Another Malaysia is Possible and other Essays

Transcription

i
Another Malaysia
Is Possible
and Other Essays
Writings On CulturE and POlitiCs fOr a sustainablE WOrld
© M. Nadarajah
Published by
national Office for Human development (nOHd)
Printed by
Percetakan Seasons Sdn Bhd
3 Jalan 8/155, Taman Industri Bukit OUG
Jalan Klang Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7785 6960
Design Consultancy by
Cahayasuara Communications Centre
5 Jalan Robertson, 50150 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 2078 0912
Fax: (603) 2031 7603
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.archway.org.my/cahayasuara
Another Malaysia
Is Possible
and Other Essays
Writings On CulturE and POlitiCs fOr a sustainablE WOrld
Dedicated to:
Dananjay, Dayanita, Jeanelle, Jeremiah Joseph, Jessica Anne, Isabelle,
Li Mei, Luke Ashwin, Maga Heyyan Lubis, Maha, Mark Luhan, Matthew
Navin, Namora Hadi Lubis, Norma Hasya Lubis, Puvessha, Sivapratha,
Shivathmihai, Subbu, Thevan and Vikram.
T
he essays in this volume were written over seven years, i.e. from 1996 - 2003.
They consist of newspaper articles, opinion pieces and comments, papers presented
at seminars and workshops, and chapters in edited books and reports. At a
minimum, it is a record of the issues that affected me as an individual and my
responses to them. At a maximum, I hope the essays offer some material for
discussion of sustainable futures we can shape in Malaysia. It is my hope that the
issues raised here and the arguments developed to address them extend the terms of
discussion for a sustainable Malaysia and world among younger Malaysians. That is
my humble hope.
Let me take this opportunity to draw the reader’s attention to the comments in this
book. In a number of areas, ideas and arguments are ‘repeated’. Though I am aware
of this, I have not removed the repetitions. First, they form part of different articles
and second, they indicate some consistency in my ideas and arguments. There are
also areas where the reader may be able to find a contradiction or a tension of
unresolved issues or analysis. Again, I have not attempted to undo these. They are
part of the growing-up process and part of the social complexity we are all embedded
in. Things are not always black or white. One more area of concern is that most of the
articles here are critical responses to some situations that existed in Malaysia, the
region or the world. In a very limited way, some changes have taken place but they
are not reflected here. The essays are a record of responses to events and situations
in Malaysia and the world.
I want to thank Malaysiakini for always publishing my comments. That gave me the
inspiration, encouragement and a platform to continue writing at a popular level,
though I could not help being ‘abstract’ at times. The accomplishments of
Malaysiakini are not small, given the controlled nature of our political and media
environments. I like to specially thank Steven Gan and Premesh Chandran. In fact,
this volume is part of a self-initiated research project on the writings on the Indian
Malaysian community that appeared in Malaysiakini between June 2000 and July
2001. This volume consists solely of my writings on culture and politics. I like to
thank my student, Li Mei, who was my able research assistant. She not only collected
the articles that appeared in Malaysiakini during the said period but also did content
analysis of the articles in terms of the frequency the issues on Indian Malaysians
were mentioned, discussed or commented on.
I must thank S. Nagarajan (a former journalist and currently a research student at the
Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research, University of Malaya), K. Arumugam
(a partner of Child Development Initiative and a trustee of Child Information
Learning and Development Centre) and S.P. Pathi (an advocate who is also involved
vii
with Tamil education), who have directly and indirectly helped me with this project.
There were very supportive of the project from its inception. S.P. Pathi offered initial
funds to support the research work/project carried out by Li Mei. I thank him for this
kind gesture. It was important as this project had no definite financial support while
it was in progress. Exchanges with Nagarajan were especially instructive of what
was happening to many in the Tamil Malaysian community as they faced the final
stages of the crumbling plantation world they lived in from the time the British
colonialists brought them to peninsular Malaya to enrich themselves.
The Foreword to this volume is written by Br. Anthony Rogers, Director of
the National Office for Human Development (NOHD), the publisher of this volume.
I’m immensely thankful to him and to NOHD for this kind gesture. The Prolusion to
this volume is written by a dear friend, Charles Santiago. An activist-academic, he is
director of MSN, a KL-based organisation that monitors the sustainability of
globalisation. The Afterword is written by Yeoh Seng Guan, who lectures on the
media at the KL campus of Monash University. We are co-travellers, addressing
certain common cultural issues (multiculturalism is among them) in the company of
Salma Khoo, the former honorary secretary of Penang Heritage Trust, and AbdurRazzaq Lubis. The relationships with all these culturally-sensitive people have had a
positive impact on me. I like to thank both Charles Santiago and Yeoh Seng Guan for
taking time to read the manuscript and write thoughtful comments about it.
They have certainly added value to this collection.
Sources of some photos used in this volume cannot be verified as they are from
photo archives that were not properly documented. I wish to record here my
acknowledgement of these unverified sources.
It would have all been useless if this collection of essays did not receive the proper
editorial, design and layout attention of Adeline and Canute of Cahayasuara
Communications Centre. I thank Canute for his meticulous editorial effort and
Adeline for her patience while I made all kinds of demands and changes. Above all,
I am especially thankful to ‘Eljay’, director of Cahayasuara, for his unalloyed support.
Needless to say, I take full responsibility for all the shortcomings of this small
contribution to ‘rethinking’ Malaysia. And the world.
M. Nadarajah
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
April 2004
Note on How to Read This Book
As noted in the Preface, in several areas in the book, ideas and arguments have been repeated.
Such repetitions become a problem if this book is read like a novel. However, if the chapters are
selected at random and read – which is my recommended way of reading this book – then repetition
is less obvious. Each chapter is in a sense independent and the repetitions contribute to this
independence and make the chapters complete.
viii
abbrEviatiOns & glOssary
(in alPHabEtiCal OrdEr)
AGENDA 21
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and
locally by organizations of the United Nations system, governments, and major
groups in every area in which humans impact on the environment. This global
contract binds governments around the world to the UN plan for changing the
ways we live, eat, learn, and communicate - all under the noble banner of saving
the earth. Its regulations would severely limit water, electricity, and transportation
- even deny human access to our most treasured wilderness areas. If implemented,
it would manage and monitor all lands and people. No one would be free from the
watchful eye of the new global tracking and information system. This agenda for
the 21st Century was signed by 179 nations at the UN Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
BA
Barisan Alternatif. Alternative national opposition coalition front challenging
the ruling National Front.
BN
Barisan Nasional (National Front). The ruling coalition in Malaysia consisting
of 14 political parties.
CAHAYASUARA
Cahayasuara Communications Centre is the social communications department
of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cahayasuara's primary work is
to promote the responsible use of social communications and communication
technologies to enhance integral human development through Gospel values for
the unity and advancement of people in line with the New Way of Being Church.
CalPERS
California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Provides retirement
and health benefit services to more than 1.4 million members and nearly 2,500
employers.
CAP
Consumers’ Association of Penang. A nationally and internationally known
consumers’ association based in Penang.
CORRUPTION
PERCEPTIONS Transparency International (TI) has published its annual Corruption Perceptions
Index (CPI) since 1995. The goal of the CPI is to provide data on extensive
INDEX
perceptions of corruption within countries. The CPI is a composite index, making
use of surveys of business people and assessments by country analysts. It consists
of credible sources using diverse sampling frames and different methodologies.
These perceptions enhance our understanding of real levels of corruption from
one country to another. A CPI score relates to perceptions of the degree of
corruption as seen by business people, academics and risk analysts, and ranges
between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).
DAP
Democratic Action Party. Chinese-dominated but multiethnic opposition political
party.
DBKL
Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (KL City Council).
DEEPAVALI
One of the most important festivals celebrated by Hindus, it commemorates the
victory of divine forces over evil.
EPF
Employees Provident Fund.
GCC
Group of Concerned Citizens. An informal group of Indian Malaysian
professionals taking up issues that affect Indian Malaysians.
ix
GERAKAN
GOPIO
ICFTU-APRO
IPF
ISA
KL20
LOCAL
AGENDA 21
MALAYSIAKINI
MCA
MIC
MTUC
NEAC
NGO
NUTP
PAS
PKN
SUHAKAM
THAIPUSAM
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia. A Chinese-majority but multiracial component
political party of the National Front. PGRM rules the state of Penang.
Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin.
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions—Asian and Pacific Regional
Organisation, based in Singapore.
Indian Progressive Front. A political party defending the interests of the Indian
community, and which is opposed to the Malaysian Indian Congress.
Internal Security Act. Law for ‘preventive’ detention.
The Draft KL Structure Plan 2020 contains the vision, goals, policies and
proposals to guide the development of KL over the next 20 years. Under this
two-pronged approach, the Draft Plan only outlines the goals, strategies and
policies towards achieving the vision of Kuala Lumpur as a world-class city and
identifies ways to minimise or solve issues and problems faced by the citizens.
The Draft Plan was based on twelve main parameters, namely: (1) Economic
Base and Population, (2) Income and Quality of Life, (3) Commerce,
(4) Tourism, (5) Industry, (6) Transportation, (7) Infrastructure and Utilities,
(8) Housing and Squatters, (9) Community Facilities, (10) Urban Design and
Landscape, (11) Environment and (12) Special Areas.
Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 specifically calls for each community to formulate its
own Local Agenda 21: Each local authority should enter into a dialogue with its
citizens, local organizations, and private enterprises and adopt 'a local Agenda
21.' Through consultation and consensus-building, local authorities would
learn from citizens and from local, civic, community, business and industrial
organizations and acquire the information needed for formulating the best
strategies. (Agenda 21, Chapter 28, section 1, 3.)
Malaysia’s only online newspaper that offers an active space for fairer reporting
of Malaysian realities.
Malaysian Chinese Association. A component party of the National Front
defending the interests of the Chinese community.
Malaysian Indian Congress. A component party of the National Front defending
the interests of the Indian community.
Malaysian Trade Union Congress.
National Economic Action Council. Established in 1998 – one year after the
Asian economic crisis – as a consultative body to the Malaysian Cabinet to deal
with the economic crisis.
Non-governmental organisation (also called civil society organisation).
National Union of the Teaching Profession (Peninsular Malaysia).
Parti Islam SeMalaysia. Malaysia's opposition National Islamic Party.
Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party), commonly called Keadilan.
An opposition political party with affiliation to Anwar Ibrahim.
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.
A Hindu festival celebrating Lord Subramaniam, and giving thanks for
blessings received during the past year. A main feature of Thaipusam is the
carrying of kavadi as a form of penance. The kavadi is a frame decorated with
peacock feathers and offerings such as fresh milk, flowers and fruits.
x
UMNO
United Malays National Organisation, the political party of the Malay/
bumiputera community in Malaysia.
United Nations Development Programme.
UNDP
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
UNESCO
UN GUIDELINES The General Assembly adopted guidelines for consumer protection by consensus
FOR CONSUMER on 9 April 1985 (General Assembly resolution 39/248). The guidelines provide
a framework for governments, particularly those of developing countries, to use
PROTECTION
in elaborating and strengthening consumer protection policies and legislation.
They are also intended to encourage international co-operation in this field.
The origins of the guidelines can be traced to the late 1970s, when the Economic
and Social Council recognised that consumer protection had an important
bearing on economic and social development.
One of the many online sites that addresses Indian Malaysian issues. Articles,
VETTIPECHU
news analyses, letters and other monographs that are of relevance to Indian
Malaysians are posted here. Even though this site is intended for those of Indian
ethnicity in/from Malaysia, it is not exclusive. Now inactive or defunct.
The Malaysian who is born today and in the years to come will be the last
VISION 2020
generation to live in a country that is called 'developing'. The ultimate objective
is a fully-developed Malaysia by the year 2020. It is a long-term goal that
envisions Malaysia as a highly industrialised and caring society by 2020.
Commemorates the birth of Prince Siddhartha (later, the Buddha), his
WESAK DAY
enlightenment and his passing away into parinibbana. It falls in May.
World Social Forum. It is not an organisation, not a united front platform, but
WSF
"… an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas,
formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for
effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to
neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of
imperialism, and are committed to building a society centred on the human
person". (WSF Charter of Principles). WSF was created to provide an open
platform to discuss strategies of resistance to the model of globalisation
formulated at the annual World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland by
large multinational corporations, national governments, IMF, World Bank and
WTO, which are the foot soldiers of these corporations. Firmly committed to the
belief that Another World Is Possible, WSF is an open space for discussing
alternatives to the dominant neo-liberal processes, for exchanging experiences
and for strengthening alliances among mass organisations, peoples' movements
and civil society organisations. The first WSF was held in 2001 in the southern
Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. In 2004, the WSF meeting was held in Mumbai,
India.
World Trade Organisation, the only global international organisation dealing
WTO
with the rules of trade between nations.
Young Malaysian Christian Association.
YMCA
Yayasan Strategik Social (Social Strategic Foundation), established by the
YSS
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), has developed a holistic, systematic and an
integrated approach in addressing the social problems faced by the Indian
Malaysian community.
xi
note on the use of terms
(i)
[a] Indian Tamil Malaysian, as distinguished from Sri Lankan Tamil
Malaysian.
[b] In another context, it can be used in the following manner:
Indian Tamil, Sri Lankan Tamil, Canadian Tamil, etc. Here, the use of
these terms merely indicate geographical location of the Tamils and
does not identify them as a political entity.
(ii)
Tamil-Indian Malaysian is used to distinguish this community from
Malayalee-Indian Malaysian, Punjabi-Indian Malaysian, Bengali-Indian
Malaysian, etc. These terms indicate more than just location; they refer
to specific communities of Indians and their Malaysian citizenship.
(iii) Tamil/Indian is used in context to simply mean Tamil and/or Indian.
xii
abOut tHE autHOr
N
adarajah is a sociologist by training and holds a Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU), New Delhi, India. Before pursuing his doctoral degree, he worked
with a local consumer association – the Selangor and Federal Territory Consumers
Association – in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as its consumer education officer.
After his doctoral degree (1995), he worked in a number of areas and capacities.
He was commissioning editor for India's first private ethnic channel, Asianet, in its
New Delhi office. Later, he worked as consultant to a sustainable development
project for three years with the Asia Pacific office of Consumer International (CI),
then based in Penang, Malaysia. He also worked on a sustainable urbanisation
project with a Japanese institute (IICRC) in Kanazawa, Japan, for three years. As a
result of his involvement with this project, Nadarajah is now editing a book for
IICRC and UNU-IAS, Japan, entitled Culture, Cities and Sustainable Development: The
Kanazawa Initiative in the Study of Four Asian Cities. It will be published by UNU Press
in 2004.
Earlier, he published a book based on his Ph.D. thesis entitled Beyond Workerism:
Culture, Gender and Ecology. A report on labour - Taxation and Social Development in
Malaysia: A Country Report - was recently published (2003) by ICFTU-APRO (based
in Singapore). In early 2003, he edited a book on media education/reform entitled
Pathways to Critical Media Education and Beyond. The book was published by the Asian
Communication Network (ACN), which is based in Bangkok, Thailand.
He periodically writes social commentaries on the Indian Malaysian community and
multiculturalism. Nadarajah is a freelance documentary filmmaker, starting his
career in filmmaking in Madras, India. He has a number of documentaries to his
credit: A Profile of Empowerment, Killing Fields, A Nation Mortgaged: IMF in India,
Sustainable Penang, etc. Nadarajah is now closely involved with Cahayasuara
Communications Centre, based in Kuala Lumpur, in developing a curriculum on
social communication for vulnerable and interested constituencies (in particular,
school students and those working with civil society organisations). This is an
alternative media education course that focuses on media and values. He is also
associated with Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation, an organisation examining
corporate globalisation, and the Philanthropy Initiative of Malaysia.
Nadarajah (Nat) is presently the deputy coordinator of ACN. He lives and works
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
xiii
fOrEWOrd
At crucial and critical times in the history of the life of nations and of the world
itself, most people wait for the times to pass and to await patiently for the old days
to be over. There are also other people who are passionately inspired from the depths
of their being to stop and dare to dream of visions to be realised. These new
possibilities often emerge from the inner energies and stirrings of the heart that move
us to discover new insights and discern creative ventures for our common way
forward as members of the human family.
These are moments when new ideas are born and old ones are challenged. These are
times to stop and reflect so as to allow the birth of new insights. We see the vital
importance of not just exploring the workings of the external world but to strive and
take the risk of returning to the very heart and core of the meaning of life itself.
Living in a fragmented world ironically, amidst the homogenising effects of
globalisation, calls for a true rootedness in our traditional cultures and in our
nations. The greatest challenge today is thus to courageously re-think, to re-discover,
to review and renew our lives and our world around us. It calls for a readiness to
return to our backyards to look at both our history and our current priorities.
Our backyards today are both our cultural heritage and our history as a nation.
It is this enthusiasm to return to the roots of our limitations and failures, not with the
purpose of destructive tearing down of the old but of allowing new emerging shoots
of hope to emerge in both his analysis and propositions that makes Dr. Nadarajah’s
contribution unique.
We hope that his contributions will be the watershed for more Malaysians to take up
together the challenge to pave our common way forward with the belief that Another
Malaysia is truly possible!
Anthony Rogers FSC
Director
National Office for Human Development
Kuala Lumpur, May 2004
NOHD is the organisation of the Catholic Church in Malaysia for the promotion of human
development and welfare, and the development and realisation of justice and peace.
xv
C
O
n
t
Preface & Acknowledgements
Abbreviations & Glossary
Note on the Use of Terms
About the Author
Foreword by Br. Anthony Rogers, FSC
Prolusion by Charles Santiago
E
n
t
s
v
vii
x
xi
xiii
xvii
3
Thematic Orientation
section
15
25
29
Semangat Insan
Minus
33
the Political status Quo
39
45
49
57
63
69
Keadilan
75
87
91
95
97
101
105
Diversity
xvii
section ii: On bEing an indian
125
133
145
149
153
165
175
179
181
191
195
199
section
205
219
227
Case of the social Cost of Economic Crises
239
of the Cinema
247
southeast asia
249
261
273
279
Afterword by Yeoh Seng Guan
Articles on the Web
xviii
PrOlusiOn
S
even years ago, a letter written to a local daily by Nadarajah generated a flurry of
phone calls. There were two types of calls: one, congratulating him on his boldness
and, more importantly, on providing an alternative through critical reflection of the
present Malaysian reality. The other calls were critical of his article, since it
supposedly offended some senior politicians and a political party in particular.
What rattled the second set of callers most was Nadarajah’s call for historicallycentred justice and empowerment of people in order that they may change their
destiny. The callers realised that Nadarajah was calling for a re-ordering of the
country’s priorities in all its facets. The first step in this involved ‘rethinking’
Malaysia in order to arrive at a ‘different’ nation from what exists today: a ‘Malaysia
for All’, a Malaysia rooted in history, justice and compassion.
Another Malaysia Is Possible, which brings together papers and articles written over
seven years, attempts to ‘deconstruct’ the contemporary Malaysian reality.
It captures Malaysians as real people – the pain of the average woman and man, the
misery of marginalisation, the agony of being poor, the hopelessness of being a
minority, and the unsustainability of the present form of growth – trying to make
sense of the transformation that is unfolding around them.
It is about real people caught in a web of structural arrangements, patriarchy,
cultural hegemony, race politics, poverty, gender discrimination and primacy of the
market with privatisation as one of its key features. It is about the quality of
democratic politics, especially the future of opposition politics and political
insecurities of the ruling party. It is about a marginalised community – about the
Indian Malaysian community’s economic and political powerlessness, the call for the
end of Tamil schools and vernacular education, and the profiling of Indians (Tamils)
as ‘hot-headed’ and ‘problematic’. Many of these issues are not dealt within
mainstream or alternative publications.
Nadarajah’s concern, however, goes beyond the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community
and Malaysia. He also draws our attention to issues that concern the region and
global society. This book, for instance, also tells us that a patriarchal society is equally
guilty of rape as individual rapists; that the problem of gangsterism is not an ‘Indian’
problem, the problem with pigs and ecstasy pills is not a ‘Chinese’ problem, and that
drug abuse is not a ‘Malay’ problem – but a ‘Malaysian’ problem; that poverty is not
a Malay, Indian or Kadazan problem but a Malaysian predicament; that addressing
xix
an economic crisis is as much a problem of theory as it is a practical challenge.
Nadarajah is calling for a rethinking of the present national and global order.
He urges us to reflect on an alternative vision for our nation and for global society.
In his rendering of issues and concerns of our national society, Nadarajah attempts
to unravel root causes that inhibit the country from moving forward justly,
compassionately and multiculturally. He writes passionately about the possibility of
‘another Malaysia’. He envisions a Malaysia that is people-centred, that is culturally
conscious of its diversity, and one that embraces democratic economic development
and governance. It is a Malaysia where people will have political control of their
economic lives and where the fruits of development are equally distributed among
them. He aspires for a society where people really matter.
This book should rattle the conscience of Malaysians to act, and act decisively, in
order to build ‘another Malaysia’ that is rooted in history, justice and compassion.
Nadarajah’s Another Malaysia Is Possible leaves us with this historical challenge.
Charles Santiago
Director
Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation
Kuala Lumpur, March 2004
xx
Thematic
Orientation
Introduction
T
he collection of comments, academic papers and observations that make up
this volume were written over the last seven years (1996-2003), and cover a
wide range of issues and events. On the face of it, there seems to be no focal
point or theme for the discussions. However, underlying the responses to status
quo or contemporary developments is, I like to believe, a worldview based on
humanistic, inclusive, ecologically-responsible and sustainable values. I like to
believe that when one has an approach (and a methodology) towards our social
experience, it is possible to make sense of, or explain, various paradoxes that
confront us today. That is what I have done. So, while the areas and issues
discussed certainly cover a wide terrain, I like to think that there is some
underlying coherence in the analysis and arguments forwarded. In the main,
the essays are writings on critical issues in cultural politics and political
sociology. They cover the following key themes.
Issue of Citizenship
I have approached the issues both as a citizen of Malaysia and the World, as
citizenship today is really an overlap of national and global affiliations.
Each of us is part of a nation and national citizenship for most is automatic.
However, the growing reality of our global society compels us to confront new
global experiences. In an unsustainable global society controlled by neoliberalism and the well-organised predatory (capitalist) market, all kinds of
established and nascent global institutions (like WTO) and partisan leaders are
deciding on our behalf and in a large number of situations, putting all of us, the
future generations and Mother Earth, in jeopardy. National citizenship is
becoming incapable of dealing with these realities and their consequences.
There is a need to respond to these cross-border, unsustainable developments
from a global citizen’s perspective. Of course, legally, this is a tricky situation
but we cannot wait for the legal framework of global citizenship to be instituted
before we make comments and/or take policy or street actions. As a legal
reality, genuine or authentic global citizenship is an evolutionary prototype for
the moment. Inauthentic global citizenship seems to be the privilege of the rich
and powerful today.
3
groupings. This is, of course, a difficult perspective to sustain, since ethnocultural
change is constantly in progress. And, in a rich ethnocultural environment such
as Malaysia, cultural dialogue and hybridisation are ongoing processes.
Against such a background, one can argue for the extreme position that there is
no such thing as a Chinese or an Indian. They are just persons with vague,
changing boundaries. Holding the above view, one can ask the question "Who
is a Chinese, really?" or "Who is an Indian, really?" These are difficult and
complex questions to address. In a sense, the boundaries are blurred and hard
to define. So what do we do? Suggest that there is no such thing as race or
ethnicity? And consequently, hold the position that racism or racial
discrimination or racist tendencies are non-existent in our society?
Or, alternatively, believe that we as a society are above racist culture and
politics? The realities we face tell us otherwise.
Look around our media-ted environment of advertisements and promotional
displays. The black/dark colour or its shades are visibly absent or very limited
in its presence. We have a process similar to the Latin American phenomenon
of ‘whitening.’ The black or dark colours are discounted ones. Malaysians are
generally represented as fair with all kinds of comments made on black/dark
colours. In one case, a Tamil-Indian Malaysian girl child was told by her teacher
in front of her class that “you need a lot of soap to clean yourself”.
Certainly, racism is part of the Malaysian way today. This is not something
inherent; but a historical development. It will come to pass, but not if we
continue to cling to the national attitude we have towards it today. To suggest
that it is not there today is clearly misrepresentation. To understand this reality
better, we need to make a distinction between ethnocultural decisions of a
community, based on the concept of inclusivity and that which promotes
equality (realised as consequence), and those decisions that are exclusive and
that which produce ethnic inequality and marginalisation at the individual
and/or institutional levels (as consequence). An additional distinguishing
feature is that the former is mostly a ‘retail phenomenon’ based on individual
actions, while the latter is a ‘wholesale phenomenon’, based on policy, written
or otherwise. As suggested earlier, this is a rather difficult area but we cannot
submit that ethnically-based actions in the national context are invariably
inclusive and governed by the principles of equity, equality and merit.
Racially discriminatory actions, particularly in the public sphere, are a reality
and they need to be addressed urgently. That urgency informs many of the
essays in this volume.
4
Culture and Ethnicity
Related to citizenship are issues surrounding culture and ethnicity. Just as is
seen elsewhere, the experience of ethnicity in Malaysia is rather complex.
The official construct of Malaysia as consisting of the "ethnic trinity" (to use a
phrase I picked up from my Mandailing friend, Abdur-Razzaq Lubis), i.e.
Malay, Chinese and Indian, is a gross misrepresentation of the ethnic reality in
Malaysia. There are over 80 ethnic communities in Malaysia, including hybrid
ones.
While some may argue that writing about one community creates an impression
that importance is given only to that community, it is my aim to ensure that
whatever principle is used to evaluate the situation of the poor of any one
community also applies to the poor of all communities. Theoretically, this is
possible only if both class and ethnicity are considered together. Ethnicity
(specific and exclusive) and class (universal and inclusive) are really internal to
each other, mutually influencing and implicating to varying degrees. Though I
have not addressed class issues directly in this volume, they are implicit in
many of the essays.
One key issue this entails is the question of governance in a multicultural
society. If protective discrimination policies must be installed in a multicultural
society, it is more equitable, and sustainable, for the nation as a whole to do so,
based on inclusive economic class-based criteria than on exclusive race-based
ones, as is practised and institutionalised in Malaysia. Unfortunately, as in
many countries where elections depend on numbers (i.e. majority-minority
dynamics in terms of numbers), racially-based protective discrimination
policies do not heed what is prudent but are governed by political expediency.
The need for political survival overrides the concern for building a genuine
multicultural nation. As such, these policies have short-term benefits. Such a
situation also complicates the issue of citizenship for minority communities in
a society where Islam has a major role in governance.
Related to citizenship is another issue: ethno-communal identity and ‘racial
discrimination’. Who is Iban? Who is Malay? Who is Sikh? Who is Chinese?
Who is Mandailing? Who is Hokkien? Who is Tamil? Who is Hakka? Is there
such a thing as an essentialist cultural core that distinguishes us? Are the
boundaries of ethnic identity defined and crystal-clear, or diffused and
indeterminable? The former assumption suggests an unchanging ethnocultural
core which acts as some sort of scale against which to classify the ethnic
5
The above view pertains to a clash of perspectives of two groups of Indian
Malaysians: the ‘cosmopolitan Indians’ and the ‘embedded Indians’.
The former would like to claim, among other things, the position that there is
really no racism in Malaysia. They hold the view that the ideas of racism are
borrowed from the analysis of situations in other countries and are not suitable
for the analysis of Malaysian realities. They also work with post-modern
arguments that reflect an unreasonable fear of the spectre of essentialism.
The latter group - the embedded Indians - hold the opposite view, arguing that
racism is a widespread contemporary global phenomenon. There are various
shades within this group, ranging from those who hold that ‘only the colour of
the skin matters’ to those who see the dynamics of class, race and beyond.
This clash of views is inevitable and it is not going to go away, given the fact
that both these groups will go on experiencing Malaysia differently.
To pursue this issue further, among the Tamil Malaysians, there are three
groups: (i) the fundamentalist, (ii) the triumphalist, and (iii) the democratic
multiculturalist. The fundamentalist Tamils are racist, the triumphalists attempt
to portray a future when Tamils will be like those in a bygone golden era, and
the democratic multiculturalists - a position taken in this book - are those who
propose a lively, sustainable approach to diversity, dialogue and peaceful
co-existence.
One other issue pertaining to the Indian Malaysian problem is whether this is a
poor community that has become poorer and powerless over the years, or has
fared well and has not become powerless, or at least has not lost control of its
future as a community. Is this a fact? There are a number of studies that have
come out recently that hold the position that the Indian Malaysians have
prospered, along with the rest of the country. The Indian Malaysians are not
doing badly and they are in fact better off. National statistics are even used to
prove this. The Mid-Term Review of the Seventh Malaysia Plan presents a
picture that Indian Malaysians are earning over RM3,000 per month, above the
national average. (However, statistics drawn from other independant studies
indicate that an average Indian earns in the range of RM600 to RM1,000.)
Again, I fear this is a mistaken understanding that comes from a purely
quantitative analysis and methodology (which a large number of Malaysian
academics are unfortunately attracted to), and a careless theoretical position
that sees the Indian Malaysian community as a single, undifferentiated lump.
6
The Indian Malaysian community is
really a community of communities.
Among these, the Indian Tamil
Malaysian community (as a group
that is discrete from the better off
Sri Lankan Tamil community) is
really the one with most of the
socio-economic and sociocultural
problems and challenges.
Perhaps one needs to change the
indices and measurements (of
marginalisation and powerlessness
or of affluence) from traditional criteria. Thus, if we have an index that provides
a record of how often one is ‘culturally assaulted’ in the classroom, perhaps we
may see a different picture of the Tamil Malaysian community. If there is an
index on eviction from the crumbling and disappearing ‘old’ plantation sector
or from urban squatter areas, which is indicative of not only powerlessness but
also the struggle for adequate housing, again, we would see a different picture.
Another area relates to powerlessness from an inability to write or represent
one’s own history and contributions to nation building.
If there is a way to measure intra-community violence and gangsterism among
Tamil Malaysians and their real causes (written or unwritten state policies, for
instance), perhaps we may have an altogether different picture. In effect, is the
Tamil Malaysian community one that is becoming affluent or one that is turning
into a futureless, violent, ‘underclass’1 community? The answer to this question
will either show a communal tragedy that is unfolding in our midst or a
community that is really marching forward confidently, having the power to
really and significantly influence national decisions in the effort to shape its
1 The
‘discussion’ on this aspect is today at a low key. But it is a contested one. In one
position, there is summary rejection of it, claiming that it is an incorrect way to represent
the generally upwardly-mobile Indian Malaysians. Some are unsure if the community is
becoming an underclass. And, of course, in the last position, the community is represented
as exhibiting classic underclass characteristics. This third position is also proposed to
counter arguments that seek to club all Malaysian poor together into a monolithic whole.
In reality, all poor cannot be clubbed together. The distinguishing feature of the Tamil/
Indian Malaysian poor suggests that they are different from the poor of the other
communities. And that difference is related to the growing underclass nature.
7
Nat
The disappearing rubber
plantations and encroaching
developments.
present and future. Will the society of Vision 2020 see Tamil Malaysians as an
integral, active component of society or merely a tolerated ‘underclass’?
It must be firmly mentioned here that along with Tamil Malaysians, there are
other minorities and indigenous people in multicultural Malaysia that also
need urgent attention.
One area that is not really addressed in-depth here but implied in a number of
essays is the hybrid cultural reality in Malaysia. There are many communities
which are really hybrid entities and many hybrid cultural institutions, all of
which create an opportunity for re-defining the cultural ownership of Malaysia.
Indeed, there have been many instances of voluntary cultural exchanges and
hybridisation in Malaysia.
Such an unforced cultural evolution, i.e. a process without state religious and
cultural regulations, offers better instances of a more sustainable cultural
ownership that is possible in Malaysia. What is happening today is a callous,
systematic destruction of cultural hybrids in favour of a more compartmentalised
existence. In the past, in places like Melaka and Penang, there was a ‘Malaysiaof-co-existence’ in everyday cultural practice, institutional expression and
spatial arrangement. What we need today is a recovery of our past, not the
creation of a ‘Malaysia-of-co-existence’ through advertising and promotional
budgets.
Framework of Sustainable Development
A second underlying concern found throughout these essays is the issue of
sustainable development, which has caught the imagination of many
individuals, NGOs, businesses and governments. The United Nations (UN)
definition, adopted in 1987, states that "sustainable development is development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs".2 Over the years, it has become more fully
developed as a framework and a way of life. Thus, "sustainable development is
far more than just planting trees, protecting wildlife, recycling waste or making
business greener. It is about transforming politics and community development,
individual values and lifestyles".3 Thus, sustainable development is not just
2 Our
Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development
[The Brundtland Report], 1987.
3 http://www.un.lt/Bulltins/23/b4.htm. September 2003.
8
about the environment. The environment cannot be protected for ourselves and
for future generations (human and other life forms) unless we also establish
sustainable practices in our economy, polity and society/culture. This also
includes such fields as technology and governance. In addition, the further
development of the sustainable development framework away from an
unproductive global discourse to one that incorporates ‘enlightened localism’
will make such a framework indigenous and responsive to our needs as a
society and nation in a globalising world. It also sets ‘multiple human futures’
on our collective agenda.
I am convinced that the ‘sustainable development framework’ (SDF) is an
extremely useful framework for critically evaluating the kind of development
– economic, technological, political and sociocultural – that Malaysia is
experiencing. This framework is far more comprehensive and less rigid than a
traditional socialist perspective of Malaysian development. It offers a more
comprehensive and integrated view with a ‘multiple-futures orientation’.
The paths into the future can be many, and they can be useful as long as they
are dialogical, sustainable ones. Thus, SDF offers a comprehensive critique of
development as well as solutions.
The SDF has directly or indirectly influenced all the writings that appear in this
volume. It is within this context that I see the meaning of citizenship and the
role of citizens. So, in addressing a number of issues, whether as a Malaysian or
global citizen, the concern for sustainable development has formed the guiding
principle. Among the key issues that need attention in a multicultural Malaysia
is sustainable governance. By far, this is the most important and urgent need for
our society today. And if this is given as much importance and attention as
‘corporate governance’, which must really be part of sustainable governance,
we will be much better off as a nation. Application of some basic principles of
governance (for sustainable cities) developed by the United Nations
Development Programme–The Urban Governance Initiative, for instance, will
do a great deal of good for multicultural Malaysia. These principles include:
social justice, ecological sustainability, political participation, economic
productivity, and cultural vibrancy.4
4 See
http://www.tugi.apdip.net/indicators%20Book/Part%203%20-TUGI.htm. August
2003.
9
empirical. A senior professor of history once told me that he is more concerned
about facts and empirical details than about theory. I have heard some of my
friends, who are doing research in local academic institutions, say that they are
asked to pay more attention to empirical details than to theory. They are urged
to use a theory that is available and merely learn to apply it. Also, in terms of
methods, there is a focus on quantitative methods and a general discounting of
qualitative methods.
These attitudes indicate a dependence on theories and concepts that come from
the West. We become people who apply theories formulated in a western
cultural context. This is a serious problem particularly when considering social
theories. Even theoretical adaptation is a poorly-developed enterprise here.
There is so much of the ‘pure West’ in our mind and in our practice. While I will
not pretend to have developed a Malaysian or Asian theory, my attempts are
really at a ‘lower level’, i.e. the stage of ‘thinking about’ issues in an attempt to
arrive at some concepts that can begin a process of developing theories about
local issues and realities. We need a generation of serious theory builders in all
fields, particularly the social sciences. If they are abstract, so be it. Perhaps we
need to go through this developmental phase in terms of building viable
theories for our nation. The pre-condition for this kind of development to take
place is political freedom and the absence of a ‘culture of fear’ – a threatening
reality generated by a number of draconian legislations – which affects
creativity and responsibility. Because of our fear, which is very understandable,
we become ‘irresponsible’ citizens, not standing up when we need to.
The terms of discussion among Malaysians needs to be far more developed at
the academic and popular levels than it is today. There is an urgent need to
improve the scope and depth of the themes of popular discussions, which today
merely cover areas such as salary, houses, cars, mobile phones, eating places,
women or men. At another level, it is important to be empirical and ‘excavate
realities’ that have been submerged or not attended to for practical or political
reasons. But being merely empirical cannot help us. We cannot go far by
focussing our attention on the empirical. It is far too local and limited. In a
highly unsustainable sociocultural, socio-economic and sociopolitical
environment, empirical studies must be tied to a clear political programme.
And this means adopting a meaningful, value-based theoretical stance.
We need to get out of what I like to call the ‘SPSS’5 sickness. Some of our
students are very good at manipulating this sophisticated software for
quantitative results. Unfortunately, we do not have knowledge of the theory
10
Plea for Theoretical Imagination
and Understanding
Semparuthi
Perhaps the most critical element that sustains the discussions in this volume is
the effort to develop a theoretical basis for addressing problems in our society,
a highly-discounted activity in this environment. In this effort, we are also
disadvantaged by holding on to many unexamined assumptions. This has been
one of my major concerns and is reflected in a number of chapters. I have
engaged with ways to think about a particular issue, breaking away from
unexamined assumptions. While these theoretical moorings have been
influenced by the two themes (citizenship and sustainable development), this
endeavour is also an attempt to address a serious deficiency encountered in
many developing nations, including Malaysia. I have encountered this when
reading some of the more important publications on Malaysia by local
academics. On many occasions, I have heard about the importance of being
5 Simply,
a software to manipulate quantities and arrive at statistical results according to
set research objectives.
11
that was ‘routinised’ into computer codes in the software. We hardly even care.
The latter (theory) is of higher value than the former (quantitative analysis); yet,
we push ahead with the former as a national choice. That sums up the status of
academics in the developing world, including Malaysia. We are merely
application fields, the lower end of the intellectual division of labour.
Against this background, we need to clearly articulate ‘theories of Malaysia’,
i.e. theories that make sense of or explain the developmental trajectories of
multicultural Malaysia. We need a theoretical enterprise that brings inputs from
all sectors of society. We cannot allow politicians, bureaucratic elites or ethnic
leaders to monopolise ‘theory building’ about Malaysia. There needs to be
discussion of this in the public sphere so that we could establish much wider
mental and social horizons than we have today. No nation can be built without
a conceptual, theoretical and philosophical basis. Ours being a multicultural
society, the sources are varied, rich and complex for building this basis of the
nation. It requires an even more concerted, creative and comprehensive
intellectual enterprise to forge our collective future and destiny. Such an
enterprise needs to be guided by history, justice and compassion.
Conclusion
I hope the above exploration of some themes that run through this collection of
36 essays (which include photo essays) is sufficient to put them in perspective.
Categorised into three sections: (i) On Being a Malaysian Citizen, (ii) On Being
an Indian Malaysian Citizen, and (iii) On Being a Global Citizen, the essays
offer some insights into Malaysia, Asia and the world. The essays frame and
present an individual’s point of view. I hope, however, that they open up the
terms of public debate. And, topics for public discussion. As my friend, Charles
Santiago, suggests, another Malaysia is possible. Indeed, to extrapolate,
‘another world is possible’, which is the guiding theme of the World Social
Forum held in January 2004 in Mumbai, India.
12
sECtiOn i
On Being a
Malaysian
Citizen
(Or, Losing Sight of History, Justice and Compassion)
Published in Malaysiakini, September 2000.
Context:
Written as Malaysia prepared to celebrate her 43rd year of Independence. Malaysia
became independent on 31 August 1957.
P
ersonally, I have stopped feeling at home in Malaysia. There is a great deal
of uneasiness. Someone out there may want to shout at me: "Go back to India,
if you want!" Really, that is not the issue. I am not making a choice between
India and Malaysia. Though my reasons may be private, my uneasiness is not,
and it is certainly very real for many of us here. For me this feeling is
complicated by and mixed up with the history of this country, its emerging
character and its future.
