MALAYSIANS KINI | Due to his championing of Islamic consumerism and Malay rights, Malaysian Muslim Consumers’ Association (PPIM) activist leader Nadzim Johan has often been labelled ‘racist’ and ‘extremist’.

However, his life experience is definitely not as mono-cultural as one would expect.

For one, the 56-year-old studied at Chinese schools for both his primary and secondary education and is fluent in Mandarin. And it didn’t just stop there. He is proud of the fact that all his eight children studied at Chinese schools.

And due to intermarriage, the man who hails from the Malay heartland of Kelantan but grew up in Kuala Lumpur has Chinese nephews and nieces.

Nadzim did his diploma in law on a part-time basis because he felt that studying alone was a “waste of time”. Later joining the world of business, at the tender age of 24, he was able to rent a whole floor of a building for his office.

But like what people say, life has its ups and downs. He hit rock bottom after he was cheated by his business partner. But Nadzim managed to pick himself up from scratch thereafter.

Like many Malaysians, despite the inter-cultural connections and kinships, Nadzim has not managed to free himself from looking at just about everything through the racial lens, relying heavily on ethnic stereotypes and cultural generalisations.

But unlike those who keep such feelings under wraps, his being in the limelight means his actions and motivations come under more scrutiny.

Nadzim said his fighting on the issue of Bahasa Malaysia had led him to be labeled a racist but he insists this was due to a lack of understanding on the part of his critics.

Here is his story, in his own words:

I HAVE CHINESE FRIENDS AND CHINESE IN-LAWS , I also have Malay enemies. My sister is married to a Chinese man so I have Chinese nieces and nephews; there’s nothing wrong with this.

It (promoting the use of Bahasa) was not about defending the importance of the Malay language. Rather, it was just about having a language that everyone understands. It’s not fair how some Chinese cannot speak Malay. Yes, the Malays have their weaknesses too. They have their problems so it’s hard for them to earn respect. The Chinese are more cautious; you have to earn their respect.

Many Muslims don’t follow the teachings of Islam, they don’t hold on to their promises. So if you want to earn respect, you must start with the good things.

I THINK LANGUAGE IS A BARRIER . If I were the minister of education, I’d make it compulsory for everybody to learn Mandarin and Tamil, even French or Arabic. Some successful people can speak eight or nine languages. We should not limit the capacity God has given us. We should try (to learn languages) and that promotes relationship. It is silly of us not to learn.

The minute you learn a language, you’ll learn its history. By learning its culture, it will give you a wider perspective.

I HAVE HAD PLENTY OF ADVANTAGES DUE TO KNOWING MANDARIN . In my younger days, my father always brought me to Kuala Lumpur to buy things, because when I speak Mandarin, we will get discounts. But I don’t blame (the Chinese for giving discounts to people who can speak Mandarin). Because you have some kind of affection for those people who know you better. As far as I'm concerned, if you know the language, you’ll get more advantage.

INTERMARRIAGES SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED . This (intermarriage) hasn’t happened because some of our leaders were not clever enough. They should have proposed this openly. This way, people can be drawn closer to one another. Politicians should have taken advantage of this (intermarriage).

The problem with some people is that they find it hard even to smile and that is an attitude problem. Along the way, we have created many unnecessary culture - such as we don’t help each other out. But we have to start somewhere, so we should at least start with a smile. Many government officers find it hard to smile; maybe their lips are glued shut together.

I AM WORRIED ABOUT RACE RELATIONS IN THE COUNTRY . It’s something that must be fixed. Every Malaysian is duty-bound to do something. Bad relationships won’t do any good to any of us. Malays have been weak in so many issues. When we are weak, we can’t be at par with others and then we become envious. The biggest problem of the Malays is our hearts.

If we put rubbish in our hearts, then it’s rubbish (coming) out. We must go back to good qualities like siddiq (truthfulness) and amanah (trustworthiness). If we can train ourselves to have those qualities, we will achieve strength.

THERE ARE A LOT OF ‘RE-ENGINEERING JOBS’ THAT NEED TO BE DONE . Everybody has got to play a role in this social re-engineering. In terms of health, our health is really threatened because of what we eat. By the time we are in our 30s, some get high blood pressure or become diabetic. The trend is to go to the hospital and then to keep on visiting the hospital; in the end, we use a wheelchair.

By the time a person is 70, he or she is almost useless. If you take care of your health properly, you can startle a nation, yes, like Dr Mahathir (Mohamad). We must live life to the fullest. I don't know where we went wrong; we have 2.5 million drug addicts. How is it possible for that to happen? Re-engineering must be done if we want to live a happy nation.

We have placed consumerism in boot of car, laments PPIM chief

 

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