MALAYSIANS' addiction to the question of race is evident in the current controversy over the idea of a Bangsa Malaysia.

I am indeed surprised that the Mentri Besar of Johore has come out in opposition to this new concept of a national "race", in preference for the Umno orthodoxy of Malay dominance. In those years when we were in the same Chamber on top of the hill, I had known him personally to be a very nice chap, a distinguished academic, and a moderate at heart.

But then, the undercurrents within Umno are eddying with dizzying complexity on the eve of their general assembly. The national spotlight is on this monolith of a political party. More than a few ambitious Umno politicians would be itching to gain legitimacy of leadership by playing the role of champion of the Malay race. Their political survival may depend how well they project themselves in that role.

The idea of Bangsa Malaysia was first proposed by the former PM a few years ago, shortly before he abdicated from his throne. As a sort of government policy, it was never clearly spelt out what this national "race" was meant to be. It was just another catchy slogan, like so many other catchy slogans spinned out by the former PM, who seems to have a natural talent for coining useless but catching slogans. He could aptly be heralded as the Father of Empty Slogans in Malaysia.

Naturally, many Malaysian citizens who are not Malays tend to be mesmerised by the concept of a new Malaysian "race". It offers hope for the national integration of our multi-racial society into a single united nation. Perhaps one day in the future, the evolution of Malaysian politics could see the emergence of new realities that would truly reflect the constitutional provision that all citizens are equal before the law. Many of them harbour their deep seated aspiration that one day, the spirit and letters of the NEP will be consigned to the dustbin of Malaysian history forever.

The true acid test for such an ideal scenario of national integration is rather simple. A new Malaysian nation would indeed be born when some time in the future a non-Malay citizen could be elected as the prime minister of the nation. The Malays themselves would be able to accept such a scenario because the non-Malay PM would be perceived as looking after Malay interest better than any Malay politician.

Ideology of Malay dominance

This ideal state is not likely to materialise soon. Even in very developed liberal-democratic states like the US or the UK, it is still unthinkable for anybody with any hue on his skin to become a president or a PM. It just goes to show how deep-seated people's racial and ethnic identification can be.

But this sort of ideal state that I talk about is unlikely to be what the former PM had in mind when he coined the term "Bangsa Malaysia". All his life, he has been an ultra Malay nationalist, with a heavy tinge of racial connotation to his perception of ethnicity. In over 20 years of his stewardship of Malaysia's destiny, he has manifested himself as the very personification of the Umno ideology of Malay dominance. His idea of Bangsa Malaysia is probably closer to the Johore MB's articulation of Umno orthodoxy in substance.

The Malay Agenda that Umno people tout about has this one unspoken major premise which they believe to be self-evidently true: Malaya is the homeland of the Malays, and they are the masters of this Tanah Air Melayu. All other races live on their homeland at their pleasure.

Here, they exhibit what Earnest Gellner defines as the classic symptom of all modes of nationalism. The nationalist sentiment is such that people who make any proprietary claim on a homeland based on myths, history and even religion cannot tolerate the idea of their political destiny being taken away from them. They will never tolerate the idea of a person from another nation or race becoming their prime minister or their president. There goes the idea of non-Malay ever becoming the PM of Malaysia. Or the idea of a Muslim becoming the PM of Israel or China!

Gellner also defines the concept of race as being based on blood ties. According to him, racism rears its ugly head, when the deepest collective fear of the race is the mixing of blood. This was obvious in Nazi Germany before and during WW2.

Is the Umno ideology heavily tinged with racism? The answer is not so clear cut.

In theory, anybody who embraces Islam and adopts the Malay way of life is a Malay. At least, that is the constitutional definition of Malayness. In practice though, the situation is a little more ambiguous. A person may have to convert to Islam, and choose to live like any kampong Malay. Often this is done because of the requirement of marrying a Muslim. But in practice, he is not always given the privileges accorded to a bumiputera as defined under the constitution. It is as if the convert can never be a bona fide Malay, no matter how he or she believes in the teaching of Islam, and become completely assimilated into the Malay community.

Flawed theory

But I have not detected in any literature, report, or interaction with my Malay friends any belief in the purity of the Malay blood, as the Nazis believed in the purity of the Aryan race. Umno people aside, your kampong Malays actually seem quite tolerant of other ethnic groups with different faiths. Take away the constraint of religion, and there would be much inter-racial marriage between the Malays and the other ethnic groups. This is especially true in Sarawak and Sabah. In that sense, the Malays in general are not racist.

In the end, the belief in the purity of a single racial blood line is highly unscientific. The current theory in anthropology based on worldwide DNA study and archaeological survey seems to suggest a single mother for the entire human race who resided somewhere in Africa. Even this theory is flawed, because the theory of a single mother would suggest reproduction between siblings, leading to genetic disasters that would mean the extinction of our species.

The idea of a pure race is itself a theoretical construct that probably has its source in some archetypical extrapolation of a nuclear or extended family into a larger "imagined" mythical family. Be that as it may, one could conclude that the Umno idea of a Malay race is still more cultural than biological in nature.

Whether the idea of a "nation" as an ethnic political unit is also a theoretical construct is much harder to unravel. The debate on this issue has been raging for decades, and publications on this subject have become an entire industry. I am more inclined towards the view held by the historian Eric Hobsbawm, who claims that by and large the idea of the "nation" is a historically contingent concept that would outlive its usefulness in the future.

Unfortunately, people who study history do nothing to change history. And people who shape history usually have no time to study history. And more is the pity.

At the moment at least, world history is still moulded along the national and ethnic lines. Very few people can think outside the ethnic box. Onn Jafaar was one of them, and he was too far ahead of his time.

Given that the question of race has been vastly institutionalised, and even written into our nation's constitution, I too am also opposed to the proposal of a Bangsa Malaysia made by the former PM. The idea would only work only if race-based political parties are disbanded, and BN reinvents itself as a single multi-racial party. Alternatively, a multi-racial opposition alliance would dislodge BN from power, and begin to chart a new course towards a polity that considers Malaysian individuals as ethnically different but legally and socially equal citizens. Both events are highly unlikely for another hundred years.

Half a century of politics of race has turned the entire population of Malaysia into potential racists. That is truly tragic. Fortunately, despite the numbing stultifying political rhetoric churned out by the propaganda machinery of the various political parties, Malaysians of all races can still maintain their common sense of decency. Despite the politicians, we have been spared the kind of strife that makes the river run red in other parts of the world.

Malaysia is still a beautiful country with beautiful people, ruined by bad politics. The only way to mediate and overcome this historical contradiction is by abandoning all forms of politics that has the term "bangsa" as its central theme.