I am a Malaysian. But my ancestors belong to
an ancient civilization with a rich culture,
which is today a major contributor of
human resources to the global cyberindustry. My cultural roots lie
undeniably in India. They are not
here. Like many members of the
Indian diaspora, ‘India’ is a presence
that shapes the diasporic Indian’s
everyday cultural life around the
globe. But the Indian civilization, like
the Chinese, has since long ago
interacted with the culture of the Malay
people and has produced distinctive
and creative hybrids. I sincerely like to
locate my ancestors and my culture in that
process of hybridisation. But no … this nation Source: Gerard Chaliand and Jean-Pierrre Rageau, The
Penguin Atlas of Diasporas (London: Penguin Books, 1995)
has not made me feel comfortable or proud of that
creative
intermingling. The attempt here has been to carefully remove any hybrid
elements, in what I think are vain attempts to create a ‘pure culture’, whatever
15
Another Malaysia Is Possible
Tamils – here through the indentured labour system and later, through the
kangani system, to work in the plantations to help make money for British
entrepreneurs and the British government. And later, of course, for the Malayan
government. Now imagine this scenario for a moment. Imagine that you can go
down to the material foundations of this nation and can see the contribution of
its inhabitants to that foundation in terms of labour and income in dollars and
cents. You will certainly see what critical contributions Indian labour has made
to create a modern Malaya and later Malaysia. But that is history now and it is
best forgotten. In fact, the situation here is even more saddening. Instead of
recognising the contribution of the Indian community and being ‘grateful’ for
it, we have some Malaysians shouting coldly and loudly that the Indian
Malaysian community is an ungrateful lot!
The narrative history and, by extension, heritage of this country is beset by
political myopia. We have fed and fattened our greed for profits any which way
in the name of ‘development’. As a consequence, the history and heritage of this
country have been given up for commercial and short-term growth benefits and
ethnic political mileage. We are willing to tear down the ‘significant old’ and
give the developers all rights to mint money. With the
repeal of rent control, Georgetown in Penang, for
instance, is under attack. This is culturally a very rich
area in terms of cultural practices, cultural enclaves and
architectural diversity. In this place, within walking
distance on one street, you have a Protestant church, the
Goddess of Mercy [Chinese] temple, the Mariamman
[Hindu] temple and the Kapitan Kling mosque. And,
more importantly, a community that supports it. Isn’t
this what we must preserve and promote as an instance
of the ‘true Malaysia’? But short-term, and therefore
historically blind, planning and greed will perhaps one
day destroy this cultural diversity and richness. Recently,
the multiethnic and historic cemetery at the Sungai Besi
area in Selangor – a heritage of our nation’s pioneer
generations and their memory – was in danger of being
gobbled up by greed. A ‘genuine Malaysia’ must draw
inspiration and strength from physical icons in the
environment such as the above around which we can all
come together in the true spirit of being Malaysian. And
cherish it. But in our (historical) insensitivity we have
16
that means. This is because in their everyday
expression, cultures are always in dialogue
with each other.
St George’s Church
Except in the clever ads put up in the
national television networks at around the
time of National Day – when an attempt is
made to showcase the sharing of cultures –
the rest of the year we live in a highly
Goddess of Mercy Temple
compartmentalised and ethnically-charged
reality. The ads seem to present sharing
and hybridisation as something new,
which have to be promoted, little realising
we have had always a tradition of
hybridisation and active syncretism. There
are fine examples
Mahamariamman Temple
of sharing and
cultural hybridity in Malaysia, all of which are in
danger of being marginalized, resulting in ‘cultural
extermination and death’. A couple of decades from
now, through conscious design or careless neglect, such
cultural forms as the wayang kulit or Dato Kong and the
institutions that support it, would have been consigned
to the dustbin of history, forgotten for good. So complete
is our avoidance of that history. In fact, that history is
being systematically destroyed. Why? A little reflection
would reveal that we are becoming a nation that is
slowly but surely losing its respect for history – past,
present and future – and along with that our sense of
justice and compassion, and its enriching influence on our individual and
national life. For some of us, this is the root of our uneasiness. And our sense of
homelessness.
Kapitan Kling Mosque
In the history of interaction between the
Indian and Malay communities, several
phases can be seen. British colonialism
provided the most recent impetus for that
mingling. British colonialists and their
agents brought South Indians – mostly
17
been bent on destroying all these. Sadly, ‘Malaysia’ as a ‘cultural hybrid’ is soon
going to be only reflected in advertising and public relations budgets and
programmes. It will in time be merely a media event. Perhaps that is all we
really want.
Semparuthi
This historical blindness, greed for profits, lack of concern for justice, or the
feeling of compassion, affects all of us and certainly the Indian Malaysian
community a great deal. When the world of the Indians – the plantation society
– the world they worked in so hard, the world in which many of them died
working to produce wealth for this nation, started to crumble, there was no
urgency in this country to do something about it. It was a process that was
clearly going to produce a massive problem within the community. But that
foresight was neither with the government nor the Malayan (later Malaysian)
Indian Congress. In fact, it was not at all seen as a problem for the nation. It was
the problem of the Indian community, not Malaysians. This mode of thinking is
at the root of our mainstream political existence: Turn the problems faced by
Malaysians into the problems of the community and let the community deal
with it. So when we have problems with pigs, it is seen as the problem of the
Chinese community. The problem of the ‘ecstasy pill’ is the problem of the
Chinese youth – not Malaysians. The problem of drug abuse is the problem of
the Malay youth. Of course, the problem of the Malays directly becomes the
problem of the Government. In one way or another, all these affect many
Malaysians. Some time ago an elderly Chinese taxi driver told me, "I want to be
a Malaysian and I want to love this country but I am not allowed to…I am
always made to feel like less than one". This
year he has decided not to put up the
Malaysian flag on his taxi. The quality of
justice and compassion in this country is
abysmal. And there are many who do not feel
at home.
Coming back…The Indian Malaysians who
were unable to deal with their crumbling
world moved from rural poverty to urban
poverty. And even after 40-odd years of
Independence, with the Indian rubber-tapper
community – mostly poor Tamils – even now
not guaranteed a minimum wage, a minister
with the Malaysian government had the
18
cheek to say that he did not know what the rubber tappers really did behind the
rubber trees! That is symptomatic of our insensitivity to our history or to justice.
It also reflects our lack of gratefulness to our own people. The Indian Malaysian
community is a poor minority exhibiting all the problems of an ‘underclass’ in
a multiethnic environment. Left to fend for itself – unlike the protected Malay
community – within an ethnically-charged environment, it has constantly faced
a great number of obstacles.
These problems started early. In the sixties, my brother – the person who put
me through university education – was working as a door-to-door salesman
selling books. When he knocked on the door of a non-Indian Malaysian home,
he heard someone say, "Find out what that black bastard outside wants." In a
chat with a frustrated young Indian Malaysian student of mine, I was informed
that she was told by a non-Indian employer, "If not for your colour, we would
have employed you." After completing his hotel management course, the son of
a friend, who is quite dark-skinned, wanted to join the ‘front office’ of a hotel,
which is a ‘visible position’. To his disappointment, he found that it was quite
difficult for a dark complexioned person to occupy such a position. He was
given a position in the housekeeping department, a ‘behind-the-scenes’
department. If you are a fair-skinned Indian, appearing like Shah Rukh Khan,
perhaps you will have an opportunity in this country. I have watched the plight
of a pregnant Indian Malaysian with a big bag of goods after shopping in a
nearby supermarket, trying to get the attention of a taxi driver. The person who
finally stopped to pick her up was an Indian taxi driver.
I can go on with these examples. The fact that I remember these examples is
certainly uncomfortable to me. But ‘objectively’, they reflect a reality that most
of us, and certainly the government, would like to hide. I am not saying that
Indians do not exhibit racist tendencies. The thing is that we have put our
blinkers on and like to believe that there is no racism – individual or institutional
– in this country. And so, there is no need for us to talk about it, articulate our
problems in public, rationally engage in a discussion, and even work towards
legislating against certain forms of racism. We are told that we are not ready for
such discussions or that we can’t even rationally discuss certain feelings about
‘race relations’ in this country. The David Chua episode1 is a case in point. If
after forty-three years of independence and many more decades before that of
living together, of working together, of seeing our loved ones, even across
1
See http://www.malaysia.net/aliran/monthly/2000/07a.htm. February 2004.
19
ethnic groups, being buried in this land, we cannot come to a table to rationally
discuss a common problem that affects us all, what have we really accomplished
as a nation or as a community? And what is historically blind about all these is
that we are pushing our problems to the next generation and teaching them to
push these problems to the next, hoping eventually everything will come to
pass and that we will all form one big, happy family. Even myths need to be
constructed with some realism! We have come to a bridge and we are refusing
to cross it!
The marginalisation of the Indian Malaysian community has many secondary
but critical effects. After the Sauk incident2 – an incident that clearly revealed
how lowly the people rated the mainstream media and its independence and
how cynical they have become – there was one question that many threw at me
in our casual conversations. Even members of the Malay community raised this
point. "If," they said, almost in a chorus, "the group that carried out the arms
heist was a non-Malay group, do you think they would have hesitated shooting
them on sight?" And in many discussions, there was always a reference to the
shooting of a ‘pregnant Indian woman’. This was an allusion to the incident in
which an unarmed pregnant Indian Malaysian woman was shot on sight for
being in the company of Indian Malaysian men who were suspected to be
kidnappers.3 This terrible episode has been ‘burnt’ into the Indian Malaysian
psyche and it will appear again and again as a query: "What is our status in this
country?" There were many others who were harmed or shot in situations that
raise many questions, all of which affects the feeling of ‘belonging’ to this
nation. This is a theme in private discussions among the members of the
community.
For instance, a private TV channel in Malaysia is famous for putting Indians
(read: Tamils) in their place. It’s treatment of Indians is reflective of economic
and political powerlessness of Indians. Had this group been financially strong
and politically powerful, the scenario would have been significantly different.
The Indian Malaysian community will have their movies screened not at a Godforsaken time but at prime time. Elsewhere, the community has been told to
stand on their own two feet. But the same logic has not been directed at the
Malay community. In this country, the majority community behaves like a
2
See http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/BG08Ae01.html. February 2004
(Anil Netto, ‘Questions remain after martial art cult’s surrender.’)
3 See http://www.indianwebbase.net/policing.htm
20
besieged minority, putting the poor Indian Malaysian minority community, and
other such communities, out of the scope of Islamic justice and compassion.
When are we going to learn that ethnicity alone is really an inadequate criterion
for dealing with poverty? In a playing field that is not level, I think we need to
look at poor Malaysians. They are Malaysian. They are our people. They need
help. Why is this so difficult to see? We look but do not see. We hear but do not
listen. Our drive for political survival is so narrow and blind that it suffocates
and kills our sense of justice and compassion.
My unease with Malaysia is not only the result of the marginalisation of the
Indian Malaysian community. There are certainly many things that are going on
in this country that will make a citizen uneasy, that will further question our
notions of justice and compassion. We are, for instance, a labour-shortage
economy, and we need foreign labour. We bring people in from the neighbouring
countries but treat them rather badly. One of my close relatives runs a jewellery
shop. A number of his customers are Bangladeshis. I have personally observed
how they take their money out from some of the oddest places, sometimes from
inside their undergarments. When asked why they do that, they say that there
are ‘Malaysians’ who like to extort them of their hard-earned income. So when
they travel, they put their money in strange places, hoping that it is not found.
We point fingers at them without realising how mean we have been.
During the peak of the economic crisis, a conversation with a taxi driver
revealed yet another aspect of our brutality. The driver of the taxi I was
travelling in told me that his business was down. Many Indonesians have
returned home since the crisis, he said, finding it difficult to sustain themselves
here. As a result, the taxi driver observed, his income was down significantly. I
was curious about immigrant labour using taxis to travel, rather than the bus
service or the light-rail transit (LRT). He told me that they use the taxi to avoid
being spotted while walking or waiting for a bus or train. They just do not want
to be visible because that attracts a section of Malaysians out to prey on them.
This is really sad. Security in our public spaces has a really cold character:
Malaysians vs. non-Malaysians; professional foreign labour vs. those doing
manual labour; rich Malaysians vs. poor Malaysians; politically conforming
citizens vs. politically non-conforming ones. The former always has a better
deal.
When I was once talking to a health activist working on AIDS, I saw another
instance of our callousness. We import labour to spur our economy. We treat
21
them merely as economic units, expecting them to come here, work, earn an
income and go back when their time is up. But this treatment is de-meaning.
Human beings are not economic robots. They have all kind of needs – not only
economic and survival, but also emotional, social and sexual needs – which we
choose not to see. Over time, these needs begin to surface, and when there are
no safe outlets, a number of health problems will certainly ensue, including
AIDS. Is that the problem of immigrant labour or the system? My view is that
we have a system that is hardly compassionate. These are not political problems
as much as they are problems of governance. But do we as a people and as a
nation care? A similar problem relates to the blind among our own people. If
you walk around in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, you will find many blind
people moving around, often quite dangerously. A vehicle could knock them
down anytime. The blind have been around in this area for a long time and yet
we have not spent time to develop a blind-friendly environment in Brickfields.
In Tokyo, as in many other places in Japan, for instance, walk on the pavement
and you will see how the needs of the ‘visually-challenged’ have been taken
care of. Compassion is inherent in the design of the pavement and that makes
the environment for the blind there certainly friendlier than ours. Compassion
is not just about a value or a feeling but also about concretely designing a really
caring and sustainable society.
The most serious recent happening that brings into sharp focus our sense of
history, justice and compassion relates to the events surrounding our treatment
of the ex-Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim. I am not debating here his
innocence or guilt because I really do not know the unalloyed facts. But we
need due process to be in place so that the truth can be sought out relentlessly
before we convict any citizen of this country. Have we really done that in the
case of Anwar Ibrahim that we can answer this affirmatively, without an iota of
doubt? This is a classic case which reveals how insensitive we have become to
history, justice and compassion. For now, they have become the silent casualties.
As many people felt and still feel, if this could happen to the DPM, where do
we ordinary citizens stand against the power of the state, even to raise an
innocuous question about its public behaviour?
22
History has however never been known to be silent about the truth for a long
time. That will eventually come out into the open. The Anwar episode will be
written and re-written. It will be discussed and researched. Articles and
dissertations will be produced on it. And perhaps one day, when justice
assertively holds politics accountable, Malaysia may hear of alternative
narratives. Malaysia will wake up to the terrible wrongs that it had committed
to a number of its citizens. And we may just find Guan Eng4 and Anwar
Ibrahim on that list. So will the unarmed pregnant Indian Malaysian woman
who was shot. How can we believe that history will not evaluate our actions,
our decisions twenty-five or fifty years or hundred years from now? That is the
depth of our historical blindness. The court decision in a case that an
international community – of not just governments, that may have other
agenda for criticising us, but also of professional bodies, NGOs, and concerned
individuals – says is ridden with all kinds of legal anomalies and the sentence
of 6 years and 9 years to be served consecutively, raise nagging questions and
leave a deep-seated uneasiness: What is my country really? Where is our
compassion? And where is our notion of fairness and justice?
How can I feel ‘at home’ in this country? As I walk down the main corridor of
Mega Mall on 30 August, I see people’s economic and materialistic connection
with this nation. It is an instrumental engagement of convenience. Not their
emotional attachment. I would like to believe that I am wrong. Somewhere at a
distance, I hear an announcement: "The business hour is extended to 12 o’clock
to welcome …" Without a sense of history – the past, the present and the future
– without a capacity for justice and without a feeling for compassion – what are
we really going to welcome? I really wonder …
4
See http://www.ahrchk.net/hrsolid/mainfile.php/2000vol1Ono12/773. February 2004.
23
Semangat Insan:
Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit
and Main Pateri
Written in July 2000.
Context:
This is a review of a series of Malaysian documentaries. It was written for the promoters
of the documentaries, which were produced by an award-winning young filmmaker.*
Unfortunately, my queries on whether this piece was eventually published did not
result in any definite confirmation.
D
ocumentaries have an inherently fascinating quality lacking in feature films.
This is even more so today when computer technology is able to fudge reality
even more realistically. It also explains why there is a certain attraction to
feature films that inform you: "based on a true story". As someone said, there is
"something reassuringly grounded in seeing real people facing real problems
and coping, overcoming, or even yielding to them".
Semangat Insan: Masters of Tradition (henceforth
SIMOT) certainly draws us closer to a world, to a
form of sociocultural life, that has disappeared or is
disappearing. It does this by depicting real people,
real traditions and the real problem of the possible
extinction of a ‘form of sociocultural life’.
As a ‘text’ produced in a culture that punishes the
depiction of the Malay identity in association with
animistic, Indic or Sinic elements, SIMOT is
certainly a valuable document, for it shows the rich
texture of Malay cultural heritage and Malay
identity without shying away from syncretic
* See http://www.asiahype.com/Hype/2000/05/31/Semangat. December 2003.
25
Semangat Insan
the opening images in each documentary, supported by the ethnically-distinct
music, depict cultural transactions between the Indic, Thai, Sinic and the Malay
communities. The real tension is the fear of discovery whether Malay culture is
just a hybrid culture or whether it is something that is distinct and unique.
The effort to make the case for its distinctiveness – something that is a sub-text
in the narration – overshadows other political agenda and makes SIMOT lose
to some extent political and cultural texture. It is also, I think, in the danger of
losing the non-Malay audience.
The ‘voice-over’ (VO) is too Westernised (or specifically, Americanised). It
would have been better if a Kelantanese with a strong local accent had been
used as VO. That would have certainly added to the cultural specificity of the
representation. In short, it would have added a local flavour. The fact that the
producers intended the documentaries for global consumption perhaps led to
the use of the voice that sells, the ‘American-like voice’, just as many of our
news presenters are trying to copy the American style of presenting news. That
stereotyping and standardisation could have been avoided.
There has been very limited engagement with the ‘audience’/’beneficiaries’ of
the traditions of Main Pateri, Wayang Kulit and Mak Yong. A more intimate
exploration of this dimension would have intricately knitted the traditions to
the everyday life of the people, providing a greater appreciation of the idea of
angin and the therapeutic locus of, for
instance, the tradition of Main Pateri in the
lives of the people. It would have also brought
out how people in their everyday lives
negotiated between Islam and the pre-Islamic
elements and traditions.
The camera should have been more conscious
and followed audience of the traditions and
depicted them in greater detail, for instance,
of those who were slipping into a trance state.
In a one-camera shoot, this may be difficult
but I suppose the director or his assistant
should have kept an eye on the audience to direct the camera. That would have
added some really dramatic elements to the representation.
In addition, many opportunities for dramatic representation were either missed
26
Semangat Insan
elements, even if this is minimally addressed. This is quite contrary to and
distinct from, for instance, Ismail Noor and Muhammad Azaham’s depiction in
their book The Malays.
In a political environment that actively discourages counter-cultural traditions
or alternative ordering of national narratives, SIMOT is indeed a commendable
effort. Irrespective of the intentions of the producers of the documentaries, in
the universe of texts produced on Malaysia and on the Malays, SIMOT will fall
outside official historical narratives and offer an articulation of a more critical
reading of Malaysian and Malay cultural history and politics.
This positioning of SIMOT within the national context is also to suggest that a
critical appraisal of the documentary is an ‘internal criticism’. I am a middleclass Indian Malaysian. I teach sociology and do sessions now and then on film
appreciation. As a sociologist, I enjoyed seeing SIMOT. Mak Yong was something
new to me and sociologically enlightening. As an Indian Malaysian, I saw the
flow of Indian cultural elements and their role, depiction, adaptation and
appreciation in the environment of Kelantan. I realise that somewhere in
Malaysia’s past, the history of my people is tied with the history of the Malay
people, something that has an uneasy existence in the sociocultural and
sociopolitical realities of Malaysia today.
Wayang Kulit, for instance, is a creative output of that cultural transaction,
mediated certainly by the Thai cultural experience, which carries with it Sinic
elements. Wayang Kulit really belongs to Malaysians. Why is it that we have
never felt it that way? The producers of the series SIMOT need to engage with
another agenda that has not been addressed yet in Main Pateri, Mak Yong and
Wayang Kulit – and that is to help us all feel that we are Malaysians. If Main
Pateri is about healing, then I think SIMOT as a series can play a small
‘therapeutic’ role in overcoming the artificial techno-economic togetherness of
the ethnic communities in this country and bring about a greater and deeper
cultural dialogue and togetherness. It can play a small role in helping us
individually to ‘heal’.
By falling within the discourse on the Malay identity, a choice of perspective
which is quite understandable, SIMOT has marginalised a potential platform
for inter-communal dialogue among Malaysia’s main ethnic groups. Of course,
27
Semangat Insan
or limited by other considerations (financial or the duration convention for
marketing of the documentary). The shot dynamics should have been carefully
considered, even though the director was making documentaries on
disappearing traditions. There should have been greater use of, say, close-ups
and reaction shots to increase the viewers experience of the intensity of the
performance and trance experience.
At one point in the narration in Mak Yong, a reference was made to the headgear.
But unfortunately, the shot that went along with that was a ‘long shot’, thus
reducing the appreciation of the intricacies that went into the making of the
headgear. This leads one to ask whether there are specialists in the making of
headgear and other components of the costume and props, and what is
becoming of these people. While the documentaries are fairly straightforward,
I think, opportunities to dramatise them were not taken advantage of.
The narration should have been a little more fleshed out for clarity of issues that
were represented. I felt that sometimes I had to run behind the narrator to make
sense of what was happening. Without implying a filmmaking standard, good
narration needs to ‘walk along’ with the viewer and not in front of him/her.
In addition to this, issues that were referred to in the narration were not
addressed adequately in the documentaries both visually and as narrative
development. I remember the narration of Mak Yong addressing the issue of
gender and how it was negotiated but it was lost as quickly as it was brought
in. This was also the case for certain politically sensitive issues, which to an
extent is understandable.
On the whole, I think Main Pateri, Mak Yong and Wayang Kulit are worth having
a look. They will be particularly useful for students of culture, university
libraries and national and international NGOs promoting cultural activities. It
is a good document for a culture to reflect upon itself and to urgently inform its
young people about their disappearing heritage.
28
fifty Minus ten reasons Why you
Written in June 1999. Unpublished.
Context:
The mainstream print and electronic media reached an all-time low in the perception of
the Malaysian people in the way they handled the reporting of the Anwar Ibrahim
episode, particularly after his arrest in late September 1998. The piece below was
written to let out my own frustration, when faced with completely dishonest, one-sided
reporting of events in the mainstream mass media. Since then, like many Malaysians,
I have turned to the Internet for serious analysis and online discussions of domestic
situations. The title of the article is an adaptation of a book-length, unusual poison
letter (with author’s name and publisher) called 50 Reasons Why Anwar Ibrahim
Cannot Become the Next Prime Minister, which was made available during the
UMNO General Assembly in June 1997.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
It has no backbone and therefore has a problem standing straight.
It has a problem with its vocabulary and therefore has no idea of fairness.
It is the government newsletter in print and electronic form.
It practices ‘chin-chai professionalism’.
Instead of seeking what is hidden, it hides and makes us seek.
It does not report, and is not interested in, truth.
It suffers from myopic vision.
It has acquired a predatory instinct and developed a taste for
attacking victims.
It is confused about its role in a democracy.
It is interested in cari makan, not truth.
It is interested in ‘invest-igative’ activity, not investigative reporting.
It practices sophisticated dishonesty and can even bluff itself!
It promotes truth as uncertainty and confusion as norm.
It assumes that its readers – you and I – are mindless zombies.
It wears hi-tech blinkers that not only hide the surrounding view but
also suggest what to see in front.
29
Fifty Minus Ten Reasons Why
Nat
16. It makes a jest of the just.
17. It considers people with wealth and power as those who have monopoly
over truth.
18. It suffers from double vision, sees unclearly and thinks that the world is
as it portrays it.
19. It is easily seduced by wealth and power.
20. It is immoral and therefore not a suitable information source.
21. It believes that if it keeps telling a lie a thousand times, it becomes the
truth.
22. It makes a lot of noise to drown the ‘little voices’ of sanity.
23. It pretends to be a part of the democratic press but really it is involved
in the manufacturing of narratives of questionable reliability.
24. The more the pages, the more are the advertisements, the less news and
the more damage to the forest.
25. Impartiality is an unknown ideal.
30
Fifty Minus Ten Reasons Why
26. It is un-free and loves it.
27. It supports the notion of convicting someone first and then looking for
evidence later to prove the conviction.
28. It avoids statements critical of the establishment like the plague.
29. It does not show any courage in defence of the principles of justice.
30. It makes us waste valuable time and money engaging with it.
31. It substitutes ‘critical development journalism’ with ‘government
hand-out development journalism’.
32. It misrepresents critical thinking as anti-establishment and worse,
as contributing to anti-nationalistic and anti-patriotic views.
33. Other sources of news on Malaysia are available and accessible.
34. It changes colour so fast to adapt to the political environment that it
makes the poor chameleon feel inferior.
35. It is a truth-slayer.
36. It does not carry editorials but ‘dictat-orials’.
37. It considers threats to democracy as an out-of-Malaysia problem by
definition (so if you want, you can safely read or see foreign news).
38. It can adversely affect your English; for instance, instead of ‘thoughts’,
you may write ‘thots’.
39. It has a strange notion that providing news is like making a plate of
kueh teow!
40. Malaysian mass media? It is a contradiction in terms!
31
of the Political status Quo
Published in Malaysiakini.
Context:
Original version written around November 2000.
Politics-at-the-level-of-everyday-life in Malaysia is hardly a conscious reality.
Politics largely occupies the field of the spectacular and the public. Politics also does not
address the ‘taken for granted-ness’ of our social world. In a sense, we do not examine
the beliefs and values that are below the level of consciousness (hence, ‘taken for
granted’) and that animate us. Very often, this kind of situation leads to political
engagement based purely on unexamined faith rather than on conscious reasoning.
It is based on the ‘routine’ and the ‘ritual’.
Just Kidding and ‘Taken-for-Granted’ Worldview
Just Kidding is a fairly-popular TV programme here. Have you ever wondered
why the programme is interesting or amusing? One way to go about explaining
it is to understand that all of us carry a ‘taken for granted’ world in our head.
This is a world we do not think about but which we know about. This is our
everyday world. We know what rules apply and what don’t. And we can
navigate in this world like fish in water. Though we live our life by it, the rules,
or views, of the taken-for-granted world are generally unconsidered or
unexamined. We are mostly unconscious of it, unless something happens to
bring them to our attention. Thus, the taken-for-granted world is something
one does not normally question.
A programme like Just Kidding involves breaking the rules of the taken-forgranted world of people and then depicting people’s response to it. People
express themselves verbally or through their facial expressions or gestures to
deal with the fact that their taken-for-granted world is not working the way it
used to. For example, it could be very confusing to most of us if suddenly there
was a traffic light system on escalators. We would find it hard to respond to it.
The situations that are depicted are usually funny and we have a good laugh or
33
Making Sense of the ‘Taken-for-Granted’ Worldview
Other needs are neither needed nor important.
Cari makan, literally and figuratively. (“Stay out of politics. That is our
business.”)
because it has provided, and continues to provide, for our economic wellbeing. ("What will you do without us?") Alternatively, if you are not
grateful, your patriotism is questionable.
UMNO-led, BN-led government because they will be taken care of.
BN-led government. It is immoral. And, certainly, it is, by definition, unlawful.
irrationality and will result in rupturing tranquillity in this country.
This will bring undue international attention on and shame to the country.
disharmony and conflict. Malaysia will ‘choke and die’ without proper
leadership.
only for those who support the BN-led government.
government will protect. Malaysians only have privilege(s) bestowed on
them by the BN, which it can withdraw at any moment.
misunderstanding or is the opposition way of misleading the people of
Malaysia.
people want.
economic events in Malaysia will be directed by one master narrative
influenced by the BN. Other narratives are essentially funded by hostile
foreign agencies, like ABC, XYZ, *.#@, etc., or arise from unpatriotic
intentions, or both.
34
find the behaviour of those in the programme amusing. So much for Just
Kidding.
Though it is part of the ordinariness of life, the taken-for-granted world is a
serious matter. It can be sort of compared to status quo. An attempt to do
something that may disrupt the taken-for-granted world can disorient people
or make them see it as a threat.
Consider this discussion in the context of what happened on the Kesas
Highway near Shah Alam recently and what went on in parliament on the topic
of the "meeting of the 100,000 people" (opposition party supporters) on that
highway. Consider a nagging question that confronted the ruling coalition,
Barisan Nasional (BN), in relation to the Malay votes during the last general
election: "How come so many in the Malay Malaysian community, who had
benefited so much from the UMNO-led, BN-led government, had voted for
opposition candidates?" One way of making sense of these events is to consider
the taken-for-granted world of many Malaysians in general and the members/
supporters of the BN in particular. It reveals some unquestioned and unconscious
‘lived’ views and rules that are part of people’s unexamined everyday life
existence.
of the Ruling Coalition
BN and those who do not. The former are nation-loving citizens, and the
latter, ungrateful critics.
are those who may or may not have critical opinions but who will
nevertheless maintain public silence; and (2) those who cannot be
tolerated are those vocal members of opposition parties or people-oriented
NGOs.
immature, confused and very ungrateful. They are really less Malaysian
than the others and are certainly a potential threat to the Nation.
35
with BN." "If the BN is not tough, we will have all kinds of problems."
"The Opposition consists of ungrateful people … you know, they are supported
by foreign governments." They are many more questions or ‘analyses’ that
sustain the taken-forgranted view. In fact, many things that go on in our world
simply ‘prove’ the views and rules to be ‘true’. For instance, take the political
wrangling within the Barisan Alternatif (BA) over the candidature for the
Lunas constituency (see chapters 6 and 7). And also consider the ethnic basis of
i
t
.
The possible reading of the episode is not that DAP is ‘victimised’ but that the
BA is rather confused, fitting into the BN’s worldview.
To believe that all the responses of members/supporters of the ruling front, or
even the security apparatus, are part of a conscious design is to carelessly
overlook the serious political role of the taken-for-granted world in our
everyday life. While to politically confront a design is necessary, it is equally
important to confront the more difficult views/rules of the taken-for-granted
world. There is an equally important need to change the quality of people’s
everyday life experience, to sow the basis for a more politically sustainable,
democratic society. Oppositional politics (not to be conflated with opposition
party politics) needs to consider an additional strategy, to move from the
‘spectacular’ to the ‘ordinary’, and to confront the politics of the taken-forgranted view on a more regular basis, if not a daily one. This is an essential
activity to create a critical populace.
36
investors, who may, among other things, thoroughly exploit Malaysian
workers.
liberalisation need not be accompanied by political liberalisation.
and justice, that is good.
in Malaysia. Non-racial politics is some people’s unfortunate wet dream.
policies and programmes, and to freely demonise the opposition.
only we have contributed to the modernisation of
Malaysia.
led government’ not the ‘Malaysian government’.
Conclusion
Imagine for a moment, a world organised around the views/rules mentioned
above. Irrespective of the political motivation or interests that generate these
views, or rules, they are what possibly many people believe in and live by, day
in and day out, without consciously considering or critically examining them.
Although the views and rules provide the basis for authoritarian monologues,
many people believe that what they are doing is the right thing.
That we do not confront these views/rules in our everyday life is because the
routine of most Malaysians involves the ‘apolitical’ activity of cari makan (both
literally and figuratively). And cari makan involves not rocking the boat, neither
in the private sphere of our everyday life nor the public sphere. There are a lot
of questions and self-censoring strategies that are raised to maintain the takenfor-granted world. "Why get involved?" "Why talk about it?" "No point talking
about it." "Yes, the BN may not be always correct, but who else do we have to
lead us?" "Please, there is no viable opposition in this country…Look at them."
"It is a waste voting for them [the opposition]. They will never win."
"You cannot fight the BN ... Look at what is happening to Terengganu." "PAS is
37
Islamic, Keadilan is anyway the extension
of UMNO, the socialists are
inconsequential and DAP is Chinese-led; where can the Indians go? Better to be
5
Published in Malaysiakini.
Context:
Written in October 2000.
Noor Suzaily, a 24-year-old computer engineer, was raped and murdered in an express
bus by the 34-year-old driver in the early hours of 7 October 2000. Two years later, the
rapist was convicted and sentenced to death.
N
oor Suzaily’s rape was brutal enough to have jolted a large number of
Malaysians, although we are told that it was just a ‘rare’ occurrence and there
is no need for us to be alarmed. This rationalisation, supported by a mode of
thinking influenced by the statistical approach for the purpose of administrative
and political consumption, really kills our humanity and substitutes cold
numbers in its place. Even if a nation does not grieve over this very unfortunate
incident, we could avoid being unkind.
Domination and Destruction
In the rapist’s life, one aspect of civilisation melts away in a moment. Another
aspect of it pushes the cold, calculative, predative male animal out into the
open. Therefore, it must be clear that it is not about numbers we are dealing
with here. In dealing with rape, mere statistics make little sense. It is really
about democracy and humanity, its pervasiveness and its expression in our
norms and values. What matters is how democratic norms can be made to work
better so that the ‘weak’ and defenceless are assured of their safety and how
members of society can be encouraged to develop their humanity through
norms and values that govern our private and public behaviour in the context
of social relationships. Rape is condemned as ‘uncivilised behaviour’ (so we
call a rapist an ‘animal’). But in actual practice there is an aspect of our ‘civilised
practice’ (which incorporates undemocratic and inhumane norms and
behaviour) in which rape can be socially located. This aspect of our civilisation
needs to be intensely interrogated, confronted and neutralised.
If not numbers, what are we really dealing with here?
39
Rape!
The ‘Woman Provoked It’ Logic
When dealing with social problems in this country, the
general tenor is to further punish the victim. That is
part of our national problem-solving strategy! So
when we are faced with a violent crime in which a
woman’s body is violated, there is a tendency, overtly
or covertly, to blame women.
Thus, men involved in the act of rape are represented
before the law by making women share the blame. The
blame on the male is sought to be reduced, if not in
legal terms, at least in terms of public opinion. There is an attempt to frame a
non-binding, but damaging, social verdict: women are also partly or fully
responsible.
The other side to this ‘woman-provoked-it’ argument is that “men will be men,
women have to watch out”. This general sociobiological position, or the
wisdom of the evolutionist-biologist, simply implies that “women should take
care”. In a sense, this argument also suggests that “all men are potential
rapists”. So, for one group of people (certainly not outside civilisation) the
cause of rape is a man’s biology. He just cannot help what he is doing. As the
evolutionist-biologist likes to argue, it is a violent “form of male reproductive
behaviour”. The male rapes in order to maintain the continuity of our species.
What perverse logic!
An extension of this argument is one that tries to shift the blame to a lack of
guidance, irrationality and poor upbringing, among other things. Thus, rape is
presented as the act of an individual. Is it?
Patriarchy
These attempts to explain away or rationalise rape hide a ‘cause’ that is
embedded deep in the structures and attitudes of our society. While we can take
the individual rapist to task through a legal process, how do we take to task the
patriarchal society we live in – an ideology and practice that privileges men –
the ‘societal womb’ that is the Father of all rapists? In fact, it is one aspect of our
so-called civilisation that is at the root of what happened to Noor Suzaily.
40
Rape!
Noor Suzaily is certainly the victim of our patriarchal patterns of behaviour as
much as the poor public security measures that we have and of the individual
who actually committed the act, an individual produced by the same society
that treats women differently from men. Different set of principles apply.
Rape as an Expression of a Patriarchal Society
There are many kinds of rape situations, some of which are: (a) Rape taking
place when an anonymous male rapes a woman in a place not ‘visible’ to the
public – ‘anonymous male’ rape; (b) Rape taking place during social conflict –
communal/ethnic confrontation or war; (c) Rape within marriage when a
husband rapes a sexually unwilling wife – ‘domestic’ rape; (d) Rape taking
place within a family – adult and senior male member of a family raping a
younger female member of the family; (e) Rape during a period of captivity,
either as prisoner – ‘prison’ rape – or in a ‘slave-like’ work situation; and
(f) Rape during a date – ‘date/acquaintance’ rape.
Consider these situations against the following observations.
Among the social inequalities existing in Malaysia is certainly that which exists
between the male and the female – gender inequality. This form of inequality is
articulated at the economic, political and sociocultural levels.
This has serious consequences. Work, an activity central to our lives, is by
definition ‘male work’; ‘housework’ certainly is not. Housework, and
consequently women’s work, is as free as fresh air, or seen to be of poor quality.
Thus, a typical structuring of a patriarchal society contributes to the economic
marginalisation of women and the assertion of the male position. The power to
make important domestic or public decisions is hardly in the hands of women.
The consequence of this contributes to her marginal status.
Stop for a while and make a casual calculation of women’s housework in terms
of hours of work. Put a wage bill on it and you will soon realise how much her
contribution outstrips men’s. This is not about her larger contribution as much
as how we treat her despite her larger contribution. What civilisation are we
talking about?
Then there is serious ‘cultural framing’ of the female in terms of values, norms
or her expected behaviour. The cultural framing also defines the ‘masculine’
41
Rape!
logical conclusion of this development is rape. Another serious development is
the threat the male can present to the female in many areas of social life in
which he ‘rules’, which can force her to agree to do many things, including
providing sexual favours. The ‘sex-as-strategy’ used by women only makes
sense if one evaluates why it has become a strategy in the first place.
The media adds to the problem – eroticising, commodifying and marginalising
women. And with the Internet, the commodification of women has reached a
new height. There is almost an infinite classification of the sex act in which the
framing of the act is always from the point of view of the “male gaze”.
The images almost always portray the physical satisfaction of male sexual
desire through penetration or ejaculation within a context of the male
dominating the female or her unalloyed attention to satisfying his desire. They
even have a category called “bondage” (sex) where images represent the
eroticising of male brutality. Images and depiction of situations in our popular
books, magazines and advertisements also contribute to our children and youth
acquiring a view of society in which the female is eroticised and commodified
as an object.
The general features cited above are aspects of the patriarchal society that we
live in. This is supposedly a civilised society. It is not difficult to see that
‘civilisation’ is as much responsible for Noor Suzaily’s death as the individual
and the poor public security measures.
Modernisation and Patriarchy
The modernisation of society has opened up and enlarged the public sphere of
our activities. This process puts women in the public sphere but does not
adequately prepare support structures or a democratic environment for her
protection in that sphere. There is hardly a careful consideration of serious
public security measures or procedures. Consequently, there are many lonely
places in the public sphere or lonely situations in the private sphere, where
there is neither protection derived from democratic norms, which is more
pervasive, nor police protection, which is more localised.
* See Rohana Ariffin (ed.), Shame, Secrecy and Silence: Study of Rape in Penang (Penang:
Women’s Crisis Centre, 1997)
42
Rape!
and the ‘feminine’. A close examination of this will also reveal how we treat our
womenfolk or the girl child at home and in society. For instance, career is about
the upward mobility of men. She is expected to move where he goes, even give
up her career.
Far more serious is the socialisation of our children. Socialisation is genderbiased and, through the process, we build a number of myths about women’s
inferior position in relation to men. It helps to culturally sustain her
marginalisation. In all these, the ‘male supremacy complex’ is subtly introduced.
And, along with it emerges a sense of a man’s privileges and the expectations
placed on women.
In relation to this, a close and careful examination of some of our laws will also
reveal gender bias and insensitivity. Our religions contain aspects of gender
inequality. Some commentator on the rape incident mentioned that in Hindu
society some control over rape behaviour is provided in the practice of Mother
Goddess worship. I do not have the comparative figures, but some of the worst
atrocities on women – like bride burning – can be found in India and among the
Hindus, which is the predominant religion there. In fact, the contradiction
puzzles the average Indian social scientist – Mother Goddess worship on one
side and the beating and killing of women on the other.
Cultural framing also influences the assignment of work and to what levels a
woman can ascend in an organisation. There is a ‘glass ceiling’ that obstructs
her career path. Culturally, an unkind aspect of this social conditioning is the
general negative opinion about raped women (extrapolating the findings of a
1977 study of rape in Penang)*. A rape victim would have to go through a
shame-filled existence and daily face a society that will look at her as a ‘spoilt’
woman.
A critical look at the socialisation process will reveal a democratically
unsustainable gendering process in place. Within a supposedly caring
atmosphere of the home environment, a difference between the male and female
child is slowly converted into a socially-unequal situation. Many amongst us
certainly privilege the male child. This shift also has a serious societal presence.
