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“It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”

- Noël Coward, ‘Blithe Spirit’

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said, “Just as there is a perception of discrimination amongst other communities, we also feel that maybe we are not that good because other communities are saying that, ‘Hey, you are here only because of the quota’.”

A couple of points so that we are all clear on a few issues involving this statement. Firstly, discrimination that the other communities feel is not a “perception”, it is a reality sustained by nebulous concepts such as the “social contract", distortions of the constitution and of course, the “ketuanan Melayu” ideology, which is the foundation of establishment - Umno and opposition - Malay politics.

Secondly, that “feeling” you get that the other communities are mocking whatever you achieve as “skin qualification" is not a feeling. It is a cold fact. Every time, everywhere a “Malay” achieves anything, there is always comments about how that achievement is based on race and not merit.

Now people may be politically correct and pay homage to concepts like “Bangsa Malaysia” and talk about affirmative action on a needs-based basis, but the reality is that it does not take much for people to express their real feelings about race relations in this country on social media platforms and under the anonymity that online discourse provides.

The youth and sports minister said that he wants Malays to compete on a level-playing field, but the problem with concepts like this and ideas like a “marketplace of ideas” is that they are not conducive to sustaining a hegemon. Mind you, this is not purely a Malaysian tragedy, nearly every country in the world struggles with these concepts but here in Malaysia, systemic inequality and racial supremacy is considered a “national security” issue.

This is why Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali is allowed to promulgate the narrative that Malay privilege and supremacy is a national security issue. Chiding the “Oxford graduate” he claimed, “It will create extremism, terrorism, if they are not treated well. This is what the Oxford graduate does not understand.”

What this merely means is that the ruling hegemon, through the aggrieved cottage industry of Malay “rights” advocates, will create situations where the minorities are reminded of their rightful place in the food chain and “extremism” and “terrorism” will be redefined as “the struggle” to retain and maintain Umno/Malay's rightful place in Malaysia.

This whole idea of Malay rights is not a question of policy but rather ideology that at least one Umno minister has claimed should go on forever. So Khairy may never see the day when everyone competes on a level-playing field because certainly not Umno, and ironically the opposition, wants to change this.

When Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh asks rather naively, “Is there an invisible hand preventing the poor from getting help, unless it is help authorised by Umno-BN?”, the answer to that is that there are no invisible hands but an overt policy to maintain ignorance and a handout culture so that the Malay polity will always be mindful of the hand that...

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