When Malaysia's former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad stirred another rumpus with his remarks about Jews during the Organisation of Islamic Conference summit last month, was it a surprise?

Those who have followed his political career will note the continuity in his ethos and it was not unexpected that he should end his political career on the same note on which it began.

Mahathir's first claim to fame (or rather, notoriety) was the publication of The Malay Dilemma after the May 13, 1969 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur. It was banned by then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's government, and Mahathir himself was expelled from the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

Apart from being an academic embarrassment because of its unashamedly racist paradigm (a latter-day Mein Kampf), it was clearly 'seditious' by the definition of the government of the day in its undermining of sacred constitutional provisions: "the Malays are the rightful owners of Malayaimmigrants (read non-Malay Malaysians) are guests until properly absorbedimmigrants are not truly absorbed until they have abandoned the language and culture of their past".

The May 13 incident can be seen as a coup d'etat by the ascendant Malay bourgeoisie against the Tunku, whose laissez faire policies were an obstacle to their ambitions.

Developments since then have shown that the 'Malay-centric' racist ideology has been instrumental to the growth and entrenchment of this new Malay ruling class through the vast expansion of state capital.

Ostensibly to "correct the racial imbalance", the New Economic Policy provided carte blanche for the new Malay ruling class to amass wealth in the name of their 'race'.

Mahathir has justified this blatantly racist policy thus: "The best way to keep the shares in bumiputera hands is to hand them over to the bumiputeras most capable of retaining them, which means the well-to-do."

But why pretend the blatantly racist policy is an attempt at promoting unity or that Mahathir is the architect of Malaysian unity? Racism is an integral part of the Malaysian socio-political system.

The ruling coalition is still dominated by racially-defined component parties - Umno, Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress.

These parties compete for electoral support from their respective 'racial' constituencies by pandering to 'racial' interests. Invariably, their racist inclinations are exposed at their respective annual party congress.

Another basis needed

Only recently, one of the members of the ruling coalition Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik lamented the "frightening state of racial polarisation among students in the local public universities".

Every year, there are stories of non-Malay students with straight 'As' who cannot gain admission into local universities or get scholarships because of the racially discriminatory quota system. Not surprisingly, the brain drain during the Mahathir years has been described as a "golden age of mediocrity".

To the rational mind, there is no reason why eradication of poverty measures or affirmative action cannot be framed in terms of class or sector rather than 'race'.

In recent years there has been racial violence at Kampung Muniandy, Kampung Medan and Kampung Rawa. The victims have been mainly Indian Malaysians, whose marginalisation has been exacerbated by their being racially discriminated as 'non-bumiputeras'.

Clearly, any affirmative action should be directed at the impoverished and marginalised communites such as the Orang Asli and all other communities in need - irrespective of their ethnicity.

It is widely acknowledged especially by the ethnic minorities in Malaysia that the issue of racism and racial discrimination is the most critical yet unresolved problem in Malaysian society.

Today, race has been so deeply institutionalised that it is a key factor determining benefits from government development policies, bids for business contracts, education policy, social policy, cultural policy, entry into educational institutions, and discounts for house purchases.

Practically every aspect of Malaysian life is permeated by the so-called 'bumiputera policy' based on Malay-centrism.

'Contrived crises'

In the 22 years of Mahathir's rule, there have been protests from Chinese and Indian Malaysians against the blatant racism in the national economic and cultural policies. In response to this, Mahathir himself would sometimes lay down the line.

At other times, his lieutenants like Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (now the prime minister) have sounded warning about the bottom line in Malaysian politics. For example in 1986, he said: "Let us make no mistake - the political system in Malaysia is founded on Malay dominance."

The Umno-controlled Malay media never fails to raise the spectre of May 13 whenever there is a threat to the status quo, such as during the 1990 general election. And UmnoYouth are always on standby to stormtroop any section of the population which challenges the racist dichotomy of Malaysian society.

This has been seen in the contrived crisis of 1987 and again in 1999 when some 300 Umno Youth members stormed the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall over the Suqiu civil rights demands.

In March 2003, Umno Youth information chief Azimi Daim reminded Malaysians that "the Malays are the masters of this land".

At the 54th Umno general assembly in June 2003, Selangor liaison chief Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said the party's struggle for Malay dominance is not yet over. Needless to say, throughout the Mahathir years, neither Umno nor its media has ever bothered to make the distinction between Jews and Zionism.

So Mahathir's racist legacy lives on. Can it deliver the people from bigotry? Will our Vision 2020 society be founded on enlightened ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity or will it be based on the fascist "to believe, to obey, to combat"?

Judging by the reformasi movement, which came into being after the victimisation of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and the recent voting patterns among the Malays, there is cause for optimism.

For among Mahathir's many achievements must be included his division of the Malay community, now no longer so easily swayed by racist carpetbaggers.

KUA KIA SOONG is director of the human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and a former opposition politician.