The opinions of BlueRider and Arbibi Ashoy share much in common as regards to the desirability of treating different people differently - that is, the former according to their racial origins, and the latter according to their professed religious affiliations.
Other civilised countries make strenuous efforts to avoid any hint of differential treatment according to race, religion, language or culture. But it seems a significant segment of the Malaysian population believes it is appropriate to treat fellow citizens differently according to differing ethnic origins.
It may interest some readers to know that a significant number of people support the idea that it is perfectly normal, and morally justifiable to treat fellow citizens differently according to their ethnicity.
These people include the Serbians under Milosevic and Karadzic, the White Afrikaners in the old apartheid South Africa, failed Australian politicians such as Pauline Hanson, and BJP-RSS hardliners such as LK Advani.
In short quite a lot of people support the idea of ethnic subordination although I must confess, I find it odious and repulsive. People like Bluerider and Arbibi Ashoy are therefore not entirely alone in their thoughts and moral deliberations although they might not be entirely comfortable with their ideological bedfellows.
I do not think any right-thinking Malaysian citizen would object to the idea of special rights protecting those who are vulnerable to socio-economic hardships in their midst.
The problem with affirmative action programmes is that they throw up an entirely new set of dilemmas that tend to sabotage the original purpose of affirmative action - that is, equal opportunity for all.
This means that hard working or talented poor would have the same opportunities for making a great success of themselves as the hard working and talented rich. Regardless of ethnic background.
I believe the implementation of massively aggressive affirmative action programmes like the NEP in Malaysia will cause problems for ethnic Malays in the future.
Many Malaysians of all races support the aims of the NEP but many would be uncomfortable with the way it has been implemented. The beneficiaries of affirmative action are often not the most disadvantaged, nor the most needy individuals in our midst.
Generally it is the bumiputera middle and upper-classes that benefit from affirmative action. The bumi poor do not benefit proportionately. Of course, the non-bumi taxpayers whether in upper, middle or the lower-classes are excluded from the programme altogether.
Should I accept a government scholarship or grant or university placement or job promotion purely on the basis of my ethnicity (race, culture, language, religion) knowing that ethnic others who may be more needy and disadvantaged have been excluded precisely on the basis of their ethnicity? This would place me in a serious moral dilemma.
The mere existence of a massive social programme of ethnically determined benefits might reinforce negative perceptions about my own abilities - that is, the NEP if implemented in a faulty manner might end up entrenching an inferiority complex in its recipients.
If I were to seriously believe that I am destined to lose in any competition for upward mobility - whether socially, financially, career-wise or educationally - with ethnic others, then I might decide at some point that I may as well not even try. An inferiority complex is a damaging, punishing obstacle to personal success.
Secondly, receiving such benefits might provide a hidden incentive to remain the underdog and blunt my motivation to become top dog. In other words, the NEP may sabotage its original objectives by providing incentives for not becoming self-reliant. The hidden insidious damaging message here is that affirmative action and NEP will do for me what I cannot do for myself.
Third, the worst of possible scenario occurs when I am tempted by unscrupulous ethnic politicians to believe that 'they owe us'. The truth of the matter is that historical injustices, real or imagined, excuse little.
No affirmative action programme in the present can make up for the incalculable pain and suffering of a people in the historical past. This would be so even if there were actual historical injustices in Malaysia equivalent to the anti-Chinese legislation in Canada, the White Australia policies, black slavery in the US or apartheid in South Africa,
Umno-sponsored academics and spin doctors justify present ethnic-based policies by a short- sighted crude rewriting of official Malaysian history replete with 'historical injustices' but with little regard for a balanced view. This may be more damaging than anyone ever anticipated to its intended ethnic beneficiaries.
The only way out for any of us is to look forward to the future. If ever I came to believe that ethnic others were to 'owe' me anything and that I need not exert myself to my utmost simply because of my 'special position', then disaster would have already have struck and blighted my future irreparably.
I cannot think of a more crippling notion than that anyone anywhere owes me a living. We are thus stuck in a dilemma. The implementation of the NEP has in many ways sabotaged its original objectives.
Racial hegemony and dominance is not the same as racial development. The former can be legislated and manufactured. The latter is always hard-earned.
I do not suggest an end to the NEP which I believe has served a useful purpose thus far. I certainly believe there is a place for affirmative action in Malaysia in spite of all its prickly difficulties and inherent contradictions.
Nevertheless, the continued redistribution of state resources and wealth along purely ethnic lines may risk doing more harm than good to both givers and takers - that is, to all of us. It risks demeaning both bumis and non-bumis particularly if conducted in utter disregard to the social and economic status of its contributors and recipients.
I contend that the NEP in its present form may have done considerable harm already and may benefit from some thoughtful modifications in the near future.
