preoccupations with racial inferiority particularly pernicious is the conclusion drawn at the end of it all: the Bourgeois Malay's ultimate prescription for independence was not revolt or rebellion against exploitation and underdevelopment. Rather, the way forward was conceived in terms of the capitalist ethos, through hard work, self-reliance and private enterprise.

Obstacles

The central role of British colonialism in perpetuating myths of the lazy native is a subject that is best dealt in another discussion, although it would suffice at this point to state the curious fact that the notable Malays who were most willing to uphold and defend that myth were significantly influenced by the colonial lebensvelt.

Munshi Abdullah, for example, taught and translated Malay for Stamford Raffles on top of many other notable Orientalists. Both Za'ba and Mahathir – whose treatises on the subject were originally written in English – were educated via the British system. It was indeed through this orbit of circumstances that the capitalist ethos brought by the British found their advocates among Malay nationalists, however indirectly.

For a better sense of what's at stake here, we should consider the contrasting attitudes of Malay nationalists who were not as fortunate. For example, Rashid Maidin the labourer, or Ahmad Boestamam the son of a peasant, saw little to no virtue behind the laziness myth or British capitalism, having witnessed and lived through first-hand the violent exploitation of labour that was needed to service British industries. The Malayan left, with whom they mobilised, advocated instead a more confrontational and militant route towards self-determination. Naturally, the British, in the post-war ruin of their empire amidst fears of a Communist takeover of Southeast Asia did all they could to suppress all manifestations of leftist unrest, often with little hesitation to resort to violence or outright political intervention.

The fact that the Malay left and the British ended up more and more preoccupied with one another after independence also meant that Malay capitalism was met with less resistance. This, however, did not mean that it was without its obstacles. There was, for one, the absence of a critical Malay mass: the majority of Malays at the turn of Merdeka were rural, illiterate, uneducated and, more significantly, unfamiliar with the belief in "grace-through-hard-work" that the early Malay elites and bureaucrats embraced.

There was also a problem in the form of an apathetic Malay elite, the old guard of UMNOists close to Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia's first Prime Minister) who were not seen as committed enough to the cause of Malay development. The Tunku recalled the Malays as "a simple and contented people, used to their own way of life, their distinctive traditions, their deep Islamic belief in God and the hereafter, and respect for their Sultans. Sons of the soil and the sea, they lived close to nature in a bountiful land. Why bother to work so hard?"

But nothing stood in the way as agonisingly as the peninsula's demographic realities. In 1955, the Malays constituted 84.2% of the total electorate. After independence it was reduced to just 56.8% due to the formal mass incorporation of Chinese and Indians as Malaysian citizens. This was not an easy fact to accept especially for those who just regarded them as temporary migrant workers whose presence in the Peninsula was due to colonial, rather than Malay, demands. It didn't help that the Chinese were soon perceived as threats: When they were not smeared as mere greedy businessmen, they were feared as treacherous communists.

READ MORE HERE

 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

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