Important to read, yes expose the hypocrites, the lies, the segregationist, the apartheid practitioner, the racist who exist among us Malaysians.
This article is taken from the NST:
Labelling damaging race relations
By Shamsul Akmar
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: The struggle for Malay rights is an admittance of the shortcomings of the community.
WHETHER it is intentional or out of sheer ignorance, the continuing misrepresentation of labels and catchphrases in the domestic political front has caused severe damage to race relations.
Before the 2008 General election, Hindraf had accused the Barisan Nasional government of "genocide" in a letter sent to the then British prime minister Gordon Brown.
Brown did not respond then and now, even though he is no more the prime minister of Britain, someone should probably write to him to "update" him that one of the "brains" behind the letter is now a member of the "genocidal" BN administration, just in case he decides to one day come to Malaysia and do an Al Gore. (Please refer to Al Gore's visit to Malaysia in 1998 as the then US vice-president and his arrogant attempt to insult the nation). But genocide is not the only catchword that has been misrepresented in the Malaysian political context.
Others include the label of Ku Klux Klan on Malay/Bumiputera rights' groups as well as accusing Umno of promoting segregation and equating ketuanan Melayu to Malay supremacy.
On the flip side, equating the political struggle of a husband and wife team in the opposition to global icons, such as Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, also seem to be fashionable without looking at the merits nor failing to realise how comedic it is.
Firstly, equating the opposition leader to Mandela is obviously a move to sully the anti-apartheid icon when the former was a jet- setter, almost at the zenith of the nation's political structure, and not to forget, a darling of Washington (Mandela was on the US terrorist watch list until 2008).
On the part of his wife, the keenness to equate her to Suu Kyi seems to have waned after the Nobel Laureate lost some lustre in so far as Malaysian Muslims are concerned for her near muted response to the atrocities committed against Rohingyas. But let's not digress and address the labels. Ku Klux Klan, segregation and Malay supremacy equals white supremacy are all intertwined.
By equating Malay/Bumiputera rights' groups to the Ku Klux Klan, it has effectively closed the discussion on the subject, as what the KKK or the clan was fighting for was definitely a result of an ugly history of bigotry, filled with atrocities, hatred, murder and the subhuman treatment of African- Americans.
And the objective was segregation as the white supremacists viewed the African-Americans as beneath them and equal only to their canine pets as reflected in signs that read "Negros and dogs not allowed".
The existence of the Jim Crow legislation then sought to segregate the "White Americans" and the "blacks" in almost all aspects of their daily activities, be it in the bus, the use of office entrances, when drinking from water fountains and whatever else where the two races were bound to cross paths.
Of course, in the segregation, the African-Americans were expected to utilise the lesser service.
At the height of the civil rights movement in America, what was being fought for was for African- Americans being allowed to attend universities and schools together with the "whites".
This, in essence, underpins the issue of equating some of Malaysia's policies on Malay/Bumiputera privileges to that pursued by the segregationists' and white supremacists as definitely misplaced if not a mischievously gross misrepresentation.
In Malaysia, segregation, especially in schools, is a result of the existence of national schools and vernacular schools.
While the vernacular schools are a privilege resulting from a political accommodation process among the elites as a trade-off for the Malay/Bumiputera privileges, purveyors of the segregation can actually be coming from the very people making the accusation.
After all, the African-Americans fought to be allowed to enter "national" educational institutions, while the ones in Malaysia, accusing Umno and the BN government of pursuing segregation, are the ones who want to be segregated from the national schools.
Not only were they keen to be kept in vernacular schools, attempts to have their vernacular schools in the same compound with national schools, as proposed in Sekolah Wawasan, were spurned.
As such, who then, is the segregationist?
Similarly, when making sweeping remarks equating the struggle for Malay/Bumiputera rights to that of the KKK.
Surely, these purveyors of "wisdom" are aware that the KKK wants the African-Americans to be treated no better than the canines, to be flogged if they misbehave and not to be allowed any economic opportunities whatsoever.
In other words, the original segregationists want the African- Americans to remain as slaves, though not in chains.
Finally, the issue of ketuanan Melayu being translated to be Malay supremacy, and equated to be the white supremacy kind.
How can the two be the same when there is nothing supremacist at all in the pursuit for Malay rights?
For one, the struggle for Malay/Bumiputera rights and privileges is an admittance of the shortcomings of the community in numerous socio-economic aspects.
It is a request for the understanding of the other races, hence, the quota being set at 30 per cent, not reflecting the actual percentage of the community's population, with a caveat that in the pursuit of these affirmative actions, the other races would not be stopped from pursuing their well-being.
So, which part of all these are difficult to understand that such misplaced labels continue to be promoted?
If it's intentional, it is obviously spawned from a Machiavellian mind that wants power even at the expense of the nation.
If it's out of ignorance, it may be blissful, but it is not an excuse.
STOP SEGREGATION IN SCHOOLS, LETS HAVE A ONE SCHOOL SYSTEM
Gomen MUST act now before its too late.
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