A logical development of this shift involves the transformation of a physical
difference between the male and female in strength into an expression of social
power. A physical difference, in combination with other features described
above, becomes symbolically evaluated and loaded. And one very serious
43
Rape!
Practically speaking, the police cannot be everywhere. The chances of the police
being present at a place of possible rape are really low. We therefore need
actively sustained public security procedures and measures that can help
ordinary folks defend themselves. But the only serious and sustainable defence
we have is normative pressure within a democratised culture. If not, a combination
of lonely public or private spaces and a patriarchal mentality or social ethos
based on the male supremacy complex that turn women into erotic commodities
makes a perfect ground for social predation, and that can certainly lead to rape.
Nat
Our patriarchal society is certainly guilty of doing to women, on a daily basis,
more harm than we can imagine. For now, we have convicted the individual
rapist but patriarchy is still at large. We need to address the roots of the
patriarchal society we live in and weed out unsustainable expressions of the
woman-man relationship. There is a need to build an all-round democratic
culture. That will eventually reduce the unfortunate occurrences like the one in
which Noor Suzaily got entangled. And lost her life.
44
6
Keadilan
Published in the ‘Letter & Comment’ section of The Sun, 28 November 2000.
Written with S. Nagarajan and Charles Santiago. See next chapter for some
background information.
T
he by-election announcement in the Lunas state constituency following the
death of Dr. Joe Fernandez has sparked the normal frenzy among aspirants on
both sides of the political divide.
As usual, one would have expected the main contenders – the Barisan Nasional
(BN) and the Barisan Alternatif (BA) – to have made their choices after the initial
wrangling among potential candidates. But it's not to be this time. The sparks
from the BA fallout have ignited another controversy: the issue of minority
representation and alienation of a fellow ally.
The BN’s choice seems to follow its time-tested, ‘party-isabove-the-individual’ policy. Despite rumours of
unhappiness on the part of Kedah UMNO, the BN is fielding
an Indian in a mixed constituency. At least on the surface,
this seems to be above race politics.
But the acrimony in spelling out the criteria for a BA candidate and the lobbying
strategy of certain elements in Parti Keadilan Nasional raise serious concerns.
These elements created a climate of intimidation, misinformation
and deceit. First, Keadilan supporters demonstrated outside the
Democratic Action Party (DAP) operations room in Lunas which,
according to some observers, created a situation that could have
gotten out of hand. It certainly was not in the spirit of solidarity and
mutual respect among allies.
Second, Keadilan youth leaders from Penang and Kedah had sent
intimidating letters warning DAP to move out of Lunas or face something
untoward on nomination day. Third, a signature campaign was orchestrated in
the Chinese community to deceive the BA’s party leaders that DAP’s candidate
45
Keadilan (Justice) the Casualty
The choice of a Malay candidate from Keadilan was based on the assumption
that it will prove to be politically advantageous. It is seen as a decision with a
"larger interest" in mind. Put differently, this argument suggests that only a
Malay candidate can ensure the support of Malays that will lead to a BA victory.
But the BN’s Teluk Kemang victory refutes this argument. There, its MIC
candidate comfortably defeated Keadilan’s Malay
candidate in a largely-Malay constituency.
Political reality indicates that the contesting parties'
programme, machinery, resources, critical issues of the
day, local sentiments and problems play a decisive role in
electoral outcomes. The stature of a candidate does play a role, but only a minor
one.
Certainly, concerns for the "larger interest" would have taken into consideration
the impact of Keadilan's forced decision on DAP. Did they not realise what it
would do to the party? Sure enough, DAP is now faced with a crisis. What kind
of a partnership is that?
Further, would it not be worthwhile, on the basis of the "larger interest", to have
an Indian Malaysian candidate as an elected opposition member, given that
there is no elected minority representative in any of the state assemblies or in
parliament? This was an opportune moment for the minority problem and
aspirations to be put on the national agenda.
The underlying attitude of the BA appears to be "win at any cost", even if it
means giving up some principles of political wisdom that guided its very
existence. This is like a greedy corporation formulating strategies to make
profits at any cost. Suddenly, anything becomes reasonable: the end justifies the
means. Now, "Be practical, be realistic" means "Forget about principles, just
win, win, win!"
Give up principles, and soon we will find that there is no more ‘political will’
to defend those principles. Then, giving up more principles becomes easy. In
this context, even Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) has been simply silent on the
minority issue.
Where is the party's religion-centred politics, which it raises as its distinguishing
feature? What is its interpretation of the status of minority representation in
46
was not popular in Lunas. Fourth, a carefully thought-out media campaign was
launched to undermine DAP and its candidate towards nomination day. Is this
the new political culture that Keadilan is putting forward?
Keadilan’s distinguishing qualification for the choice of its candidate is that he
is a Malay. The DAP’s candidate was dropped because he is an Indian. What do
you think this kind of decision-making is based on? Political wisdom or racism?
Certainly, this is straightforward racism of Keadilan camouflaged under the
cloak of political wisdom. This is unbecoming, given that about two years ago,
Keadilan rightly captured the imagination of a large number of Malaysians
with its cry for justice, fair play and democracy.
What emerges from this episode is the extent to which these elements in
Keadilan will go to get their way. And all this for a state seat, which in the larger
equation is not going to determine who governs Kedah for the next three years.
Yes, it may deny the state BN a two-thirds majority and send a message to the
BN federal government but it is not going to change the state government for
the moment.
In the process, it has alienated a trusted ally, deeply hurt the sentiments of a
minority community and has caused disarray in the infant BA formation. But is
the damage done to the coalition's long-term interests worth it? The long-term
cost appears to be high.
Several other critical issues have emerged in the context of the Lunas
by-election.
First, how strong is the relationship between the component parties of BA?
The impression one gets from the recent wrangling is that it is only a weak bond
among the older members, rather than a firmly entrenched united coalition.
The fact that Keadilan party members demonstrated in front of the DAP office
does not show any positive sign of a mature and disciplined collectivity,
working towards its long-term goals. This wrangling simply affirms BN's claim
that the BA is just a convenient anti-BN formation that will break down
anytime.
Second, in the last general election, there was a lot of talk among BA leaders of
moving towards a non-racial political future. The Lunas episode does not
indicate that this vision of the future still animates the BA. On that score, at least
in the Lunas by-election, the BN seems to be doing better.
47
Islam?
How are the position and interests of the marginalised communities to be
accommodated in the BA? Are they going to be merely "the led"? When a large
number of Indians left Keadilan before the last general election, they were
perceived to be impatient. Given Keadilan’s behaviour in the Lunas by-election,
there seem to be some good reasons for the Indian exit then.
As a political entity, the BA has to work out a way to discipline its rogue
elements, work out a level of honesty and transparency among its leaders and
move the platform towards non-racial and non-discriminatory politics.
Otherwise, the BA will replicate the BN.
If the decision-making follows a pattern in which the Lunas by-election is one
element, the minorities including Indian Malaysians, within the BA will be
further marginalised. And certainly, they would think that it is better to be
marginalised in the BN than in the BA.
BA may win a seat here and there but it is moving away from principles that are
supposed to guide it. When principles are pushed aside just to win a seat,
politics degenerates into a game of numbers and business-like wheeling and
dealing. If this is the direction in which the BA is moving or is set to move, soon
it will become irrelevant even to its own supporters. Malaysians will just see
through the BA's inability to provide a better platform, and realise that it is just
more of the same.
48
Published in Malaysiakini, December 2000.
Context:
A by-election was announced in the Lunas state constituency (in Kedah) following the
killing of MIC State Assemblyman, Dr. Joe Fernandez, on the afternoon of 4 Nov. 2000.
He died of gunshot wounds. The announcement of a by-election had sparked the normal
frenzy among aspirants on both sides of the political divide, i.e. the Barisan Nasional
(BN), and the Barisan Alternatif (BA). Unfortunately, the political wrangling among
potential candidates in the BA ignited a controversy: the issue of minority representation
and alienation of a fellow ally (DAP).
M
any commentaries have poured into the print and e-newspapers on the
Lunas by-election and the victory of BA. There seems to be a ‘serves-the-BNright’ mood.
And for many in BA – particularly, members of Keadilan – they stand
vindicated, proved right about their choice of the candidate. For the moment,
everyone is talking about BA's ‘victory’.
Of course, BN is unable to accept BA's victory or its loss and is raising all kinds
of allegations. While these allegations are part of BN's political damage control,
is the behaviour of BA so superior that we do not have to stop and consider it
critically?
Commentators believe that the Lunas by-election is critical and will remain a
‘watershed political event’, implying a critical point in people's growing
disenchantment with BN's politics and a sign of the consolidation of the
Opposition forces.
They are, of course, particularly attracted to the fact that the victory in the
election has contributed to the realisation of a dream – the denial of a two-thirds
majority, if not nationally, at least in the Kedah state assembly.
49
Let’s Not Get Too Cocky, BA
Blindly Enthusiastic
The mostly working class Indians, who may be anti-MIC for a variety of
reasons, including the condescending nature of its leadership, seem to have
voted significantly for the BA candidate. But as the voting numbers show, there
is a sort of break-even situation.
Commentators seem to forget that 9,981 citizens in Lunas voted for the BN as
against the 10,511 votes for BA. To make all kinds of analysis based on this
seems a little too blindly enthusiastic and is overstretching the inferences.
To re-emphasise a point, the one thing that is clear from the figures is that BA's
choice of a candidate based on Cotillions rationale was simply untenable.
And my hunch is that the individual citizens of Lunas had decided to vote
against the BN for a variety
of reasons much before the
polling day. Collectively,
that meant a vote for BA. It
would not have really
mattered who stood on the
BA side, provided the
campaigning was ‘right’.
The one important lesson
that we need to learn from
the last general elections
and this by-election really is
about
the
Malaysian
electorate. In Lunas, they
made a choice with what
was given to them. They
made the best use of what
was available.
The electorate did not fall into the game played by politicians. They had their
own ‘agenda’ and they made their selection. Collectively, the people of Lunas
have signalled – a reflection of the register of votes – to us that neither BN nor
BA really makes a difference, at least not yet.
50
Unhealthy Trajectory
Unfortunately, in the midst of all this, there are many things that went on to
make the political event in Lunas seem to have systematically gone out of focus.
In many of us, the ‘child’ has come out, and now, we are just doing what
spectators all over the world do when their team wins – cheer and jeer.
All that matters now is ‘BN lost, BA won’. The end justifies the means, though
in peaceful times, we like to preach the opposite.
A cursory re-examination of the Lunas victory shows a prefiguration of a
possible unhealthy trajectory of BA's political future.
In the last general elections, when BN won with a small margin, BA would see
it positively. For all of us who wanted a strong opposition party/coalition, it
was a ‘victory’. For us, the narrow margin really meant that the opposition
voice was rising.
While the same logic may be used, the Lunas win – certainly by a very narrow
margin – means that BA represents an area that does not support it by almost
half. And what does BA aim to do in the constituency it has won, where half the
citizens do not support it? Stop the redrawing of the constituencies in the state?
Greatly Influenced
In Lunas, voting for the candidates did not really show any significant ethnic or
racial factor in the choice of the candidate. And among other things, a mere 530vote majority isn't sufficient to convincingly suggest that.
That an Indian Malaysian in a mixed constituency, where the Malays form the
single largest group, lost by a mere margin of 530 votes makes BA's stand,
reflecting Keadilan's analysis, questionable. In Lunas, people voted for many
reasons. A large number of Chinese may have voted the BA for reasons that
have been suggested by many other commentators.
The Chinese have been greatly influenced by many events affecting their
community and organisations, which took place before the election, all of which
are fresh in their memory and some of which are still to be resolved. The Malays
possibly voted for ‘more democracy’, ‘more Islam’, ‘more Malay-ness’ and/or
‘less Mahathir’, individually or collectively considered.
51
decision in which they showed that they meant
business. The last general election is certainly a
lesson both for the BN and BA.
Politics is not
about end states
as much as
Dangerous Path
Not having learnt its lesson well, the BN continues to
take the people for granted. On the other hand, BA is
beginning to think the people owe it to them. Sadly,
some elements in BA, and those who sing for them,
are beginning to get the idea that they are the chosen
future of Malaysia. That is a dangerous path.
about the
process of
getting there.
How did BA achieve its ‘victory’ in Lunas? First, under the guise of being
‘realistic’, it fielded a Malay candidate hoping that race will contribute to its
victory. Not as much principles. Or ideology. The vision of BA's non-racial
political future is a casualty in a decision that is now – indicated by the voters
in Lunas – questionable.
The other problem is the doubt this kind of decision-making casts over the
motives espoused by a member of the BA, Keadilan. Are they really transparent?
What does Keadilan stand for? Justice? Justice for all Malaysians? Justice for
Anwar Ibrahim? While justice for Anwar is a necessary political demand, it
must not be conflated with justice for all Malaysians.
Opposition in Crisis
What will be Keadilan's status when Anwar is released? Will it transform and
be absorbed as part of UMNO, representing perhaps a particular (and hopefully
a democratic) tendency within that larger formation?
Will it become a formation like the BN representing all ethnic groups, but
without the ethnic party outfits, but still promoting largely Malay interests?
Second, the ‘victory’ was achieved with DAP pushed towards a serious
problem. If victory for BA is celebrated, it is being done without any sensitivity
to the fact that victory has been achieved at the expense of a DAP in crisis.
52
It Is the Process That Counts
And what that really means is: How is BA going to show Malaysian citizens
that it is really different? Overwhelmed by its victory, BA simply refuses to see
beyond or behind its victory.
For those who have been hoping for a new ethical political culture, a strong
opposition that cares for values and principles and that defends them is a must.
In conceiving such a political practice, merely winning is certainly not the issue.
A cursory examination of history of those who have been the leaders of such
politics will show that. It is the process that counts. The opposition to BN is not
just about winning an election but also, and more importantly, about the
process we must set in place, guided by values and principles, so that a victory
is a victory of one set of principles over the other, of democracy over authoritarian
politics. Politics is not about end states as much as about the process of getting there.
Blooming Political Initiatives
The one thing that is of particular importance in reflecting the
above in the last general election is the setting in motion of a
process for the mobilisation and consolidation of opposition
politics in this country. For many citizens and observers of
politics in Malaysia, it was yet another attempt, another experiment. For the
first time, the country saw activist-leaders taking to the election.
A large number of groups and people’s coalitions came into existence prior to
the election, proposing a rich and creative variety of democratic visions for
Malaysia. It was our ‘Alternative Vision 2020’ and beyond. People discussed.
Internet activism came of age in Malaysia as part of the process.
Collectively, the people of Malaysia ‘used’ the opposition to send a message to
BN that support for it is not unconditional. The opposition coalition did not,
however, win the legitimate right to govern Malaysia in terms of seats.
But, against the background of being taken for granted, the people had ‘won’
by sending a significant message. The Malaysian people established a voting
53
"DAP never got the larger picture" is the claim of many who find
fault with it. What is this ‘larger picture’ or the ‘larger interest’ that
many have yet to make sense of?
Surely, making a clear statement that the BA is for honest and clean
politics is part of the larger picture. Surely, signalling to people that
BA will not do what we have seen BN do is part of the larger
picture. Surely, being principled and maintaining party discipline is
part of the larger picture. Surely, giving minority communities and women
political opportunities as a matter of coalition/party policy is part of the larger picture.
Surely making a principled political decision rather than a race-based decision
is part of the larger picture.
Unless what is meant by the larger picture is the single point programme of
defeating BN or embarrassing its leaders without regard to the process!
How can opposition politics in this country make any worthwhile contribution
with such a limited scope of action and thought? If BA is just going to be a
“knee-jerk reaction”, it will certainly make the opposition coalition quite
irrelevant in time to come.
The Lunas by-election has been a spectacle. And now it is over. Until the next
spectacle, which is already in the offing, we have time to think about the
character of opposition politics in this country. And it is important that we
demand that it has a principled, democratic character, even as it strategises to
win. It would be a mistake to wait for it to win to have a character.
54
With little resources, instead of concentrating on larger political issues, it will
have to work harder now to keep its members together. And
what is the use of a victory, when it puts whatever little
opposition force we have in this country into a crisis?
Whatever those aligned to various groups within the
opposition coalition may think about DAP, is this the process
we want to see more of in the fledgling coalition and/or its members?
Street Brawls
Collective leadership is being substituted by leadership of jeering the other
person down – both from inside and outside the coalition, both directly and
indirectly. What kind of politics is that?
In the world of real-life politics, situations for political street brawls may arise.
But do we need a Coalition that transforms that behaviour into something
acceptable and of value, defending it and losing the sense of a strategy of
abstaining from it inside or outside the Coalition? Consider BA's victory against
the dishonesty, peer pressure, and ‘arm-twisting tactics’ that went on for
Keadilan to have its way. This is the underside of victory. Nothing that
happened within BA, between DAP and the rest, really matters to those
commenting on the elections.
What is worse is that all fingers are pointed at DAP for getting it all wrong – this
even after seeing the behaviour of Keadilan members and its leadership, after
PAS ‘suggesting’ that DAP cannot go it alone and that it needs BA or after
seeing how little values guided Keadilan’s behaviour on this matter.
DAP is even more wrong now since there has been a victory. The issues of
dishonesty or pressure tactics within the opposition coalition between its
members do not matter and can be swept under the carpet. It is okay. Now, we
can all fall back on our belief that ‘victors are always right’.
The Larger Picture
And, of course, if they are right, how can they be dishonest? In this, is there
really any difference between the BA – or components within it – and the BN?
The worldview they share is similar if not the same. Is this the character of the
55
opposition coalition we asked for?
Published in Malaysiakini, March 2001.
Context:
The published version was edited and entitled Political Hailing Withering
Malaysianisation.
There was not only a loss of support for UMNO from the Malay Malaysian community
during the last election (late November 1999), but also splitting of the community votes
between UMNO, PAS and Keadilan supporters. UMNO had to regain its lost ground
and legitimacy with the community. As a result, there was a call for "Malay Unity"
talks, particularly with PAS, which had captured Kelantan and Terengganu in the
elections. The meeting was to be held in February 2001 (later postponed). Non-Malay
Malaysians felt that the meeting was not healthy or should be more inclusive.
T
he idea of Malaysia is a contested one. There is no single notion of Malaysia.
We live in many ‘frames’ of Malaysia. As in most post-colonial societies that
underwent change from a sort of mono-ethnic population to a definite
multiethnic one, Malaysia is still in search of an identity.
The national sociocultural fabric that we as a people have tried to weave
together, despite the many odds against us, is a delicate and fragile thing, like
the wings of a butterfly. Those among us who felt that we were at home among
our families, friends and fellow citizens, to whatever degree, nurtured a vision
of creating a ‘dialogically unified, a co-existential but highly differentiated
multiethnic/multicultural Malaysia’. However, the events of our nation's recent
past have ripped the tapestry cruelly here and there, causing the tenuous areas
of co-existence to be damaged, if not destroyed altogether. Again. The events
– bloody or otherwise – we have seen in the recent, troubled past seem to set us
behind to an earlier era.
Where do we start tracing this string of events? An examination of our recent
past indicates ‘socio-seismic’ movements at the end of last year and the
beginning of this year. There was a juncture in our nation's history when we
had all the reasons to further strengthen our national commitment as a
multiethnic/multicultural society by a call for ‘Malaysian unity’ talks. It would
57
Malaysia Today
down to its knees, though the community made the pleas from that position.
GPMS even proposed a set of counter-demands, including gazetting the PM’s
position as an exclusive right of the Malays. As the problem with Suqiu was in
progress and reaching a crescendo, UMNO set in motion calls for talks on
Malay unity.
The Malay unity talks in the context of what was going on prior to and at the
time it was proposed sent a definite signal to the non-Malays. The ethnoculturescape underwent a convulsion. Malaysianisation was pushed aside; the
Malay element, or ‘Malay-sianisation’, re-appeared.
It is perhaps worthwhile keeping in mind here the issue of Malay hegemony.
The Malay hegemony issue developed generally in the context of a multiethnic
Malaysia and the position of Malays. Another area not usually addressed
involves the classification of ‘Malay’, which by itself is a hegemonic process.
Like the classification of bumiputeras, the ‘Malay community’ is really a
collection of a number of communities. For instance, the Mandailings are
classified as Malays. Ask a Mandailing privately and s/he will probably not
agree with that classification. There is a belief among them that they are
different. So, we have Minangs, Kelantanese, Penang Mamak (Penang Indian
Muslim), Acehnese, etc., who are all classified as Malay. Such a hegemonic
classification has a political function.
To continue, Malay hegemony in the first instance cited above is seen as a
function of Malay nationalism. The underlying assumption of Malay hegemony
is the belief that Malaysia is part of the Malay world and that the Malays must
necessarily have ‘more’ rights – symbolic or real – than the others in the
country. Their numbers and their control of both repressive and ideological
institutions offer the community the power to establish hegemonic status. To
offer the other communities equal status in every aspect is politically and
culturally inadvisable, as it may upset the hegemonic status of the Malay
community and take the tanah Melayu away from them.
58
Malaysia Today
have contributed to and strengthened the efforts of weaving our fragile national
sociocultural fabric. It would have further encouraged the imagination of
‘Malaysia’ as our common home.
But instead what did we do? A cursory examination of online mailing/
discussion lists such as beritamalaysia or sangkancil or the online newspaper
Malaysiakini reveals a focus on the Malays in recent times particularly centred
on “Malay unity” talks, with a subsidiary but critical concern of ‘Malay
hegemony’. A critical elaboration of these concerns seems to show some serious
consequences.
The Malay unity talks arose out of UMNO's urgent need to address its loss of
legitimacy among a growing number of the Malay people defined either by the
specific practice of their religion, their association and support for Anwar or by
their age/generation. The Malay unity talks were to set in motion a process that
will in time come to displace PAS, and possibly Keadilan, and bring back the
Malay people under UMNO's wing. UMNO had to find ways to regain its lost
legitimacy. Well, in the dynamics of a modern multi-party based democratic
system, this seems to be an acceptable strategy for any party to take. Why not?
But because of the position of Malays in Malaysia, the historical context in
which the talks were proposed, among other factors, set the events that were to
follow in an unfortunate trajectory, with a seemingly impersonal force of
‘fragmentation’ having a directive influence.
Around the time of the Lunas by-election (late 2000), Malaysia was caught with
a number of developments that seem to have adversely affected the
‘Malaysianisation’ process. There was first the debate over "vision schools" with
the Chinese community having a reservation about it, perhaps not so much
about the idea itself as much as about the way it will be implemented.
People in power and those associated with them took the community to task
without reasonably addressing the fears of the community. Following on the
heels of that was the issue of the “demands” of the Malaysian Chinese
Organisations Election Appeals (Suqiu) Group. The “demands” of Suqiu,
though not criticised during the election, for that would have meant the
possibility of loss of Chinese votes, was addressed much later after the BN had
won the election, again sometime around the end of 2000. The “demands” were
supposedly unreasonable and anti-Malay. Naturally, groups like UMNO and
Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) attacked Suqiu to bring it
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Malaysia Today
Hardly. It seems to have continued steadily – like an arrow from an unknown
source looking for its helpless victim – into the harsh squatter reality of
Kampong Medan and its vicinity. That set in motion another fragmentation.
This fragmentation was achieved not by confronting a reasonable demand with
an unreasonable counter-demand at the level of consciousness and/or strategy,
but by driving deep into the flesh, bones and psyche of many innocent
Malaysians, an experience of bloody, intense pain. It is a pain with an eye that
sees only ‘us’ and ‘them’. It is a pain that increases the fault lines and intensifies
separation.
Third fragmentation: Indian Malaysians
begin to feel insecure and become
‘Indians in Malay-sia’.
Back to Square One
The dominant cycle involving the
three major communities is complete.
The ‘Malay-sianisation’ process is
re-established with a vengeance.
The symbolic territories of the
communities are now re-defined in
space and time. The ‘Malay unity’
talks will hail the Malays, ‘Damansara’
and ‘education’ will hail the ‘Chinese
in Malay-sia’ while ‘the squatter’,
‘University Hospital’ and the ‘prison’
will hail the ‘Indians in Malay-sia’.
Do we have the wisdom
today to make a choice of the
collective future we want,
a multiethnic/multicultural
future that is governed by
participatory and
deliberative democracy
(from the local level
upwards), culturally rich
with diversity, socially
inclusive institutionally
and dialogically unified?
This periodic, culturally and
economically motivated political hailing,
like religious hailing, will bring the individual members of the communities
together, but unlike religious hailing, will keep the communities separate and
fragmented. It is back again to square one – in that struggle to define ourselves,
to seek an identity that is consistent with our ‘feeling at home’ within the career
of the two main frames, Malaysia or ‘Malay-sia’.
60
Malaysia Today
Malay hegemony is a cultural agenda with a political programme; Malay unity
is a political agenda with a cultural programme. Both these agenda are critical
for the survival of the Malay people in the peninsula, which they see as
belonging to them, while the others, who may be citizens here formally, must
remain ‘that much less’. It is a Malaysia of ‘Malay-sians’. Malaysia may be a
shared reality but common and general cultural and political ownership of it is
for now a dream for a faraway future.
Against this backdrop, the fragile ethnocultural reality centred on an imagination
of a dialogically unified multiethnic/multicultural Malaysia broke like a
looking glass into a hundred pieces yet again. An unfortunate fragmentation
process was already in progress.
First fragmentation: the Malay unity talks re-affirmed the Malay/non-Malay
ethnocultural fields. It made the point that we are not in Malaysia but in
‘Malay-sia’. Like a child who must commit a lesson to memory, we were always
made to remember the Malay-non-Malay divide, never allowed to create a new
memory of a possible future. In addition to the above consequence of the Malay
unity talks, the non-Malay communities were also positioned as silent
spectators to a spectacle. The Malay unity talks were as much for non-Malay
consumption as it was for Malays.
The representation of Suqiu’s demands as unreasonable and anti-Malay
allowed them to be interpreted as an external threat to ‘Malay-sianisation’, a
factor critically important for intra-communal bonding and for crystallising the
Malay unity talks. Added to this problem faced by members of the Chinese
community was another that directly affected their children. Our children. This
relates to the problem of the Damansara Chinese Primary School, built with
community donations 71 years ago. It was to be closed because of its close
proximity to a highway. Parents were unhappy and children were unhappy.
Second fragmentation: The Chinese Malaysian became ‘Chinese in Malay-sia’.
Even as the need for Malay unity talks proceeded, ‘Malay-sianisation’ was in
progress.
Whether or not the Malay unity talks will be eventually held and whether or
not the expected results will be achieved, the consequences of the proposal are
visible if one only cares to look. Did the process of fragmentation stop, with the
Chinese committing to their memory that they were Chinese in ‘Malay-sia’?
61
Malaysia Today
They produce different subjects and they offer different trajectories, different
futures. Do we have the wisdom today to make a choice of the collective future
we want, a multiethnic/multicultural future that is governed by participatory
and deliberative democracy (from the local level upwards), culturally rich with
diversity, socially inclusive institutionally and dialogically unified?
62
Published in Malaysiakini, May 2001.
Context:
The riot and killing of six persons in a squatter area in Kuala Lumpur (Petaling Jaya
Selatan/Kampung Medan) in early 2001 led to active discussions on racism in
Malaysia. Much later, the newly-formed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
(SUHAKAM) released its maiden report. While it addressed all aspects of discrimination,
unfortunately, it left out racism.
SUHAKAM is indeed a ray of hope in a country where violations of human
rights are legitimised generally under the framework of ‘our Asian way’, which
has brought some disrepute to Asia. As if Asia does not have traditions of
participatory and deliberative democracy that lie outside what many political
leaders in the region today define as democracy and human rights.
SUHAKAM has done well and provided the nation some confidence that we
may be able to take a step towards reclaiming what our inalienable rights are,
those rights that have been appropriated from us by
the state claiming to do the ‘Asian’ thing. Its maiden
report, which has received the support of many
concerned Malaysians, seems to cover a number of
critical areas and issues very pertinent for citizens'
political survival in this nation of ours.
In the report, as a number of news reports convey to us,
SUHAKAM has concluded that many laws in Malaysia
infringe on or restrict basic human rights.
Among the many laudable suggestions, SUHAKAM has demanded for
relaxation on tight curbs on public meetings, asked for a transparent and
accountable government, removal of the perpetual ‘state of emergency’ we are
in, suggested an independent commission for the appointment of judges, raised
63
SUHAKAM Must Open the Pandora’s Box of Racism
xenophobia and related intolerance since the adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, we note that despite the development of
international, regional and national laws underpinning equality, racist attitudes
remain deeply entrenched and that political, economic and social conditions often
inhibit their implementation. We also note with sadness that minorities,
indigenous people, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and others still suffer
from widespread inequality and racial discrimination. The obstacles to equality
lie in the mind and the spirit as well as in political, economic and social
conditions. Education, development, and the faithful implementation of
international human rights norms are the keys to future action for equality
and non-discrimination.
We recognise that certain persons and groups may experience other forms of
discrimination on the basis of their gender, age, disability, genetic condition,
language, religion, sexual orientation, economic status or social origin, and that,
in addition, they may experience acts of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance. We note that this situation can result in
such persons being victims of multiple forms of discrimination, and stress
that special attention should be given to the elaboration of strategies,
policies and programmes, which may include affirmative action, for such
persons.
Blind to Reality
In the conclusion and recommendations section of the
document produced by the Asia-Pacific Seminar of Experts
in preparation for the World Conference against Racism:
Migrants and Trafficking in Persons with Particular Reference to
Women and Children, which met in Bangkok in September
last year [2000], one will find the following observation: "The Seminar noted
that there was no country in the region which was free from racism and racial
discrimination as defined in the International Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination." Though this preparatory conference
focused on the migrant communities, the point made on the pervasiveness of
racial discrimination in Asia is all too clear.
In fact, one fails to see how an august body like SUHAKAM can miss the point
that a multiracial society like ours with so many inequalities can possibly
escape the social outcome of racism or racial discrimination, either as retail
64
our attention to gender discrimination and the infringement of the rights of
indigenous people faced with a development that has displaced them.
By asking for all these, SUHAKAM's report can be placed within a universe of
texts that have emerged in Malaysia in the recent past animated by an imagined
future that is authentically democratic and genuinely Malaysian. These texts,
which are all publicly available, offer, if not for us immediately, at least for the
future generations, a pathway to a society unlike the one we are living in today.
Wrong Signals
But sadly, SUHAKAM has looked away from a reality that hurts human rights
and the quality of social relationships in this country. That reality is racism,
racial discrimination and hate crimes. By doing this, SUHAKAM has missed a
historical opportunity to direct the country in correcting a situation that
officialdom has so far refused to accept. It lost the power of ‘dramatic
intervention’ in terms of its first report to draw racism, racial discrimination
and hate crimes into official discourse.
By doing this, it has sent wrong signals to many concerned Malaysians.
Its failure on this matter is really puzzling.
Racism, hate crimes and racial discrimination are serious problems faced the
world over. Their seriousness has been recognised by the UN, which is holding
an important conference on the issue, the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, from
31 August to 7 September this year [2001]. Here are three items in the draft
declaration and programme of action of the Conference issued in March 2001,
which the Commission may want to look at (emphasis mine):
We also understand that intolerance and racial discrimination breed and fester in
inequitable political, economic and social conditions, and that genuine equality
of opportunity for development is fundamental for the eradication of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. We
therefore call for urgent national, regional and international measures to
provide the chance for a decent life for all the peoples of the world in their
magnificent diversity.
In reviewing progress made in the fight against racism, racial discrimination,
65
Who Is a ‘Malaysian’?
Second, among the many directions SUHAKAM will have to take to seek the
causes, addressing race and ethnic issues in terms of racism or racial
discrimination, one will certainly take it straight back to the New Economic
Policy and into the affirmative action policy for the majority racial/ethnic
community. It will eventually lead to questions related to the affirmative action
policy based on exclusive racial categories rather than inclusive economic
categories.
In addition, the career of this inquiry has far-reaching implications. It will reach
into the examination of many public and private institutions and their
b
e
h
a
v
i
o
u
r
.
It will raise the issue of: ‘Who is a Malaysian?’ It will lead to action to harmonise
the principle of citizenship based on equality with the reality of human rights
based on universality. All these will become a serious problem to deal with on
what has come to be categorised as a ‘sensitive issue’, not a ‘human rights’ one.
Yes, it will open a Pandora’s Box, but if it helps straighten the human rights
situation in this country and further democratise it, then is that not the brief of
SUHAKAM?
Third – optimistically speaking – SUHAKAM is aware of the problems but does
not know how to address the issues. If this were the case, perhaps it would be
a worthwhile effort for it to look at the working of race and human rights
commissions across the globe that have recognised the problem of racial
discrimination almost as a norm and have sought to deal with it directly and
indirectly both at the level of the individual and public institution. It needs to
establish and encourage a proper reporting system and it needs to work out a
way to evaluate the reports in which there may have been human rights
violations (as a result of racism or racial discrimination).
If SUHAKAM had a discussion on the issue and had decided to drop it from
inclusion in the report, perhaps the public should know about it and its reasons.
A response to SUHAKAM can then be more considered. If it did not consider
the issues of racism, racial discrimination and hate crimes in the everyday life
of Malaysians worth engaging with seriously, it is time that it takes another
more critical, reflexive look at Malaysia.
66
incidents or as institutionalised practices or both. Even if we give SUHAKAM
the benefit of doubt about its refusal to investigate the Petaling Jaya Selatan
issue on the basis of lack of evidence, one fails to understand how it is possible
for it to be blind to the reality as a whole.
Who
is a
Malaysian?
While it has addressed all kinds of possible human
rights violations in our nation – relating to undemocratic
laws, gender discrimination or violation of the rights of
indigenous people in the name of development –
SUHAKAM’s blindness to racism, racial discrimination
or hate crimes is not comprehensible. In fact, it raises a
question: Why has SUHAKAM not addressed the issue
at all?
First, SUHAKAM’s first report carried just about all forms of human rights
violations but did not recognise human rights violations through racial
discrimination, and therefore, it was not included in the report. This implies
that, as far as SUHAKAM is concerned, there is no racism or racial discrimination
or hate crimes in Malaysia.
To believe that in a society that imports a large
group of non-professional, unskilled or semiskilled migrant workers from the neighbouring
countries, there will be no racism or racial
discrimination or hate crimes is to put an
unrealistic faith on Malaysians in their treatment
of foreign labour. We need only examine some
newspaper reports closely to find out how wrong
it is.
67
Nat
To believe that in a multiracial society with a clear ethnic division of labour
highly influenced by serious levels of inequality articulating itself, among
others, in terms of ownership, patterns of educational achievements and
employment and residential locations, there will be no racism or racial
discrimination is, to say the least, naive.
Published in Malaysiakini in May 2002 and Vettipechu in June 2002.
Context:
In early 2002, a controversy raged in Malaysia regarding university admissions for
young Malaysians. Many students, who scored very high marks in their pre-university
examination and were therefore eligible to gain admission to local universities and
university colleges, did not get places in these institutions. These were largely Chinese
and Indian Malaysian students. This situation led to a major debate on the nature of
meritocracy in Malaysia.
Another controversy is sweeping through the nation. This time around it is
about "meritocracy". It is now common knowledge to many Malaysians that the
source of the controversy was the recently-announced admission to our public
universities. The differential numbers of admissions in relation to the various
ethnic groups to the 11 universities and 6 university colleges is seen to be unfair
to some young Malaysians in contrast to others. A cursory examination of
letters, news items, articles and editorials in various newspapers, online or
otherwise, in English and the vernacular indicate that the differential admissions
of our young people for university education is perceived to be ethnically
discriminatory, indicating or resulting from a poorly worked out and managed
meritocracy system or from a carefully planned unfair "meritocracy system
without merit".
Meritocracy is a component of our present mode of governance in matters
dealing with education, particularly in relation to the distribution of
opportunities for university education. Since the target of governance is always
a population, meritocracy refers to the distribution of university education to a
population. Is this population a general one, i.e. all eligible young Malaysians?
69
Meritocracy, Modes of Governance and the Making of a High-Risk Society
mode of governance.
Only liberalism and/or conservatism supports state-directed meritocracy, i.e.
moderated meritocracy, which we are accustomed to here. Against the equalitymerit spectrum, liberalism slants towards equality, in an attempt to generalise
educational opportunities from the rich to the middle-classes and downwards,
while conservatism slants towards merit, maintaining that educational
opportunities be available to a selected few in society. Both liberalism and
conservatism work within an elite model of education, the former maintaining
a ‘soft version’ while the latter maintaining a ‘stronger version’ of the elite
model. Our notion of meritocracy seems to slant towards the stronger version
of elitism.
Our present mode of governance of tertiary educational opportunities through
a meritocratic system will work if there is a level-playing field between the
players, a common university entrance system and transparency to examine the
processes that contribute to the moderated meritocratic system. Unfortunately,
we have a situation where none of the above is applicable.
How can we create a meritocratic system with affirmative action policy that is
based on the exclusive category of race/ethnicity? A level playing field can
never be established in this way. In addition, we do not have a common
entrance system. Two systems operate to distribute tertiary educational
opportunities, resulting in an outcome that hardly realises the principle of
merit. Malaysia is never known for its transparency. As a people, we have
hardly been active subjects of policymaking but merely the passive objects of
policies.
This kind of situation disadvantages some segments of the Malaysian population
in contrast to others. First, meritocracy is based on the "survival of the fittest"
formula and contributes to a social Darwinist future ("The fittest have the right
to survive and the others can be damned!") Meritocracy is essentially elitist and
disadvantages a number of segments against an elite few. In this case, it is
possible that a meritocratic system can exclude not only members of the poorer
community but also such groups as women.
In a highly unequal society with vast differences in income differentials and
where the Gini coefficient* does not show any significant downward trend, a
level-playing field cannot be established, thus making meritocracy actively
70
And, does this mode of governance adequately address the tertiary educational
needs of all our young people?
The literature on the issue of distribution of educational opportunities in a
highly stratified and unequal multicultural society suggests two key debates.
The first debate is about "quota vs. merit". Ensuing from this is a mode of
governance oriented to an affirmative-action policy and equality. The affirmative
action policy forms a mode of governance of the rights of a segment of the
population that has suffered historically in a social, cultural and political sense.
A quota system offers a social corrective – providing a historically disadvantaged
group a fixed offer in a planned strategy of opportunity distribution and not
through a competitive avenue.
In Malaysia, as in many other countries, the quota system has a political
function. The quota system is offered to the majority and politically-powerful
ethnic community. This has created a query on the real purpose of the quota
system, which has led, among other things, to see the system as promoting
Malay hegemony rather than addressing a social disadvantage. In recent times,
there has been an effort in Malaysia to change the distribution of tertiary
educational opportunities from quota to merit system, which brings us to the
second debate and the centre of the present controversy.
The second debate relates to "equality vs. merit". Ensuing from this are three
alternative modes of governance available for redistribution of (tertiary)
educational opportunities – egalitarian, moderated meritocracy and unrestricted
meritocracy.
A vision of a society that celebrates diversity and differences and systematically
undermines patterned and inter-generational forms of social inequality is a
social potential that is yet to be realised. Thus, equality achieved through
recognising differences in abilities, in contribution and in needs is a nonexistent one today. At present the egalitarian mode of governance is nonexistent.
Similarly, a society of radical individualism in an imagined libertarian future,
in which the state/bureaucracy is reduced in size and scope, makes unrestricted
meritocracy – minimum restriction on the fittest to reach the top – an unrealised
* See http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/prin/txt/factors/dist4.html. December 2003.
71
matters dealing with education, particularly in relation to university education.
Among the critical objectives of governance in any society are ones that attempt
to reduce the social security risks of its members so that they may have a future,
realise their potentials, achieve a meaningful and secure life (and in the process,
provide legitimacy to the regime). However, as it is practised here today,
meritocracy reflects a mode of governance that systematically increases the
social risk of a number of non-Malay Malaysian segments of the population
while reducing it for the Malay Malaysians.
