Thank you Mr Lee, but no thank you!

Minister Mentor of Singapore and former Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yuan recently caused a furore in Malaysia when he said that Chinese in the region are being marginalised. It is not hard how such a conclusion is reached. There are many recent examples in Malaysia.

1. When a Ministry is headed by an UMNO member with a non-UMNO member as his deputy, the latter is not the acting Minister when the former is away. Instead it is the Parliamentary Secretary, an UMNO member who acts the capacity. The reverse however is not true. When the only non-Malay Chief Minister, Tan Sri Koh is away, his deputy from UMNO will be the acting Chief Minister.

2. Prior to 1994, the KadazanDusun were in power under the Barisan National banner. This changed in 1994, when the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir proposed a power sharing scheme where the post of Chief Minister will be rotated among the Muslim Bumiputra (UMNO), the non-Muslim Bumiputra (KadazanDusun) and the Chinese. These was later slightly modified after the first 5-year term, to one where UMNO will have 2-term under the rotation system because "it is the biggest coalition partner in Sabah". Then in 2005, the take over of power from the largest ethnic group, the KadazanDusun, was complete when it was announced by the current Prime Minister Badawi that the rotation system will be aborted.

3. Recently in Penang, at the peak of the spat between Mahathir-Badawi-Khairy, the Chinese are again made the bogeyman. Khairy questioned about the marginalisation of the Malays in Penang. This was instantly followed up by calls for the rotation for the post of Chief Minister in Penang. Then come the demonstration and rebuff by UMNO members against the Chief Minister during an official opening of an UMNO division. This was followed by calls by both the PM and DPM for Tan Sri Koh to "be a leader for all Malaysians".

4. The New Economic Policy (NEP) and its subsequent replacements were drafted after the May 13 racial riot of 1969. This is an affirmative policy to help the Bumiputras to gain a 30% foothold on the economy. Recently, the Institute of Policy Research, an NGO, has published figures to show that the bumiputras had already own 45% of the economic pie. Calls for a review of the NEP was then made by the non-bumiputras as the aims of the NEP had been achieved. However, a pro-UMNO organisation, the Malay Research and Strategy Foundation, immediately denounced the findings and charged that "orang Melayu dan Bumiputera masih rakyat kelas kedua di Malaysia kerana belum menguasai ekonomi" (the Malays and Bumiputras are still second class citizens in Malaysia because they have not control the economy).

The above facts clearly shows that there is definitely marginalisation of the non-Malays in Malaysia. The perception of MM Lee is spot-on. However his observations has brought about some sad truth.

Why are the non-UMNO partners in the coalition government silent all these while? There is not much point in given a position of a deputy minister when the real power is even less than a parliamentary secretary. It is so sad that after 50 years of independence with the ruling coalition party running the show all this while, there is still no trust in the non-UMNO partners. This is despite the fact that a political crisis was averted when MCA "readmitted" the new UMNO when it was declared illegal in 1987. This is despite some of the non-UMNO members can speak better Bahasa Malaysia than their UMNO counterparts. It is as if the coalition is just a show, with the UMNO holding the true power running the country.

It is understandable that UMNO being the dominant party within the coalition has a bigger say in things. However, no matter how big a say UMNO has, there should be an equal playing field. Things that should not be said for fear racial sentiments should be applied to all - both within and without UMNO. Imagine what will happen to Tan Sri Koh if he says that the Menteri Besar of other states are marginalising the non-Malays. I am sure he will loose his deputy presidency post in Gerakan by the next general election.

The oppositions are also quite toothless. Granted that the coalition partners hands are tied. But what has the opposition done? It is sad that it takes a foreign leader to point out the marginalisation of the non-Malays. Then again, maybe the marginalisation is so obvious that the opposition will not gain any mileage by bring it up.

MM Lee may not mean to intrude into the Malaysian politics. His intention seemed to illustrated how the Malaysian government is trying to coerce Singapore government to be more compliant, like what was happening to non-Malays in Malaysia. The non-Malays maybe marginalised in Malaysia, but at the end of the day, this is a problem for Malaysians to rectify. MM Lee was unjustified to use Malaysians to illustrate his point. He should practice what he preached: you must be in a political establishment if you want to be involved in politics. Here he is not in Malaysian political arena, and hence he should know where to draw a line. I have much respect for MM Lee Kuan Yew but in this case, he does have something to answer for. Thank you Mr Lee, but no thank you!


Links:
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew: Reflections on Good Governance