Chinese and Indian students are denied places in universities even with entrance qualifications others would drool over. The prime minister says unfilled bumiputra quota seats would be given them; no, says the education minister, and insists the matter closed.

Umno gets into the controversy to demand that bumiputras, however poor their grade, must be given preference over non-bumiputras with grades others drool over.

Puteri Umno members should be no older than 35. But the leader Umno had in mind, was 38. The rules had to be altered after it was announced.

Umno would root out money politics. Those found guilty of winning Umno positions with money are automatically forgiven.

The Kedah mentri besar says an executive councillor found guilty of seducing votes with money and barred for six years can remain in office since he is a valuable man whose continued help he needs.

The list goes on. In every instance, second guessing confused and complicated the issue. It did not matter what. It has become the practice not to consult with those who ought to be consulted before important decisions are taken.

Anti-national

The government insists that since it represents four-fifths of Malaysia's parliamentary constituencies, it knows what the public wants. Any who questioned it, is anti-national and worse.

But this refusal to consult, is what is wrong in Malaysian society today. Laws, regulations, policies are rammed down the throats of an increasingly sceptical Malaysia, laws which would have been readily accepted if the people had been consulted.

Even in Parliament, this consultation is a thing of the past. The prime minister would not consult with the leader of the opposition over future legislation. Important legislation is sprung upon the House and rushed through, often, on certificates of urgency, with little time for discussion or consultation.

We are the government, we have the majority, we can do what we like - put, of course, in genteel parliamentary language - is how this is justified.

When this is how the government conducts its affairs, especially when it is arrogant to boot, the chasm between the rulers and the ruled widens, the consequent anger it builds up against those in whose name these laws are forced upon their throats is masked because it is hidden.

But it did not start out thus. When the Alliance was returned in 51 of 52 constituencies in the 1955 Legislative Council elections, the chief minister and Umno president, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, adhered to one unalterable principle: He consulted them on every major decision and deferred it if either or both had qualms about it. And he adhered to this scrupulously.

The MCA and MIC presidents then assumed this gave them power over their flock, misunderstanding to this day that they cannot be party presidents, owing their positions to the Umno president and not their rank and file.

But it also meant that to remain in power they had to keep the Umno president in good humour. And gave up the ghost.

Racial riots

The May 1969 racial riots shocked the MCA president, Tan Siew Sin, to take the party out of the government. Abdul Razak Hussein, who succeeded the Tunku, firmed Umno's control in its wake, turned the Malaysian government into a Malay-dominated one, with all policy-making ministries denied to the non-Malays.

Until 1970, finance and commerce, and industry were MCA appointees. No more after that.

Abdul Razak's administration nevertheless managed its dramatic constitutional and political changes only after consulting its coalition partners, which in the meanwhile had become the National Front and with more than 10 coalition partners. But the non-Malay partners had no clout nor the inclination to make themselves heard.

Hussein Onn, who succeeded Abdul Razak, tried to return the consultations to status quo ante, making sure that non-Malay issues were brought in the cabinet by their representatives.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth prime minister, would not allow an apposite view, removing cabinet ministers who questioned his dictates, and made no pretense of even consulting his cabinet when major decisions are made.

This seeped down, and cabinet ministers often are shocked when Mahathir announces cabinet decisions before they are discussed. But no one challenges it, and it continues unabated. When it can no longer do that, as now, it is too late.

It has become the norm. Cabinet ministers announce policies and decisions. Only now they are challenged more vocally than in the past.

So when consultations are needed most for a harmonious Malaysian society, it is absent. What should have been discussed behind closed doors, sans the rhetoric and the public confrontation, is a thing of the past.

Anger explodes

When the Chinese non-governmental organisation (NGO), Suqiu, was accused in public for a view it had expressed in private to a government-appointed committee, the fat was on the fire. It became a political issue in which the Malay and Chinese communities took opposite views.

And so in every case. When communities take to the streets, the pent-up anger explodes with it. What happened at Petaling Jaya Selatan is but one example.

It was quickly nipped in the bud, but when the Klang Valley has some 60 cancerous Kampung Medans on its underbelly, it is not one that would disappear, especially when they are constricted at the behest of political and commercial exploitation.

Nothing on the horizon suggests a change is on the way. If anything, these public questions steel the government into undemocratic ways. The recent Internal Security Act (ISA) arrests are but one sign. What makes it worse is that the Malay-dominant government is questioned.

However you look at it, Umno has looked upon Malaysia, especially after the 1969 race riots, as a Malay government with a smattering of non-Malay support. There was the Chinese world and the Indian world, who would be tolerated so long as they accepted Malay hegemony and behaved as guests.

But the Chinese and Indians have established native roots. And the Malay world scrambles to react. If it had done all this after due consultations and discussions, it would not be in the boat it is in.