Against this background, there is an argument that is appearing in some
quarters that relates to the fact that tertiary education is now available not just
at the eleven public universities and six university colleges, but also available
at the 600-over private institutions of higher education, i.e. private colleges. It
is assumed that tertiary education can be more equitably distributed among
young Malaysians by the mix of public and private institutions of higher
education and also by different entry requirements. While this is reasonable
enough, the real issue of the distribution of educational opportunities among
all young Malaysians from the perspective of ‘education as a right’ is not
addressed or resolved by such an argument or strategy.
In relation to the above, three unfortunate developments can be discerned,
which have created a high social risk environment, particularly for a number of
ethnic and poor communities.
First, sadly in Malaysia, the public institutions serve the needs of the young
Malay Malaysians while the private institutions serve the young Chinese
Malaysians, with the other communities, including young Indian Malaysians,
running between these two sites. Notwithstanding the rhetoric of "Malaysia as
a regional centre for higher education", private institutions are hardly a solution
to a problem of equitable distribution of educational opportunities but are more
reflective of an adaptive strategy of the Chinese Malaysian community to a lack
of such opportunities and to the critical educational needs of their young.
Second, much due to the ‘success’ of the government’s privatisation policy, the
creation of educational opportunities has transformed over the years from a
social objective with economic implications into a thoroughly economic activity.
The privatisation of education has reduced the government’s responsibility and
redistributive role and shaped education into just another commodity, governed
by the vagaries of the market. For many among the poorer communities, it is
72
Second, while the above
discussion
presents
the
meritocratic system itself as a
serious problem in distributing
educational opportunities to all
the young members of a
population, the situation is
further aggravated by a careless
and poorly thought out approach
to organising meritocracy in
contemporary Malaysia. We do
not just have one problem in establishing a level playing field. We have
economic status, gender and ethnicity all contributing to maintaining a muchskewed playing field.
By critically examining the outcome of the state-managed moderated
meritocratic system, we know that the young among the Malay Malaysians –
and particularly the well-off among them – have better opportunities and a
more certain future than the young of other ethnic communities. Added to this,
the differential system for university entrance has also contributed to their wellbeing. The lack of transparency, the third important factor, in a highly controlled
political environment harms the critical social learning feedback mechanisms
and consequently increases the social risks of an uncertain future for the young
non-Malay Malaysians.
Moderated meritocracy is a component of our present mode of governance in
73
Semparuthi
contribute to elitism. The
meritocratic
system
will
eventually benefit the middle
classes and the richer lot and
men among them. Thus, this
mode of governance presents a
high social risk for the poor and
the tribals in Malaysia. What
happens to those outside the
merit system? What do we have
in place for them and their wellbeing?
still difficult to get into private institutions. And those with the opportunity for
education ask a very disturbing question: "Which is the easier course to pass?"
Education has become a ‘thing’ you can buy and sell.
Thirdly, education has moved from a national concern to a communal one, again
removing government’s responsibilities in a multicultural society. If communities
are forced to look after themselves, why do we need a national government
then?
Notwithstanding our vision of a "caring society", increasingly the modes of
governance that are adopted by the government seem to suggest that even as
we are moving towards a developed society status, we are also moving towards
an unsustainable high-risk society. We are becoming a society with modes of
governance that leave huge sections of our population without a future, at the
social risk of being unable to take care of themselves and/or their families or
realise their potential or participate fully in national life.
Our peculiar kind of moderated meritocracy, like our tax system, which seems
to be moving towards giving more importance to indirect than direct taxes, or
our strategies for the post-retirement period of millions of workers, all show
unsustainable modes of governance that increase social risks. Some segments
may be getting richer but we are increasing the vulnerabilities and risks of
many other segments. Among these are young Malaysians and their delicate
futures. A meritocratic system that systematically increases the social risks of
sections of young Malaysians is hardly practical or moral.
74
Published in Aliran Monthly, Malaysiakini, and Vettipechu in late 2002.
Context:
This article is based on a country report written for the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions-Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation (ICFTU-APRO), based in
Singapore, and the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC). The report covered the
reality about taxation, social safety net and social development in Malaysia. It was
converted into an article.
D
eparting from their traditional concerns such as collective bargaining/
agreements or issues regarding disputes in the workplace, Malaysian trade
unionists gathered here in Kuala Lumpur on 12 and 13 June 2002 to discuss a
very critical relationship of importance to workers’ social protection: Taxation
and Social Development. The national workshop was organized by MTUC. It is
part of an ICFTU-APRO initiative on Taxation and Social Development, in which
three other countries – India, Mongolia and Australia – are involved.
The initiative began as part of a response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In paying attention to the crisis, the emphasis was on how it affected social
development in general and social protection of the labouring community in
particular. For ICFTU-APRO social protection involved social safety nets
covering the following: (1) old age/retirement benefits, (2) unemployment
insurance benefits, (3) retrenchment compensation, (4) medical benefits and
other benefits specific to women, (5) guaranteed minimum wage and (7)
general social development {(a) education, (b) vocational and skills training and
retraining (c) general health (d) housing (e) social assistance for specific groups
(f) community development and (g) natural disaster relief}.
In addressing social safety nets and social development, an important aspect is,
of course, funding: How will social development be funded? Funding for social
development, according to ICFTU-APRO, must be the responsibility of national
governments and achieved through taxation. With this focus, the ICFTU-APRO
is conducting country case studies examining the issues of taxation and social
75
Labour and Social Development in Malaysia
government in re-distribution of wealth, an important social goal.
With privatisation and economic liberalisation, the market is seen as a more
suitable instrument for achieving redistribution to all citizens. It is important to
national vision Policy
note here that Malaysia has
among the highest income
differentials between income
national development Policy
share of the highest 20 percent
and the lowest 20 percent of
households in the region. A 1996
report also indicates that the
income share of the lowest 40
percent of households is only 12.9
percent. Recent studies also
indicate that privatisation has not
really benefited individual
citizens as much as corporate
citizens.
‘Privatisation Culture’
and Social Protection
The culture of privatisation (a
(with social agenda)
mentality and a set of
institutionalised practices) has
spread out from the economy to
social sectors. There is therefore a tendency to reduce the provision of social
protection by the government and to shift the responsibility to the individual
and the institution of the family. In fact, this is a central part of Vision 2020 and
society
social
Policy
national Economic Policy
Malaysia: Towards a Caring or High-Risk Society?
76
development as well as carrying out national level workshops to discuss the
issue with trade unionists. For Malaysia, MTUC played a key part.
While comparatively, Malaysia has a reasonably well-developed social security
system for the labouring community, the following observations offer a view of
some critical issues that need reflection and closer attention.
Caring Society?
The social agenda of the various national policies in Malaysia (from the New
Economic Policy to the National Development Policy to the National Vision
Policy) implicitly first, and explicitly later, propose the creation of a ‘caring
society’. However, a careful examining of the actual state of affairs, with
particular reference to the labouring community, suggests that instead of
moving towards a caring society, the nation is a moving towards a ‘high-socialrisk society’ (and an unjust one).
Malaysia Incorporated and Social Policy
For all practical purposes, social development policy is located within the
framework of Malaysia Incorporated. And Malaysia Incorporated works within a
larger ‘economic growth framework’, a framework highly influenced by the
neo-liberal ideology, directed by the central tendency of capitalist development,
i.e. profit making, wealth creation and its skewed distribution and concentration.
In such an economic environment, the economic security of businesses is more
crucial than the social security of workers.
Privatisation and Redistribution of Wealth
The premise on which the above is based is the fact that if the economy is
dynamic, it will certainly benefit all citizens, including workers. However,
growth and redistribution are two different issues. Because there will always be
winners and losers in the economic growth model we adopt, we need
comprehensive and sustainable wealth re-distribution policies for all citizens to
benefit. While there was redistribution focus in the seventies, the introduction
of the privatisation policy in the early 80s set the trend towards not only a
reduction of governmental inefficiency but also a reduction of the role of
77
Privatisation
displaces real
‘need’ with
market ‘demand’.
(c) It is also not clear that decision-making power
over the use of communal or collective resources,
including financial and productive resources, is
actually shifting, along with ownership patterns,
towards individual workers or their families.
Processes and policies to shape and strengthen a
self-conscious civil society in which the family
plays an important comprehensive role are almost
non-existent in Malaysia. For all practical purposes, the present emphasis of the
privatisation process and indiscriminate marketisation seem to expose the
family to high levels of social risks, hardly indicating a movement towards a
caring society. The privatisation of healthcare, for instance, would certainly
expose the poor to great health and social risks. (MTUC has been consistent in
saying ‘no’ to privatisation of healthcare.)
Vulnerable Economic System
The economic strategy has moved from ‘redistribution with growth’ to ‘growth
with
redistribution’
to
one
with
primarily
a
‘growth’
focus.
As mentioned above, one of the consequences of a high performing economy is
the belief that social development will take care of itself. However, the longterm sustainability of our economy in its present shape is questionable. Though
the economy seemingly did well before the financial crisis, with approximately
8 percent growth, the 1997 financial crisis revealed many serious inherent
weaknesses in the economic system; for instance, the near absence of any
mechanism for necessary and effective technology development to enhance
competitiveness or the pervasive problems of lack of transparency and
corporate governance, and cronyism.
The recent episode involving the withdrawal of investments by the pensions
fund manager, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS),
from Malaysia (in addition to Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines), based on
criteria such as transparency and productive labour practices, seem to at least
suggest that all is not well with the economy. We seem to be held prisoner by
the ups and downs of the stock market rather than focusing our efforts on
building the real economy. Our Corruption Perception Index is 5.6 (‘0’ – highly
78
Situation of the
Family
(a) While there are a
number of familycentred action programmes in place, they are hardly commensurate with the
kind of stress the family is exposed to today. Housing for the poor labouring
community is not a priority for the government and studies show its poor
performance in the area, hardly meeting the demand for low-cost housing.
Housing for the poor is also much too politicised. In addition, living space
management within low-cost housing does not allow for a comfortable
habitable space for an extended family, which indirectly encourages neglect of
the older generation, and indirectly contributes to neglect of children in families
where both husband and wife are working.
(b) Working hours are long, with the result that breadwinners spend long hours
in the economy and do not have the opportunity of spending quality time at
home. A poorly protected post-retirement period, poorly regulated retrenchment,
unemployment particularly not of one’s own making, poorly protected workers
in the informal sector, absence of unemployment benefits and the need for a
double job to "make ends meet" all put major stresses on the family.
79
Cahayasuara
the ‘caring society’ ideal! Privatisation of social protection rather than its socialisation
is the general tendency today. While some argue that this is in the right
direction, as the government cannot indefinitely support social safety net
programmes, the government’s role in strengthening the family institution is
not exactly clear or focused. A privatisation culture can also upset priorities and
introduce a careless, high-risk society. For instance, if health services are
privatised, the best health care would be available to those who can afford them
but not necessarily to
those who need them.
Those who do not have
money do not make
the ‘demand’ of the
market. Privatisation
displaces real ‘need’
with market ‘demand’.
into social development, which will eventually contribute to a sustainable and
dynamic economy.
Crisis, Ad Hocism and One-time Dispensation
Approach
The labouring community needs support during times of crisis – natural or
socio-economic or sociopolitical or a combination of these – which are not of
their making but which results from the growth model on which the economy
is based. While Malaysia has promoted some social protection programmes, it
has neither institutionalised social protection of the labouring community nor set
up a stable ‘crisis-response’ mechanism during crisis times. The career of the
recently set-up National Economic Recovery Plan, a part of the National
Economic Action Council (NEAC), to deal with the impact of the 1997 financial
crisis needs to be seen for its long-term applicability, given the periodic crisis
tendency of the present model of growth. The available social protection is only
part of an ad hoc package and it follows a ‘one-time dispensation’ approach.
This is categorically not a good practice.
Tripartism?
Tripartism is supposed to be the main process through which the workers,
employers and government are to resolve their differences and promote
co-operation for mutual benefit, growth and development. Tripartism should
involve the three stakeholders – the government, the employers and the
workers – meeting and negotiating their differences on an equal footing. This is
hardly so in Malaysia. Consider EPF for instance. It is the money accumulated
from the contributions of employers and workers. The government’s role is
only one of trusteeship and regulatory oversight. However, in the real
dispensation of the Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF), the government gets
undue privilege. In an atmosphere of poor and questionable transparency,
government actions in the use of the funds do not really benefit the labouring
community. This has been one of the major concerns of MTUC. The funds have
* See http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2002/cpi2002.en.html. March 2004.
** See http://www.attac.org/fra/orga/doc/ngls.htm. December 2001.
80
corrupt, ‘10’ – highly clean)*, and we hold the 36th position in the Transparency
International list. All these certainly hurt the real economy and it seems to be a
vulnerable and unsustainable one, placing workers in a precarious setting.
(a) The taxation system in
Malaysia is also of no help for the
labouring community or their
families. The taxation system
shows the institutionalisation of
an indirect tax regime. In a
projection of tax revenues from
2000 to 2005, personal income tax will drop by about 0.5 percent while sales tax
will increase by about 10 percent. So, instead of being a progressive tax system
with progressive re-distribution, the Malaysian tax structure is moving towards
a regressive tax regime with regressive distribution. Indirect taxation imposed
in a highly-unequal society shifts the tax burden not only to the poor but also
hurts them. We have a regressive, pro-business, pro-rich taxation system.
(b) While there is a need for a fairer system of taxation, there is also a need to
expand the ‘net’ of taxation to increase revenue. New areas of taxation, like
taxation on currency transactions (Tobin Tax), taxation on Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), taxation on transfer pricing, Internet commerce (‘bit tax’),
and
environmental
(‘green’) taxes, will
add
to
the
government’s revenue
and if distributed fairly
will contribute immensely to social development. For instance, a global
response to just currency trading alone will benefit the whole world immensely.
A recent estimate suggests that some US$ 2 trillion is traded daily in currency
markets. Just a 0.25 percent currency transaction tax rate would have no
discernable effects on long-term investments and the viability of trade. Yet, it
could raise up to US$ 250 million per annum. This amount could be globally
shared for social development and poverty reduction.** In addition to this
means of generating revenue, a committed effort to stop billions of dollars lost
in bad deals, corruption, cronyism and non-performing loans can be diverted
81
Semparuthi
Regressive Taxation
System
have not been harmonised and resolved. Thus, for instance, we have a major
contradiction between the provisions of the Employment Act and the Companies
Act. Within the general national environment that privileges the employers
rather than the workers, the Companies Act will naturally take precedence.
Thus, when a company moves into receivership before closure, the chances that
workers will receive what is due to them are rather slim, their position in the
list of those to be paid falling to the bottom part of the list. This summarily
exposes workers to high levels of insecurity, both in terms of losing their job
and their earnings. There must be due attention paid to such contradictions to
protect the interests of workers. For instance, the workers' position in the list of
those to be paid needs to be addressed and upgraded.
Alaigal
Unrealistic Retirement
Age
(a) There is not only insensitivity to
the improved quality of life that
Malaysia has achieved as a result of
the contributions of the labouring
community to the building of this
nation but also how these changes
in quality of life negatively affect
them. Life expectancy now stands at over 70 years, with women living slightly
longer than men. Even with this definite positive change in life expectancy, the
retirement age has remained at 55 years, with the private sector just following
the public sector in this matter.
With people living longer, an early retirement exposes them to greater insecurity
and psychological stress in the post-retirement period. There is therefore a need
to reconsider the retirement age and adjust it accordingly. Such an adjustment
will certainly improve the social security of workers. Retiring people earlier,
absorbing younger workers and then claiming that the unemployment rate is
low is really manipulating numbers without addressing the unemployment
problem of those who retire early in relation to their life expectancy.
(b) In addition to the above problem, there is also a need to reconsider the
retirement age because of the increasing age of marriage. With the age of
marriage moving from about 20 years to about 30 years or later, children are
82
been used to save and salvage bad investments but not provide for retrenched
workers, who need support to live through a bad patch like the financial crisis.
The taxation strategy benefits business; the savings of and for workers also
benefits business. The practice of tripartism is yet to mature into an
institutionalised democratic practice in which there is complete transparency
and all sectors play an equally important role in deciding the use of the funds
that belong to workers.
Unionisation and the Vulnerable Informal Sector
(a) The poor attention to tripartism can be attributed to a pro-business,
authoritarian, paternalistic state and a low level of unionisation. Though we
have over 500 unions, unionisation is rather at a low level of about 10 percent
of those employed. To add to the problem are those in the informal sector,
estimated at least as half of the employed, with absolutely no union protection.
Such a situation limits the role of the workers and their power to influence
social development policies. Their effectiveness as a force to be reckoned with
is further diminished with generally stringent laws on free association, based
on a flexible, chameleon-like definition of ‘national security’, with no political
party affiliation or systematic representation of their interests in parliament.
Laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA), among others, constrain the flowering
of civil society and therefore become obstacles to creative, responsible politics,
which, in turn, limit the imagination of more just and safe futures. Though it
helps minimally, a senatorial position is of no real consequence to the labour
movement.
(b) The inability of those in the informal sector to join a union places them at
the mercy of the employers in an environment that is hardly regulated. Social
protection that comes through collective agreement between unions and the
employers is not available. In such a context, it would be necessary to consider
principles of democratic corporate governance and core labour standards as the
minimum to govern the relationship between employers and non-unionised
employees. This will certainly help workers in non-unionised sectors and their
social protection. Sadly, both are unavailable.
Contradictory Legislations
Contradictions between legislations that put workers at a great disadvantage
83
(a) Through the government-regulated compulsory saving strategy, EPF
certainly offers social protection to individual workers through their own
savings, with contributions from their employers. However, EPF is faced with
a number of critical problems. One relates to the use of the funds or its
investment. Investments are not governed by the principles of transparency.
And the principles of tripartism are not completely adhered to. As indicated
earlier, MTUC has been vocal on this matter of the use of EPF funds as also on
other issues relating to EPF.
(b) The EPF pre-retirement withdrawal schemes also pose problems. Early
withdrawals of the money for education, house purchase/payment or computer
purchase defeats the purpose of EPF, which should only play a critical role in
the post-retirement period. In fact, what must be the government’s role in social
protection is transferred to the individual citizens through the EPF preretirement withdrawal schemes.
(c) Another problem related to EPF is when complete withdrawal is done. The
whole logic of EPF seems to be based on the fact that the lump sum money
obtained on retirement can be invested on productive economic activities.
Retirees are expected to be businessmen/businesswomen or investors. And,
this will provide the necessary income for retired persons till they expire. This
is an assumption based on very spurious and unsustainable ground, without
any planning or preparation of retiring persons. Further, among those who are
retiring, which section can really afford major investments? In a turbulent
economic environment and a highly vulnerable model of growth, investment of
EPF withdrawals does not necessarily provide a secure post-retirement income,
particularly when one has worked at the lower levels of the labour hierarchy.
(d) It is all too obvious that the insurance industry has an eye on the huge EPF
funds. It knows that it can harvest a huge profit by making the funds available
to the industry. This has been attempted by poorly worked out pension
schemes, which are not advantageous to the workers. While a pension scheme
like the one run by government is attractive, there needs to be very careful
regulation of this area where the possibility of workers eventually losing or not
really gaining much from the arrangement looms large.
Minimum Wage and Unemployment Benefits
84
Post-Retirement Poverty
There is a rather serious social trend
that is developing amidst us although
not much consideration has been given to it. The first generation industrial
workers in this country – those who would have probably started work around
the later part of the sixties or the early seventies – are moving towards
retirement. Or, they have already retired. Many among this group are floor level
workers who may retire with a sum of around MR 70,000 or less. Such an
amount will be exhausted in about four years of retirement. Thus, by 60,
financial resources will be exhausted and the remaining 10+ years (with 70+
being life expectancy) will have to be spent in a highly-insecure situation. Such
a situation will lead to the emergence – among those who built this nation as it
transformed from an agricultural economy to an industrial one – of a new
category of disguised poverty, the “first generation industrial workers’ postr e t i r e m e n t
p o v e r t y ” .
This group will be rather dependent and highly insecure, given the status of
low-cost housing and the possibility of healthcare privatisation. Unlike
government pensioners and their dependents who are much better off, those
who avail themselves of EPF do not automatically enjoy post-retirement
security.
Problems of EPF
85
Cahayasuara
still at school for an increasing
number of Malaysian workers, along
with completion of payments for
house and/or car still a long way to
go at the time of retirement. To pay
for all of these from pension or EPF
funds puts many families at great
social risk, quite contrary to the aims
of
a
caring
society.
It certainly will exhaust funds faster.
But, to begin with, are the funds
adequate?
(a) Both minimum wage and unemployment benefits are non-existent in
Malaysia. There is an MTUC proposal for a minimum wage of MR 900. To begin
with, the government showed some interest but there has been no definite step
in the direction. In considering the minimum wage, MTUC believes that it
should be dynamic, i.e. adjusted with changing times and that it should not be
taken to imply an across-the-board change in wages. It is about guaranteeing a
minimum wage to the labouring community to meet their basic requirements
and not about having another Mercedes Benz!
(b) Unemployment benefits are also not available in this country. Such a system
is seen very negatively both by the government and business. Business seems
to think that a society that takes care of its unemployed through institutionalised
support will put an extra financial burden on the business sector as a whole
and, worse still, encourage a ‘dole mentality’ (If businesses get support, that is
construed as development; if workers ask for support that is derogarotarily
termed dole!) With government double standards and support, there seem to be
an ‘employer prejudice’ against any form of unemployment benefit. Associated
with this is also the poorly regulated area of retrenchment, which, of course,
leads to unemployment.
Targeting
In realising social protection for the labouring community, there is the need for
a proper strategy of targeting. In Malaysia, the only well-developed strategy of
targeting is linked to the affirmative action policy. And this is based on an
exclusive ethnic principle rather than on an inclusive economic principle. Such
politically motivated targeting strategies are in the long run harmful to the
social security of the workers in general and those in need of special attention,
whatever their ethnicity is.
86
On the internal security act
(isa)
Context:
One major contested area between the Government of Malaysia and the people is the
Internal Security Act (ISA). The Internal Security Act 1960 is a continuation of an
earlier act, The Emergency Act 1948. Both were based on the principle of ‘detention
without trial’, an abomination of democracy. It served the authoritarian belief that the
cause of democracy can only be sustained by maintaining undemocratic institutions.
There have been many movements against the Act at many levels and April 2002 saw
a renewed round of campaigns against ISA. This struggle to dismantle ISA became
difficult with the "9/11" incident in New York on 11 Sept. 2001, as the incident
provided a strong rationale for such acts as the ISA to be maintained and used actively
for the internal security of a country, which now included the fight against terrorism.
In fact, Malaysia even ‘advised’ the US Administration on the benefits of ISA-like
legislation. In the article below, one aspect of the implications of the Act is addressed.
It is based on a tradition of such arguments.
T
his is yet another article on the Internal Security Act. Though talking and
writing on the subject is almost not useful anymore since it is all too clear that
what we really need is a workable, practical and legal institutional defence
against it, the temptation to write about it is all too demanding, given the
present campaign against it in the post-9/11 context.
This is a simple desire that I suppose qualifies for inclusion into the archives of
‘anti-Malaysian state’ statements, to be noted, classified, and recorded. For
some reason, the state is watching all of us, some more seriously and some as a
matter of routine. They are in fact ‘watching’ our thoughts, the images and
narratives in our minds. But how do they get there?
Someone somewhere in the Net sometime ago made this pro-ISA comment:
"The Internal Security Act must be retained forever in Malaysia because the
country is multiracial, multi-religious and multi-lingual. All peace-loving
Malaysians have no fear of the ISA. People who wanted the Act repealed are
troublemakers, frustrated, failures and narrow-minded because they fear being
detained when they cause trouble such as riots, etc. Follow all laws and the ISA
87
On the Internal Security Act (ISA)
is harmless. Malaysians
must not take peace for
granted. Look at our
neighbour, Indonesia:
they have no ISA and
killings are common.
Look at the Philippines:
they have no ISA and
kidnappings
occur
daily. Look at Singapore
and Brunei: they have
ISA, and are very
peaceful
and
prosperous."
Source: http://www.suaram.org
As the comment above suggests, being "peace-loving" and "follow(ing) all laws"
are all that is required for ISA to stop paying attention to you. And to do that,
not only must you not act in an unbecoming way but also you are not to think
in an unauthorised way! Thus, in a sense, we are subjected to a regime run by
a ‘jurisdiction of suspicion’. It is a regime in which ISA has helped institutionalise
self-censorship. For, as individuals having to make ends meet, as individuals
having to run a life with many responsibilities to meet, we simply cannot afford
to
bring
the
government’s
suspicion
to
bear
on
us.
We need a way to stay outside its ‘security gaze’.
Laws like the ISA make their main criterion not our actions as much as our
suspected ‘frame of mind’, though only when I act, i.e. enter the arena of the
actual, do I become an object of law, particularly if I act not in the interest of
society and its members. If I do not act at all, I have practically no existence for
the law. My actions are the sole thing by which the law has a hold on me.
By undermining the law of evidence, the ISA, and laws like that, punish a
suspected frame of mind, and in doing so, it punishes a citizen for what s/he
thinks apart from his/her actions. Basically therefore it does not constitute a
legitimate legal action. It instead makes our very existence one that is
perpetually under suspicion. It makes such a state legal.
88
On the Internal Security Act (ISA)
As Malaysian citizens, we are all a priori guilty. Whether you will remain
outside prison or inside it simply remains the pleasure of the ruling government.
We are periodically reminded of this. Our innermost being is considered a priori
bad and it is for this non-judicial verdict about us that we are to be punished.
The law punishes not for any wrong we commit but for the wrong we have not
committed. We are really being punished because our action is not against the
law but we simply have a bad frame of mind.
And what is a law against a frame of mind in a democracy? "It is certainly not
a law maintained for the protection of citizens, but a law of one party against
another. Any law which punishes a suspected frame of mind quickly abolishes
the equality of the citizens before the law. It becomes a law which divides, and
all
laws
which
divide
are
reactionary
laws.
It is a privilege pretending to be law." One may do what another may not do not
because the latter lacks some objective quality but because his/her good
intentions and his/her frame of mind are under suspicion.
The present moralising Malaysian state begins with a premise that all citizens
do not have the frame of mind identical with it. Therefore, all are guilty to begin
with: from those unborn, to the hard-core convict, to the principled opposition
leaders.
In a society in which one organ imagines itself the sole, exclusive possessor of
state reason and state morality, and regards the ‘anti-state frame of mind’ as the
general, normal frame of mind of all, the general bad conscience of everyone
else. And to protect itself from the ‘anti-state frame of mind’; it invents laws as
laws of preventive detention that can imperceptibly morph into laws of
revenge. If it cannot prevent, it will take revenge.
But the very repressive laws – ISA included – issued by the government are the
opposite of what they make into law. ISA contains the contradiction of itself.
By making it the government’s duty to use it, it becomes everything that it
condemns as anti-state.
89
90
Education
Unpublished.
Context:
Discussion paper presented at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur, for
an event organised by the Group of Concerned Citizens, 8 September 2002.
In 1971, Malaysian public schools changed their medium of instruction to Bahasa
Malaysia. In 2000, the Prime Minister, in a way responding to globalisation, raised the
need to return to English as the medium of instruction. That created a great deal of
debate and resistance, especially from the Malay Malaysian community. Eventually, by
2002, this intention had transformed into the need to teach English to primary school
students through the two important subjects of science and mathematics. This also
included students from the vernacular schools. Quoting or referring to international
studies, shifting education from mother-tongue education to foreign language education
was seen as careless and not a properly thought-out move by the Ministry of Education.
Critical educationists from all communities articulated the negative impact that such a
change would bring about. It is in this context that the Group of Concerned Citizens
(GCC), an informal network of Indian Malaysians, called for a closed-door meeting to
examine the implications of the future of Tamil schools, language and community.
I thank the organisers for this opportunity to share with you some of my
thoughts. I would like us to ask some basic questions and think about some
basic issues. Why do issues like the one we are gathered here for come about?
What factors contribute to this new directive on teaching English through
Mathematics and Science in our primary schools? Will the debate on mothertongue education go away?
To address the questions, let me elaborate on three critical realities.
(1) First, let us consider the confusion between ‘language as an instrument of
communication’ and ‘language as a dynamic bank of meanings providing a
distinctive form of cultural life and collective identity’.
Let me give you an example from English and French.
91
English and Mother-Tongue Education
(a) the fact of the existence of plural ethnic groups,
(b) their amicable co-existence, or
(c) tolerance of each other.
The presence of different groups, amicable co-existence and tolerance are no
indicators of equal status in the public domain. Multiculturalism, on the other
hand, goes beyond pluralism. It also goes beyond the ethnic trinity and even
beyond ethnic communities. I however prefer to consider here ethnocommunities.
It is a statement of value that influences a political position. Multiculturalism
asserts that the many cultural communities that are present in our society must
live as equals in the public domain. It is not just about tolerance but a genuine
celebration of cultural diversity (certainly, not as part of a promotional or
tourism budget). It speaks of the equality of cultures and argues that in a
democracy, all cultural communities must be entitled to equal status in the
public domain. It demands us to be multiculturally competent.
Given this, should we still stick to the older models of citizenship (i.e. the civic
or the ethno-national ones) or consider multicultural citizenship?
(3) Third, let us examine the idea of ‘mandate’. To understand electoral mandate,
let me break it into two aspects:
Nat
(a) operational authority and
(b) directional authority.
Ideally speaking, a mandate, or
legal authorisation, given to some
citizens by all citizens (directly or
indirectly) should only allow for
operational authority, i.e. the
authority to run the day-to-day
operations in the management of
the nation, in relation to agreedupon policies or its derivatives, which set directions for a nation.
The directional authority, i.e. where the nation needs to move to, still lies with ‘the
people’ and when new directions in particular are being considered by an
92
Let us take a moving body of water. When someone says ‘river’ and/or
‘stream’, we seem to understand the words. But as purely communication
terms, we miss the cultural meaning behind the utterances/written word. For
the English, river or stream is simply based on ‘size’ but for the French, it is
based on the fact that one reaches the sea and the other does not.
Let me take another example. ‘Parents’ in Bahasa Melayu is referred to in the
form of a ‘mother-father’ couple/complex, with mother being the first
principle. ‘Parent’ is in effect a sexual duality. The Tamils would refer to their
parents as "those who gave birth to us".
These are two culturally different ways of naming parents. The imageries are
different. The ways we name, the meanings we give and the understanding of
the world are different. They are tenuous and delicate. It is easy to destroy these
delicate structures of meaning, which is the basis of our being-in-the-world, our
collective memory and identity.
By extension, cultural practices can make sense only if we make sense of
spheres of meanings. The Chinese use of certain public areas, like road corners,
junctions or roadside areas, for certain forms of prayer would make no sense if
we do not understand their spheres of meaning. On the surface, such practices
are merely tolerated.
Administrative short-sightedness about the medium of instruction based on the
above confusion can destroy delicate spheres of meanings and the institutions
that sustain them. It will be like destroying lush, biologically-diverse forests.
Like the Environmental Protection Act, we really need a Languages Protection
Act!
(2) Second, related to the above, let us consider the silence or blindness to the
difference between pluralism and multiculturalism.
The difference between them is the difference between what has become today
a contested way of naming ourselves, i.e. ‘Malaysian Indian’ and ‘Indian
Malaysian’, to take an example of one complex ethnic community.
Pluralism points to
93
active government, there is a need to invoke ‘the people’, who are the rationale
behind the mandate. In our nation, there is a conflation of both these authorities.
Institutions to get people and communities involved in contributing to national
and public decision-making are limited. In effect, a mandate here seems to
result in de-voicing the citizenry, leaving only those who were mandated to be
symbolically present and do just about anything.
To conclude, it is my opinion that as long as these aspects are not addressed
firmly and in a matured manner and resolved by us as a nation, we will
continue to have problems such as the one that has been generated by the
educational directive to teach English through Science and Mathematics.
Source: http://www.unesco.org/education/imld_2002/
Only with sensitivity and an active response to language as a dynamic bank of
culturally specific meanings, to multiculturalism and to the directional authority
of the mandate-givers, the people, will the cause of mother-tongue education be
resolved. Only then will our rich multicultural heritage, distinct and hybrid,
will become the heritage of all multiculturally competent Malaysians.
94
Written in November 2002. Unpublished.
Context:
This is revisiting everyday life in Malaysia (see chapter 4). This time around there was
not only a number of conflations of issues but also a confusion of realities. The piece was
written as a follow-up on examining everyday life in Malaysia. It is critical that the
unexamined basis for arguments and rhetoric in the Malaysian public political scene be
addressed.
In the last many months, there has been an ongoing debate on the teaching of
English through Science and Mathematics, particularly in vernacular schools
teaching in Tamil or Mandarin. The approach to the teaching of Science and
Mathematics in English is opposed for many reasons. While these oppositions
are certainly a feature of democracy (or if you like, ‘Asian democracy’) and
therefore legitimate, there is strong opposition by the government to the
reservations of the public, including Malay Malaysian educationists, which is
quite difficult to make sense of.
It is perhaps worth taking note of the list of ‘confusions’ that are central to the
government’s position. (Some see this as part of unwritten policies influencing
the undemocratic governance of Malaysia.) These governing confusions are
pervasive and are well-entrenched in the system. They influence the everyday
moorings of a citizenry. They will continue to be the reasons for the government’s
opposition to popular sentiment, which is certainly an ironical feature of
‘Malaysian democracy’.
English language.
or cultural chauvinism or separatism.
(in Malaysia).
95
Governing Confusion
ruling coalition.
total agreement/support on everything by citizens.
party.
patriotism.
ethnic-based exclusive one.
96
Published in Malaysiakini, July 2003.
Context:
‘Sexual predation’, a category of heinous crime involving attacking, molesting and/or
raping of women, seems to be a growing reality. While the opportunity for such crimes
must be assigned to the individual(s), particularly the aggressor, involved in the crime,
we need to clearly go beyond this focus and address the structural weakness of our
society. In this context, we need to look at the patriarchal nature of our society. But in
addition, we need to also look closely at what kind of city we are creating. It is in this
context that we need to address the dream of KL becoming a world-class city, as
articulated in ‘KL20’.
T
he last hours of 27-year-old Canny Ong in the hands of a sexual predator is
difficult and painful to imagine. A young person’s future broken and shattered.
She was someone’s loved one. She could have been ours. This tragic loss, like
many others, may not find a closure, for how can any society come to terms
with the brutal death of one of her daughters in the prime of her life?
Canny Ong’s death should open the present discussion going on about building
Kuala Lumpur into a world-class city. What is the use of a world-class city
when persons like Canny Ong or Noor Suzaily (see Chapter 5) are not
adequately protected? What is a city if it cannot protect its citizens? We seem to
have built an ultra-modern urban jungle and have provided an arena for the
beast to prey on its helpless victims.
Just go around Kuala Lumpur and take stock how carelessly the city has been
planned without consideration for security. LRT and train stations in deserted
areas badly served by public transport; bus stops in lonely places; large and
spacious car parks without adequate or active surveillance; poorly-lit stretches
of frighteningly-lonely connecting roads; and careless recruitment background
check. The list can go on. These are all surely recipes for disaster and tragic loss.
We and our children are at constant risk. And, there is a nagging anxiety
whenever someone is out there and not at home.
Canny Ong’s murder is among the most horrific of the underside of our urban
planning process. There are however other unsustainable trends. The wasted
97
Canny Ong and KL20
flights, the walk to the waiting lounge is rather long and exhausting. Many
areas do not have and cannot accommodate walkalators. Such space planning
and design takes away the ability of old folks to engage with the airport
independently.
Take a look at another feature of the city: pedestrian crossings. The flight of
staircase is so steep, that one look at it and an old person will not attempt to
climb it. I don’t think much thought has been put into thinking about how old
folks are going to use the city and its facilities. This may be seen to be not a
serious problem today but it will be soon as Malaysia urbanises and the
population ages in urban areas.
Nat
The vision to transform KL into a world city is a response to globalisation and
is highly market-driven. KL20 appears to be a competitive response of city
planners to transform KL into yet another mega city of the world. DBKL should
aspire to shape the city around notions of sustainable urbanisation, incorporating
the concerns of Agenda 21. These concerns would require an active integration
of economic, sociocultural, environmental and political sustainabilities. The
development of the city should go beyond the ‘profit bottom line’. All
stakeholders should be represented in the decision-making processes in a
meaningful way.
In the end, what we need is a secure and cultured city. Not one that wants to be
world-class but absolutely
unsafe. How much effort are
we taking to make sure the
urban spaces we are designing
and
concretely
creating
facilitates the safe and secure
engagement of the various
sections of people - the young,
the old, women, different ethnic
communities, etc. - of the Kuala
Lumpur community? We need
to ask ourselves: “Who are we
planning our city for?” For
Malaysians? Or, for the tourists
and foreign investors?
98
Canny Ong and KL20
death of six individuals during the Kampung Medan riot is again the result of
urban planning that involves the residentialisation of poorer sections in Kuala
Lumpur. Bad planning that does not in practice take adequate care for the
cultural needs of the various communities while at the same time promoting
multiculturally lived and interacted spaces promote exclusivism rather than
inclusivism. Socio-economic disparity fuelled by ethnocultural exclusivism
provides a setting for urban riots to take place. We need more and more
‘multicultural neighbourhoods’ with living symbols of multicultural
co-existence. Different cultures must have a sense of ownership in the form of
concrete and artistic manifestations of their urban neighbourhoods.
Residential planning and patterning, particularly for the poor, should be well
thought-out so that multiculturalism is actively achieved in order to avoid such
residential areas from becoming warring zones, where riots are waiting to
happen. The Kampung Medan incident is a case in point.
There Are Other Problems As Well
Special architectural planning and technology should be considered and
introduced for allowing children, old folks and the disadvantaged to actively
engage with the city.
Take a walk during peak hours in Brickfields and you will see how far KL is
from a humane city that is sensitive to its community. While this old
neighbourhood in KL is undergoing rapid transformation, there is absolutely
no consideration paid to the blind or the visually-challenged. Just stand around
YMCA and watch the dangers we put our blind to. They are faced with the
problems posed not only by their visual handicap but seriously by bad urban
planning that does not take care of their mobility needs. What kind of worldclass city are we building? In fact, the needs of the blind should have been the
central driving force in planning this area. KL Sentral and the complex around
the terminal of the KL monorail project here seem concerned about everything
except the needs of the blind. In fact, KL Sentral has nothing that really makes
the mobility of the blind better.
Our city is also at this point in time hardly friendly to old folks. Again, take a
walk through our parks and super-malls; you do not see many old folks. There
are many among us. The city is not built to engage old folks. It is built for the
young, the healthy and the strong. Take the much-talked-about KLIA airport.
This is one of the most old-age-unfriendly airports I have seen. For certain
99
Canny Ong and KL20
While the gruesome murder of Canny Ong may have been the insane work of
a sex maniac, planners, legislators and security managers must understand that
they can do much, much more to stop the wasted deaths of persons like Canny Ong.
We need to benchmark ourselves as a world-class city beyond the economic.
And the cold aesthetics of a post-modern world.
100
PHOtO Essay
Nat
Nat
a selection of Cultural
Altar in a Hindu home with Chinese altar piece (right-hand corner; Miri, 2002).
Ang pau packets are issued by almost all commercial banks.
Here is a Chinese practice of giving money put into use for Deepavali.
(Kuala Lumpur, 2001).
101
Nat
Cultural Transactions in Malaysia
Nat
These large joss sticks are used by the Chinese
community in their religious activities. Such
large joss sticks, for instance, can be seen
during the Hungry Ghosts Festival. Here is a
practice that has been borrowed and used
during Deepavali. The Indians also use joss
sticks but do not use such kind of joss sticks as
above. (Ipoh, 2002).
Nat
Chinese Buddhist Malaysian
women wearing saris on
Wesak Day. (Kuala Lumpur,
2003).
102
Cultural Transactions in Malaysia
Nat
Nat
Satay in a Chinese
restaurant in Miri,
Sarawak (in East
Malaysia). Unlike the
usual preparation
(a Malay cuisine), this
satay was prepared
with a mildlysweetened black soya
sauce. It is a version
of ‘sinified satay’.
