Okay, a video was made in which a group of Malaysians of various ethnicities and faiths refused to say all the racist things against others. It went viral and many urbanites greeted it as if a new dawn had eventually descended on Malaysia after decades of dark night.

Good effort, no doubt, but to what extent is it representative of Malaysia in general?

Some may have indeed shed tears watching this, but I truly wonder if none of us have ever uttered a racist word against other communities in the comfort of our private home or amongst close friends.

I am quite troubled by the fact that many feel so easily encouraged by this video. But those in it are urbanites who may interact with others on a regular basis, which has taught them a thing or two about how to be politically correct.

Or they may genuinely be fair-minded Malaysians who, on account of their personal experience, earnestly believe racial profiling or generalisation is dangerous and detrimental to the country and are, hence, adamant that no racist remark should be tolerated.

Be that as it may, one must not overlook the fact that when faced with people that we don’t know well, we may not be comfortable enough to speak our mind.

Can we therefore be absolutely certain that there was a strong trust between the interviewer and the interviewee in the video for it to be genuinely meaningful?

I noticed in the video that some would say, "I can't say it" (the racist statement), but it can also mean "I agree but I just can't say it because it is politically incorrect", or simply "don't try to get me into trouble… you know this is Malaysia right?"

In other words, their refusal to repeat the racist statement cannot be arbitrarily taken to mean they can't say it for a morally conscious reason, unless more time was given for them to elaborate on why they felt it inappropriate to do so, which the video has failed to do.

Testing the ground

The real test is to take it to the rural areas, like Teluk Intan, where a significant number of Chinese voters may have rejected Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud ( left in photo ) last May due to her ethnic background or to the kampung where Mahathirist racism remains influential.

Or you put a few Chinese together and let them talk about the issue of race in a dialect that others may not understand and see if they would refrain from stereotyping others five minutes into the conversation.

I used to have a Kelantanese colleague who, despite her Chinese origin, grew up speaking Malay like a native speaker. Her Malay is so authentically Kelantanese that her Malay friends hardly see her as Chinese but as oghe Kelate (Kelantanese). She would share with me some of the racial stereotypes the Malays had about the Chinese and I would, in turn, confirm which among them were accurate and which were not. It was good fun, really.

Which is why Marina Mahathir, the self-styled ‘social activist’, can pretend to repeat all the right things 1,000 times, only to be undermined by just one racist remark from her father. After all, her beloved papa is still the mastermind behind all the racist plots in Malaysia

Talking about Mahathir ( right ), the senile man again lashed out at the Malays for being ‘lazy” and “lacking integrity”. To prove that the Malays are not trustworthy, he even cited his own experience of having to sack his managers because they had taken “some money on the side”.

Now, I can see many non-Malay netizens having a field day deriding the Malays following Mahathir’s scathing and racist remark. I thought many had been so moved by the 'How Racist Are Malaysians' clip just a few days ago?

Be fair, people. If you agree with Mahathir that the Malays are lazy and lack integrity, you must also accept his view that the Chinese are greedy and the Indians dominate the professional fraternities. Otherwise, you only expose your hypocrisy in that you are fine with his racism against the Malays but not when it is directed at you.

But who is Mahathir to tell the Malays how to conduct themselves ethically when he himself as prime minister had used public monies for his own purposes anyway?

I quote ‘ Economic Crises and Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Indonesia and Malaysia in Comparative Perspective’ by Thomas Pepinsky, an associate professor at Cornell University:

“Petronas, the national petroleum firm, purchased and injected cash into other Umno associates… Perhaps most egregious was the use of Petronas funds to support Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad, a shipping company that was majority-owned by Mahathir’s first son Mirzan, through an indirect set of transactions.”

Rent-seekers benefit

But Mirzan was not the only son of Mahathir who benefitted from his father’s long and autocratic rule. On June 22, 1999, Singapore’s reported that “the privatisation of hospital support services for the southern region was awarded to Tongkah Medivest Sdn Bhd, in which Mokhzani ( right ), Mahathir’s second son, had a 13.19 percent stake”.

Yes, Mahathir may for 22 years have failed to change the fate of the Malay community but he has no doubt successfully enriched his own family and a good number of Umno cronies, including many of the Chinese and Indian tycoons!

Mahathir should therefore be more precise in his criticism of the Malays. He should make it clear that it is Umnoputras who are addicted to rent-seeking economic activities and get-rich-quick schemes afforded by the party, which are responsible for their utter lack of integrity.

To cover up Umno’s and his own failings, Mahathir can only resort to tarring the entire Malay community with the same brush and condemning them to racial stigma, a devious tactic that he has been successfully employed time and time again.

Sadly, many non-Malays are easily hoodwinked by Mahathir’s racism against the Malays and quick to dance to his racist tune, thereby deepening communal distrust. So much for Malaysian decency!

I am not quite sure if Marina, too, has shed tears watching the video. No need to cry, lah, datin paduka. Just show it to your dad and see if he would agree. Lagi best, I would say.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.