When a Malay Dignity Congress in Malaysia is not really one

The major thrust of the Malay Dignity Congress over the weekend that was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and leaders from across the political divide was not so much about how Malays could dignify themselves in terms of development, eradication of poverty and achievements in science and technology.

It was basically no different from other Malay gatherings where the focus was on questioning the non-Malays and their challenge of the social contract, that the country belongs to the Malays and non-Malays should not exceed certain parameters.

This was the basic thrust of congress organiser Zainal Kling’s opening speech at the event. Coming from a former academic, I wonder what he taught his students.

I wonder how the non-Muslim natives of Sabah, Sarawak and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia would react to this xenophobic “intellectual” remark.

He even said the natives of Sabah, Sarawak and the Orang Asli are not entitled to the same rights as the Malays.

Dr Mahathir was as usual; he defended his role in the congress as a Malay.

In his speech, he elaborated that the congress was not aimed at attacking the Chinese or Indians, but aimed at Malay unity considering the various political splits.

Dr Mahathir might have missed the point that it was dignity and not a unity congress.

Anyway, knowing Dr Mahathir, it really doesn’t matter to him. For him, it was simply that Malays are now split into a number of political parties.

This is in essence disunity for him. There is only Malay unity when Malays are behind him and the political party he heads.

This is why he remarked that the opposition Barisan Nasional pact has better representation of Malays than the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

Beyond the presentations of Dr Zainal and Dr Mahathir, there were presentations on clusters such as the economy, education, culture, religion and others.

The speeches on clusters were pathetically racist, calling for leading posts to be filled by Malays, the removal of vernacular schools with the introduction of a single system of education,  enforcing Jawi script in schools and taking an uncompromising stand on Islam.

Actually there was no need for a dignity congress to address these concerns.

The congress as a whole hardly did justice to the question of Malay dignity. Why was it termed a dignity congress? What is the problem with the state of Malay dignity? What steps need to be taken to bring Malay dignity on par with other communities?

None of the above questions were addressed. The congress was about anything but dignity.

Even the political reconciliation gathering between the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia was not as racist as this dignity congress.

This congress, by going for racial baiting, lost all semblance of balance and decorum in addressing the Malay dignity question.

I would say that the congress lost all sense of dignity by reducing concerns of the Malays to the extremes of race and religion.

I expected that the dignity congress might be different from other race-bashing gatherings. I was terribly mistaken.

In a way I am sad that after more than 60 years of political independence, successive Malay leaders in Umno and now in PH are unable to go beyond the narrow racial and religious framework.

In an age where Malays should be guided and sustained to develop a competitive spirit, the leaders are taking them on a road to the bottom.

Non-Malays, Chinese and Indians are not the enemies of Malays. It is the irresponsible and corrupt Malay leaders who have taken Malays on the path of no-return.

Extreme and irresponsible racial and religious bashing of the non-Malays is not good for the Malays or for the country.

It is regrettable that some sections of the PH have joined the racial bashing bandwagon. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ramasamy Palanisamy is Deputy Chief Minister of Penang and a Democratic Action Party state legislative assemblyman for the seat of Perai in Penang.