YOURSAY | ‘Rafidah, this is 50 years too late, but as they say, better late than never.’

Malays stuck in 'time warp', says Rafidah

SteveOh: The 'Iron Lady' of Malaysia should know what she is talking about. Sometimes one can only say things when one is no longer in the confines of an institution, like the government.

Many other accomplished Malays have uttered or written with similar sentiments but the all-important question is: What can they do about it? I doubt very much besides venting their pent-up frustrations.

Outside of the seat of political power, no one can change a system that, like a strangling fig which once gave shelter but now outgrows its purpose, threatens to destroy all in its strangulating grip and shadow.

The Malay intelligentsia must leave their small ambitions and personality clashes aside and unite with the non-Malays to change the status quo and the cancerous system.

Who will be the ones to rise to the occasion and rally the true believers? Instead we read about Zaid Ibrahim writing off Anwar Ibrahim when many would not. Throwing away lifebuoys when the ship sinks is not clever thinking.

Pemerhati: Former minister Rafidah Aziz said, “Even if we got nothing ‘up here’ (brains), we are special! It is the nurturing. We (Malays) are privileged.”

The nurturing of the Malays was deliberately done by Rafidah and her Umno colleagues to impress the Malays so as to get their votes and stay in power.

Most of the Umno leaders then used their power to take billions belonging to Malaysians, the majority of whom are Malays. They also implemented racist policies by filling up the public service and education institutions with a lot of substandard and incompetent Malay officers and teachers.

Consequently, the standards in these institutions dropped sharply. The Malays now get a lousy education and the graduates are viewed with suspicion as a large number of low calibre students have been given degrees.

The situation can be easily reversed by treating all Malaysians fairly and embracing meritocracy. But the Umno leaders feel that if they do that, they might lose power and hence their turn at pocketing billions.

Proarte: Rafidah, this is 50 years too late, but as they say better late than never to tell Malays the truth about themselves.

The Malay as a homogenous racial or cultural grouping does not exist in reality. The Malay Malaysian is in reality an elaborate colonial political construct whose purpose facilitated the British control of this region.

In multi-racial 'Malaya' it was a means to divide and rule and Umno has abused this construct to plunder the nation and in the process economically, educationally and psychologically shackle and maim the people who have been defined as 'Malays'.

The British development of Malaya, although entrepreneurial in purpose, was based on good governance, integrity and the rule of law.

Umno has quickly moved away from this and focused mainly on the entrepreneurial aspect and abused the constitution and developed a racist and bigoted narrative characterised by 'Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam'. They have taken 'divide and rule' to ridiculous levels that it has come to destroy the nation, with the average Malay being the main victim.

If Rafidah had any integrity, she should apologise for her prominent and illustrious role in promoting this mindset and being a loyal poodle to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It would appear that Rafidah is also a victim of this mindset. She and her family were allegedly beneficiaries of the AP (approved permit) scheme, which exemplified the worse aspects of this immoral 'nurturing'.

No one in Umno under the Mahathir regime, which includes Rafidah and Anwar Ibrahim, is qualified to lecture on 'good universal values such as integrity, trustworthiness, responsibility, accountability, and respect for others' because through their actions, inactions and policies, they have created the ideal conditions for the Najib regime to survive and to even thrive.

Spirit of Malaya: Agreed, that Rafidah was part of the system and so was Anwar. But there comes a time when you got to put your foot down and say that two wrongs don’t make a right.

The race to be more religious than your neighbour had crept in slowly but surely over the years and is now very clearly evidenced in government-run schools and departments. Anyone who is seen as non-conforming to the "norm" is singled out and harassed until he or she is seen to be "religiously acceptable" - wearing a tudung is one of them.

One's ability to perform at the workplace has taken a back seat while productivity is an alien word. In fact, the race to look and feel like an Arab is so overwhelming that in another 20 years, Malaysia shall be a Southeast Asian Arab nation.

The Malays are so obsessed to dress up and feel like Arabs, but the Arabs, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered with the Malay culture.

Septuaman: You're sounding like a broken record, Rafidah. One Umno leader after another has said the same thing but still the crutches are being handed out.

All this talk about ‘maruah Melayu’ is of no use if the Malays have not got a sense of shame in their DNA.

Decades from now, the same rubbish will be uttered because there is no will and resolve on the part of Malay leaders to do something concrete about this malady. Talk is cheap they say, and I agree.

Clever Voter: To be fair, not all Malays are caught in a time warp. It is Umno and its friends that believe that their privileges and power are god-sent, permanent and sacred.

Why not dismantle the discriminatory system, redraw the electoral constituencies, and withdraw the seven percent discount on home purchase?

Behaviour will start to change once you increase the system of self-reliance, and self-confidence will naturally follow. History tells you that those early immigrants have nothing initially but many survived, if not prospered, over the generations.

Ipoh Pp: But honestly why should the Malays work when everything is provided for by the government. Rafidah, the day they are born they are told they are special and all others around - Indians, Chinese and others - are second class.

They are masters and it’s their right to special privileges in education, scholarships and jobs. They don't have to perform yet they will be rewarded. The fault lies with the government.

Luckily today, some Malays can see the mistakes made and trying to help to open the eyes of their community.

Swipenter: Disband BTN (Biro Tatanegara). Stop sending young Malay scholars to the Middle East. Send them to Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Malays have been Arabised at the expense of their own culture and uniqueness. Many Malays are lost and confused. They cannot differentiate religion from culture so they ape the Arabs to look holier than thou.

Anonymous 560221439180274: I accept the part where Rafidah said that the Arabs have no intention of becoming Malays.

The Malays, of five decades ago, took pride in being themselves, with men dressed in simple baju melayu and women in sarong kebaya for religious or cultural events.

The Arab way of dressing never existed then. This new culture was started by PAS and it is slowly catching up with the majority of Malays.

I like the attitude of the Chinese: despite many being Christians, they never fail to celebrate Chinese New Year. They have a clear understanding of what is religious and what is cultural.

Anonymous_1371806840: I have a simple question for you. So, what are you going to do about it? You were a part of the regime that perpetuated this thinking. Are you prepared to go into our kampung to tell the common folk what they need to know?

How their children have been left far, far behind by the crutches the likes of you have provided for years and years? Or are you just a ‘jaguh bandar’ who will talk big in the city but dare not venture into the villages to convince the people who really matter of what they need to do to turn this country around?

As a fourth generation Malaysian, I am telling you – walk the talk!

XED: She who had benefited unfairly from the NEP (New Economic Policy) is now preaching otherwise.

The truly needy and deserving bumiputera have been exploited by a tiny, wealthy, influential and already privileged sub-class within the bumiputera class which continues to take the lion's share of the goodies for itself.

When will those bumiputera who have eaten so much declare that they will no longer seek the benefits meant for the truly needy and deserving bumiputera?

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