It had an altogether
different taste.
(Miri, 2002).
A temple near Ipoh sponsored by members of the Chinese goldsmith
community. (There is a special relationship, both commercial and social, between the
Chinese goldsmiths/jewellers and the Indian community. In fact, the knowledge these
Chinese jewellers have about what the Indians wear for the various stages of their
lives is an interesting area of inquiry to examine inter-community relationships.)
(Ipoh, 2003).
103
104
Cultural Diversity
Unpublished.
Context:
This paper was presented at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002,
which was organised by the Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications, and held
in Penang, Malaysia, from 18 – 21 Apr. 2002.
T
1.0 hree events – two that took place in the recent past and one, the third
event, taking place now – seem to offer the story of culture and sustainability
in Penang or Pulau Pinang. The third event seems to have the potential to
transform into a politically pregnant symbolic site with complex positive
outcomes for cultural diversity. The three events have affected the meaning and
location of culture in Penang (see Table 1).
2001/2002
1994
1997
Event
25th Anniversary
of Penang
Development
Corporation
Sustainable
Penang Initiative
(First Phase)
The Penang
Story
status of
Culture
Culture as Part
of the Economic
Imperative
(Tourism)
Culture as Part
of the Sustainable
Governance
Imperative
Culture as Part
of the Cultural
Diversity
Imperative
Table 1: Significant cultural events in Penang
Imagine these events as ‘peaks’ jutting out in a sea of social activities that
unfold in the everyday life of Penang. The peaks offer a glimpse of subterranean
changes and potentials for action.
105
Cultural Diversity and Sustainability
caring society in Penang; (d) to enable
Penang to become a regional centre for the
key economic sectors of manufacturing,
tourism, trade, transportation, business,
professional and medical services ("Penang
will also strive to be a centre for culture and
arts."); and (e) to set up a more efficient and
effective government, geared to meet the
many new challenges ahead1 (emphasis
mine).
The first thrust (‘a’ above) is the major
driver
of
growth
in
Penang.
The specific strategies and projects of the Source:
first thrust are designed to: "(a) Deepen and http://www.impressions.com.my/Penmain/pen-map.htm
broaden Penang’s industrial base, making it
more capital-intensive, skill-intensive and technology-intensive; (b) Promote
small- and medium-scale supporting industries; (c) Revive and enhance the
services sector, and build Penang into a regional centre for commerce, trade,
finance and higher-order services; (d) Further promote tourism by improving
services and infrastructure, developing new tourism products, conserving and
developing natural and cultural heritage, and exploring new tourism markets; and
(e) Modernise agriculture, including agro-based industry and rural manpower
development."2
1.2 Culture as Part of the Sustainable Governance Imperative: Three years later, in
August 1997, the same Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, launched the pilot
phase of Sustainable Penang Initiative (SPI),3 an initiative inspired by
Sustainable Seattle, a "community indicator project which was showcased as
best practice at Habitat II." The SPI is a project which addresses the challenge of
sustainable development by pioneering a process of popular consultation for
inputs into holistic development planning. The pilot phase consisted of a series
of roundtables culminating in the People’s Forum and the People Report in 1999.
There were five roundtables on (a) ecological sustainability, (b) social justice, (c)
economic productivity, (d) cultural vibrancy and (e) popular participation.4
Among these roundtables and important to our consideration is the one on
1 Asian
Strategic and Leadership Institute, Penang Into the 21st Century (Petaling Jaya:
Pelanduk Publications, 1995), pp. 5 – 7.
2 Ibid., p. 5.
106
1.1
Culture as Part of the Economic Imperative: In 1994, the Penang Development
Corporation (PDC) and the Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute (ASLI)
organised an international conference in Penang to mark the 25th anniversary
of PDC. ASLI, working with Pelanduk Publications, published a book in 1995
entitled Penang into the 21st Century. Within its covers, the book held the papers
presented at the conference. Among the contributors to the book was the
Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon. In his paper, he mentions five
strategic thrusts: (a) to foster an ever more dynamic, progressive and resilient
economy for Penang; (b) to place emphasis on environmental conservation and
provision of facilities for waste management and treatment as well as proper
land use and land development; (c) to promote an equitable, integrated and
3 The
SPI was developed within a specific global context: (1) Agenda 21/Local Agenda 21,
(2) Sustainable Seattle, (3) Growing Urbanisation, (4) Global Concern for Urban
Governance and (5) A willing state government. A careful observation of these realities
will reveal SPI’s focus on governance. Agenda 21 consists of the Report of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development adopted by more than 178 governments in June
1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Termed the Earth Summit, its primary focus was on the need
to arrest environmental degradation and develop a shared commitment to strategies for
preserving and enhancing the environment well into the 21st century. "Among its 40
chapters are many that are particularly pertinent to sustainable cities, including those
combating poverty (chapter 3), changing consumption patterns (chapter 4), protecting and
promoting human health (chapter 6), promoting sustainable human settlement
development (chapter 7), and environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals,
hazardous wastes and solid wastes, and sewage-related issues (chapters 19, 20 and 21)."
Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 entitled Local Authorities’ Initiatives in Support of Agenda 21 has
given rise to what has come to be called Local Agenda 21. In the passage below from the
chapter, why "local" in Local Agenda 21 will become clear. Because so many of the problems
and solutions being addressed by Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities, the
participation and co-operation of local authorities will be a determining factor in fulfilling
its objectives. Local authorities construct, operate and maintain economic, social and
environmental infrastructure, oversee planning processes, establish local environmental
policies and regulations, and assist in implementing national and sub-national
environmental policies. As the level of governance closest to the people, they play a vital
role in educating, mobilising and responding to the public to promote sustainable
development (emphasis mine). While Agenda 21 sets the framework for focussing on
governance issues, it was the successful Sustainable Seattle project that linked governance
concerns to its measurability. Founded in 1991, Sustainable Seattle's mission was to protect
and improve the long-term health and vitality of Seattle, linking between economic
prosperity, environmental vitality, and social equity through the concerns of sustainability.
4 Incidentally, it is a matter of some importance to note that Salma Khoo, who is the driver
behind The Penang Story today, was also the driver of the SPI on the ground, while being
actively supported by SERI, the Socio-Economic Research Institute, a think tank associated
with the Penang state government.
107
committed to a path of sustainable development and a vision of a culturally
vibrant Penang:
and cultural traditions, built heritage and cultural landscapes so that
future generations are not deprived of their cultural inheritance, and a
government which conserves and promotes heritage not only for
tourists, but mainly for the cultural education and inspiration of
Penangites and Malaysians.
cultural cringe (‘fear of no culture’ and therefore feeling that other
cultures are superior to their own) but know, take pride and rejoice in
their own culture and ethos, and where the older generation is actively
transmitting cultural knowledge and sense of identity to the younger
generation.
ordinary traditions are treasured, because ordinary people matter, and
which develops knowledge and stewardship for these places and
traditions, for example through a process of cultural mapping and
community visioning.
history, social history, cultural history, and a people-centred history,
which recovers the history of local places, ordinary people, historic
minorities, and marginalised peoples.
diversity, for example by protecting the habitat and economic basis of
historic communities, allowing cultural minorities to reaffirm their
cultural identities, and encouraging transmission of diverse languages
and dialects.
spaces, shared values, common languages and the common heritage of
the various ethnic and religious communities.
culture by creating more and more pedestrian-friendly streets for
people.
that values diversity of habitat, promotes urban quality, conserves
108
cultural vibrancy. Let me quote in full the output from the effort:
Vision for Penang’s Cultural Vibrancy
Recognising that Penang is a multicultural society with a rich history and a
wealth of spiritual and artistic traditions, historic communities, heritage
buildings and ecologically diverse landscapes, and that these cultural
endowments are the rightful inheritance of our children and youth,
to its quality of life and long-term social and economic sustainability.
of sustainable society, such as the ‘Street of Harmony and Peace’ along
Jalan Masjid Kapitan Kling, which teaches about a culture of peaceful
co-existence, the shophouse city which teaches us about sustainable
urban patterns, or the Balik Pulau community and habitat which
teaches us a culture of living in harmony with the environment,
food, street traders, street celebrations and street theatre, that is lively,
friendly, popular, culturally vibrant, economically resilient and socially
equitable,
languages, lifestyles, literature and the arts are the special strengths of
Penang; and that these represent an accumulation of knowledge and
cultural resources which will help develop the peoples’ human and
economic potential,
which includes the oldest library and oldest schools in the country, has
consistently produced many great achievers who contribute to
Penang’s economic productivity, and
nor unchanging, constantly evolving and being constructed anew as it
interacts with technology … transnational global culture.
We who have gathered in Penang at the Roundtable on Cultural Vibrancy
on 27-28 June 1998 urge that the people and government of Penang be
109
for example by creating centres for researching, developing and
transmitting traditional healthcare, craftsmanship and arts.
cultural vibrancy and ecological, social and economic sustainability.
For example by showcasing culturally appropriate best practices.
sphere to suit women’s needs, for example by mainstreaming the
breastfeeding culture.
in social cultural capital, for example by mobilising Penang’s historic
guilds and associations in responding to cultural, social and economic
challenges of the future.
and sustainable development in human settlements, for example, by
putting the "Historic Enclave George Town & Fort Cornwallis" – a
living heritage city – on the World Heritage Map.
it can attract the best minds and talents from all over the country to live
and work in Penang and contribute to Penang’s cultural vibrancy and
economic productivity.5
As the output of the roundtable on culture above suggests, the consideration of
culture in SPI has moved far beyond the tourism focus.
1.3 Celebration of Culture, Culture as a Reality in Its Own Right: The Penang Story:
A Celebration of Cultural Diversity aims to "bring together established and new
scholars from various academic disciplines to revisit, re-evaluate and consolidate
the history of Penang. Its objectives are: (a) to provide a historical basis for
Penang's nomination and the interpretation of its "outstanding universal
values" based on its built and living heritage; (b) to support conservation and
education efforts towards Penang’s nomination to World Heritage status,
together with Malacca; (c) to generate a creative interface in urban and social
history, to promote cross-fertilisation between disciplines, as well as between
local history and regional studies; (d) to celebrate Penang's historical cultural
diversity and to develop inter-cultural history and (e) to explore Penang's historical
role vis-à-vis its neighbours, particularly Malacca, and Penang's role in the
region now known as IMT-GT."6
110
traditional greenery and open spaces, endorses and promotes
climatically appropriate and culturally appropriate housing, building
and planning, and protects us all from modern ‘uglytechture’.
challenges, for example by positively engaging technology, modernity
and transnational influences to strengthen and diversify its own
culture, rather than allowing the local culture to be colonised,
weakened or eroded by globalisation.
talent – performers, artisans and artists — can be realised through the
support of government, media and public, adequate cultural
infrastructure and info-structure.
which chooses substance over spectacle, endorses the creative rather
than commercial and nurtures local creative responses to modernity
and globalisation.
opportunities for creativity, recreation and friendship.
innovation, for example by strengthening art education and promoting
extra-curricular activities which build character and encourage
students to learn about their environment.
educational opportunities. Continuous learning and increasing
educational choice for a wider range of people.
publishing and literary activities, through initiatives such as a state-ofthe-art fully accessible library in the middle of the city, a good Penang
Collection, a centre for second-hand book retailers, and a Friends of the
Library movement.
knowledge, traditional skills and cultural resources in all areas of life,
5 Cited
in M. Nadarajah, "Culture in the Sustainability of Cities: Culture of Sustainability
and Culture for Sustainability". Paper presented at the International Conference on
Culture in Sustainability of Cities II: Creativity and Adaptation, held at Kanazawa, Japan,
27–28 October 2000.
111
where the latter is formally a sub-specie of the former. But who is a Malaysian?
And what is his/her identity?
2.0.1 There are two available conceptions on the subject. One is the argument
related to the discussion around the bumiputera/non-bumiputera (‘sons of the
soil’ and ‘others’) distinction. The "national identity question is perceived by
the government as a non-issue because its basis and content has been spelt out
in a number of policy documents within the framework of the Malaysian
Constitution. It is a bumiputera-defined identity that has privileged many aspects
of bumiputera culture as the ‘core’ of the Malaysian national identity while
recognising, if peripherally, the cultural symbols of other ethnic groups"8
(emphasis mine). We will call this the ‘ethnocommunal hegemonic form’ of
nationalism. The second conception relates to a citizen in a modern democracy.
The citizen is perceived as a disembodied (de-gendered and de-ethnicised),
de-contextualised post-colonial, national subject/agency. Like the ‘Malaysian’
in the formal sense of the term, i.e. being the abstract citizen of a modern
democracy as described above, so is a ‘Penangite’ a pure abstraction.
2.0.2 Before we make sense of the above, it is necessary to be sensitive to the
tension between the conception of a ‘Penangite’ underlying the conception of
the state government and the conception of the Government of Malaysia.9
While the former is the position of the Government of Malaysia, the latter
seems to be the formal basis of articulation of the state government’s position.
These two positions are played out in a number of contexts in Malaysia, e.g. the
blind application of the racially-biased, affirmative-action policies.
2.1
The second event (SPI, 1997) transforms the articulation of the subject/
agency to some extent (see Table 2). But the basic feature of the one that is the
basis of the earlier event is still the basis for the second one. But unlike the first
where the state (government) is involved, in the second, the most critical
6 IMT-GT
stands for Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle.
http://www.penangstory.net/main-story.html. March 2004.
7
This aspect and the aspects that follow in this paper will suggest the influence of postmodernist tendencies. While I will not disagree with that, I would like to engage with it
critically. Consider Ziauddin Sardar’s criticism of post-modernism. While he has four
critical comments about post-modernism, he mentions a fifth one positively and it is that
"post-modernism is concerned with variety, with multiplicities: it emphasises plurality of
ethnicities, cultures, genders, truths, realities, sexualities, even reasons, and argues that
one type should not be privileged over others." This is an observation that I
intend to
elaborate here. Ziauddin Sardar, Postmodernism and the Other:
The New Imperialism of
Western Culture (London: Pluto Press,
1998), pp.10-11.
112
As The Penang Story web site at www.penangstory.net explains: "The World
Heritage application requires that "The Penang Story" be told, in addition to the
presentation of the inventory and management plan for the nominated historic
area. "Story" implies history, while including historical perspectives of other
disciplines and also embracing the stories of local communities. Urgency: Listed as
one of the World's 100 Most Endangered Sites, the city of George Town is facing
the aftermath of Repeal of Rent Control, loss of heritage buildings and historical
communities. The project consists of an Oral History Workshop and fourcommunity history colloquiums leading to a major international inter-disciplinary
conference on the social history of Penang to be held on 18-21 April 2002.
In conjunction with the main conference and colloquiums, the Penang Story
project will create further community impact through an oral history programme,
public talks, exhibitions, educational tours and site visits, arts events and
performances and a year-long media campaign to promote heritage conservation
and the nomination of Penang & Malacca to UNESCO World Heritage".
2.0
‘Decentring’ of the ‘Penangite’.7 In relation to the above developments in
Penang traced through the three events (see Table 1 above), a number of
theoretical observations can be made. We could consider the nature of the subject/
agency of the Penang experience: Who is a ‘Penangite’? This query takes us
directly into the debates and discussions on the subject/agency of post-colonial,
polyethnic national societies. A critical assumption that underlies the first event
discussed above relates to the conception of a Malaysian and a ‘Penangite’,
8
Shamsul A.B., "Nations-of-Intent in Malaysia" in Stein Tønnesson and Hans Antlöv (eds.),
Asian Forms of the Nation (Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996), p. 323.
9 This tension is quite pervasive across many contexts, and is becoming an increasing part
of the discussion on how problems in Malaysia must be addressed.
113
3.0
Culturally ‘Re-Locating’ Penang: The emergence of a de-centred national
subject/agency in the cultural scene of Penang requires a modification in our
attempt to make sense of and ‘locate’ Penang. The fact that Penang is a small
island populated by a multiethnic population of about 2 million and
geographically situated to the north-west of independent Malaysia is really
insufficient to ‘locate’ Penang. Nor is the statement that it is one of the moredeveloped states in north Malaysia really sufficient. This physical, geographical
location or its industrial status does not provide us the necessary guide to make
sense of it as a complex sociocultural experience. Penang, as a single point in a
map, is never reproduced at the sociocultural level. The popular notional
presence of Penang in our discussions and reference is contrary to our
experiential specificities as we engage with the realities that constitute ‘Penang’.
In short, its location on a cultural map is markedly different from the ordinary
map. The Penang Story has the potential to re-draw the map of Malaysia,
culturally-speaking.
3.1
Penang’s location is complicated by a complex matrix of multiple sociospatial and socio-temporal orders inhibited by ethno-communities; not in a
ghettoised/ compartmentalised,
essentialised sense, but in a fluid, constructivist
year
Event
sense.11 In attempting to culturally ‘re-locate’ Penang by re-drawing the
(a) Ethno-Communal
1974it is perhaps
25thethno-culturescape,
Anniversary
Malaysian
worthwhile to consider the
Hegemonic
Formsome general
of
PDC
background against which this may be placed
to obtain
(b)
Passive
Abstract
understanding. A close observation of the developments in theForm
modern and
Form
post-modern
world seems to1991
suggest thatActive
thereAbstract
are three
‘world-historical
Sustainable
movements’:
universalist,
Penang
Initiative segmentary and dialogical pluralist.12 The universalist
movement
born of
distinction-based
realities,13 Form
while the segmentary
Multicultural
2001/2002 class
TheisPenang
Story
movement is born of difference-based non-class realities, like ethnocommunities. While capitalism
has ofthe
power to homogenise locally and
Table 2: Forms
subjects/agency
globally, it is forced to develop institutions – education, telecommunication,
media, transport, etc. – for its own survival and expansion, which contributed,
at the same time, to the enlargement of the space for segmentary forces to come
into play. A particularly aggressive expression of the universalist tendency is
10
A position that is critical of the arguments of Benedict Anderson. Mainstream history also
has encouraged this conception of Malaysia, in the process, losing many subtle aspects of
Malaysian history in terms of its cultural diversity.
114
distinction with the first is that there is the
insertion of civil society into the
construction of the subject/agency. And
the subject/agency of the second event is
one which assumes a greater cultural
presence and has the potential for
articulating a stronger political voice.
2.2
The third event (The Penang Story)
helps articulate a rather different notion of
the post-colonial subject/agency within
the experiential fields of Penang. Thus, it
is neither the one that is the basis of the
Malaysian government’s idea of national
identity, nor is it one that is the basis of the
view of the state government and civil
society in Penang. It goes beyond, and
provides the basis for the articulation of a multicultural subject/agency, a
subject/agency of cultural diversity. Thus, in a sense, it is a ‘de-centred subject/
agency’. This simply suggests anti-unitary and anti-hegemonic constructions of
the national subject/agency, which also means taking on a position against any
idea of a homogeneous or monolithic imagined national community10 (or
nation). It suggests that we are dealing with rather complex sets of social
subjects/agencies that inhabit the place we call ‘Penang’.
11
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, "Multiculturalism and Museums: Discourse about Others in the
Age of Globalisation", Theory, Culture & Society, Vol.14 (4), 1997, p. 128.
12 M. Nadarajah, Culture, Gender and Ecology: Beyond Workerism (New Delhi: Rawat
Publications, 1999). See chapter 3: Everyday Life.
13 Employed in a Marxist sense, particularly with reference to the capital-labour
relationship. The articulation of capital-labour pushed the universalist agenda since
capital and labour are mere distinctions of the same principle, Capital.
115
meaning(s) to those involved. "The national subject is produced in that place
where the daily plebiscite – the unitary number – circulates in the grand
narrative of the will. However, the equivalence of will and plebiscite, the
identity of part and whole, past and present, is cut across by the obligation to
forget, or forgetting to remember. The anteriority of the nation, signified in the
will to forget, entirely changes our understanding of the pastness of the past,
and the synchronous present of the will to nationhood. We are in a discursive
space similar to that moment … when the homogeneous empty time of the
nation’s ‘meanwhile’ is cut across by the ghostly simultaneity of a temporality
of doubling. To be obliged to forget – in the construction of the national present
– is not a question of historical memory; it is the construction of a discourse on
society that performs the problem of totalising the people and unifying the
national will".17
4.3
The present is a social construction. We live in the context of a dominant
construction of the ‘present’. A modern nation-state places all of us in a
homogeneous temporality and creates us as unitary national subjects. In
Malaysia, there is the additional reality of the constitution of a hegemonic
ethno-communal subject/agency. The modern nation-state does not ‘see’ that
people are moving along multiple temporalities and are influenced by them in
their social behaviour. Of course, it presents a massive governance nightmare.
In fact, it becomes a
‘forgotten reality’. The
Penang
Story,
by
excavating/ constituting
Penang’s pasts, offers an
opportunity to confront the
homogeneous temporal
order and the unitary
national subject in order to
bring to relief, through
recovery and construction,
multiple temporalities and
multiple ethnocommunal
subjects/agencies.
14
The dialogical pluralist stage requires a further development in the nature of diversity
and in the intensification of the institutionalisation process for ‘dialogue’ – a stage for
active negotiation of difference.
15 Ákos Östör, Vessels of Time: An Essay on Temporal Change and Social Transformation
(Delhi: OUP, 1993), pp. 89-90.
116
‘corporate globalisation’. In the modern/post-modern world, ‘ethno-communal
localism’ as a cultural and political movement is a direct result of capitalist
development, first nationally, then, with its tendency to globalise, globally.
Penang is now at a unique stage of "segmentary transformation" – teasing apart
what was presented as unitary.14
4.0
Socio-Temporal Orders: To begin thinking about the segmentary process
and the emergence of "social segments" – ethno-communities in this case – we
must engage ourselves with temporality and temporal orders. It is necessary that
we are clear that we do not live in a unilinear common temporality. As such, we
need to consider multiple-temporal orders in which people’s lives are played
out. Thus, the past is not unitary and the future is not singular, culturally- and
temporally-speaking. "The question then becomes not an abstract ‘What is
Time’, but what cultures make of time….[T]ime as category and value as well as
a way of apprehending the transformation of societies, leads to new questions
and discoveries…. We recognise the notions of time characteristic of
other societies still existing…. alongside the dominant linear clock time. From
such a basis we can go on to discuss a more abstract, universal, human time
(seasons, production cycles, aging, ritual and celebration), or we can deepen the
differences
and
particularities
of
the
times
of cultures"15 (emphasis mine).
4.1
An examination of the ‘times of cultures’ reveal that time concepts and
"historical time interact in as much as change can be projected as either
repetitive, recurrent, or periodic, pointing to a wide stretch of time concepts,
ranging from what are viewed as the cyclical to the continuously progressive
and directional, suggesting a linear form, with many in-between positions such
as a wave or a spiral".16 Multiple socio-temporal orders are therefore conceivable
and need to be urgently addressed to re-construct the Penang experience – to
recover its pasts and shape its futures.
4.2
This discussion is important to keep away from the reality of a nation
‘enforcing’ a unitary national identity and will, which is far from the reality of
the daily mingling and separate waves of social activities and their specific
16
Romila Thapar, Time as Metaphor of History: Early India (Delhi: OUP, 1996), p. 8.
In addition to this, one can also talk about monochronic (time- and schedule-centred)
and polychronic (people-centred) cultures.
17 Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1994),
pp. 160-161.
117
are frequently an integral part of a
manual skill or artistic sensibility…"19
In addition to body-ballet is the notion
of time-space routines. The fusion of
body-ballet and time-space routines
creates the idea of place-ballet: "it joins
people, time, and place in an organic
whole and portrays place as a distinct
and authentic entity in its own right."20
The realities of body-ballet or place-ballet offer an idea of how culturallyspecific spatial and temporal ordering come into being and define a ‘form of
cultural life’.
6.0
Diversity and Sustainability: It is a central principle of the modern concern
for the agenda of sustainability that biological and/or cultural diversity are
‘intrinsically’ good and need to be protected. "Apart from the importance of
biodiversity to humans, there is another prime reason for conserving plants,
animals, and micro-organisms: their intrinsic right to life."21 Likewise, protecting
cultural diversity is based on the belief that people and communities have an
intrinsic right to their distinct cultures, to the ‘cultural form of life’. Thus, the
myriad social constructions of the human experience within specific ecological
and communal contexts need to be preserved and allowed to develop its own
logic. In this process, we contribute to how we exist and co-exist.
6.1
It is also becoming increasingly recognised that sustainability is not just
about environmental or economic sustainability. It is equally about cultural
sustainability, as it is about political and technological sustainability. Cultural
sustainability with emphasis on diversity confronts us with a massive
governance challenge and therefore, requires a political system that supports
and sustains it. It requires an educational system that provides for reflective/
corrective focused social criticism and learning, and that provides for continuity.
Cultural diversity directly presupposes specific contexts, i.e. ‘localities’. Thus, it
allows for "enlightened and political localism" as against indiscriminate
(corporate) globalisation, which has the tendency to homogenise. Thus, cultural
diversity is also about local cultures developing in their own right.
18
Rob Shields, "Spatial Stress and Resistance: Social Meanings of Spatialisation" in
Georges Benko and Ulf Strohmayer (eds.), Space & Social Theory: Interpreting Modernity
and Postmodernity (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997), p. 190.
118
5.0 ‘Frames’ of Socio-Spatialisation: The recovery of multiple temporal orders
also brings the reality of multi-spatialisation. Spatialisation is "not just a
question of ‘Space’ but of overlaid ‘Spaces’ which are made up of multitudinous
‘places’, good and bad (the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ sides ‘of the tracks’, ‘dangerous’
urban areas, ghettos, ‘middle-class enclaves’, public squares, private yards, the
sanctified space of a cathedral, the profane space of a tavern), and are crisscrossed by directional ‘paths’ ranging from natural paths (trails, mountain
passes, river routes) to physical pathways (roads, railways, canals) to abstract
paths of air-route corridors, frequency-delimited microwave transmission
beams, and electronic, satellite-based trans-border data flow. All these genres of
space have the effect of fragmenting any overall vision of the sociocultural
system of spaces in which we live".18 Spatialisation is the social construction of
space, the constitution or production of spaces as places. Against the dominating
pressure of the hegemonic ‘rational’ administration of a single national space
by the post-colonial nation-state, we can recover the multiple socio-spatial
orders that are associated with ethno-communities that have come to inhabit
and constitute ‘Penang’. The excavation and constitution of socio-temporal and
socio-spatial realities articulated in many excellent papers presented at The
Penang Story conference combine to present a Penang quite distinct from the
official mainstream construction of it.
5.1
Spatialisation is achieved as a result of our embodied social self. There is
no such abstract subject/agency. Being alive to the social body and its influence
on our constitution of our present within specific contexts and temporalities
opens up new areas for attention. For instance, spatialisation is rooted in the
‘body-subject’. "Body-subject assures that gestures and movements learned in
the past will readily continue into the future. It handles the basic behaviours of
everyday living … It also houses more complex behaviours extending over time
as well as space. One such behaviour is what [is called] as body-ballet…[It is] a
set of integrated behaviours which sustain a particular task, as in, for instance,
washing dishes, ploughing, house building, potting, or hunting. Body-ballets
19
M. Nadarajah, Culture, Gender and Ecology: Beyond Workerism, p. 198. See also David
Seamon, "Body-Subject, Time-Space Routines, and Place-Ballets" in Anne Buttimer and
David Seamon (eds.), The Human Experience of Space and Time (London: Croom Helm,
1980).
20 Ibid.
21 Ashish Kothari, Understanding Biodiversity: Life, Sustainability and Equity (New Delhi:
Orient Longman, 1997), p. 2.
119
120
6.2
The Penang Story, while being practically organised for the purpose of
obtaining the designation of a World Heritage Site, certainly offers a potentiality
for cultural diversity, including unique cultural hybrids, to take root. This in
turn offers opportunities for the recovery and re-constitution of many
ethnocultural institutions and (indigenous) knowledge surrounding them. For
instance, it can allow the development of Kongsi or Wakf, ethnocultural and
religious institutions that, on one hand, support cultural diversity and, on the
o t h e r,
s u s t a i n a b i l i t y.
The concern for ethnocultural diversity also allows for the development of such
models as the ‘Road of Harmony model’ for multicultural and religious
negotiation and co-existence, a model that is still to be understood historically
and semiotically. The ‘Dato Kong model’ and/or the ‘Bangsawan model’ provide
a complex and productive insight into cultural transaction and hybridisation,
and a view beyond the present nationalist discourse. The examination of all
these institutions offers a pathway for redefining ethnocultural communities
and citizenship in the making of a sustainable, culturally-diverse society. The
focused attention on the complex layers of the ‘Penang Experience’ as part of The
Penang Story offers a platform to critique the official trajectory of development in
Malaysia in relation to hegemonic ethno-communalism and ‘abstract nationalism’ both
of which hurt the reality and wisdom of multiculturalism.
7.0 Diversity and Citizenship: "Civic nationalism offers a vision of a community
of equal citizens; ethnocultural nationalism offers a vision of a community
united by a belief in common ancestry and ethnocultural sameness; and
multicultural nationalism offers a vision of a community which respects and
promotes the cultural autonomy and status equality of its component ethnic
groups."22 For Malaysia, civic nationalism creates an ‘abstract citizen’.
Ethnocultural nationalism has created the problem of the hegemonic ethnocommunity. Through The Penang Story, and hopefully its career beyond the aim
of turning Penang into a World Heritage Site, multiculturally constituted
‘Penang’ will be in a unique position to offer a critique of aggressive and
hegemonic ethnocultural and ‘abstract’ nationalisms, and to open up a more
intense and creative debate on the idea of multicultural nationalism and its
institutionalisation. Both of these offer the movement towards dialogical
pluralism, completing the stages of culturally-sensitive societal development.
Indeed, The Penang Story opens up a new vision for the society in Malaysia,
techno-economic
one. Civic, Ethnocultural and Multicultural Politics
Contemporary
Nationalism:
22
contesting
the
David Brown,
(London and New York: Routledge, 2000). See chapter 7: Contentious Vision,
pp. 126-134.
121
appendix
appendix
appendix
Positive and Unique Features of the ‘Penang Experience’
Mamak (Indian Muslim) Cultural Heritage
Communities
Factors Affecting Uniqueness of the ‘Penang Experience’
Cultural Logics
Aspects for ‘Theorising’ the ‘Penang Experience’ (Examining
122
)
sECtiOn ii
On Being
an Indian
Malaysian
Citizen
123
124
The Indian Community
and Minority Status
Published in ‘Comment’ section of Sunday Star, January 1996.
Context:
Written around January 1996. The published version was edited.
The Indian Malaysians form a minority community. And among this group, the Tamils
form the majority. They were brought here to work largely in the rubber plantations.
With the breakdown of the plantation economy on which the Tamil community
depended for its livelihood, many moved from a situation of rural poverty to urban
poverty. With this, the community began to show classic symptoms of an economically
disadvantaged, neglected minority in an urban setting. Around the mid-90s, the
Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) began publishing articles about the problem
of gangsterism among the members of the Indian Tamil (in contrast to Sri Lankan
Tamil) community. The analysis focused on the statistical figures and not on history,
government policies or structural causes. The explanatory strategy adopted by CAP
seemed to implicate Tamil movies as the main cause of gangsterism among Tamil-Indian
Malaysians. For a number of reasons, symptomatic analysis seemed to dominate the
examination of the problems of Tamil-Indian Malaysians.
T
here are now two established ‘schools of thought’ regarding the cause of
crime among Indian Malaysian youths. The police and CAP emphasise the
negative role of Indian movies, while concerned Indian Malaysian intellectuals
and activists emphasise social factors, particularly those ‘internal’ to the Indian
community. Of course, there are those who hold that both are contributory.
Studies are being recommended and solutions are being proposed. I have
something to share.
To begin with, let us look at the figures. The Deputy Home Minister is quoted
to have said that there are more than 2,000 Indian-based gangs in Malaysia.
Of these, the police estimate that only 59 are active, with a total membership of
1,054. According to government sources, the incidence of crime involving
Indians is high in proportion to the size of the Indian population. Is there
something like a right proportion? How does one arrive at such a figure?
Just compare the size of the population, irrespective of the configuration of
125
The Indian Community and Minority Status
Yes.
Semparuthi
The films portray visible ‘retail’ violence against invisible ‘wholesale’ structural
violence. It is indicative of a desperate situation. In effect, the films provide
stories about ordinary people trying
to ensure some security of life and
making sense of their situation.
In the films mentioned above, which
are
audio-visual
narratives
realistically or unrealistically
representing a specific Indian social
situation, violence is contextual and
a response to an unjust situation. All
these aspects of the films may be
assumed to have no influence on the
Indian Malaysian youth. The Indian
Malaysian youth is merely assumed to be a 'zombie audience', an instrument of
a violent ‘model’ he sees in Tamil cinema and which pushes him to take on the
role of Nayagan or Talapathi, which then effortlessly turns him into the muchdiscussed Malaysian Indian gangster/criminal. QED.
If the Indian Malaysian youth behaves like a zombie, why does he not 'choose'
socially-acceptable models that are also plenty in Tamil cinema? Is there
something in his genes or in his nature that forces him to choose only violent
models? Why aren't these same young persons picking up models from films
like Unnal Mudiyum Thambi or Namavar? No. They can’t and they won’t. The
need for a model stems from a play of social factors. It may be worth keeping
in mind that watching a film is a ‘gestalt experience’ (for audio-visual montage
to make sense, it needs to be totalised), and social models are not just picked up
out of context. The context in which many Indian Malaysian youths find
themselves demands violent models. Ban these films. They will soon find a
suitable model elsewhere, perhaps in ‘acceptable’ American films, like Assassin.
It is the particular configuration of social factors that acts as a barrier against
the well-being of the Indian Malaysian community, in general, and Indian
Malaysian youth, in particular, that needs critical attention. It is these social
* The headquarters of the Royal Malaysia Police is located in Bukit Aman (Hill of Peace),
Kuala Lumpur.
126
social factors that each ethnic population is confronted with (as implied by the
observation)? And really, why must a small population produce so many
gangs? Are there any ‘latent functions’ the groups are satisfying?
Let us look again carefully at the figures provided by Bukit Aman* for 1993,
1994 and 1995 (The Star, 24 Dec. 1995). For the whole of Malaysia, the trend
observed for the years mentioned above shows a definite reduction in the
incidence of crime. An ethnic (Malays, Chinese and Indian) breakdown of the
figures is provided. In spite of the enormous socio-economic problems
confronted by the Indian community, the trend among Indians does not indicate
an increase in the incidence of crime. In fact, for the years 1993, 1994 and 1995 (till
August), the incidence of crime involving Indians has actually come down: 954
in 1993 to 405 in 1995. This figure is comparable to the Malays but better than
the Chinese. This is definitely an achievement
for the community and, of course, the police.
In spite of the above statistical ‘truth’, there
seems to be a sudden collective hysteria about
the ‘criminal’ Indian youth. Many years ago, the
Indians of the lower classes were labelled
‘drunkards’ and ‘wife beaters’ and later they
were ‘child abusers’. Until the multiracial nature
of these social ills was established, it was either
‘biology’ or the backward ‘culture’ of the Indians
(Tamils). Now, we are back to culture again: It is the Indian movies, i.e. to be
more accurate, Tamil movies from Madras. Films, like Talapathi and Nayagan,
made by one of the most sensitive and responsible of Indian filmmakers, have
been mentioned as offering ‘black’ inspiration to Indian Malaysian youths who
would otherwise be just peace-loving citizens. It is their genes or their cultural
upbringing or a lack of it that automatically pushes Indian Malaysian youth to
imitate only models of violent behaviour in Tamil cinema.
Both the films mentioned above are based on harsh Indian social realities.
They portray the parallel but ‘underground’ administrative structures that have
emerged in a number of places in India where the State machinery, for a
number of practical reasons, has been ineffective in delivering justice or security
of life. The films construct a living Indian social reality and the response of
ordinary people who have been ‘driven up the wall’. Violence in these films
appears as a response of ordinary people to a brutal social situation. Unfortunate?
127
paths are available which can be practically realised by the poor youths?
What social models ‘harvest’ the possibilities of a harsh social environment in
the best way? Who should be instrumental in changing such an unhealthy
environment?
Alienation? The poor must feel alienated. They are simply out of the market
institution, which defines legitimate career paths and work functions.
Perhaps it is the hidden agenda of the 2,000-odd Indian gangs to overcome
alienation in a highly-market-competitive environment. After all, can one not
consider this harsh and bitter truth that gangs offer a sense of belonging and
illegitimate ‘career’ options? Not that this is acceptable behaviour or that it
should be condoned; certainly not. But it seems to satisfy a need, and perform
a function. Should we not look at this carefully before we thoughtlessly point
our finger in the wrong direction and offer wrong reasons?
Semparuthi
The section of the Indian community that faces major social problems is the
Tamil-Indian Malaysian population. Most of these people were brought here by
the British to work in the rubber plantations or to build the railways.
Under British protection and control, this section was cocooned in the rubber
estates doing very little to get out and to ‘make it big’ in the growing economy.
With the emergence of independent Malaya, and later Malaysia, and the
breakdown of the plantation economy, the majority of Tamils soon found
themselves in the lower rung of a well-established ethnic division of labour: in
dead-end, low-skill, poorly-paid jobs. Remaining at this level, today they
compete – a losing battle, actually – with nonMalaysians: a (cheap) immigrant working
population from Indonesia, the Philippines
and Bangladesh. Poverty has become a feature
of a large section of the community. And it is
an established fact that poverty has its own
logic for survival, because it is a condition in
the border area of being human and being subhuman.
How can a community steeped in poverty
make it into the market or share in the country’s
prosperity? If the incident between TV3 and
the Indian (Tamil) community some years ago
is any indicator, it shows quite clearly that
128
factors or social structural conditions – both internal and external to the
community – which contribute to gangsterism and criminal acts that we should
really look at seriously, instead of wasting time on finding out what is suitable
and unsuitable in Tamil films. Again, looking at the social factors requires
careful study. Not unsupported and biased assumptions.
Fingers are now pointed at the Indian Family, not some Indian families. It has
failed to deliver a peace-loving Indian Malaysian youth suitable for the
Malaysian way of life. Has the Indian family broken down? Has it exhausted
itself? Is it ready for assimilation? Nothing is really clear about this causal
factor. The Indian community is not a homogenous community. Like others, we
share a considerable measure of social inequality, and therefore, are broken into
a number of strata. At which level has the family broken down? Where is the
proof for such a claim? What is definition of family breakdown that is being
used? Does an increase in criminal activity imply a breakdown of family or
something even deeper? Another institution of Indian culture is taken up for
bashing for failing to produce good citizens. Nobody asks why it has failed, or
if it has failed at all. If the incidence of crime among the Malays and Chinese is
no better than among Indians, can we make a claim that the family has broken
down in these communities too?
What
about
other
internal
social
factors?
The Indian community is faced with a problem of a largely ineffective
community leadership. The few who are effective in their own ways cannot
achieve much. Leadership formation strategies are not adequately attended to.
Mismanagement, or poor performance, of community-based (financial)
institutions adds to the general problems faced by the community. Inexperience
– and poor skills – in key areas of the ‘ethnically-enclavised’ economy keeps
prosperity away from the community. There are social closure mechanisms in
operation that effectively make aspiration and desire for social mobility real
liabilities and recipes for frustration. Assuming that the key problem is an
attitudinal problem, Indian management training experts and motivators are
busy trying to inspire the community into action. Others have sought to find a
solution in education, promoting it feverishly. But can they succeed without
proper governmental support?
How much do environmental factors contribute to the present problem? Let us
face it. The majority of Indians are poor. And some are very poor. All these
Malaysians do not grow up in an ideal (read: middle-class) social environment.
What can such an environment offer? What biographical trajectories or career
129
Indians are invisible in the market and therefore effectively powerless. (And if,
in addition, you take the community’s inability to do anything regarding the
recent demolition of Indian temples in Kedah, one should have a very clear idea
how powerless the community really is.) The Chinese and the Malays have
worked out environments for themselves which offer their young very positive
career paths. These communities have grown within a 'greenhouse situation',
within a protected environment, one generated by the community itself and the
other by the Malaysian government. The specific history of the Chinese people
in Malaysia gave them the resources to carve out a huge chunk of the economy.
