Jan 1 is at hand and 2010 incidentally the year in which the decade-long New Vision Policy ends its run. The NVP had succeeded the NDP and NEP.

I asked civil rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim if the term ‘bumiputera’ is found in the Federal Constitution. His reply to me was “Nehi, nehi, nehi”. No. So unless Haris is wrong – and if he is, please feel free to correct us – ‘bumiputera’ was constructed to facilitate the NEP.

Those in power have always coined slogans to suit their purposes at their own convenience. It was only in 1997 that the moniker ‘Jalur Gemilang’ was given to the national flag. Rukunegara was invented by the information minister in 1970. Now we have Najib Razak’s ‘1Malaysia’.

NONE He mouths ‘one Malaysia’ when we have two classes of citizens – bumiputera and ‘non’. At the rate things are going, if we use as a dipstick the sludge flowing from Umno mouthpiece Utusan , the nons will be second and third class citizens into perpetuity.

While the special position of the Malay is respected, the Reid Commission, which drafted the Constitution, had not intended for Umno robber barons and cronies to abuse self-created entitlements such as Approved Permits and closed tenders as their post-1969 birthright.

The commission, on the other hand, stated that in due course the present preferences should be reduced and ultimately cease.

Yet because of abysmal leadership from MCA and MIC, generations of minorities have suffered from institutionalized discrimination. NEP ostensibly aimed to, one, eradicate poverty regardless of race and two, eliminate identification of ethnicity with economic function.

But what we have now is a Tamil underclass of helots whereas Chinese boys and girls have become inseparable from the economic functions of pirated DVD trading and mobile phone sale. And not forgetting as the shop assistants we buy our printer cartridges and computer spare parts from in Lowyat Plaza.

Racism is corrosive

On Sunday in Utusan , its columnist Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah wrote that the majority Malay Muslims possess the rights conferring them advantages and “there should not be any more questions or being accused of unfairness”.

If one has a sense of justice, one would not condone unfairness. Islam has always been presented as a just religion. Is Ridhuan speaking for Islam or for the narrow vested interests entrenched here?

NONE In conjunction with World Human Rights Day (Dec 10), DAP national vice-chairman Tunku Aziz Ibrahim ( right ) said at the United Nations seminar in Kuala Lumpur that racism is “corrosive”.

The very first article itself in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, says: “All human beings are created free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was ratified by the UN in 1965 and signed by 173 countries. To this day and after 45 years, Malaysia has still not endorsed this core treaty.

We are a corroding society that refuses any pledge to eliminate racial discrimination. Therefore, it’s evident that not only is Malaysia beyond the pale by international standards but on many fronts it is operating upon the basis of a built-in discrimination.

This chafing discrimination is grudgingly coped with as a feature of life by those disadvantaged by it.

NONE However, in his typical topsy-turvy tilt, Ridhuan ( left ) pretends he is unaware that Malaysia is unlike the rest of the 173 civilized countries of the world, but falling in the same category as Burma and North Korea that are not signatories to CERD.

He ranted that “the ultra ‘kiasu’ party and its group are not only evil but ... have an evil intention by not accepting the social contract and rejecting the Federal Constitution and also challenging sensitive matters”.

In the above, Ridhuan was taking his weekly potshot at DAP. And in his most recent Dec 27 column, he took aim too at the “racist partners in the Barisan Nasional components” he claimed were in cahoots with the “ultra kiasu” party.

When we the Chinese minority see the antics of such a person like Ridhuan, it most unfortunately puts us off trying to assimilate.

His mindset, outlook and behaviour reek of abject indoctrination by the dominant, derisory propaganda against minorities. However, it would be an insult to the Malay race to call him ‘Melayu celup’ as he gives this nice, warm people a really bad name.

Poor grasp of Bahasa

Blogger Sharifuddin A Latiff in his posting ‘Ridhuan Tee, how the Grinch stole Raya’, observed, “Out of Malaysia’s 6.4 million Chinese, only Ridhuan and he alone, possesses impeccable Malay - or so he’d have Utusan readers believe.”

Sharifuddin also highlighted how Ridhuan insinuates that bloggers and commentators, Chinese media reporters and editors and just about any non-native speaker who ventures to critique him have a poor grasp of the Malay language.

Ridhuan’s prejudice is glaring. Among the public figures, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong speaks good Malay.

chinese school inconvenience 190104 jovial school children Other accomplished polyglots include DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Dr Boo Cheng Hau, Liew Chin Tong, Gerakan’s Koh Tsu Koon and the MCA past and present presidents.

This does not prevent these products of the Chinese school system being slammed by the Umno-ites as poor in their command of the national language, ‘racists’ and ‘unpatriotic’.

In his Dec 20 Utusan column, Ridhuan recounted: “I used to send my children to SJKC and while over there I heard how they sang the Negaraku anthem and it sounds very funny (‘kelakar’).”

Even young Chinese pupils singing the national anthem are not spared this man’s malice; he goes as far as to suggest: “If you do not believe, try to record [the singing]”.

No wonder parliamentarian Jeff Ooi felt compelled to note that Ridhuan is a ‘munafik’ (hypocrite) – after all, he sends his own kids to Chinese school. Doesn’t it indicate he is the “ultra kiasu” he’s always accusing everybody else of being?

Ketuanan is indefensible

Chinese enrolment in the vernacular education stream is in the high 90s percentile. Meaning: Nine-and-a-half out of 10 young Chinese are Mandarin speakers. Parents are correct in their decision to send their kids to Chinese school as this cherished institution is the lifeblood of the Chinese community.

umno 2007 pemuda keris 061107 raised Without Chinese literacy, we will not be able to survive economically. Yet the steps we are forced by NEP circumstances to take to help us earn a living – like supporting Chinese schools – are construed and condemned as a racist attitude.

Reading anything by Ridhuan conveys the constant, concerted assault being made on the Chinese ethos and psyche. The general pattern and trend by Ketuanan Melayu to undermine Chinese values and traditions are clear in Utusan .

In his article, Ridhuan defends his paper and counters its critics: “At least Utusan Malaysia is frank, meaning not too bad instead of camouflage doing evil, like being sweet in front of people but when behind actually are not.” (Translation taken from ertee.blogspot.com )

In this matter at least I can agree with Ridhuan. It is true that writers published there are open about their allegiance and intention. They don’t pussyfoot around like the apologists discoursing in English and quite incapable of calling a spade a spade.

It is the Chinese-educated who will determine the future of the next generation shrinking Chinese in Malaysia. It is no coincidence either that English paper The Star won the top award at the recent Umno Media Appreciation Night.

HELEN ANG used to be a journalist. In future, she would like to be a practising cartoonist. But for the present, she is in the NGO circles and settling down to more serious writing and reading of social issues.