Race relations - our bright shining lie

“Humans beings always do the most intelligent thing... after they’ve tried every stupid alternative and none of them have worked.”

- R Buckminster Fuller

It always goes something like this. An allegation that the DAP (Chinese) have asked for a DPM post (or some other such position) if the coalition of expediencies manage to win in the upcoming elections. Umno (Malay) uses it as a scare tactic to rile up Malay communal fears. The oppositional discourse is dominated by three responses to these provocations.

(1) Claim it is a lie.

This is normally true because -

(a) Umno propaganda organs have no trouble lying and

(b) Every non-Malay politician in this country neither represents a party based on egalitarian principles which official line is that any Malaysian regardless of race, religion or gender is a possible candidate for the highest office in the land nor does this non Malay politician desire to go against the official oppositional strategy of relying on Malay power-brokers to facilitate entry into the highest level of government.

Non-Malay political subservience is based on the possible threat of violence by the Umno Malay establishment. Syed Ali Alhabshee’s notion of “good traditions” and peaceful coexistence that has no basis in the Malaysian constitution is the kind of threat that dominates mainstream Malaysian politics in the guise of the social contract.

However the so-called realist school of thought “of this is just how things are” buttresses these threats and these pusillanimous anonymous charlatans infest social media, contributing to the big lie while trolling discussions of race and political power.

However these denials are also convenient because the Umno lie (of non-Malays wanting to subvert Malay political power) also makes it possible for non-Malay political power structures to abdicate their responsibility of living up to the egalitarian, non-racial principles they claim to have.

Let me put it this way. Can anybody point out where in the ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ agenda does it say that we are all Malaysians regardless of race, culture or religion except when it comes to the highest office in the land?

(2) Wonder why a non-Malay cannot fill the position.

This is rather a rather disingenuous position to take. It is disingenuous not because of any racial policies of Umno but rather there has never been with the exception of Harry Lee (Lee Kuan Yew, will always be Harry to me) an opposition which has advocated a truly Malaysian stand on this issue and consequences be damned.

Let me put it this way. If we had an opposition that actually advocated and put forward candidates for the highest office of the land, then we could ask why a non-Malay is not fit for such a role.

Since we do not have any such an opposition, since we subscribe to stratagems that are politically expedient, since we mock people as idealistic who advocate such an agenda, then we should just shut up and never ask such questions because we would rather hide behind the lie in (1) then actually do the work that would make our question in (2) legitimate.

(3) Wonder why race even matters.

In a country, where ‘race’ is embedded in the constitution. Where opposition parties have to bend over backwards not to appear as though they want to lead the country. Where racial politics dominates both political alliances, this rather absurd question often posed as a race-blind proposition, is in reality just another form of passive/aggressive bull manure.

If race really did not matter and only ‘clean’ competent governance did, then why not insist on political parties dismantling any kind of race-based policies, amending the constitution to remove any mention of race and rejecting communal political concerns of any kind. That is somewhat tough to do, right ?

Which brings me to what Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan said in his defence against accusations of racisms when it came to the whole DAP for DPM fiasco. He argued that how could he be “racist” when he does not want any big name Malay opposition politicians to be DPM either.