After the 1969 racial riots, the Malays have been able to effectively convert their
political power into economic prosperity. For various historically-specific
reasons, the Indian Malaysians have neither been able to achieve this kind of
‘enclavisation’ nor to offer their young the umbrella of ‘enclavised protection’
in terms of opportunity and support. Except for a small section of the Indian
Malaysian population, which has benefited from the general well-being of the
country, the rest, the majority, were left to fend for themselves.
The question is: Can they do it all by themselves at this point in time?
The Indian Malaysian community – and a number of other minority communities,
including indigenous people – must be officially recognised as a minority group,
as an acutely disadvantaged group and therefore in need of special government
attention and support. For such recognition, we need to re-structure the
distribution of privileges. As noted academic, Johan Saravanamuthu, has
argued elsewhere, we need to move out of the mindset that emphasises a
bumiputera/non-bumiputera dichotomy or the Malay-Chinese-Indian trichotomy
and prioritise minority rights.
Such a political move should also make way for the recognition of sociallydisadvantaged Malaysians – which not only includes unquestionably a large
Malay population but also poor Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ – on an economic
basis and active government support on that basis. Is it not the moral right of a
minority group to ask the government in power for help? Is it not the moral
responsibility of any government to help a needy community and to provide
this not as paternalistic help but as something defining democratic governance
and consistent with the status of being a minority?
It is perhaps this solution that will eventually draw a large section of the Indian
Malaysian community out of the problems that it is facing today. Nothing will
be resolved by pointing the fingers at Tamil films or how much the parang used
130
by Tamil gangsters matches those that
are used in Tamil films. The issue really
is whether we, as a nation, are ready to
recognise the Indian community (and
other such communities) as a minority
community, protect it legally and
provide it with some special rights.
This is the starting point for a more
effective and enduring solution.
131
132
Published in Malaysiakini, October 2000.
Context:
If one surveyed articles on Indian Malaysians around the end of 2000 or beginning of
2001, one would get a sense of the construction of this community of Malaysians as a
‘problem community’. The critics addressed many issues: gangsterism, the impact of
Tamil cinema, political leadership, and Tamil education. Among these issues, the issue
of Tamil education was critical. There was a call for its abolition. While this would be
welcomed if it was based on hard facts on the ground, the call was based on the myopic
gaze of the future of the Indian Malaysian community in Malaysia and of diasporic
ethnic culture in a global context.
In the last couple of weeks, there has been a good deal of interesting and
important comments made on the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community.
The guiding thread in all these comments has been the problems faced by the
community, the causes of the problems within the community and suggestions
for corrective measures. The most dramatic problem that took a lot of space in
the mainstream media and caught a lot of people's attention recently was about
the menace of gangsterism in the community.
If one surveys the various comments carefully, three causes for the problems of
the Tamil Malaysian community come to mind. These causes are economic and
political marginalisation, Tamil cinema, and Tamil schools.
No Benefits
Many middle- and upper-middle-class Tamil-Indian Malaysians hold the view
that Tamil schools are practically useless. Students in Tamil schools do not
benefit either educationally or economically. And, worse, Tamil schools have
become a hotbed for nurturing and sustaining vices and gangsterism.
So, why maintain an institution that does not do any good for the Tamil
Malaysian community and generally embarrasses the Indian community?
133
Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution?
short-sighted,
culturally suicidal
and politically naïve.
We need answers to
many
critical
questions before we
can even start thinking
or understanding the consequences of doing away with an institution. It is easy
to do away with an institution but difficult to build one.
In fact, I don't think the critics have even thought about the sheer practical
problems that will ensue if the Tamil schools are closed down. For many Tamil
children, education will become practically unavailable. And what will happen
to all the teachers? This suggestion looks like a recipe for further marginalisation.
There are more questions. Have we done enough longitudinal investigations to
show whether the majority of Malaysians educated in Tamil schools are doing
well or not, given the social, economic and political odds faced by Tamils and
their institutions?
In fact, if the above question is answered affirmatively, there will be nothing to
criticise, and therefore no critics, within the present framework. To prove that
this will be so, we need not look very far: just take a look at Chinese education
in this country.
Have the critics really explored why the Tamil schools are not doing as well as
the national-type schools in relation to the economic agenda? In this context,
people like to compare Tamil education with Chinese education and ask an
unreasonable question: "Why can't the Tamils/Indians organise their education
like the Chinese?" In fact, it is behind such kinds of questions that the focus on
the responsibility of the government in a multiethnic society is lost. The
comparison is really insensitive to the different trajectories of the histories of
the Chinese and the Tamil/Indian people in Malaya, and later Malaysia. Of
134
Semparuthi
Cultural
Agenda
Their solution: Get rid of Tamil schools.
On the surface, this seems like a reasonable proposal. But is it? The proposal is
based on the assumption that in comparison to Tamil education, putting Tamil
Malaysians in the national-type schools will solve the educational and economic
needs of the community and it would eventually gain.
On what basis is this assumption really made? If the national-type schools are
doing better, why are they doing better in comparison to Tamil schools?
To make sense of these questions, we need to look at some basics.
What is education for? What are its goals?
Simply put, education must be able to prepare young people in terms of
cognitive, affective and motor skills so that they are prepared to meet the needs
of the economy (the economic agenda of education). Secondly, education must be
geared towards producing youth who are informed, sensitive and critically
responsive to their social and natural surroundings (the political agenda of
education). Lastly, it has to groom young people to actively sustain and live a
cultural form of life (the cultural agenda of education). In a multicultural
environment, all these inter-related and inter-dependent aspects are really
much more complicated.
To continue with the questions, what is the basis of the "abandon Tamil schools"
argument? The Tamils are asked to dump Tamil schools because the critics
perceive that the national-type schools are better equipped to achieve the
economic agenda of modern education. Or, it is assumed that students going
through the national-type schools seem to be able to perform well economically
later on in life. Really, the critics of Tamil schools only have this to sustain their
arguments. Because they feel that Tamil education gets us "nowhere here"
(read: does not give young Tamils in Malaysia bargaining power in the labour
market), Tamil schools need to go.
In other words, Tamil schools have failed in their economic agenda and
therefore have no right to exist. (Of course, some even feel that they have failed
in their cultural agenda, having become a breeding ground for problems, like
gangsterism.) As one critic recently suggested, Tamil education is useful
perhaps only in Tamil Nadu, India, from where Tamils come from, but certainly
not in Malaysia. Though seemingly plausible, this position is really practically
135
Is it really difficult for a society and its government – if it only had the political
will and creativity – to make the Tamil education stream sufficiently productive
by upgrading the schools and its facilities and by improving the standards of
its teachers and their performance?
In attacking Tamil schools and Tamil education, critics are careful to overlook
or avoid an in-depth reflection on the responsibility of a government in
educating its citizens in a multiethnic society or on the cultural goal of
education. There seems to be little realisation about the direct consequence of
this on the economic agenda of education.
In fact, some will even tell us that we should stop demanding that the
government provides for everything. But education is not just anything. It is
about creating the ‘soul’ of a community and nation. It is perhaps not the
interest of ‘this government’ but it certainly must be the business of ‘the
government’.
In fact, there are more areas in which we do not have sufficient information.
For instance, how do our teachers deal with ethnicity in a multiethnic
classroom? It would be naïve to believe that all our primary and secondary
schoolteachers are ethnically neutral and imbued with multiracial/multiethnic
wisdom. There have been many cases of cultural and ethnic insensitivity and
abuse in Malaysian schools. Has anyone considered what would have been the
impact of this on students' performance?
Many cases reported in the mainstream newspapers involved Tamil/Indian
children in the multiethnic national educational system. While such events
have been reported in the daily newspapers, I have not read much on how
teachers have been taken to task or made accountable for their ethnic
insensitivity. Nor have I come across teacher’s training that incorporates multicultural competency. Such a kind of situation certainly affects the performance
and morale of Tamil/Indian children, as it must children of any other ethnic
community.
Ornamental Reason
A critic of Tamil education recently suggested that the Tamil language be taught
136
course, the leadership of the Indian community is also certainly to be blamed.
To continue, have we studied the career path of students in the national-type
schools for purposes of comparison with those who are being educated in their
mother tongue, in this case, Tamil? How many students from poor Tamil-Indian
Malaysian families remain in the national educational system till they reach
secondary and tertiary levels of education or benefit from the system beyond
the secondary level of education?
What are the types of career paths available to young Tamils/Indians?
Does ethnicity influence career paths? Are the different educational streams
(Tamil stream or national stream) the primary reason that affects a young
Tamil/Indian's career path and economic well-being within our ethnicallycharged sociocultural environment?
The critics seem to be unaware of an important goal of education: the cultural
agenda of education. In considering this, have we done our homework to find
out which stream helps greater self-development and culturally-stronger
identity formation? Have the critics considered the impact of education through
a non-mother-tongue medium on children? What is the status of ethnic/
mother-tongue education in this country?
What is our commitment to multiculturalism and educating young Malaysians
in multicultural competencies?
What is our commitment to a culturally-diverse and active national community?
Is mother-tongue education the responsibility of a particular ethnic community
or the national government? What is the Malaysian government doing for the
education of the Tamil minority – and other minorities – in their mother
tongue?
Government's Business
I think there is a need to evaluate the extensive research available relating
mother-tongue education to intellectual and emotional development, and
consequently, the self-development of a child. Yes, there are practical and
governance problems about realising mother-tongue education, the goals of
multicultural education or nation building. However, burying our head in the
sand like an ostrich will certainly not be helpful in resolving them!
137
Semparuthi
the Cause of Violence
Another opinion, based on a
selective use of mostly American
studies on the relationship
between media and violence, put
forward by the Consumers’
Association of Penang (CAP),
suggests that the central agency
causing
the
problems,
particularly gangsterism, within the Tamil community stems from the Tamils
watching Tamil cinema.
Apparently, the Tamil cinema from Chennai, India, is the cause of Tamil
Malaysians straying away from the path of expected positive community
development. Solution: Get rid of Tamil films.
CAP has without doubt made major contributions to protecting the interests of
Malaysian consumers. But certainly it has done an unforgivable disservice to
the Tamil/Indian community. Possessing a huge cultural capital and capable of
influencing popular opinion, CAP seems to have been able to promote an
argument that many, including the Malaysian government, like to parrot.
So, in CAP’s view, Tamil films are the cause of Tamil anti-social behaviour.
A recent New Straits Times editorial (12 Sept. 2000) offers a view that is contrary
to what CAP likes to believe. The NST correctly observed that the characters in
the films that CAP, and others like CAP, love to attack – films, like Talapathi and
Nayagan, by a sensitive and creative Tamil filmmaker, Mani Ratnam – are really
about poor people who have been forced into situations that have led them to
resort to violence. CAP seems either completely ignorant or evasive of the
complex Indian reality.
CAP has also the habit, at least in this case, of offering selective studies that
support the connection between media and violence. It mentions some
American studies, for instance, while carefully avoiding others that throw
doubt on these studies or tries to explain the relationship between the media
and violence in a more complex fashion, which I believe to be more realistic. In
any case, CAP does not have the last word on this matter. The relationship CAP
is trying hard to establish is really a contested one. There is simply no agreement
138
in a casual, not institutionalised, way. There is great danger in this. This is a sure
recipe for loss of mother tongue in the long run.
Language teaching needs to be institutionalised, transmitted and used intergenerationally. There must be social avenues to keep it a living language, and
not just left to the interest of this or that individual, or this or that parent. To
preserve a culture for ornamental reasons is to insult it. The suggestions of the
critic are a sure pathway to the ‘extinction’ of a language (at least from the
Malaysian environment).
The Malaysian national educational system is hardly multicultural in content
and/or practice. Our cultural policy is hardly clear or precise about its approach
to mother tongues – certainly more than just Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, or
Tamil – in Malaysia, or about paying attention to building multiethnic/cultural
competencies. Even in areas of stated intentions to introduce, at the tertiary
level, courses on civilisations, non-Islamic civilisations have not been adequately
addressed.
Thus, the national educational system is an utter failure in terms of education's
cultural agenda. Our national educational system is hardly the place to look for
an active and informed support for ethnic cultural diversity in this country.
The market, mediated by the national educational system, influences a national
consumerist cultural outlook. A subterranean theme of the national educational
system is to create more of the same, to standardise.
In Malaysia, ethnically compartmentalised thinking and action in relation to
what I think are national issues, systematic long-term official neglect of ethnic
cultural institutions, suggestions of legal difficulties for deferring corrective
actions to improve or upgrade Tamil schools, poor leadership and untimely
political intervention have the direct potential of killing Tamil schools and
Tamil education eventually. We really don't need the critics to accomplish that.
But there are hardly any good reasons for dumping Tamil schools or mothertongue education. In fact, we will be going against an important social current
of the present millennium – the active protection and promotion of enlightened
ethnic cultural diversity.
Marginalisation, Not Tamil Movies,
139
include poverty, racial conflict, drug abuse, and poor parenting."
Melanie Brown, an Australian academic, in a 1996 article, makes the following
observation: "Numerous research studies identify an association between
exposure to violence in entertainment and violent behaviour, but do not prove
that exposure causes violent behaviour. Rather, there is a risk that exposure to
media violence will increase the likelihood of subsequent aggressive behaviour.
This risk can be increased or decreased by a large number of other factors."
Similar counter studies can be quoted at length.
The more serious problem with CAP’s attack on Tamil cinema involves the
logic of their mode of argument. CAP’s argument – and those who look up to
CAP – starts from the media, not the individual or group or society to which he
or she belongs. This reversal is really the problem with the ‘media effects’
explanatory model.
Essentially, the tendency is to start an explanation from the media and make a
flat and unsustainable connection to the individual. This kind of explanation is
also highly psychological in nature, losing touch with the social environment.
If an explanation starts from the individual-in-community, then the tendency
will be to look at the social background, identity issues, race/ethnicity issues,
gender issues, etc. In this cluster of effects, media would be one of the
contributory factors.
It is time CAP stopped attacking Tamil cinema as a central cause of Tamil/
Indian social problems, such as gangsterism, and address the more critical
issues
faced
by
the
c o m m u n i t y.
Of course, media is not innocent. But it needs to be critically addressed and not
causally over-valued.
Minority Community
A third group of people like to believe that the Tamil/Indian people’s problems
are really a result of socio-economic and political marginalisation. Assigning
causal status to Tamil schools or Tamil cinema for problems within the Tamil
community is really confusing the issue and blurring the focus on the
* See http://judiciary.senate.gov/oldsite/mediavio.htm. March 2004.
** See review of Jonathan Freedman’s book, Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression:
Assessing the Scientific Evidence (2002). http://www.joannecantor.com/freedmanreview.htm.
March 2004.
140
on it.
In contrast to American reports, such as Children, Violence and the Media* by the
Senate Committee of the Judiciary, released in September 1999, that relate
violence in America to the media, there are many more studies that raise doubts
about such a simplistic connection. CAP seems to make a moralistic analysis,
implying that all violence springs from similar causes or that all violence has
the same characteristics. That is a rather naïve understanding of violence or
aggression in society.
A Lower Murder Rate
A 1998 UNESCO global study on media violence suggests that "depending on
the personality characteristics of the children, and depending on their everydaylife experiences, media violence satisfies different needs: It ‘compensates' for
their own frustrations and deficits in problem areas. It offers ‘thrills’ for
children in a less problematic environment."
In the discussion on solutions to media
violence, the same report suggests, "What
are possible solutions? Probably more
important than the media are the social
and economic conditions in which
children grow up." An expert in the field
has this to say: "Children in Canada and
the United States watch virtually the
same television. Yet, the murder rate in
Canada, and the rate of violence in
general, is much lower than in the United
States. Children in Japan watch probably
watch the most violent, the most lurid
and graphic television in the world, and the rate of violent crime there is
minuscule compared to Canada and the United States."
In a 1996 article, the same scholar, Jonathan Freedman**, observed that
"Television is an easy target for the concern about violence in our society but a
misleading one. We should no longer waste time worrying about this subject.
Instead let us turn our attention to the obvious major causes of violence, which
141
One, Tamil/Indian Malaysians who are critics of the Tamil school system or
Tamil cinema seem to suggest that there is something wrong with the Tamil
culture or the way it expresses itself. Indirectly, their suggestions imply that
certain popular Tamil cultural forms and institutions should be severely
limited, if not completely removed.
Two, such a tendency, in
the context of socioeconomic and political
powerlessness, directly
contributes to a subtle
assimilation agenda. Thus, for instance, without the proper institutionalisation
of Tamil education or the promotion of an active educational system promoting
multiculturalism and multicultural competencies or the production of popular
Tamil entertainment forms, including Tamil cinema, the unfortunate direction
of change would be the progressive loss of Tamil identity. In this context, for
instance, we can see a new phenomenon in Malaysia – dark-brown-skinned
Tamils taking on the behaviour of, or portrayed as, ‘blacks’!
Three, we need to re-think our strategy of building a national Malaysian
community. Is it by an assimilation agenda or by actively promoting mothertongue education and/or multiculturalism? The global society, for instance, is
concerned about the many languages and linguistic communities that are on
the brink of extinction. According to a recent study, the National Geographic
magazine observes that "half of the world’s 6,000 languages will become extinct
in the next century [and] 2,000 of the remaining languages will be threatened
during the century after that."
In this context, we should focus our efforts on preserving and actively
142
Semparuthi
While cultural criticism is important for promoting societal re-learning,
corrective actions and
creative
cultural
intervention
and
development,
the
criticism has to be part of
a strategy that takes into
consideration the ‘larger
picture’.
seriousness of socio-economic and political marginalisation.
The Tamils/Indians are a poor minority community and poverty has become an
inter-generational problem, with poverty reproducing poverty. Economic
powerlessness, the small size of its population and poor political foresight of
the Indian leadership have also led to political powerlessness.
Consequently, within the national community, the Tamils do not have much
bargaining power. The Tamil-Indian Malaysian community and its problems
are hardly addressed seriously and systematically in the national context.
Perhaps the only problem that constantly gets national attention at present is
the problem of gangsterism. Even this is addressed as a punitive strategy rather
than
a
preventive
one.
As part of the preventive strategy, if there was one, one cannot overlook the
importance of upgrading the Tamil school system.
Powerlessness in the community has led to many difficulties. For instance, the
educational and career options of young Tamil-Indian Malaysian youths are
severely limited in comparison to those of the other communities. Tamil schools
are faced with serious problems affecting the quality of education that reaches
a poor minority community. The usage of Tamil in the marketplace or public
places is confined to Tamil/Indian areas.
Tamil-Indian Malaysians who have brought fame to Malaysia are hardly
treated as ‘national heroes’ and have faced difficulties being recognised or
rewarded. A few millionaires, like Ananda Krishnan, produced by the system
do not really solve the problems related to the general marginalisation of the
community. Ordinary Tamil/Indian Malaysians have an uphill task dealing
with their poverty and marginalised status.
Serious Implications
The assignment of Tamil cinema and/or Tamil schools as the main causes of
Tamil Malaysians’ community problems is not only a limited and careless view
but also dilutes the focus on more serious preventive measures for addressing
the community's socio-economic and political marginalisation. The focus on
Tamil cinema and Tamil schools carries a number of serious implications.
143
promoting cultural diversity, not in terms of ‘museumising’ it for the purpose
of selling it to tourists but in terms of living it actively. Mother-tongue education
is not really anti-national if we can work out practically how our children, in
their respective cultural streams, can also go through national social and
cultural socialisation.
Four, there seems to be a careful avoidance of the issues of governance in a
multiethnic and multicultural society. Instead, critics turn their attention to the
consequences of bad and unsustainable governance, instead of addressing the
issues of bad or ineffective governance. Thus, the suggestion is to "get rid of
Tamil schools", instead of an examination of why it has failed or is not doing
well enough. This is really punishing the victim.
The debate over the problems of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community will
go on. I only hope that those in power to influence public opinion and popular
action evaluate the situation carefully and propose a line of thinking and action
that will help to deal with the cause of the problems faced by the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian community rather than the symptoms.
144
leadership and the indian
Written in April 2001. Unpublished.
Context:
A survey of articles published in Malaysiakini between July 2000 and July 2001 by
my former student, Li Mei, indicated a number of issues that were of concern to
Indian Malaysians. But among the problems, the one that was taken up for critical
attention and discussion was on political leadership.
The issue of the leadership of the Indian Malaysian community is always a debated
one in both private conversations and public discussions. Unfortunately, leadership of
the community is seen purely from a formal and political-party point of view. And
even this is done in a one-dimensional way, losing sight of the variety and rich
leadership resources that are available in the community.*
Issues arising from the Old Klang Road-Kampung Medan incident have again
directed the spotlight of social analysis on the Indian Malaysian community.
Luckily, this time around the concern goes beyond the problem of Indian
gangsterism. It goes straight into the heart of the problem – Indian marginalisation
and powerlessness.
There is an urgent need to address the problems of the Tamil/Indian community
in Malaysia. The Indian Malaysian community is, of course, a community of
communities like the Indian diaspora. The issues raised here centrally address
the problem of Tamil-Indian Malaysians, although they are also applicable to
the larger community of Indians.
The question that becomes pertinent then is: Who is to offer leadership to the
community and confront its social problems? There have been a large number
of contenders for this role. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) has
traditionally played an important national role. But, in addition to the MIC,
* See Francis Loh Kok Wah, “The Marginalisation of Indians in Malaysia: Contesting
Explanations and the Search for Alternatives” in James T. Siegel & Audrey R. Kahin (eds.),
Southeast Asia Over Three Generations: Essays Presented to Benedict R. O’G. Anderson (New
York, Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2003), pp. 223-244.
145
Leadership and the Indian Malaysian Community
marginalisation and powerlessness are serious. They need to be urgently
addressed very often on a ‘daily basis’. Immediately, they can be addressed by:
(i) the community itself, through self-help programmes which put certain
NGOs and unions, whether or not they are aligned to MIC, in a leadership
position; and (ii) MIC, which puts it in a leadership position. In the first, there
is a possible conflict between MIC and NGO leadership. MIC reads any attempt
at leadership as threatening to its political existence.
The second critical level, i.e. the inter-community level and the issue of
bumiputeraism, places the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community in relation with
other ethnic communities. Their relationships are clearly defined within the
bumiputera - non-bumiputera framework. With the bumiputeras (the Malay
Malaysians), being chief beneficiaries of protective discrimination policies, the
marginalisation of Tamils/Indian Malaysians is further intensified.
The community must therefore obtain favours from the communal coalition,
Barisan Nasional, within the defined practice of apportionment of favours for
Malays, Chinese, Indians and ‘other’ Malaysians. It is here that MIC operates
best in terms of its brief. Whether it has been able to perform well even within
this environment is another matter.
The third level of nationalism and the issue of general Malaysian citizenship falls
outside the MIC’s chosen ambit. This is a region where the political affiliation
to the Malaysian state is realised in terms of a general citizenship, irrespective
of race/ethnicity, religion or gender. Our cultural citizenship does not influence
political citizenship, except to enhance national diversity policies. MIC cannot
operate in this environment. Its brief does not include this. The leadership here
needs to be taken by multiethnic parties, like the DAP, or NGOs, which work
with the communities in terms of such understanding. There are some
Malaysians who may have special needs that must be evaluated on a common
platform. For MIC to contest at this level for leadership is a contradiction in
terms as defined by its identity.
The final level, i.e. the global level and the issue of ‘diasporic affiliation’ concerns
the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community as part of the global ethno-communal
group. Like the Chinese, the Tamils/Indians are found all over the world. There
is a diaspora community and being part of this community offers opportunities
that may help the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community culturally and
economically. Again, the leadership of this would have to be taken by global
Indian diaspora organisations, like Global Organisation of People of Indian
146
there have been other groupings that have played some significant part in
defending the interests of the Indian Malaysian poor. Among them, we can
name the DAP, Gerakan, IPF, Alaigal, NUPW, Murugan Centre, Indian-issuesbased NGOs, public-interest-issues-based NGOs, and special informal
groupings/networks like the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), etc. Some of
these formations have political interests while others seem to be more concerned
with resolving issues confronting the community and have no interest in
winning an election, to walk in the corridors of power or rub shoulders with the
rich and the powerful!
With the problems of the Indian Malaysian community mounting as they
become increasingly powerless and marginalised, naturally, many people,
openly or in the safety of private discussions, have aired their doubts about the
ability of MIC to help the community. Many of these people are supporters of
MIC and will, in fact, vote for the BN. They do not trust the others enough, but
the point is, they are also not sure of MIC’s capabilities either. They vote,
‘hoping for the best’. There are also those who are ‘understanding’ and say that,
"Well, since it is a small party of a powerless community, they can only do that
much. We just have to accept it and live through it."
To set the leadership of the community in a productive direction, perhaps it is
worth examining the many ‘spheres of existence’ of the Tamil/Indian
community, and where MIC has a role, where it does not, and where it needs to
work with others.
In order to arrive at the spheres of existence and influence, let us look at the
interaction of the following factors: level of community, central issues at the
level, and leadership. The community can be seen to be constituted at the
following levels: community, inter-community, national and
global levels. Corresponding to these levels, you have
the institutional environments relating to the intracommunal situation, inter-communal relationship, general
citizenship and membership in the Indian diaspora.
These environments in turn relate to issues around
powerlessness and marginalisation, bumiputeraism,
nationalism and globalism.
At the first critical level i.e. the inta-communal situation
of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community, the problems
147
o f
Origin (GOPIO). Though this organisation is now directed by Indian business
interests to tap the benefits of globalisation, it is within their brief to offer
leadership to the community. Certainly, not MIC.
Given this situation, MIC needs to concentrate on the level at which it is
operating, and achieve what it can within that scope. It is also necessary for it
to understand that it cannot monopolise the leadership of the community.
In fact, it would be to its advantage for it to stick to its level and let others play
leadership roles in their spheres. Through this collective effort and enlightened
shared leadership, perhaps the community as a whole will eventually benefit.
What could be more important?
148
Published in the ‘Opinion’ section of Malaysiakini, June 2001.
Context:
In early 2001, a riot in an urban squatter area where Malay and Indian Malaysians
live led to the loss of six lives. Many social analysts saw this as a ‘racial riot’ with an
economic dimension. While one can accept the fact that in a growing multicultural
democracy, riots may happen for a number of reasons, the poor response of the
government machinery to the immediate needs of riot victims is really a reflection of
poor governance.
T
It is all too obvious that the media picks up issues and sets the narrative of
national attention. Today, other issues have hogged media space and time so
much that the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident and the problems of the victims
are slipping into oblivion.
The attempt by GCC to present
a "100-Day Report Card" is a
pointed attempt at bringing
Petaling Jaya Selatan back to
the national attention. And
with that, the issue of justice for
(as referred to by Charles
Santiago,
one
of
the
co-ordinators of GCC) the
"victims of a double tragedy" –
of a race-based attack and of
official amnesia and neglect.
149
Semparuthi
he Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), an informal network community of
responsible Malaysian citizens, held a press conference on Saturday to remind
the government about the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident and the unsolved
problems of its victims.
Rehabilitation Necessary for Petaling Jaya Selatan Victims
society, and more so for a society that claims to be a warm, caring one. A caring
society without an active policy of rehabilitation for its citizens who become
victims of tragic events is really a contradiction in terms. It is certainly a form
of inhumanity. And, in the heart of that inhumanity is injustice. Citizens,
whoever they are, need to know that they have the support of their government
in times when they face their worst difficulties as a result of social or natural
calamities.
There is no room here for the interference of either an affirmative action policy
or ethnic politics. People need help and they should receive it. A careful
examination of the victims of Petaling Jaya Selatan reveals the casual nature of
official attention on casualties that threaten a decent, long-term livelihood.
All the victims of the incident are poor Malaysians.
Those who died in the incident have left behind dependents – wives, very
young children, and elderly parents. Those who survived have lost proper use
of their hands or fingers or have lost, because of their head injuries, proper
control over their mobility.
Take an example. The thumb is a major evolutionary development to give us
power to hold and manipulate objects around us. One victim lost his thumb,
making him unable to execute many simple tasks. Poor people hardly work in
the advanced knowledge sectors. Their work involves heavy use of manual
skills and requires them to be able-bodied.
Poor Get Poorer
As S. Nagarajan, another co-ordinator of GCC, explained, the Petaling Jaya
Selatan incident has left a number of once healthy Malaysians physically
maimed as a result of which they cannot continue earning a living as before or
lead a normal life.
They are now faced with a situation that we all talk about casually – the poor
getting poorer. Of course, these people received some official attention. But a
careful examination of this attention for the victims does not seem to reflect any
indication that the official machinery is alive to the condition of the dependents
of the dead or maimed victims.
150
Justice for the victims still needs to be addressed. One, the perpetrators of the
ghastly acts of violence must eventually be brought to task and justice must be
seen to be done. Two, the housing problems of the poor victims must be actively
resolved along with a careful, sensitive strategy of building cross-community
relationships. But the immediate need for justice lies in another area –
rehabilitation.
Semparuthi
Compassionate Governance
Of the issues that were raised, rehabilitation seemed very critical. It is important
to note that the concern was
about a particular type of
rehabilitation, i.e. one that
concerns ‘victims’, particularly
the poor, caught in tragic events
not of their making, and over
which they have little or no
control, like the collapse of a
public building or a race-based
riot. People – particularly the
poor – caught in such situations
either die, leaving dependents
with serious problems, or are
maimed and require help to re-adjust their lives so that they can again lead a
normal life.
Rehabilitation involves the process of restoring an individual – here, the victim
– to a useful and constructive place in society, especially through some form of
financial help, educational or special job opportunity or vocational training or
a combination of these. Having a proper, well-thought-out rehabilitation policy
is the business of any democratically-elected government and is certainly an
indication of good, sustainable and compassionate governance.
Casual Nature
The idea and practice of creative rehabilitation is critical for the survival of any
151
It certainly does not reflect a serious concern for long-term and creative
rehabilitation of the victims. Instead, it reflects an insensitive, procedural,
allocative mechanism that treats victims as statistics. It reflects a one-time,
piecemeal, mechanical approach to victims extracted out of their social context,
and is blind to the negative social consequences of their physical condition.
The GCC is trying its best to meet the immediate needs of the victims – payment
of medical bills, an additional expenditure that has come to take away whatever
little money they have, payment of house rent, sundry expenditure needs, etc.
This it has been able to do by getting concerned individuals to help and also by
attempting to build bridges between philanthropic institutions and the victims.
But these are certainly limited in scope and extent.
Real People
It is high time that the government
comes alive to the fact that among
its citizens, there is a mother who
has lost her son and finds it
extremely difficult to lead a decent
life without support, a widow with
two children and a mother-in-law
to look after and a young boy who has lost the opportunity and hard-earned
funds to sit for an examination.
These are real people with real problems created by a situation that they had no
control over. In their faces, we see anxiety and questions. One question is
written large: What am I going to do now?
Is it not time for the government to move away from the blindness induced by
cold statistics in order to listen to the woes of its citizens and consider
rehabilitation more seriously? More sincerely?
152
Semparuthi
Rehabilitation for victims of the
Petaling Jaya Selatan incident must
eventually
be
a
creative
government effort.
Written in August 2001. Unpublished.
Context:
This was written and distributed as a handout for a closed-door meeting on MotherTongue Education organised by opposition party members and concerned individuals.
Some of the ideas developed in the earlier essays are also reflected here.
Introduction
In the last couple of months, there has been a good deal of important comments
made on the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community. The guiding thread in all
these comments has been the social problems faced by the community, the
causes of the problems and suggestions for corrective measures.
One of the ‘dramatic’ problems that has taken a lot of space in the mainstream
media and that has caught people’s attention is the menace of gangsterism in
the community. Invariably, figures have been presented to show that gangsterism
is disproportionately greater in this minority community in comparison to the
other communities. Of course, in the reports, nothing or very little is shown
about the immense socio-economic problems faced by the community. Another
issue that has drawn people’s attention is the problem faced by urban poor
Tamil-Indian Malaysian victims of the Kampung Medan incident.
If one surveys the various comments on the status and problems of the TamilIndian Malaysian carefully, Tamil education and Tamil schools are generally
perceived as part of the problem of the community and are not seen as capable
of offering children of the community a pathway to a better future. In fact, an
unwritten challenge is thrown at the community: Give ‘us’ a good reason why
‘we’ need to sustain Tamil schools or Tamil education.
In addressing the problems of Tamil education and its schools, a number of
issues unfold.
The ‘Anti-Own Tradition Syndrome’: Being exposed to western culture as part of
the modernisation process, members of the upwardly-mobile middle- and
153
The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia
What kind of competencies do we want in an educated multiethnic and
multicultural Malaysia? Given that inequality – both at the individual and
community levels – is still a serious reality in Malaysia, how do we, as a
national society, protect the educational process from its (i.e. inequality)
inimical impact? We really need answers to these questions to make sense of
Tamil education.1
Answers to the above questions need some real serious research and thinking.
In a way, any educational process needs to address the following question:
Is the end ‘product’ of the educational process a ‘citizen’ or an ‘economic
robot’? It is perhaps worthwhile to think of an educational process guided by
the following three critical agenda: (a) the economic agenda; (b) the political
agenda, (which should be concerned with ‘active citizenship’); and (c) the
cultural agenda, which should concern itself with preserving and sustaining
cultural “form(s) of life”.
(a) Firstly, education must be able to prepare young people in terms of their
cognitive sophistication, affective/emotional development and behavioural/
motor skills so that they are prepared to meet the economic needs of the
economy. This is the economic agenda of education. However, any society needs
to have the wisdom to stop the process of directly linking economics to
education and/or making education subservient to economics. When that
happens, the educational process becomes corrupted and no real learning and/
or production of knowledge take place. Education that is thoroughly
commodified does not seek knowledge but uses knowledge to make profit.
Today, knowledge is data and data can be bought and sold.
(b) Secondly, education must be geared towards producing a generation of
young people who are informed, sensitive and critically responsive to their
social and natural surroundings. This is the ‘active citizenship’, or the political
agenda of education. It removes the pure economic focus of education. It makes
young people alive to the society around them, how it is governed and how
they can contribute to improving its democratic and participatory governance.
This involves not only knowledge about party political process but also nonparty political processes since both these process contribute in some way to the
democratic governance of a nation.
Unfortunately, in Malaysia today, this emphasis is minimal and many things
have come to affect it adversely. For instance, the Universities and University
154
upper-classes of the community usually do not want to get too close to their
tradition, which includes learning their own language. This is more so when
they perceive their own community as poor and backward.
The Economic Benefit Criteria: Many do not want their children to go to Tamil
schools because they perceive that Tamil education offers no future for their
children in Malaysia. They also see Tamil schools as schools with limited
resources and poorly managed.
Economic and Political Powerlessness: The Tamil Malaysian community is unable
to sustain the Tamil education stream through internal community resources or
by adopting an influential, animating political strategy through which the
national government can be influenced.
‘Myths’ About Tamil Education: People hold on to many unsubstantiated opinions
and unsustainable assumptions about Tamil education, particularly when they
compare it with the other language streams.
Policy on Education and Multiculturalism: Our government does not have a clear
policy on education, in general, and mother-tongue or multicultural education
in a multiethnic post-colonial society, in particular.
This paper will attempt to address some of these issues. More than answer
queries, the emphasis of the paper will be to raise questions and issues. Notably,
the paper will address the direct or indirect call for abandoning Tamil schools/
education.
What Is Education For? What Are Its Goals?
Why do we need to educate our children? What must be the objectives of the
educational process? How do we govern education in a multiethnic,
multicultural social environment within a post-colonial society? Should the
educational process in a post-colonial, multicultural and multiethnic society
invent a ‘national language’ at the expense of other languages/mother tongues?
1
Including education fine-tuned to the language and cultural needs of other (minority)
communities. It is important for all of us to recognise that the "trinity" (the Malays,
Chinese and Indians) in the Malaysian ethnic scene are themselves communities of
highly-diverse sub-groupings. Tamils are merely one – historically, the largest – subgrouping within the Indian community. In addition, in Malaysia, we have many cultural
and ethnic hybrid communities. We also have a rich diversity of indigenous people.
155
"Get Rid of Tamil Schools!"
Many middle-class Tamil-Indian Malaysians hold the view that Tamil schools
are practically useless. Students in Tamil schools do not benefit, either
educationally or economically. And worse, Tamil schools have become a hotbed
for vices and gangsterism, nurturing and sustaining them. So, why maintain an
institution that does not do any good for the Tamil Malaysian community,
generally embarrasses the Indian community and is not central to nation
building? A simple solution to the problem is proposed: "Get rid of Tamil
schools!"
Semparuthi
On the surface, this seems like a reasonable proposal. But is it? What is the basis
of the ‘abandon-Tamil-schools’ argument? The proposal is based on the
assumption that in comparison to Tamil education, putting Tamil Malaysians in
the national-type schools – and perhaps even in Chinese-medium schools – will
solve the educational and economic needs of the community and the community
would eventually gain.
The Tamils are asked to dump Tamil schools and give up Tamil education
because critics of all kinds
and colours perceive that
the national-type schools
are better equipped to
achieve the economic
agenda
of
modern
e d u c a t i o n .
Or, it is assumed that
students going through the
national-type schools seem
to be able to perform well
economically later on in life.
Really, the critics of Tamil
schools only have this to sustain their arguments. Because they feel that Tamil
education gets us "nowhere here" (read: does not give young Tamils in Malaysia
bargaining power in the labour market), Tamil schools should go. In other
words, Tamil schools have failed in their economic agenda and therefore have
no right to exist.2
One recent critic suggested that Tamil education is perhaps useful only in Tamil
156
Colleges Act has depoliticised the campus. Perhaps this is politically
advantageous to the ruling party, whatever that party is, but certainly does not
show any wisdom for the future of democratic governance of this society.
Creative leadership formation patterns in all fields, which depend on
‘responsible’ freedom, will certainly be adversely affected. Leadership will
degenerate into succession management within very narrow political limits at
the expense of creative development in new and unseen ways or at the expense
of creative re-direction.
The demand to make students declare that they will not participate in
(opposition) politics suggests a policy of drawing students away from one form
of active politics. Certainly, a careless approach to education and citizenship!
(c) Lastly, education needs to groom young people to actively sustain and live
within a cultural "form of life" or multiple cultural forms of life if we are dealing
with a multicultural, multiethnic society. This is the cultural agenda of education.
In a vital sense, Malaysia is produced by the interactive exchanges of a number
of interpenetrating cultural worlds. All of us as Malaysians live to varying degrees
and exchanges with the ethnic, multiethnic, national and global worlds. Today,
we are citizens in both the national and global sense. In fact, we are certainly a
‘product’ of all these, though to a large extent, we are greatly influenced by the
first-level culture, the culture that plants in us the first seeds of being human
and civilised. Our ‘mother culture’ and our ‘mother tongue’ help us in the very
early stages of our social life. This is usually (though not necessarily) our ethnic
culture. In Malaysia, we also become alive quite early in our lives to the other
cultural worlds, since we interact with them.
It must be the business of education to contribute to building a strong selfidentity based on the ‘student’s own culture and language (mother tongue)’,
while making him/her highly multiculturally competent since s/he lives in a
multicultural world. An important aspect of this multicultural competence is the
ability ‘to blend’ into the national culture and to articulate a Malaysian worldview and
“worldfeel”. The nation-building push of education and language acquisition
need to be drawn in as part of the cultural agenda of education, which must be
larger in scope in a multicultural, multiethnic Malaysia.
With this brief elaboration, let us consider Tamil Schools and Tamil Education.
157
Questions. And More Questions …
Have the critics really explored why the Tamil schools are not doing as well as
the national-type schools in relation to the economic agenda? Or, conversely, if
the national-type schools are doing better, why are they doing better in
comparison to Tamil schools? One of the things some people like to do in this
context is compare Tamil education with Chinese education and ask what I
think is an unreasonable question: Why can’t the Tamils/Indians organise their
education like the Chinese?
