Domination by division, dogs and dogma

COMMENT I wish I was funny enough to write a parody about these latest cases - Alvivi, the Miss Malaysia pageant, and now, the arrested dog trainer. It feels like ridicule is by far the most appropriate response. A man must know his limits however, so I offer my somewhat less entertaining analysis of what we are seeing unfold.

I have written before that we are witnessing a regression post-GE13. Now that the elections are over, we see a move towards the kind of fanning of racial and religious sentiment that were probably more common 10 years ago than they were one year ago.

This article argues that racial and religious tensions are not pre-existing things, but are carefully and very purposefully cultivated - directly and indirectly - by those in power. The reason behind this comes back, as it almost always does, to the structures and dynamics of our political system.

Since its very birth, Malaysia has been defined by the same race-based political parties that have held power in an essentially unbroken line from Independence to today. For the vast majority of those five-and-a-half decades, the major power struggles were not between Barisan Nasional and the weak opposition, but within BN itself.

When major political struggles happen between race-based parties, then an obvious result is that the hot issues that are played up by the politicians to the public all have a racial or religious tinge.

So it has been in Malaysia for most of our lives. This, more than anything else, has poisoned and retarded inter-communal relationships in Malaysia. Where people and communities naturally gravitate towards unity and peace, politics and politicians drive them apart for their own purposes.

Needless to say, it is also within the interests of the powers that be for a large part of Malaysia to remain divided and poor. If the population were instead united, economically independent and well-educated (especially in terms of exposure to global social and political trends), then there would obviously be no raison d’etre for Malay, Chinese or Indian parties.

Puppet masters and BTN-fuelled paranoia

I think we saw a slight respite from this over the last few years as we approached GE13, as the primary political conflict of our nation moved from being intra-BN to being between BN and Pakatan Rakyat. This was spurred by the fact that BN seemed more danger of losing federal power than ever before.

That “danger” came, and to the dismay of many, that danger passed. What are we witnessing in its aftermath?

I posit at least two things.

Firstly, BN need not seriously worry about Pakatan for another good three to four years. Political cycles, like societies memories, are short. Far more important are the upcoming Umno elections, and we all know that in preparation, Umno bigwigs have to posture and be as aggressively Malay as their rabid imaginations allow.

In pursuit of such goals, they are willing to step on anyone’s heads - including or especially their BN allies. Nobody cares if social tensions are created or communal ties are strained. To most politicians, only one thing matters - obtaining and maintaining power.

Secondly, the establishment has taken very close to heart the implications of GE13, as they understand them. Most likely, they read what has happened through very simple, reductionist and Mahathirist eyes - the Chinese and the urbanites have turned against us; we must strengthen our base by punishing them.

It would be foolish of us to think that the real puppet masters are in the least bit sincerely concerned about religion or things like that. I concur that almost by definition, religions cannot be insulted or offended, only their adherents. Instead, the puppet masters (like the very best Internet trolls) push these issues precisely because they know it will ferment division - division they plan very carefully to use to their advantage.

In the wake of the school shower room canteen scandal, one comment seemed to stick in my head. The comment said something about how this was the product of decades of Biro Tatanegara National Civics Bureau or BTN).

I think the spirit of this comment rings true. Many of us may have jumped too early to conclusions in the Seri Pristana scandal. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it may not always be worth a thousand accurate words.

Nevertheless, it may be noteworthy how many of us considered it entirely plausible that the entire episode did stem from some sort of religious bigotry on the part of the school’s officials. Perhaps you, too, have heard of as many cases of low-intensity bigotry in our schools and government institutions.

When government servants are subject to the hateful poisons that one hears about in BTN indoctrinations, perhaps we should not be surprised.

It sometimes feels like there is an entire generation of government staff that are being taught by BTN and similar institutions to hate and look down on others.

Perhaps the kneejerk “this is insulting us and our communities!” reactions from some authorities are a function of this attitude, coupled with a siege mentality and/or retaliatory instincts towards what they see as antagonistic “others” post GE13.

So what do we do?

It has been pointed out, not wrongly, that articles such as this merely preach to the choir. I accept such criticism.

Less as a justification and more as a contextualisation, I offer the following thoughts.

I share the view that politics is at the heart of our problems. It is not the be all and end all, but it is a core issue. I also share the view that replacing BN is the first and foremost step towards national healing.

I do not believe that the next general election, however, will be decided on issues such as the headline grabbers of the last few weeks.

This is merely my opinion, and I could be wrong. Some will say it is issues like the usage of Allah by non-Muslims and so on that cost PAS many crucial votes in the rural areas - that heartland from which Umno undoubtedly gained their ability to cling on to federal power.

I disagree, however. There is insufficient space here to elaborate at length, but I feel that Pakatan’s inability to penetrate the rural heartland has less to do with ideology and national issues, and more to do with a failure to exemplify a true culture of long term service to rural inhabitants. Politically motivated (read: bad) and excessively late naming of candidates is likely to have been another reason.

Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) and similar welfare services could well have won BN the throne, and if Pakatan will continue to be distracted and fails to engage and compete on that field, I believe we will not see any significant change in the electoral landscape.

To answer the original question, I think it falls to those of us who live in what might be considered Pakatan’s strongest bases of support to push for a more intelligent, strategic approach and investment of resources towards the ultimate goal of changing Malaysia.

We can and should continue to speak out with the voice of reason wherever and whenever we can, but I do not believe we will achieve our larger goals by being continuously trolled by unending sideshows of hate. The battle for Malaysia lies elsewhere.