I came across a fantastic interview in the Sun, an interview between one of the reporters, Zainon Ahmad and Dr. Farish A. Noor. Much of what he says makes a whole lot of sense (because I agree with him? perhaps so). You can read it here.
What I do disagree with him is his unqualified support for what he refers to as the “subaltern”. I think he’d agree that the governing of a nation is not merely the marshalling of its resources, but the husbandry of the social sphere of Malaysian life. And that husbandry means the managing of expectations of a diverse community of individuals.
Unfortunately, to insist on a variagated community of individuals pressed into the belief of each others’ alterity is an ideal that, currently, will find no purchase amongst the really conservative; and it can be frightening how conservative the majority of Malaysians can be.
I’m quite certain Dr Noor doesn’t exist in a rarified vacuum divorced from the aspirations, wishes and beliefs of Malaysians outside the more cosmopolitan concentrations of people.
Legislation allowing the expression of alternative lifestyles and such would find much opposition not only amongst politicians but also the people; to move this fast in this direction can be politically hazardous.
I sometimes wonder if the State should be a gestalt of the people or if the State must find itself in the position to mould the people after its own image and ideologies. The latter may not be too difficult to do; after all, the repressive regime under which we live is proof enough of that. But how else to balance the aspirations of the people with the State’s vision for the people?
Anyway, it’s fuzzy thinking on my part.
While I think that some of his prescriptions are unrealistic, I do agree with them as ideals in and of themselves. His discussion on the islamization of the political arena in response to the perceived threat of PAS, in parallel with the race-based politics in the current milieu is interesting, and I’ve had discussions on the very subject with friends over the course of some years; on those occasions, I found myself discussing it in the context of Singapore (where I studied) rather than in the context of Malaysia.
Nevertheless, the problem has always been somewhat similar. In the case of Singapore, we have on the one hand Singaporean Malays who as a community have become shut off from the normative discourse of society due in part to a conscious or unconscious decision to remain differentiated from the Chinese population, perceived as the dominant (and most times repressive) other. It could be argued that the professed siege mentality adopted by the ruling elite reinforces this view (that Singapore is an alien nation bounded by hordes of muslim malays); but that’s another discussion altogether.
On the other hand, in Malaysia, we have a similar situation arising. The Malay man on the street will allude to Chinese possessive-ness and greed as explanations for their economic superiority, and will harbour feelings of resentment over being seen to kowtow to the Chinese in any regard; they feel themselves economically threatened. It’s probably this sort of inferiority complex that gave birth to the NEP, no matter what others may say to the contrary.
But the similarity between both communities — the Chinese in Singapore and the Malays in Malaysia — is that both feel under siege for some reason or another. The Chinese in Singapore are made to believe that they are, militarily, constantly under threat of invasion, or just an ambiguous threat per se (which would be more insidious). The Malays in Malaysia feel themselves under economic threat from local Chinese, on the other hand.
(I must admit: this is how I view it)
What’s frustrating, however, is how both communities have couched their socio-political differences in reference to, or in retaliation to, a perception of the other born out of their own fears.
*****
On a decidedly more hilarious note, I spent the day doing next to nothing. I felt a twinge of guilt, but that was quickly subdued by the dastardly broadside launched straight from the boss’ computer terminal.
He sent out a strongly worded mail warning all 6 recipients that it was illegal to solicit business on the side and to look out for spam… attaching a private conversation between an ex-staff and a business concern in the US about opening up a franchise of said business in Malaysia.
I’m sure the email was vaguely informational, but the entertainment value of the foregoing conversation was hilarious not because it was hilarious, you understand. It was dead funny because the boss seemed to be getting back at someone who wasn’t there anymore.
It was only later that I was informed that the email was intended to smoke out informers and such. So very Tintin these spygames. Sheesh, I feel like they’ve put me in diapers!