In fact, it is through such questions that the focus on the responsibility of the
government in a multiethnic post-colonial society is lost. Or, to put it another
way, the unintended underside of our educational policy becomes clear. The
above comparison is also really insensitive to the distinctive trajectories of the
histories of the Chinese and the Indian/Tamil people in Malaya (and later
Malaysia). It is a comparison insensitive to the present socio-economic and
marginalised status of the community.
To continue with the questions, have we studied the career path of students in
the national-type schools for purposes of comparison with those who are being
educated in their mother tongue, in this case Tamil? How many students from
poor Tamil/Indian Malaysian families remain in the national educational
system till they reach secondary and tertiary levels of education or benefit from
the system beyond the secondary level of education?
What are the types of career paths available to young Tamil-Indian Malaysians?
Does ethnicity influence career paths? Is the educational stream (Tamil stream
or national stream) the primary reason that affects a young Tamil-Indian
Malaysian’s career path and economic well-being within our ethnically-charged
sociocultural environment?
As a society, how can we make serious decisions of national importance –
though sadly Tamil education is perceived as the internal problem of a
community – without considering the issue comprehensively? Do we have
2
Of course, some even feel that they have failed in their cultural agenda, having become a
breeding ground for problems, like gangsterism.
3 In fact, if this question is answered affirmatively, there will be nothing to criticise, and
therefore no critics, of Tamil education or Tamil schools. To prove that this will be so,
we need not look very far: just take a look at the outcome of Chinese education in this
country.
158
Nadu, India, from where Tamils come from, but certainly not in Malaysia.
Though seemingly plausible, in practical terms, this position is short sighted,
culturally suicidal and politically naïve.
The loss of culture begins with loss of language. And indirectly, it serves the
assimilationist agenda – a minority community whose culture becomes
unavailable soon begins to assimilate the dominant culture(s). Of course, this
serves nation-building efforts, but really, is this the kind of nation we want to
build? Sooner or later, we have to come to terms with nation-building through
dialogue and consensus, and contrast it with nation-building through hegemonic
domination. History has a way of bringing up these issues again and again for
they must be resolved.
There are more questions
for which we must have
answers before we can
take the "abandon-theTamil-School" argument
seriously. For instance,
have we done enough longitudinal investigations to show whether or not the
majority of Malaysians educated in Tamil schools are doing well, given the
social, economic and political odds faced by Tamils and their institutions?3
Relate this longitudinal study to the good Tamil schools as against those that
are poorly provided for. Perhaps we will start seeing where the problem really
is.
159
Semparuthi
We need answers to many critical questions before we can even start thinking
or understanding the consequences of doing away with an institution. It is easy
to do away with an institution but difficult to build one. In fact, I don’t think
the critics have even thought about the sheer practical problems that will ensue
if the Tamil schools are closed down. Education for many Tamil Malaysian
children will become
practically unavailable.
And what will happen
to all the teachers? This
suggestion looks like
another recipe for
further marginalisation.
the need for young Malaysians to be capable of smoothly moving from one cultural
world to another without the hang-ups of a culturally-puritanical older generation?
What critically important institutions have we really created and sustained that
promote democratic multi-culturalism?
Considering this aspect, we can think of the following continuum in Malaysia.
On one extreme, we have distinctive ethnic group formations, and on the other,
we have hybrid communities. In between, we can think of multiculturalism in
terms of two imageries – the ‘federal highway model’ and the ‘football team
model’. The former implies a highway, which everyone uses, following certain
commonly applicable rules. The latter implies a single formation of individuals
bound by rules of teamwork so that performance of a definite, common task is
achieved to the best of everyone’s ability within the team formation. So, in the
continuum moving from ethnic group formations, ‘federal highway’ model of
multiculturalism, ‘football team’ model of multiculturalism to ‘hybrid
communities’, we are still very much at the ethnic group formations level.
Most of our critical institutions and policies are very much influenced by
ethnicity-based thinking and practices.
Our cultural policy is hardly clear or precise in its approach to mother tongues
– certainly more than just Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, the many Chinese dialects
or Tamil – or about paying attention to building multicultural competencies.
Even in areas where the stated intention is to introduce, at the tertiary level,
courses on civilisations, non-Islamic civilisations have not been adequately
addressed. Go to the built environment of Cyberjaya/Putrajaya; there is no
multiculturalism there, architecturally speaking. Given this situation, how will
our children make sense of, and come to terms with, the multicultural worlds
they live and interact in?
The national educational system is an utter failure in terms of education’s
cultural agenda.5 It is hardly the place to look for active and informed support
of the cultural diversity of this country. In fact, besides sustaining a culturallyhegemonic trajectory, the national educational system mediates the activities of
the all-pervading market, which promotes the most pervasive common cultural
4
I am not suggesting that there is an intrinsic link between race, ethnicity and language.
Nor am I suggesting essentialism in ethnic cultural acquisition. Culture is never static or
monolithic. It is creative, multi-vocal and grows largely by endogenous strivings. It is
certainly based on social relationships. The child is located within a sociocultural womb,
and an important aspect of that is the mother tongue.
160
answers to the questions
raised above to do away
with Tamil education? All
the theory or rhetoric of
democracy will not work
without some matured
patience to begin with!
Semparuthi
The Cultural
Agenda of
Education
Moving our focus to another critical area – the cultural agenda – we are again
faced with insufficient attention or information to make democratic decisions.
Have we done our homework to find out which stream encourages greater selfdevelopment and the formation of a stronger cultural identity? Have the critics
considered the impact of education on children through the mother-tongue and
non-mother-tongue medium?4 What is the status of ethnic/mother-tongue
education in this country? Is mother-tongue education the responsibility of a
particular ethnic community or the national government? What is the Malaysian
government doing for the education of the Tamil minority – and other
minorities – in their mother tongue?
A critic of Tamil education recently suggested that the Tamil language be taught
in a casual, and not institutionalised, way. There is great danger in this. This is
a sure recipe for erosion of mother-tongue usage in the long run. Language
teaching needs to be institutionalised, transmitted and used inter-generationally.
There must be social avenues – national and community-based – to keep it
functioning as a living language, not just left to the interest of this or that
individual or this or that parent. To preserve a culture for ornamental reasons
is to insult it. The suggestions of the critic are a sure pathway to the ‘extinction’
of a language (at least from the Malaysian environment).
What is our commitment to a culturally-diverse and active national community?
What is our commitment as a society and nation to multi-culturalism (or interculturalism)? Have we made it part of our educational system to provide young
Malaysians multicultural competencies so that they can negotiate and navigate
in multicultural, multi-ethnic and multireligious worlds? Have we ever considered
161
schoolteachers are ethnically neutral and imbued with multiracial/multiethnic
wisdom. There have been many cases of cultural and ethnic insensitivity and
abuse in Malaysian schools. Has anyone considered what the impact of this
would have been on the victimised students’ psychological development and
performance?
Many cases reported in the mainstream newspapers involved Tamil-Indian
Malaysian children in the national educational system. While such events have
been reported in the daily newspapers, I have not seen much coverage on how
teachers have been taken to task or made accountable for their ethnic
insensitivity. Such a situation certainly affects the performance and morale of
Tamil/Indian children, as it must children of any other ethnic community.
As suggested elsewhere, Tamil language taught in a casual, ad-hoc manner is a
sure recipe for loss of mother-tongue in the long run. There is a need for proper
institutionalisation of the language for inter-generational continuity. There is an
urgent need for a sustainable, active policy for mother-tongue language
teaching.
Conclusion
In Malaysia, ethnically-compartmentalised thinking and action in relation to
national issues, systematic long-term official neglect of ethnic cultural
institutions, suggestions of legal difficulties preventing corrective action to
improve or upgrade Tamil schools, poor community leadership, the apathy of
upwardly-mobile Tamils about their culture and/or Tamil education, and an
absence of timely political intervention have the direct potential of ‘killing’
Tamil schools and education eventually. We really don't need critics. But there
are hardly any good reasons for dumping Tamil schools or mother-tongue
education. In fact, we will be going against an important social current of the
present millennium – the active protection and promotion of enlightened ethnic
cultural diversity. 7
No education in a particular language is, by itself, intrinsically unproductive.
5
Though I will not address the issue here, it is also a failure as far as the political agenda is
concerned. Our educational system is not mature enough to address the issue of creating
an active and creative citizenry. It is assumed that such citizens will essentially be antiestablishment. And as a result for now, any oppositional practice – institutionalised in
the form of political parties, non-governmental organisations or media organisations –
in Malaysia is demonised, unfortunately.
162
denominator, a national consumerist cultural outlook based of the ethos of
‘having’. A subterranean theme of the national educational system is to create
more of the same, to standardise our communal life. While to a great extent,
formal education encourages a consumerist outlook, the informal one
encourages the Americanisation of the Malaysian public.
Tamil Education and Governance Issues
There is a need to evaluate the extensive research available relating mothertongue education to intellectual and emotional development, and consequently,
the self-development of a child. Yes, there are practical issues and governance
problems concerning the development of mother-tongue education, the goals of
multicultural education and of nation building. However, burying our head in
the sand like an ostrich will certainly not be helpful in resolving them! Push
them aside and they will spring back at a future time, as history teaches us.
Is it really difficult for a society and its government – if only it had the political
will – to make the Tamil education stream sufficiently productive by upgrading
the schools and their facilities, and improving the standard of their teachers and
performance? In attacking Tamil schools and Tamil education, critics are careful
to overlook or avoid an in-depth reflection on the responsibility of a government
in educating its citizens in a multiethnic society or on the cultural goal of
education. This is hardly considered a critical issue. There seems to be little
acknowledgement of the direct consequence of this on the economic agenda of
education.
In fact, there are some who tell us that we should stop making demands on the
government for everything. But education is not just anything. It is about
creating the ‘soul’ of a community and the nation. It must certainly be the
government’s business. Perhaps, it is not a matter that is of interest to ‘this
government’.
There are in fact more areas in which we do not have sufficient information to
ensure the proper governance of education in a multiethnic, multicultural
society. For instance, how do our teachers deal with ethnicity in a multiethnic
classroom?6 It would be naïve to believe that all our primary and secondary
6
Equally, there must be an effort to introduce multicultural values that are part of the
curriculum of language-stream schools.
163
Nor is it intrinsically inimical to nation
building. It all depends on the vision of a
society, its educational practices and its
political will, maturity and imagination.
Ours is still highly influenced by ethnic
segmentation. There is a politically-shortsighted reason for maintaining this. What
we need for our common future is a serious
effort to allow multiculturalism to guide
our national and educational policies.
Without getting into a serious critique of
such ideas as ‘smart schools’ or ‘vision
schools’ here, what we need for our future
is a sort of ‘multicultural vision school’
concept which should be sustained by an
educational process that integrates the
three agenda of education. Such a process
will create (a) an economically-productive
labour force; (b) citizens who will talk the
language of inclusivity, social criticism,
dialogue and participatory democracy; and
(c) culturally active human beings who will be sensitive to the creativity and
multi-vocality (multiple voices) of their own cultures and the diversity they are
a part of.
What we need for our common
future is a serious effort to allow
multiculturalism to guide our
national and educational
policies... what we need for our
future is a sort of ‘multicultural
vision school’ concept which
should be sustained by an
educational process that integrates
the three agenda of education.
Such a process will create (a) an
economically-productive labour
force; (b) citizens who will talk the
language of inclusivity, social
criticism, dialogue and
participatory democracy; and (c)
culturally active human beings
who will be sensitive to the
creativity and multi-vocality
(multiple voices) of their own
cultures and the diversity they
are a part of.
Within such an environment, Tamil education, in the first instance, and Tamil
schools, in the second, will certainly benefit, as they will become part of an
inclusive national society and national conscience.
7 Of
the world’s 6,800 tongues, linguists predict that 50 to 90 percent could become
extinct by the end of this century. One reason is that half of these languages are spoken by
fewer than 2,500 people each, according to the Worldwatch Institute, a private
organisation that monitors global trends. Languages need at least 100,000 speakers to
survive, says UNESCO. War and genocide, fatal natural disasters, the adoption of more
dominant languages, such as Chinese and Spanish, and government bans on language
also contribute to their demise. As a society, do we want to be part of this "linguicide"?
Asiaweek, 29 June–5 July 2001.
See http://www.asianweek.com/2001_06_29/news3_languageextinction.html
164
Written in November 2001.
Context:
This article on the Indian Malaysian Community was sent to A. Letchumanan, who
subsequently wrote a news story, entitled "Nagging Pains of Local Indians", which
appeared in The Star, 27 Nov. 2001, and which is reproduced below (this article).
T
he ‘Indian Problem’ is a nagging one that will not go away no matter what
one does, if our response is merely symptomatic. Of course, here it is necessary
to keep in mind that most of the time, when we talk about Indian problems, it
is usually and largely with reference to Tamil-Indian Malaysians.
How do we begin to try to understand the problems of the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian community? I think we need to look at two levels – one, at the
community, and the other, the representation of the community, particularly in
the mainstream media.
In addressing the problems of the community, people have come up with many
explanations. The problems in the community are seen as being caused by
internal, endogenous, factors. The community has created its own problems,
articulating some sort of a death wish. The opposite view is that the problem of
the community is created by external, i.e. exogenous factors; for instance,
government policies. Then, there is a group that tends to provide a mono-causal
explanation, suggesting that the culture of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian people
is the cause of their problems. They like to point their finger at Tamil schools or
Indian (Tamil) cinema. They even point an accusatory finger at the community's
family system. At the other end of the spectrum, the marginal socio-economic
status of the community is seen as the major cause of its social problems.
In looking for a ‘proper’ and sympathetic understanding of the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian problem, my plea is for a careful historical analysis of exogenous
factors like the government’s development and social policies and how these
affected the community in its development. This analysis must be combined
165
The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again!
on a sustained, long-term basis builds a particular image of the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian community as a ‘problem community’ (which is quite different from
‘a community with problems’).
This re-casting of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community into a ‘problem
community’ presents serious situations at different social sites in the everyday
life experience of the individual members of the community.
The targeting of this community is subtle, which brings me to the second aspect.
Many informed and sensitive Malaysians know that MIC largely represents the
Tamil-Indian Malaysian voice and has not been able to bring into its fold the
diverse communities of Indians. This unresolved problem within the community
is ‘exploited’ in ways that add to the community’s problems. In the programming
of Indian movies in the electronic media, in the use of words such as ‘Diwali’
(not Deepavali) or ‘rangoli’ (not ‘kolum’)*, and in the characters who appear in
promotional materials, the Malaysian media is helping to deepen the problem
within the community by constructing and crystallising the ‘North IndianSouth
Indian’
divide,
I
think,
quite
carelessly.
Of course, as observed above, the South Indians we are dealing with here are
the majority Tamil-Indian Malaysians, not the Sri Lankan Tamils or the nonTamils, who, understandably, have their own grievances. The Malaysian media,
of course, has never shown such enlightened concern for internal groupings in
the case of other ethnic communities, say for instance the Malay Malaysians.
This is rather revealing about the perceptions and (unwritten) editorial policies
of the Malaysian mass media towards the Indian Malaysian community in
general and towards the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community in particular.
Here, it is instructive to view the third aspect with reference to the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian community, and that is the social consequences of reporting crime
statistics in Malaysia with reference to ethnic groups. Annually, we hear about
how high crime figures are for the Indians (presumably Tamil-Indian Malaysians)
– too many groups for a small population (as though there is some allowable
standard!). In all this, there is hardly a serious discussion about the reasons why
there is such a high number of gangs, for instance, among the Indian Malaysians.
Without a careful background analysis of the situations that give rise to
gangsterism, some government institutions and the mainstream media are only
contributing to creating the image of a ‘problem community’. How can the
problem be ever resolved? And, since we fail to examine properly the problem,
the re-casting of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community as a problem
166
with an examination of internal factors but with a clear emphasis and focus on
socio-economic marginalisation, which is at the root of a large number of
problems, including the much-publicised issue of gangsterism. My own feeling
is that without such a comprehensive examination, it would be difficult to make
sense of the community’s problems. And consequently, the problems of the
community will never be seriously addressed. And much less, resolved.
The lowly status and marginalisation of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community
today is a consequence of a critical disjunction. On the one side is the
increasingly market-directed growth trajectory of a post-colonial nation-state
trying to define its identity in a particular way, highly influenced by exclusive
religious and ethnic affiliations. On the other, is a minority community trying
to make sense of its moorings in that trajectory, while faced with immense
internal problems, such as lack of socio-economic resources - low political
bargaining power as a result - and the absence of visionary leadership that did
not act with foresight at crucial junctures of its existence in this nation. In the
final analysis, at one important level, the problem of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian
minority community, I suppose, cannot be firmly resolved unless we uphold
the values of compassion and justice, transform our politics beyond an ethnic
basis and stop thinking in exclusive ethnic terms about issues and situations
that are essentially national in scope.
While the large canvass painted above does not draw on many ground-level
realities, I would like to point to three important aspects, all related to the
mainstream media. The first has to do with the role of the media in representing
the community. In examining this, one cannot but wonder at what the criteria
are for putting up something as headlines on the front page. That unduly adds
a symbolic load to what is printed there. If what appears on the front page
covers ethnic news relating to a particular community, the symbolic load is
even greater, given our ethnically-charged environment.
In most cases, when some problems related to a rich community are printed on
the front page, what is reported is seen as an aberration from the norm.
But when a problem is reported involving the Tamil-Indian Malaysian
community, it is usually symbolically read as a ‘rule’. That kind of representation
* Unlike Diwali and Deepavali which refer to the same festival, Rangoli and Kolum are
different, in that one is seen as colourful and the other is not. While these terms show
cultural dynamism, their contextual usage can have political implications.
167
community takes over, and contributes to the creation of a punitive strategy rather
than a preventive one to deal with gangsterism. Improving Tamil schools and
education, for instance, as a national objective could begin one of the processes
of long-term resolution of the problems of the community, including the
problem of gangsterism.
Among the serious problems facing the community is that the trend of reporting
on it seems to be one-dimensional, usually without background support or
careful checking of facts, which sometimes reflects the level of professionalism
in the media, but at other times, suggests the existence of prejudice.*
Newspapers are also not known to consciously present coverage on the front
page that counters negative image formation. Bad news sells, good news bores.
In the process, the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community is caught in a negative
“image trap”. There is no clear-cut editorial policy on ethnic news reporting or
the ‘social impact assessment’ of such reporting. Sincere reporting relating to
ethnic groups, providing the happenings in the nation to its citizens needs to be
balanced with a clear focus and strategy of disallowing negative image
formation, of profiling and communalising Malaysians into clear racial/ethnic
categories or groupings. But can a politically and economically-marginalised
community swing that? Will they be taken seriously? The national attitude
seems to be “never mind the Indians.”
A. Letchumanan, The Star, 27 November 2001.
Context:
In spite of serious efforts by Indian politicians and the community, the spate of violent
crimes involving Indian youths seems to be continuing. What are the causes? Is the
media contributing to the problem by exaggerating crime stories? Reports from talks
with academics and social activists.
O
N DEEPAVALI day, former national walker Mahadevan Kuttappan was
slashed to death by an Indian gang at Sri Sentosa flats in Petaling Jaya.
* Incidently, a number of political cartoons in the mass media and jokes are on certain
Indian Malaysian politicians. I wonder why this is not tried on other national leaders with
the same ease and freedom!
168
In Klang, a Deepavali reunion of five former colleagues at a public park ended
in a bloody tragedy when they were set upon by a group of parang-wielding
assailants. These attacks come in the wake of other brutal acts such as the
shocking drowning of a toddler, who was thrown into a river, in Kampung
Medan and the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kuala Lumpur, the harassment
of her family and the brutal killing of her father.
These incidents are worrying the Indian community and its leaders. According
to police statistics, the number of Indians involved in criminal activities has
been rising in the past few years. From 69 cases in 1996, the number rose to 179
in 1999 and 111 in the January to August 2000 period.
Figures from August last year have not been tabulated but based on news
reports, the upward trend is not expected to change. Police records show there
are 38 Indian crime gangs in Peninsular Malaysia with a membership of around
1,500. About 63 percent of detainees under the Emergency Ordinance and 14
percent of detained juveniles are Indians – members of a minority community.
It is not that Indian political and community leaders are not aware of the
statistics. The MIC has, in fact, taken steps to resolve problems faced by Indian
youths by setting up the social arm called Yayasan Strategik Sosial. Independent
Indian-based non-governmental organisations have been working with
plantation and squatter communities. Why then do these unpleasant events
continue to afflict the Indian community? Social workers and academics believe
the Government must do more to address the root causes of alienation faced by
Indians.
Engineer and social activist K. Arumugam, who has carried out many
development programmes through the Tamil Youth Bell Club, the Education,
Welfare and Research Foundation and the Child Information, Learning and
Development Centre, said the Indian community was in crisis.
“Feeling marginalised and generally trapped in poverty, the Indians are devoid
of a caring and sharing Government.
“Feeling ostracised in all sectors – schools, institutions, enforcement agencies,
government and corporate – they tend to seek a defence mechanism to
overcome their woes and challenges,” he said, adding that organising themselves
into groups or gangs provided Indian youths a sense of belonging.
169
system.
However, he said the low status and marginalisation of the Indian community
today was a consequence of vast problems faced during the market-directed
growth of a post-colonial state trying to define its identity in a particular way.
“During that period, the Indian community was trying to make sense of its
moorings while faced with immense internal problems such as lack of socioeconomic resources, low political bargaining abilities as a result, and absence of
visionary leadership at critical times of its life in this nation,” said
Dr. Nadarajah.
He said the problem could not be resolved firmly unless the values of
compassion and justice were upheld. He believed this could happen only when
the nation’s politics was transformed beyond race and when people stopped
thinking in ethnic terms on issues and situations that were essentially national.
Dr. Nadarajah also took issue with the coverage of Indian issues in the media.
He said the media's role in representing the community, especially putting up
issues on the front page, added a symbolic load.
“If what appears on the front page covers ethnic news relating to a particular
community, the symbolic load is great, given our ethnically-charged
environment. When problems are printed on the front page in connection with
a rich community, what is reported is seen as an exception to the rule.
“But when a problem is reported involving the Indian community, it is usually
read symbolically as a rule. That kind of representation on a sustained basis
builds the image of the Indian community as a problem community, which is
different from a community with problems,” he added.
Dr. Nadarajah said this recasting of the community as a problem community
presented serious problems in the everyday life of individual members.
He said that many informed and sensitive Malaysians knew the MIC had not
been able to bring into its fold the whole diverse community of Indians. "This
unresolved problem is exploited in ways that add to the community's problems.
In the programming of Indian movies in the electronic media, the use of words,
such as Diwali instead of Deepavali, and rangoli instead of kolum, and characters
170
Arumugam said that some of the groups had developed links with forces of
power and money which appear to be promoting and protecting them.
“They have become protectors, mediators, collectors and judges and mete out
punishment for a fee paid either in lump sum or monthly taxes,” he said,
adding that even students in secondary schools were being influenced.
Although the MIC and other Indian-based organisations had taken steps to
resolve the gangster problem, Arumugam said the community saw little scope
for a permanent remedy.
“These are no permanent solutions. It must be accepted that such steps do not
deal with underlying causes but only postpone the inevitable,” he said, adding
that the problem was entrenched and interwoven with poverty.
He said that gangsterism was likely to thrive when those with power and
money exploit the situation.
“Political parties and NGOs have the desire to resolve the problem but they do
not have the means. The Government has to seriously look at socio-economic
inequalities beyond race.”
“It is essential that long-term programmes be developed and implemented
through the five-year plans over the next 20 years with intense monitoring of
developments,” Arumugam said.
Sociologist Dr. M. Nadarajah, who lectures at Stamford College, said the Indian
Malaysian problem was a nagging one that would not go away if only the
symptoms were dealt with. He
said there had been many
explanations of the root causes of
problems faced by Indian
Malaysians, especially Tamils.
Semparuthi
Some blamed external factors
like government policies while
others pointed a finger at internal
issues such as culture, Tamil
schools, movies and family
171
He said it was the same question thrown at media in the United States and
Britain accused of only reporting crimes involving blacks or coloured people.
Economist Charles Santiago said that Tamil films were not the main factor
responsible for the increase in criminal activities among Indians as claimed by
certain quarters.
"Tamil films like Talapathi show the people taking the law into their own hands
after a breakdown in police support for the people," he said. He said that racial
clashes in Kampung Medan and the indiscriminate breaking down of temples
showed disrespect on the part of certain government apparatus.
"These temples have been there 30 to 40 years and suddenly one wakes up and
decides they have to go. There has to be consultation between the relevant
people, including temple committees, the MIC and others," Santiago said.
Prof. Marimuthu said that rapid urbanisation was putting pressure on Indians
who previously lived in close-knit family environments in rubber estates.
He said that many Indians were forced to migrate to towns after the plantations
they worked in were bought for development projects, adding that since they
lacked education and skills, they ended up in slum areas. "These slum areas
lack infrastructure. There is no value system and everyone becomes impersonal
and a sense of community is lacking. Some children drop out of school, having
to fend for families with inadequate incomes, and this provides a conducive
climate for criminals to recruit young members," he said.
Prof. Marimuthu said that only education could save the children and there was
a need to start kindergartens and remedial and enrichment programmes to help
youths.
“The quality of living has to be improved, and infrastructure upgraded,
including better housing, sanitation, roads, drainage, piped water and
electricity,” he added.
Prof. Marimuthu said, after the Kampung Medan incident, the Government
had realised the magnitude of the problem. He said there was now a need for
government intervention with assistance from NGOs and voluntary
organisations.
172
who appear in promotional material, the Malaysian media helps deepen the
problem by constructing and crystallising the North Indian-South Indian
divide, quite carelessly.
“Of course, as observed, the south Indians we are dealing with are of the
majority Tamil community, not Sri Lankan Tamils or non-Tamils who
understandably have their own grievances,” he said.
Dr. Nadarajah said the Malaysian media had never shown enlightened concern
for ethnic communities and this revealed the perceptions and (unwritten)
editorial policies of media owners towards the Indian community.
He said that media reports of high crime statistics involving Indians were out
annually but there was hardly any serious discussion on the reasons why there
were such a high number of gangs.
"Without careful analysis of the situations that give rise to gangsterism, some
institutions of the Government and the mainstream media are contributing to
the creation of the 'problem community' image. How can the problem be ever
resolved?" he asked.
Dr. Nadarajah said without proper examination, the recasting of Indians as a
problem community contributed to the creation of a punitive strategy rather
than a preventive one to deal with gangsterism.
"Improving Tamil schools and education, for instance, as a national objective
can begin the process of long-term resolution of the problems, including that of
gangsterism," he said. Dr. Nadarajah said that media reports tended to be onedimensional and without background support or careful checking of facts –
sometimes reflecting the lack of professionalism of the media and at other times
reflecting prejudice. "Sincere reporting related to ethnic groups, informing
citizens of happenings in the nation, need to be balanced with the clear focus
and strategy of disallowing negative image formation and communalising
Malaysians," he said, adding that a politically and economically marginalised
community was always at a disadvantage.
MIC education bureau chairman Prof. Datuk T. Marimuthu, however, felt the
media should not be blamed for highlighting the problems of the Indian
community.
173
174
Published in Malaysiakini and Vettipechu, April 2002.
Context:
On 24 March 2002, an event in the most powerful nation on this little planet was
flashed across the world for its drama, colour and entertainment, for global
consumption. Two fine Afro-American actors -Denzel Washington and Halle Berry walked away with the greatest gift their acting career could offer them. What was so
special about the event this year? Well, suddenly, after 74 years, the American
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences woke up to the fact that its recognition
and evaluation of acting ability had been deeply ‘coloured’. All this while, good actors
who deserved the Academy Award of Merit, the Oscar, were taken, as a matter of
practice, to be necessarily whites. So, what are the lessons for us from this event?
Unconscious Expression of Racism
T
he practice of racism is not necessarily always a conscious activity.
Having become a part of the Norm, the choice of white actors and the act to
honour them with the Oscar looked and felt
‘normal’. The practice of racism had become an
act outside the boundaries of a conscious mind
embedded in America’s complex social history.
It is rather a part of a complex configuration of
‘unconscious’ institutionalised practices. That is
what institutions are supposed to do: remove the
cognitive load, along with our critical faculty,
from social practices through repetition and
patterning. The ‘normal’ is therefore the routine,
largely submerged deep enough to remain out
of the reach of critical attention. Thus, the
awarding of the Oscar to predominantly white
professionals was never taken to be a racist
practice or, a racially-biased one. Yet somehow,
175
The Oscar and ‘Segregation’ in Malaysian Schools
tools, or opportunities, to constantly interpret and recognise realities that
sometimes are not articulated, are unrecognised and/or are not attended to.
Thus, today, black lawyers are suing companies implicated in slavery and are
hoping for a national apology for the wrongs done to the black community
during the time of slavery, which was certainly a major contributor to the
development of corporate America. So was the Oscar event. The inability to
recognise, or the ‘misrecognition’ of a reality and the inability to objectify it, is
certainly a serious social pathological condition. ‘Non-recognition or
misrecognition’ can be genuine or motivated (i.e. part of an agenda) but the
problem (of racism) remains unresolved.
Racial Segregation in Malaysian Schools
What has all this got to do with us? With the announcement of the findings of
the investigation into ‘racial segregation’ in Malaysian schools recently, an issue
that came into the public forum sometime at the end of last year [2001],*
suddenly all kinds of critics directed their unreasonable attacks on the secretarygeneral of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), Siva
Subramaniam. Whatever his position is today, Subramaniam had made a
revelation then of the widespread nature of ‘racial segregation’ in Malaysian
schools, particularly involving the Indian Malaysian community. Without
giving him access to the report of the investigation, it was decided that
Subramaniam had misunderstood/misrecognised the whole thing and
therefore, needed to tender a public apology. The belief that "there is no racism
or racial discrimination or that no racially-biased decisions (disadvantaging
certain communities) are made in this country" was being re-asserted again by
officialdom. But in Malaysia, this is a highly-contested stand.
The discussion on ‘segregation’ in Malaysian schools, or as a commentator from
Penang recently suggested, ‘separation’, that is going on in our society relates
to our serious inability to come to terms with racism or racially-informed or
-directed decision making, in the public and/or private spheres. In a society
where racial/ethnic inequality is all too obvious, where an indefinite raciallybased affirmative action policy is sustained, where residential patterning,
occupation and employment recruitment strategies, resource allocation,
‘friendship formations’ and social affiliations are racially/ethnically motivated,
the official stance is that there are no problems between the races in Malaysia.
Not in our corporate or private sector. Not in our educational institutions.
176
everyone knew that something was not right and that race and ethnicity were
implicated in the awarding of the Oscar. Though not necessarily conscious,
entertainment and professional recognition were fleshed out most dramatically
and publicly through (hidden) racial discrimination.
Racism as Unintended Consequence
In relation to the above observation, there is another relevant point: the
outcomes or consequences of an intended action are not always clear. The
awarding of the Oscar had an intended component – recognition of and an
award for acting competency/superior performance (in addition, of course, to
other competencies related to cinema and filmmaking). This highly-professional
activity followed stringent norms, all part of intentional activities. However,
there were unintended consequences of the ‘award ritual’ – the definite
reproduction of unequal race relations and sustaining of racism in one of the
most popular and colourful institutions in American society, even as it was
being re-produced in other institutional settings. The professionalism of the
Academy’s activities at the same time fleshed out racism, or racially-biased
decisions. Does that make the Academy less racist in its actual practice?
Misrecognition of Racism
The ‘recognition’ of a reality, or an aspect of it, and then endowing it with
institutional ‘objectivity’ (by associating it with a meaningful word, i.e. by
naming it, locating its existential sites, developing its institutional support
mechanisms, sustaining inter-generational behavioural characteristics, etc) are
critical in addressing it collectively. Such recognition is also important for
organising its recovery if and when it becomes part of the unconscious and is
lost to individual/collective memory. Consider this: Whatever criticism we
may have of the American administration or however intensely we disagree
with its present unreasonable ‘adolescent rampage’ threatening to take on the
world by defining a nation here and a nation there as ‘rogue’ or as part of an
“axis of evil”, it has worked out a number of comprehensive laws and
institutions on race relations for its own citizens. These responses provide the
* See http://www.cikgu.net.my/english/news.php3?page=news20020119a. March 2004.
Also see http://www.malaysia.net/dap/lks1378.htm. March 2004.
177
Not in our public and social security sector. Not in the government sector.
We are so bent on saying "Everything is fine". While some ethnically influenced
decision-making is understandable, there are many measures that directly or
indirectly hurt us individually or collectively, drawing our citizenship status in
a multiethnic post-colonial society into question. As a nation, we certainly
suffer from collective social blindness.
Institutional Blindness
This social blindness is, of course, institutionally sustained. Even an institution
such as the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), while
recognising all kinds of discrimination in this country, does not recognise
racism or decisions made on the basis of race/ethnicity that infringe human
rights. For whatever reason, it is still not ready to engage with racism in
Malaysia. In addition, given the way mainstream reporting is done in this
country, it seems to suggest that even editors like to think that some Malaysians
are bent on blowing out of proportion what is really a non-issue and therefore
unimportant. They certainly help contribute to the collective farce we like to
sustain. What kind of culture and nation are we building?
As a citizen, I really would like to believe that my country is mature enough to
be above racism or racial discrimination or racially-biased decision-making.
But no matter how many times that is repeated, it is simply not true. Besides
being a conscious one, it is also certainly a part of our unconscious routine
activities or the unintended consequences of some practical response.
In whatever way it may be fleshed out, we need to come to terms with that
reality. And address it, consciously and critically. And through such critical
engagement, build a tradition and culture that is mature enough to be above
racism.
178
Cahayasuara
PHOtO Essay
179
Nat
Nat
Cultural Spectacle? Annual Religious Ritual?
180
Published in Malaysiakini, May 2002.
Context:
This was a response to an article in The Sun (unfortunately, written by a Tamil-Indian
Malaysian). It was also written to indirectly address a proposed meeting of middle-class
Indian Malaysians in June 2002 in Kuala Lumpur with proposals of issues to be
examined. I did not attend it to deliver these thoughts. And the concerns that are
reflected by these ideas were not addressed during the meeting.
O
n 16 May 2002, The Sun carried a headline: "Hot-headed Indians".
This makes interesting reading, not so much about the character of Indian
Malaysians as much as about headline sensationalism, prejudice construction,
and inaccurate and insensitive reporting in this blessed country of ours.
The issue is yet again gangsterism among poor ‘Indians’ (from squatter areas).
This time around, there is an interesting (though careless) observation by the
police, "as if violence and bloodshed are second nature to Indians in the
district". The prejudice seems to have gone deeper. A lot of Malaysians love to
talk about gangsterism among the Indians on a periodic basis. Probably, it feels
good to do so. In fact, it has become the second nature of these Malaysians!
Sadly, a socio-pathological condition that afflicts us as a nation is the welldeveloped ability to see the wrong things. Note: The attention is on ‘violence’,
not ‘poverty’; on ‘effects’, not ‘causes’; on ‘Indians’, not ‘Malaysians’.
Let me take a petty issue to reveal the prejudice and insensitive reporting
reflected in the cited headline. Why don’t we have headlines such as:
"The Cheating Chinese" ("The Chinese who will do anything to make that extra
buck.") or "The Lazy Malays" ("The Malays who live off the Malaysia created by
the sweat and toil of Chinese, Indians and other minorities in this country.")?
If you keep your ears to the ground, the kind of prejudicial statements that you
will hear about the Indians (not so much the other ethno-minorities), the
Malays or the Chinese is incredible. They are so revolting that I simply cannot
bring myself to mention them here.
181
The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium
“The mixture of
drunkenness,
drug abuse and
gangsterism has
become the backbone
of an explosive,
inter-generational,
anti-social, culture
of poverty. And, the
career of this culture
indicates that it is
going to remain
a long-term chronic
problem if, sadly,
only the police
are going
to be concerned
about it.”
generations of their young people and will continue
to lose them. It is time that we realise that we are
no more dealing with a criminal here and another
there but a whole sub-culture that is producing
them, like a devil’s factory.
Against this background, let me also intervene in
the much-publicised event about the meeting on
Indian Malaysians: The Malaysian Indian in the New
Millennium: Rebuilding Community.* This event, a
middle-class intervention, is set to take place from
1–2 June 2002 at Hotel Istana in Kuala Lumpur. I
suppose the group that is going to meet will have
to address issues such as the ones indicated above
– both the prejudiced representation of the
community in the media and the social problems
faced by the community – in addition to working
out corrective and/or developmental action.
Before considering the issues of poverty and
gangsterism, it is time we consider categorising
ourselves inclusively as ‘Malaysians’ not exclusively as ‘Indians’. So a proper
reference to us would be achieved by the term ‘Indian Malaysians’ rather than
‘Malaysian Indians’. It is important that we talk about our problems and our
futures as an ethnocultural group in the context of an inclusive category,
‘Malaysian’. This nomenclature is nothing new as many ethnocultural groups
in many multicultural societies around the globe adopt it. It has a long-term
political advantage of consolidating the more sustainable politics of difference
and diversity in a multicultural society like ours. Let us be recognised with
rights as Indian Malaysians. Let us rebuild the community as Indian Malaysians.
Another important issue that needs to be addressed at the meeting is the
prejudiced media representation of the community. A media-monitoring body
addressing the issue of prejudice construction would go a long way in dealing
with ‘racial prejudice’ in Malaysia. Even if organisations, such as SUHAKAM,
have recognised all other forms of discrimination but have carefully excluded
racial discrimination from their list, the issue needs to be addressed and
brought into serious legal discourse in this country. The middle class is best
suited to do this. Media monitoring can go along with developing and
182
But where does this kind of labelling or ‘community character assassination’
take us as a national community? Nowhere, really. And besides, it puts the
whole issue in a wrong perspective. It is rather sad to know that a newspaper,
which must practice some restraint and wisdom, has resorted to irresponsible
headline sensationalism. Social myopia seems to continue to afflict this tabloid.
Consider the category of ‘Indian’ as it appears in the headline. The community
is highly segmented on the basis of class, caste, religion, region and language.
Among others, the Chinese and the Malays have their own segmenting fault
l
i
n
e
s
.
The group specifically addressed in the news item cited above is probably from
the poorer sections of the (male) Tamil-Indian Malaysian community.
So, why not a headline in a racial tone: “The Hot-Headed Poor Indian” or more
a
c
c
u
r
a
t
e
l
y
,
“The Hot-Headed Poor Tamil”. But, really, why not a headline in a non-racial
tone: “The Hot-Headed Poor Malaysian”? Carefully constructed, racism can be
made to be excitingly sensational. It seems to have become something that sells.
And
our
business
ethos
seems
to
be:
“If racism sells, let us sell racism”. “Oh … never mind the Indians!”
The issues of drunkenness or gangsterism are problems that have been affecting
the Tamil/Indian community (largely) for quite sometime now and have
become an inter-generational problem. I suppose all Malaysians have seen a
drunk Tamil/Indian doing that ‘drunken dance’ on a roadside as he walks
listlessly and aimlessly. Quite a tragic, but certainly, symbolic representative
image of the status and future of the community in this country. This tragic
image belongs to the adult labouring community and has a working-class
history.
Today, however, this has developed a greater texture as it has got tied up with
drug abuse and gangsterism, and has reached the (poorer) youths, something
that indicates how equitable and sustainable our national development is! The
mixture of drunkenness, drug abuse and gangsterism has become the backbone
of an explosive, inter-generational, anti-social, culture of poverty. And, the
career of this culture indicates that it is going to remain a long-term chronic
problem if, sadly, only the police are going to be concerned about it.
Indeed, the Tamil/Indian Malaysian community (largely) has already lost a few
* See http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/cms/miconference.doc. February 2004.
183
encouraging cross-cultural sensitivity.
Semparuthi
Returning to the key issue, certainly the meeting will have to address the
problem of poverty faced by the community, in general, and the poor youths,
in particular. In relation to our poor youths, we must refuse to think of them as
just Tamil/Indian youths but as Malaysian youths. This positioning draws the
attention of not only the community but also, more importantly, the national
government to address the problems of our youths. We must break that habit of
the government to turn national issues into communal issues. This is perhaps a
very critical intervention in rebuilding community. This is necessary so that the
idea of ‘rebuilding community’ is achieved in two ways – rebuilding the Indian
community as much as rebuilding the Malaysian community.
