‘Equality’ missing in the vocabulary of Red Shirts

I refer to reports of the recent pro–Malay Red Shirt rally in Kuala Lumpur. The Red Shirts in the country have stepped onto dangerous ground by way of selective perception and reasoning, and the movement is a case of racism.

Equal concern for all is the sovereign virtue of a political community. If all citizens of a country are subject to this sovereign virtue, then there can be no pro-Malay, pro-Chinese or pro–X movement. No legitimate government fails to show equal concern for the fate of all its citizens, from whom it claims allegiance.

The theory of rights and duties is important in moral, political and legal philosophy. There are two principles of ethical individualism: First is the principle of equal importance, and second is the principle of special responsibility subject to all within the nation.

The Red Shirt movement not only thumbs its nose at the sovereign virtue, but also pays no heed to the principles of ethical individualism. There is no equality. Instead, there is dominance of one particular race over other races that constitute the nation.

The philosopher Ronald Dworkin argues that the two principles acting in concert are vital to fairness or equal concern for all citizens. Such equality is missing in the vocabulary of the demonstrators, who preach racial dominance over the other races in the nation. This goes against the grain of sovereign virtue, and more worryingly, places emphasis on the quintessence of a Malay master race.