IT’S tragic that many Malaysians are forced to be concerned about the political narrative being consumed by race and religion in the years to come as our demograpic landscape changes.
The spiel to defend the Malay race and religion because they’re purportedly under threat, is simply preposterous.
There are 77 Muslim, 16 non-Muslim bumiputra, 43 Chinese and 15 Indian MPs supporting the Pakatan Harapan government.
In Parliament, out of the 222 MPs, 131 are Malays and 24 are Muslim bumiputra MPs.
From the 1.7 million working in the civil service, almost 90% are Malays and bumiputra. The same ethnic make-up can be said of the army and police forces.
Then, there are the King, respective Sultans and Tuan Yang di-Pertua, who are all Malays.
Only the Penang Chief Minister is Chinese, while the rest are all Malays.
How on earth is Malay power under siege and requires protecting?
Unfortunately, this tale is already past the brewing stage. Ahead of the state elections in July, we will see our politicians trying to outdo one another.
The state assemblies of Selangor, Kedah, Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Penang and Kelantan will surely be dissolved simultaneously within the third week of June.
In Selangor’s case, the state assembly automatically ends on June 25, so that means a few days before that, royal consent will be needed to dissolve the state assembly, probably by June 19.
Penang’s state assembly ends in August, but the state government has decided to dissolve around the same time as the rest, too.
All these six states are now predominantly Malay in make-up. Even in Penang, the Malay population is currently nearly on par with that of the Chinese.
According to 2022 figures, the state’s population comprises 42.57% Chinese, 41.40% Malays, 9.92% Indians and 6.12% constituting other races.
The reality is that the Chinese and Indian populations have irreversibly plunged.
As of July 2022, 69.9% of the Malaysian population was classified as bumiputra, 22.8% Chinese and 6.6% Indian.
Figures in 2021 indicated that the bumiputra share of the population in Sabah was 84.15% while in Sarawak, 75.9%. The bumiputra category includes the Orang Asli in the peninsula and indigenous people of Sarawak.
Perikatan Nasional comprises Bersatu, a Malay-based party, PAS, which has advocated for Malaysia to be an Islamic state, and multiracial Gerakan, seen as a token presence.
Bersatu, despite its Malay rights platform, however, has not spooked non-Muslims, unlike PAS, because many Bersatu leaders are from Umno and PKR, meaning it has more public engagement with non-Muslims.
Pakatan, which leads the unity government with Barisan Nasional and other Sabah and Sarawak parties, can’t afford to compete with Perikatan on religion, especially with PAS.
Yes, many sections of Malays, including grassroots Umno members, are uncomfortable with DAP. That is a reality, and it will take time for Umno members and supporters to get used to this relationship.
After all, it was only five months ago, during the general election, that Umno leaders hammered PKR, DAP and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Who’s to blame if Umno leaders now sound hypocritical?
But it will be disastrous if the Prime Minister tries to trump PAS on religious issues, and neither should Pakatan try to match or outdo Bersatu or Umno in aggressively defending Malay rights.
Instead, find common ground with the Unity Government delivering on the economic front by bringing tangible investments and introducing sound policies.
What Pakatan can do is help the true Malay entrepreneurs, contractors and traders in business awards, and not political businessmen.
The ringgit’s value isn’t going to go up if our Malay politicians only care about race and religion.
Why would foreign investors want to pump money into Malaysia if we keep grabbing international headlines for all the wrong reasons?
Confiscating Swatch watches which supposedly feature the term LGBT is surely an over-reaction. These timepieces aren’t going to trigger a mass buy. Have we come down to this level?
And after these confiscations, do we expect PAS voters to actually give their votes to Pakatan despite its attempts to tread the moral high ground?
Instead, all it has done is angered progressive Malays in urban areas, especially in Lembah Pantai, and traditional non-Muslim voters.
Worse still, the PM issued a non-committal remark on the raids to justify the action, while Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail seemed to have taken a long time to clarify the controversy, which gave the impression that he wasn’t updated on the raids, rightly or wrongly.
How these watches can cause public disorder is baffling and adding insult to injury, Malaysia is reportedly the only country that had ordered the confiscation of these “risque” watches!
At the same time, the government has confirmed that it aims to table the contentious amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 – also known by its Bahasa Malaysia initials RUU 355.
Previously, PAS had attempted to table the Bill seeking harsher punishments for Syariah offences, raising the Syariah Courts’ maximum sentencing limit to 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane.
Sketchy, best describes the details of the unity government’s version of the RUU 355 and the difference from that proposed by Marang MP Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang. The timeline for when RUU 355 will be tabled is equally vague.
But the announcement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Senator Datuk Dr Mohd Naím Mokhtar – a respected former judge – at this juncture, seems to give the impression the government wants to reaffirm its stand on Islam.
We need leaders who promote compassion and acceptance, not those fanning the flames of controversy and even threatening Malaysians of other races.
I think logical Malaysians, regardless of their faith, would not accept such a narrow political direction for this country.
Non-Muslims don’t deserve to be eyed with suspicion after more than six decades of independence. Please don’t use us as whipping boys in the quest for political power.
While politicians know the game better, let’s not run away from the bigger reality and responsibility that a strong nation is also run on strong economic and business foundations.
Malaysia needs to convince the world that it’s a progressive and moderate country.
