Is it time yet?

April 18th, 2007 gier Posted in Book Reviews, Mentera Moden, Politics | 1 Comment »

A month or so ago, I promised Farish Noor that I’d write a review on Tun Dr. Ismail’s biography, “The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr. Ismail and His Time” by Dr. Ooi Kee Beng. Obviously, I haven’t written it yet, because it ain’t on OtherMalaysia.org. Anyhow, in the meantime, my favourite online comic’s published a review by Sharon Siddique. Mr. Jeff Ooi, esq. also covered the book in his own inimitable style, by not actually reviewing the book per se (on account of not actually having fully read it). Rocky mentioned another blogger, Pak Idrus who also made a review of the book from a more personal angle, having known the great man.

Like many people, I started reading the excerpts of the book in the New Sunday/Straits Times (which you can find wholesale (copyright violating) copies of on Malaysia-today.net). From reading the excerpts, I couldn’t wait to get the whole book and I must say that it is not a disappointment. Pending the review on othermalaysia.org (which I may never write, because I’m a lazy fart), all I can say is if you haven’t read the book yet, go get it. It’s quite readable, even if you’re not a bookworm.

Now, one of the most revealing things from the book is Tun Dr. Ismail’s view with regards to the Special Position of the Malays, where during the pre-independence discussions Tun Dr. Ismail noted, on page 82-83:

The Special Position of the Malays

This proved a less intractable problem because the leaders of the Alliance realised the practical necessity of giving the Malays a handicap if they were to compete on equal terms with the other races. The only point of controversy was the duration of the ’special position’ — should there be a time limit or should it be permanent? I made a suggestion which was accepted, that the question be left to the Malays themselves, because I felt that as more and more Malays became educated and gained self-confidence, they themselves would do away with this ’special position’ because in itself this ’special position’ is a slur on the ability of the Malays and only to be tolerated because it is necessary as a temporary measure to ensure their survival in the modern competitive world: a world to which only those in the urban areas had been exposed.

The author wrote after, that “… What is striking is Ismail’s belief that the Malays would do the right thing in the long run, …”.

Further on in the book, covering the aftermath of 13th May, 1969, we see again Tun Dr. Ismail’s view on Malay rights in the speech he gave on television on 2nd August 1969. Excerpts of the speech was inserted by the author as so (page 207):

Without this special provision, the Malays at this stage cannot hope to hold their own against other communities in normal competition. This is a fact that cannot be denied. I am confident that with the passage of time, the Malays will be quite capable of meeting the non-Malays in normal competition without the special position (Siaran Akhbar PEN.8/69/22).

and again (page 215):

[The Malays] must be the judges to determine whether or not the special position is no longer necessary for their survival. Any other course would certainly provoke internal disorder — perhaps of a much bigger dimension than the disturbances of May the 13th (Siaran Akhbar PEN.8/69/22).

and also again (page 217):

The special privilege or position accorded to the Malays under the Constitution is mainly intended to enable them — to borrow an expression from the game of golf — “to have a handicap”, which would place them in a position for a fair competition with better players. Therefore, like a golfer, it should not be the aim of the Malays to perpetuate this handicap but to strive to improve their game, and thereby reducing, and finally removing, their handicap completely (Siaran Akhbar PEN.8/69/22).

Further on, in a separate speech given to the National Consultative Council (NCC) in February, 1970, Tun Dr. Ismail said (page 225):

I regard the Special Position of the Malays as a handicap given to the Malays with the consent of all the other races who have become citizens of this country so as to enable the Malays to compete on equal footing for equal opportunities in this country. That and that alone is the only aim of the Special Position of the Malays. But unfortunately the Malays themselves have tended to give the impression consciously or unconsciously that the Special Position of the Malays is a sign that the Malays are placed superior to the other races in the country. The biggest mistake that the Malays made of course was to coin the term “Bumiputra” because this term tended to convey an entirely different meaning to what was intended for the Special Position of the Malays. By coining “Bumiputra” the non-Malays suspected the Malays of wanting to classify themselves as first-class citizens while they were relegated to second-class (Letters 23 February 1970).

So, in three separate occasions, 1956, 1969 and 1970, Tun Dr. Ismail gave his opinion with regards to the Special Position of the Malays. To me, these are the salient points:

• The Special Position of the Malays is a handicap given to the Malays to help them us compete.
• This Special Position is a slur on the ability of the Malays — in other words, the Special Position is an embarrassment, and not something to be proud of.
• Coining the term Bumiputra is, to him, one of the biggest mistakes the Malays ever made.
• He believes that when the time comes, the Malays themselves ourselves will ask for the Special Position to be removed.

And therefore, the questions that the we Malays should ask, often and consistently, until we don’t need to ask them anymore is:

Is it time yet? Can we now remove this slur on our abilities and compete on a level playing field? Are there now enough Malays out there to ask these questions? Are there now enough Malays out there that are brave enough, strong enough, capable enough to cut through the Ketuanan Melayu shit and compete on level terms? Are there enough Malays out there who realise that “Malay” is just a construct and have no bearing on whether one is stupid, smart, pious, hedonistic, rich or poor?

Are we embarrassed enough yet?

There are, after all, no Special Ones. Apart from Jose Mourinho, that is. He’s Portuguese, so that doesn’t count.