An important issue that needs to be addressed is, of course, the reference made
in The Sun – gangsterism. Gangsterism is a
very serious and practical concern to the
police. Very understandable. But the fact is
that the Malay-majority police force
interacts periodically with the ‘Indian
community’ in perhaps one context, and
with one group of Indians – the poor
Tamil/Indian male youths in the context of
“violence and bloodshed”. How can
prejudice not be formed? (Perhaps, if the
police force spent more time with our
doctors, engineers or teachers, they may
not find us that violent after all!) The event
on rebuilding the Indian Malaysian
community can address the issue of crosscultural sensitivity by getting important
institutions involved.
To continue, the police are seen to hold
talks with the community and its leaders
to deal with the problem of gangsterism, even while responding to the situation
in the most punitive manner. If one examines the relationship between the
community and the police with reference to gangsters, it only indicates
attention to effects rather than causes. This certainly throws up more questions
than solutions.
The police, both in terms of resources and institutional focus, cannot solve the
184
problem of drunkenness or gangsterism
in the Tamil-Indian Malaysian
community. In fact, with the police
addressing the issue, the problem of
gangsterism will continue to be
represented as a ‘law and order’
problem affecting general ‘public
order’, which is and must be the concern
of the police. This misrepresentation of
the reality of gangsterism will continue
to lead to solutions that are punitive
and piecemeal. The ‘gangsterism of the
poor ’ among the Tamil-Indian
Malaysian community is really a serious
social and political problem and
requires more serious attention from the
MPs at our parliamentary sessions, the
Ministry of Education and the Ministry
of Welfare and Social Development, to
name a few key national institutions.
A very critical component of
community development is
creating ‘a future’ for the poorer
or the lower-middle-class
sections of the community,
particularly the poorer youths.
This is the key to both
governmental and community
interventions. When young
people have a handle on their
future, know what they can
become in five or ten years and
know what they can do in the
future, the knowledge and the
possibility alone offer a
positive direction. Thus, an
important part of the
deliberation at the meeting
must be discussions about
creating realistic and possible
futures for our young people, as
for all young Malaysians.
Generally, only a serious, committed
national political will can make the
culture of poverty – anti-social or
otherwise – leading to drunkenness,
domestic abuse, drug abuse and/or
gangsterism go away. Of course, the
role of the community is critical. And the
Rebuilding Community meeting is certainly
an opportunity for the middle and upper classes to flesh it out. But in no way
should the community take on the role of an elected government. In their own
way, the Indian Malaysian middle-classes must find a way to involve the
government and improve the governance structures related to the poor in this
country, no matter which ethno-community they come from.
The Rebuilding Community meeting can help contribute to greater sensitivity
and to establishing institutionalised intra-community linkages. This really
means that the middle and upper classes, the academic and professional Indian
Malaysian communities need to institutionally engage with the community-at185
large and particularly with the poorer sections of the community. (Incidentally,
there is a popular negative image of the Indians as incapable of forming a real
self-supporting community, as it is the ‘behaviour’ of one Indian to pull down
another who is trying to climb the ladder!)
A very critical component of community development is creating ‘a future’ for
the poorer or the lower-middle-class sections of the community, particularly the
poorer youths. This is the key to both governmental and community
interventions. When young people have a handle on their future, know what
they can become in five or ten years and know what they can do in the future,
the knowledge and the possibility alone offer a positive direction. Thus, an
important part of the deliberation at the meeting must be discussions about
creating realistic and possible futures for our young people, as for all young
Malaysians.
In this context, it is important for the meeting to reflect on the question of
university admission. Certainly, the more our youths go through the educational
process and receive university education, the more are the chances of us
overcoming the problem of gangsterism, at least in the next generation. But
examine what is happening to university admission. Even those who are
eligible to be in the university are not offered that opportunity (forget about
what happens after one receives a university education and starts to look for a
job in our racially/ethnically-sensitive corporate environment). As a close
friend likes to suggest, we have a “meritocracy system without merit”.
How can you have a merit system when there is no level-playing field, when
there is no common university entrance examination or when there is no
transparency in the admission and examination process? A meritocracy system
will work only if the idea and the practice of it are sound. We hardly have a
sound idea or a sound practice.
On this issue, it is important to understand the perception of the community.
The feeling of being let down by the government they voted to power, a feeling
of being not fairly treated by their government, particularly with reference to
their young, is really a serious problem for the community. Among everything
else, it creates a sense of helplessness. And a feeling that they have ‘no future’.
And, this feeling seriously affects the poorer sections or the middle- and lowermiddle-classes. And here, we sow the seeds of anti-social behaviour (as much
as legal activism in some quarters).
To return to the inputs from the middle and upper classes, the intra-community
186
linkages can be fleshed out institutionally and financially, in the form of
democratically-governed foundations and firms, supporting the preparation of
the young educationally within a national context, helping them in their
education-related employment and contributing to the development of their
careers. Even while critically examining community efforts that have failed, the
group must also situate the role and spell out the contribution of the
government, not as an option but as a necessity.
Certainly, philanthropic and self-help traditions of the Indian Malaysian
community can be recovered and systematically developed and fleshed out as
foundations for sustaining initiatives around key issues – education, health,
community-owned economic ventures, cultural development, etc.
Astro Vannavil, for instance, can play a more imaginative role in this effort than
by just being a market for entertainment products from India. It is important
that such efforts carefully keep out party or sectarian politics as they seem to be
simply inimical to the proper functioning of community efforts. Financial and
management support is also certainly required for improving the facilities in
Tamil schools and for improving the outcome of Tamil education.
One of the things that must be urgently developed is some sort of a ‘social
technology’ to work as a
‘social early-warning and
opportunity-determination
How can the
system’. The direction in
Indian diaspora help
Indian Malaysians?
which the community is
moving needs to be examined,
through
research
and
observation of local, national,
regional and global trends.
This is certainly an opportunity
for academics and professional
researchers
to
become
institutionally linked to the
needs of the community.
Negative and unsustainable
social trends, once detected,
need to be urgently addressed.
Source: Gerard Chaliand and Jean-Pierrre Rageau, The Penguin Atlas of
Diasporas (London: Penguin Books, 1995)
187
As part of the early-warning system, there must be ‘social impact assessment’
and ‘social risk assessment’ of national policies, i.e. determination of
unsustainable trends that can ensue from national policy that affects the
individual and collective rights of communities in general, and of poor
communities, in particular.
There should also be a strategy of early response, with an integral government
involvement. Such a facility within the Indian Malaysian and national
community will go a long way in preventing the development and intergenerational continuation of serious social problems. An early-warning system,
along with a comprehensive response strategy, with the support of the
government, could have set in motion a definite long-term solution of the
problem of gangsterism and drunkenness. Today, the Indian Malaysian
community has another serious problem – suicides. We had better start looking
at this problem too.
In addition to an early-warning component, there must be an ‘opportunitydetermination’ component. Such a component will help shape and define
futures, and direct attention at prospects for the Indian Malaysian community.
How can globalisation, for instance, help the community? This is a potential
area for exploration which is beneficial for the community, though, at the
moment, it seems to only benefit the middle and upper classes. In this context,
it is equally important to look at the potential of the ‘Indian diaspora’ (again, a
highly-fragmented one, with many diasporas within a single diaspora). How
can, for instance, the global organisations of the middle and upper classes, such
as Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), help to solve the
problems of poor Indian Malaysians? These aspects must certainly be one of the
focuses of the Rebuilding Community meeting in June.
While we are still examining opportunity determination, one important area to
consider is ‘competency profiling’. We need to carry out a ‘competency
profiling’ exercise of the community, which must also involve, simultaneously,
a detailed assessment of the kind of competencies that are required in Malaysia
to run its organisations (firms and others) today and in the years ahead in this
era. It is important that we recognise the competencies the community has,
those that are in shortage or those that are lacking. With such knowledge, not
only can the community fit into the future but also develop in a self-conscious
manner. With such knowledge, the interests of the young can be directed in a
more realistic manner. This is, for instance, happening to an extent with IT
188
education. But, it needs to be more organised and to cover a wider area.
Certainly, the middle class representing the Rebuilding Community can contribute
to this critical activity, again without forgetting the role and responsibility of the
elected government. It can go a step further and share these ‘technologies’ with
the national community.
The emphasis on a cross-class, cross-caste and cross-community strategy for
Indian Malaysian community development to be initiated by the middle and
upper classes has a tremendous potential. But it also comes with limitations.
Recognition of the boundaries of middle-class action and their limitations, with
a focus on the prospective potential of collaboration, with definite institutional
remedies and development, will certainly make the Rebuilding Community
meeting a more worthwhile effort, both in addressing the problems of the
Indian Malaysian community and in rebuilding it. Among those that need
immediate attention is taking to task such newspapers as The Sun, which
produces inaccurate reports and reinforces a prejudiced image of the community.
189
190
Context:
Among the important issues discussed at the Rebuilding Community conference (see
chapter 26) is that related to the question: Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’? The piece
below was written in response to this query.
footnote on page 183) of the
Indian Malaysian elites in
the city, there was an attempt
to define who a ‘Malaysian
Indian’ (in the politically
short-sighted words of the
organisers) is. An absolute
waste of time for a conference
that should have spent more
time coming up with some
really workable, concrete
solutions
to
Indian
Malaysian problems, some
of which need urgent and immediate attention. Yet, the issue of identity is a
relevant one from a larger perspective. It is not just “Who is a ‘Malaysian
Indian’?” we need to explore, but also, more seriously, “Who is a Malaysian?”
The issue I am trying to draw our attention to is the question of identity in
Malaysia. There are, as most people will know, many sources of identity – race
and ethnicity, class and caste, religion, philosophical orientation, professional
or other sub-group/sub-cultural affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, etc.
Against this background, the issue of identity faces a serious problem of
definition. In fact, because all societies are multiculturally vibrant (this is being
slowly accepted as a fact), increasingly, there is a need to see identities as fluid
and not fixed.
Here is an example. I do not own a car, and this has forced me to use taxis, in
addition to other modes of travel. It is always interesting to travel in a taxi in
191
Semparuthi
In a recent conference (see
Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’?
Kuala Lumpur, particularly when you have friendly taxi drivers. This is how
taxi drivers always challenge my notions of identity. When I step into a taxi
driven by a Malay, the conversation covers many aspects, including ethnicity.
In fact, as far as taxi drivers are concerned, race/ethnicity is the main source of
identity and an important theme in everyday conversations. When a Malay
talks, it will include the Indian (as his passenger is an Indian), and the ‘bonding’
point is the assumed acceptance of his analysis: the ‘ability of the Chinese to
corrupt everyone with money’. This driver is suggesting that as ‘non-Chinese
Malaysians’ or as ‘non-Chinese’, we ought to beware of the Chinese. This is an
identity I am given at a particular instance.
The situation is different when I am in a taxi driven by a Chinese. Among the
conversations I have had is this: “These Malay people want everything free …
If not for us, where will this country be?” This time, I am seen as a ‘non-Malay
Malaysian’ or ‘non-Malay’. Here, I am given another identity, which includes
mainly the Chinese and Indians. In the taxi of an Indian driver, the situation is
altogether different. Here is one conversation: “These Malays have the support
of the government. The Chinese have cheated their way up and they are very
clannish … The Indians, we are nowhere … And we will never learn … We have
to help ourselves ... That is why when I buy things, I only buy from the Indians
… Indian money should not go to the others”. Here is an identity that makes
me a ‘non-Malay, non-Chinese Malaysian’ or more realistically, ‘non-Malay,
non-Chinese’.
The identity I assume or am given is extremely fluid. In the official construction
of ethnicity and ethnic identity, there is, as a Mandailing Malaysian friend
suggests, a trinity – ‘the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians’. All other
identities outside this ‘ethnic trinity’ are marginal to the discussion of identity
in Malaysia. There are two issues here.
There is a tendency to improve a categorical notion on a population for easy
political administration. Indian Malaysian, as Malay Malaysian, as Chinese
Malaysian is really notional. ‘Indian Malaysian’ as such is really indefinable,
except for practical and political applications. Take a moment to be patient to
consider the complication.
To refer to myself ethnically and politically, I need to develop a conceptual
category that is rather clumsy – Tamil-Indian Malaysian. And if I delve into my
caste (peculiar here to the Indian Malaysian community), class and religion, it
192
becomes even more complicated
and I have to build more clumsy
categories. Thus, from another
perspective, I will be an
‘upwardly-mobile middle-class
male-sociologist-Tamil-SouthIndian-Indian-Peninsular
Malaysia Malaysian’. It certainly
is confusing. And very often,
which voice is being heard and/
or which category is being
perceived becomes difficult to assess. All of which show the fluidity of our
identity.
There is also a need to recognise the fact that the Indian Malaysian community
is highly multiethnic/multicultural. Just taking some criteria, like region and
religion, are enough to complicate the reality of the Indian Malaysians. Even
within the Hindus, for instance, there are different groupings and different
available identities. They are those who take the path of Gandhi’s brand of
Hinduism, while there are others who believe in a more fundamentalist kind
associated with ‘Hindu fundamentalist’ rule in India. There are Saivites and
non-Saivites.
At another level, in Malaysia, North Indians separate themselves from South
Indians, both suspicious of each other. The politically-dominant South Indians
(particularly the Tamils, but also Telugus and Malayalees) see the North Indians
as untrustworthy, and that they will dominate and marginalise the Tamils and
other South Indians, while the North Indians see South Indians as having
marginalised them and monopolising national resources. So, they want to
separate themselves from being perceived as Indian Malaysians. That really
means Tamil-South Indian Malaysians. Even the Sri Lankan Tamils want to
separate themselves and form a separate group. In a recent symposium* in
Penang, Sri Lankan Tamils wanted to be categorised as a ‘historical minority’,
along with ‘Eurasian Malaysians’, ‘Burmese Malaysians’, ‘Thai Malaysians’,
and ‘Japanese Malaysians’. So, what do you have here in terms of the Indian
Malaysian community? South Indian Malaysians? North Indian Malaysians?
* See http://www.penangstory.net. February 2004.
193
Semparuthi
Tamil Malaysians? Punjabi Malaysians (further classifiable into Sikhs, Hindus
or Muslims)? Malayalee Malaysians? Sri Lanka-Sinhala Malaysians? Sri LankaTamil Malaysians? Indian-Tamil Malaysians? Indian Malaysians? PakistaniPunjabi-Muslim Malaysians? So much for trying to define who the Indian
Malaysian is.
(Interestingly, in Malaysia, North Indians are more acceptable than South
Indians, particularly Tamils, to the Malays. There is, therefore, an Indian
identity available to Indian Malaysians, which puts them closer to the cultural
consumption patterns of the Malays.)
The situation is not very different for the Chinese or the Malays. The Chinese
are broken into dialect groups, as much as by religion and class. They have their
own intra-communal differences and categories associated with them.
The ‘Chinese-educated’ Chinese Malaysians see themselves differently from the
‘English-educated’ Chinese Malaysians. The ‘Peranakan Chinese’ and the ‘BabaNyonya Chinese’ see themselves differently. Class-wise, the Chinese from one of
the New Villages is different from, say, some posh locality, like Damansara
Heights. The Malays are not monolithic either. They are also broken into many
groups, particularly in terms of regions. For instance, my
Mandailing friend does not want to be clubbed into a
Who
generic Malay community. He is very sensitive to his
roots in northern Sumatra.
is a
Malaysian?
So, who is an Indian Malaysian? Who is a Malaysian?
194
PHOtO Essay
displacement and the
Context:
Industrialisation and aggressive urbanisation have affected many traditional
neighbourhoods. Many of these have disappeared. This reality is certainly most visible
in the Klang Valley. Many of the neighbourhoods were populated by low-income
Malaysians, including Tamil-Indian Malaysians. In some cases, they were largely
populated by Tamil-Indian Malaysians. People, families and communities have been
evicted/displaced or relocated, giving way for upper-class residences and/or industrial
or commercial centres (some sort of ‘internal colonisation’). This displacement is
further aggravated by undemocratic allocative mechanisms (“Who gets a low-cost
house?”) or an inadequate number of low-cost houses, putting all poor Malaysians in
a limbo in as much as their housing/shelter is concerned. Those who have been evicted/
displaced but promised low-cost houses have been traditionally moved first to a
temporary shelter called rumah panjang (long houses). But in many instances, this
temporary residence has transformed into a permanent feature, with people still waiting
for their relocation. All photos by George Saysoo (2003).
195
Disappearing Traditional Indian Malaysian Neighbourhoods
196
Disappearing Traditional Indian Malaysian Neighbourhoods
197
198
PHOtO Essay
Context:
Because of the nature of development in Malaysia, many Hindu temples/shrines
frequented by Tamil-Indian Malaysians (and other Indian Malaysians) have been
removed while some have been relocated. In a number of cases, the process begins with
the eviction/displacement or relocation of the community that lives, serves and prays at
the temple. This has led to the reality of ‘orphaned temples’. In modern Malaysia, the
removal and/or relocation of Hindu temples (or in some cases, shrines) has been a point
of negotiation, contestation and struggle between the Tamil-Indian community and the
local/state/national governments. In some cases, it is a struggle with an individual or a
business corporation, particularly over the land on which the temple is located.
(One may add here that some Tamil schools too are a point of contestation and
negotiation in relation to the land it is located on.) All photos by Nat.
This was the location of a Hindu temple (Muniseswarar Koil).
The banyan tree and a shrine here still remain as a reminder.
199
Sacred Memory
The
banyan
tree and
shrine is
still the
site of
religious
activity
today
(2003),
though the
temple was
relocated
in 2002.
200
Sacred Memory
201
202
sECtiOn iii
On Being
a Global
Citizen
203
204
Written in February 2001. Unpublished.
Context:
Consumerism – the movement to protect and promote consumer rights in the
marketplace – came to us, like most movements involving the middle classes, from the
West. The issues addressed by Western consumerism were distinctly different from
those that affect non-Western, Third World societies. This article was written with a
view to articulating an Asian brand of consumerism. Written for World Consumer
Rights Day 2001, it was too long for most magazines and online publishers to use. It is
listed in the unedited submissions section of an Africa-based online NGO newsletter at:
http://www.kabisaa.org (April 2001).
Introduction
T
he world over, 15 March is celebrated meaningfully as World Consumer
Rights Day. In 1962, President Kennedy proposed the original Consumer Bill of
Rights (CBR) – the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose
and the right to be heard. As new players – developing societies, for instance
– came into the movement, the original CBR underwent refinement and
increment. Instead of four, there are eight rights today – the right to satisfaction
of basic needs, the right to consumer education, the right to safety, the right to
be heard, the right to redress, the right to be informed, the right to choose and
the right to a healthy environment. The world has undergone a great deal of
significant changes from the time the new set of rights were introduced.
Whether these changes require modifications in the CBR needs to be seen.
In Asia, there is a potential for rethinking the consumer movement. Perhaps an
active process of rethinking Asian consumerism may take us into uncharted
areas related to consumption, and help break down certain established
orthodoxies in the mainstream consumer movement, all of which may open
opportunities to refine, modify or extend the CBR.
205
Rethinking Asian Consumerism
organisations in 119 countries (which includes organisations from Malaysia),
and headquartered in London, the theme for this year‘s [2001] Consumer
Rights Day is Corporate Citizenship in the Global Market: Accountability and the
Consumer Perspective. While these movements have looked at tackling the
aberrations in the marketplace, they have hardly made efforts in considering or
developing a consistent policy on re-forming or revolutionising asset ownership
patterns. There has been no focus, even after over 40 years of consumer activism
worldwide, on any consistent policy that would, for instance, contribute
strategies and action plans to limit the income differential within and between
societies so that social inequality – and therefore poverty – is significantly
reduced, if not gotten rid of, to an extent that the grave social impact of social
inequality is mitigated. This kind of restructuring will cumulatively have a
positive impact on the consumer movement.
In fact, even working within the neo-liberal framework of the mainstream
consumer movements, the consideration of a comprehensive competition
policy, when examined within a broader policy of re-structuring asset ownership,
will not only improve demand – though increasing demand is not automatically
related to wise consumption – but also the quality of competition (again, not
related to wise consumption). Imagine the market power of an affluent
Philippines or India (if their land reform strategy, for instance, had succeeded).
A re-formed local, national and global ownership pattern will have a positive
bearing on common property resources and force its incorporation into the
calculation of economic goods and services at the production, distribution and
consumption levels.
Asset re-structuring will have a positive influence on gender equity and
contribute to the consumer movement. It will also, for instance, contribute to
undoing the debt situation of the developing world and give it a stronger voice
in international fora. It will encourage public-private debate in the area of
consumption. Perhaps a re-consideration of asset-ownership patterns will
reduce the dangers of the explosive mix of poverty, population, consumption
and the environment, and of the impact of abundance and over-consumption
on society (local and global) and the environment. The former relates to the
developing, and the latter, to the developed world.
Historicise Consumption and the Consumer
206
Subsume the Consumer Movement Within the Broader
Agenda of Sustainable Development
The contemporary consumer movement largely working within a neo-liberal
framework and directing its human and financial resources to make the market
responsible is, in the long run, without much future. Even if we make the
market free and fair, the mere focus on consumption does not make it
sustainable. In addition, the drive to make production and distribution efficient
does not necessarily lead to sustainable production or distribution. The
‘efficiency’ concern is limited, both in terms of giving a direction to production
and in terms of developing and managing human resources. Given this
situation, it will be necessary for Asia to consider a consumer movement within
a larger framework, i.e. the sustainable development framework, a framework
that can guide our present biological and social survival without jeopardising
the "survival" of Nature and future generations on the principle of intergenerational and intra-generational equity.
Again, in considering this framework, there is a need to move away from the
orthodox ecological focus of sustainable development. Sustainable development
is really a very large and complicated concern. It certainly contributes to an
emancipatory project for human freedom and equality, in which sustainability
includes the realms of politics, economics, technology, and culture (local,
ethnic, national and global). It is not possible to speak of sustainable consumption
without considering sustainable politics or technology. Subsuming the consumer
movement within sustainable development will extend the life of the consumer
movement and make it more responsive to the trends of the present millennium.
In this effort, it is worth keeping in mind that such a framework can benefit
from the wisdom of a number of indigenous knowledge systems, institutions,
and practices that promote sustainability.
Restructure Ownership Patterns
The mainstream global consumer movement has been working very hard
towards making the market a safer and fairer place, with the aim of protecting
the rights of the consumer. Specifically, in the effort to make the existing, and
taken-for-granted, market fairer, the movement has concentrated on such issues
as responsible corporate governance or a more comprehensive competition
policy. In fact, for Consumer International, a federation of over 260 consumer
207
desires, human interaction, etc. – have all come into being and are in the process
of maturing. The future of human society will certainly bring in new historical
forms of consumption and categories of consumers. Therefore, the consumer
movement needs to specifically address this reality rather than continue
looking at the consumer in a modernist sense. Cyber-embodiment, which
involves an acute technological extension of human beings (‘cyborgisation’),
requires a new framework of consumerism to deal with it.
Third, the conception of a consumer in a generic sense involves sensitivity to the
relationship between human beings and nature. Based on an eco-centric (all
things natural as central) or sentient-centric (all living beings as central) value
system, the generic notion of a consumer involves the possibility of developing
a pattern of sustainable consumption and lifestyle. This means we do not turn
Nature or the environment into an economic resource and engage in carelessly
exploiting it, but allow for ‘negotiated engagement’ by recognising its own
value and our need for continuous dependence on it. A number of Asian
indigenous knowledge systems allow for the development of this kind of
possibility.
Re-Introduce Sensitivity to the Three Stages
of a Consumption Event
Today, the focus of the consumer movement is the act of consumption. The
consumer is also only concerned about consumption. This is an aspect of
consumption in a modern consumer society. Consumption is reified. Such a
situation presents consumption as ahistorical and cuts away people’s view,
thinking and concern from larger issues. Carefully considered, consumption is
really one moment in a movement of three stages, i.e. pre-consumption,
consumption and post-consumption (see Figure 1).
Together, they make a consumption event. Sensitivity to these stages has
occupied the thought and behaviour of ‘consumers’ in traditional or, if you like,
pre-modern societies. In fact, in many earlier societies, this consciousness
governed their relationship with Nature/their ecology. For instance, in many
Asian cultures, Nature is seen as the transubstantiation of the Sacred. Thus, in
dealing with the Sacred, consumption was sensitive to the pre- and postmoments of the consumption event. With the arrival of the modern consumer
society, sensitivity to the other moments diminished and the focus became
208
The consumer is a historical, locality-specific category, and it is really careless
to consider that the present type of consumer has always been there and will
always be there. Today, the conception of the consumer as a market category
animates the mainstream consumer movement. It is really this emphasis that
directs a strategy of consumer protection, i.e. protection from an unfair and
unsafe marketplace. While this is perhaps right in the present context, the
conception of consumption and consumer requires re-consideration.
First, the present conception emphasises a particular historical form of
consumption and consumer. If we think of a consumer purely from a market
perspective, we can think of – as a result of the consumer movement – a type of
consumption that is safe (for instance, safe products) and fair (for instance,
value for money in a market sense). But such a pattern of consumption may
actually result in the depletion of natural/material resources and lead to
intense pollution. Based on an anthropo-centric (human beings as central) value
system, efficient production and responsible market behaviour of firms is no
guarantee against the destruction of Nature or ecological degradation.
Against this background, there is one important consideration – we need a nonAmerican type of consumer or consumption behaviour. If the world consumed
like Americans, we need many more Earths. One is certainly not enough!
Second, human society is undergoing a massive change. With the emergence of
the cyber-society, new forms of economic organisation and transactions, and
consumer embodiment (cyber-embodiment) – which will re-define consumption
Pre-consumption
Post-consumption
Consumption
Figure 1: The three stages of a consumption event
209
making accessibility a non-issue, we reduce waste of material resources in
producing private motor vehicles and move towards ‘de-materialising’ the
economy. This also means that we stop stereotyping public transport as the
poor people’s mode of transport as against the transport of the wealthy.
Transport is about accessibility, not the possession of this or that status-defining
car.
The same logic can be applied in another instance – the serious, systematic
concern for a ‘paperless office’ or a ‘paperless society’. (In Malaysia, for
instance, Malaysiakini is certainly a part of the de-materialisation process.) The
growth of an infostructure based on computer technology will certainly make a
great contribution to this effort. In all these efforts, the ‘culture of profit making
and having’ is sought to be replaced by a non- or post-materialistic culture of
sharing and being. Although a materialistic culture of ‘possessiveness’ has been
there and is now in the control of Asian consumers, Asian cultures are also well
suited to actively promote a sustainable culture, i.e. a culture of being.
Today, globalisation has become a
household word. There is an on-going
debate about globalisation, about its
economic advantages or its predatory
nature. Everyone is also talking about its
inevitability. Consumerism needs to
consider its relationship to globalisation,
particularly in the context of a "postSeattle world". This means consumerism
in Asia needs to build a defence against
globalisation, particularly corporate
globalisation. Corporate globalisation is
sustained by a regime of pro-powerful
and pro-wealthy legal instruments and
institutions, which do not contribute to
the creation of a fair world.
It compounds the problems of global
210
Nat
Encourage Enlightened
Localism and
Modularisation
concentrated on consumption. Such a transformation helped reproduce a
marketised consumer society. The recovery of the wisdom of an earlier mode of
consumption would make modern consumption acts more informed and
holistic, more sensitive to the connection between consumption ‘here’ and its
effects ‘there’, between the consumption ‘now’ and its effects ‘later’.
Sensitivity to the pre-consumption moment can, for instance, influence
purchase. If products were manufactured using invasive or polluting
technologies, or produced by unacceptable labour practice, consumers, or their
representatives, could organise a boycott of such goods (or services). Similarly,
if they knew the impact or consequences of the things they consume, consumers
can act on the products. For instance, if there is a choice of products and/or
services that are less polluting, consumers could exercise their ecological
responsibilities through their purchases. Or, not use the product or service at all
but rather look for an alternative. Thus, people can demand for a better public
transport system to make accessibility in their environment achievable without
using private vehicular transport. Sensitivity to the three moments of the
consumption event makes a more sensitive and informed consumer.
De-Materialise the Economy
The modern industrial economy is growth focused, and indicates growth in
quantitative terms. The growth model, of course, involves largely material
development and consumption. The modern society is based on the process of
commodification, for it is commodities that are sold in the market to consumers.
It is the business of modern industrial capitalist society to expand and deepen
the process of commodification. Commodification will reach the outer space as
much as the inner space of living materials. Germ plasm will be bought and
sold, just like in the slave society, when slaves were bought and sold!
The present economy and the process of commodification contribute actively to
the socio-economic culture of ‘having’ and ‘profit-making’. Nature appears as
one Big Resource Bank from which one can indiscriminately make profits.
Increasingly, there is a concern that it is not ‘growth’ that we need to be
concerned about as much as ‘development’. Thus, for instance, it is not this or
that car we need to be concerned about as much as accessibility. Such a
transformation, for instance, provides reasons for the emphasis on public
transport. Thus, if we are able to encourage people to use public transport,
211
become a central social concern encouraging many ethnocultural/national
movements.
The attraction to certain kinds of consumption and/or lifestyles has also had an
important bearing on the question of identity. Increasingly, people consume to
acquire a self-image and to promote distinctions along a vertical scale among
themselves. People consciously seek status through exclusive consumption.
Within the context of globalisation, consumption patterns and lifestyles are
undergoing a process of social cloning, with America offering a template of the
(unsustainable) model of modern or post-modern consumption. This marketdriven identity formation, which has made the consumption of commodities
the basis of modern identity, undermines the more sustainable traditional bases
of people’s identity.
A reversal of this process is required to establish a more sustainable society.
This requires a concerted effort to re-invent and to actively promote an
ethnocultural basis for one’s identity. It means the active promotion of
‘ethnocultural consumption’. Practically, this could mean encouraging, for
instance, mother-tongue education. Or, maintaining a section in our wet
markets where goods that are essential for cooking our distinct ethnic cuisine
are sold. Of course, such a mode of consumption depends on how much a
locality – its cultural and natural heritage – is protected or creatively developed.
Corporate globalisation aggressively promotes global cities for its active
survival on a package of standardised characteristics, a package that has the
power to destroy local cultural and natural heritages. This kind of destruction
substitutes the ethnic bases of identity and consolidates the one sustained
purely by the market.
Protect and Promote Diversity
A rich diversity of ‘ecological localities’ based on biodiversity has contributed
to the production of a dense variety of patterned cultural responses. This has
shaped a rich mosaic of unique languages, dance forms, dressing styles, cuisine
systems, kinship patterns, indigenous knowledge systems, etc. Today, both
cultural heritage and biodiversity are at risk from the process of homogenisation/
standardisation, a pervasive force generated by two inter-related institutions,
both produced by modernity: a highly centralising and culturally-homogenising
nation-state, and the pervasive globalising and standardising market. The
212
inequality, and further skews ownership patterns and power relations.
There can be two critical responses to globalisation – localisation and
modularisation. Modularisation checks the extreme interconnectedness of the
societies or regions that globalisation depends on. This interconnectedness is
such that any problem at one point creates problems elsewhere, through, for
instance, the avoidable contagion effect. Consumers can be saved a great deal
of problems by modularisation, which offers a complex organisational design
focus, and which involves the creation of a series of independent units that are
networked. Thus, the global society should be conceived not as a single interconnected reality but as an acephalous network of independent localities/
municipalities. For an appropriate imagery, think of a number of intranets
(private networks) connected over the Internet (public network).
Localisation supports the modularisation process as it promotes what is local
through the self-sustaining potentialities of a locality. For instance, the growing
loss of land used for growing food to cash-crop agriculture or to construction
activity, and increasing imports of all kinds of food items, created a problem of
food insecurity during the Asian economic crisis. Creating food security is an
essential part of a strategy of self-sufficiency, which is an essential component
of localism. In addition, enlightened localism helps check one of corporate
globalisation’s serious problems – tendency towards standardisation or
homogenisation. It encourages cultural diversity by promoting the vibrancy of
local cultures. Localism encourages, through self-sufficiency strategies, the
management of one’s own ecological footprint within one’s locality without
carelessly extending it to other areas and/or a future time frame. In the former,
we consume what others need, and in the latter, we consume what future
generations need. Among the developing concerns is the recognition of
indigenous knowledge systems, such as that related to, for instance, the
sustenance of health.
Re-Establish the Basis for Individual and Communal
Identity
Identity gives us a sense of who we are and offers a critical motivational
ground. Against homogenising globalisation and anti-federal, ultra-centrist
nation-states consisting of multiple ethno-national communities, the concern
for meaningful identity has assumed a serious posture. The issue of identity has
213
resources. Higher population concentration means a reduced demand for land
relative to population, greater potential for limiting the use of motor vehicles,
including greatly reducing the fossil fuels they need.
However, today, cities in Asia and across the globe are becoming unbearable
sites of working and living, and they are faced with many avoidable problems.
For instance, many of the global mega-cities in the world – the number of these
cities is expected to increase manifold in Asia – show an unsustainable
ecological footprint. In one examination, the ecological footprint of London was
found to be 125 times its surface area of 159,000 hectares, or nearly 20 million
hectares. This means that with 12 percent of Britain’s population, London
requires the equivalent of Britain’s entire productive land. Though the cities’
requirements are different from rural areas, such an enormous footprint, as seen
in the case of London, if reproduced in Asian cities in the context of serious
social inequality, would have dreadful long-term negative consequences. For a
sustainable future, cities require an intense planning overhaul. And planning
certainly needs to move away from a top-down framework to one involving
decision-making that is participatory, interactive and dialogical. A way to
achieve this is to reconsider local governance. This process needs to be
re-formed, perhaps involving an election – not political appointments – so that
the participatory process can be strengthened within the present political
framework.
Democratic and participatory spatialisation creating ‘space consumption
patterns’ in which, for instance, designing residential forms that contribute to
multiethnic coexistence will be a challenge in a place like Malaysia.
For instance, in Malaysia, we need more common living symbols in spatial form
so that the common consumption of these forms can weave the various
communities together into a closely-knit one. Taman Selera (a multicultural food
court in urban Malaysia) is a good example. We need more effort to ‘Taman
Selera-fy’ our social space. In this process, promoting ‘active municipalism’, and
where necessary, multicultural diversity, must certainly be an integral part of
the Asian consumer movement. Asian consumerism must look at unconventional
areas of ‘consumption’ and organise itself to be more relevant to a holistic
lifestyle.
Promote Societal Self-Learning Loops
214
market environment encourages a condition of ‘mono-culture’. Such a pressure
from the market contributes to the systematic destruction of sociocultural and
biological diversity. Everything slowly becomes merely distinctions of the
Same. The choice between the distinctions is presented as freedom. The choice of
ten varieties of butter in the supermarket is the modern definition of freedom!
We need to recognise and promote ‘real’ diversity as it is critical for our
continued survival.
For instance, over 30 percent of the gross national product in low-income
countries (LIC) comes from agriculture. Though of late, it has become highly
technological, there is still dependence on traditional crop varieties and on wild
plant relatives of crops. “In the 1970s, a wild rice species found in India was
found to be resistant to one of the most dangerous pests (a species of plant
hopper); genes from this plant were used to save millions of hectares of
cultivated rice in South and Southeast Asia from being destroyed by a major
epidemic.” Given this situation, diversity within agricultural systems is critical
to the stability of farmers’ livelihood.
While market forces threaten both bio- and cultural diversity, a form of civil
war within multi-ethnocommunal nations seems to be the response to attempts
at ethnocultural homogenisation by a highly-centralising state. Thus, there is an
increasing tendency for ethnic groups to assert their cultural identity. Asian
consumerism, for instance, needs to be sensitive to this reality in order to
mobilise intellectual energies and to promote political action for the protection
of both bio- and cultural diversity. Promoting a dynamic ethnocommunal
diversity, consumerism must seek to consider carefully cultural consumption
not as possession but as being. Protection of indigenous crafts, entertainment
forms, ethnic markets crafted dynamically – since culture is by nature creative
– for modern and/or post-modern sensibilities will certainly contribute to
promoting cultural diversity.
Focus on Sustainable Urbanisation Issues
Humanity will increasingly come to live in the urban areas in the new
millennium. Already, almost 50 percent of the world population live in cities.
Latin America, for instance, is 75 percent urbanised. In Asia, it is expected that
South Asia will be about 45 percent urbanised by 2020, while East Asia will be
over 50 percent urbanised. Some of the advantages of city living include lower
costs per household and per enterprise, concentration of production and
consumption, providing greater range and possibility for efficient use of
215
makes itself unnecessary by transferring critical competencies to individuals in
civil society and not progressively creating a situation in which people (here,
consumers) become acutely dependent on them. One way of achieving this is
to install consumer units within other organisations/movements. Trade unions,
co-operatives, ethnocultural associations and women’s organisations are some
excellent sites to locate consumer units and promote consumer activism.
In this way, the scope and scale of the movement is enlarged manifold.
Such strategic spread of consumer activism creates, through collaboration,
greater integration of the consumer’s experience as, for instance, womanconsumer integration or worker-consumer integration efforts. It makes
consumerism more relevant. Such efforts would help generalise consumer
competencies in a population and reduce the possibility of self-perpetuation
and indiscriminate multiplication of consumer organisations. Eventually, an
enlightened consumer must be an active subject socialised into being through a
dynamic living and growing culture, not just a product of a bureaucratised
consumer organisation.
216
Democratic governance is essential for creating a fair and safe world. Among
the components for democratic governance, we need a civil society that
encourages learning and public activism so that societal self-learning loops (or
active feedback systems) are firmly established. Such a loop encourages active
discussion, debate and participation in making significant changes in those
directions that society is moving that harm the public or Nature.
As a society, there is an urgent need to move away from the technical
management of social or ecological problems. Indiscriminate application of
technical and management strategies to what must essentially be brought into
the people’s participatory ambit, progressively makes them apathetic and leads
them to acquire a ‘let-the-government-handle-it mentality’. There is therefore a
need to move away from active management to active problem solving through
people’s participation in which the government is a partner. In addition, and in
support of this process, we need not only a relatively well-established
educational system that promotes the spirit of free and fearless enquiry and
accountable creativity but also an independent and active free press.
Such an institutional environment will contribute to the process of checking, for
instance, dangerous production technology, unsustainable consumption
patterns or lifestyles, and of planning a turnaround through collective
processes. For instance, the kind of active institutional environment that is
proposed here would be sensitive to the increasing incidence of cardio-vascular
diseases. If that is the direction society is moving, the societal learning loop
must reverse the trend. There needs to be public-supported research, discussion
and debate on this matter and it should lead to, for instance, the formulation
and implementation of a National Nutrition Policy or National Dietary Policy.
Such a policy must seek to reduce, for instance, the introduction into the
population foods high in those compounds that lead to cardio-vascular
problems. Societal self-learning loops thus help to create a self-aware society
which is conscious of the direction it is moving in and is able to encourage
collective action.
Strengthen the Consumer Movement by Incorporation
Within Other Movements
The consumer movement has undergone intense institutionalisation over the
last couple of decades. Such intense institutionalisation sometimes becomes
self-perpetuating, losing sight to an extent, if not completely, the original goals,
i.e. defending the interests and rights of consumers or, more importantly,
217responsible and who can defend their
creating competent consumers who are
rights. There is wisdom in any movement/organisation that progressively
218
Consumer Protection and
Published in 1997.
Context:
This paper was written for the International Conference on Consumer Protection,
which was organised by Consumer International and held in New Delhi from 22–24
January 1997. An edited version was later published as part of the proceedings,
Consumers in the Global Age (Penang: CI-ROAP and CUTS, 1997).
Introduction
Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite
of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and
treachery is torment, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines
itself ... If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.1
N
ineteen Eighty-Four was indeed a frightening view of George Orwell’s future.
But a year later, the world saw the making of an important decision on
consumer protection, a guideline for a world in which consumers would be
protected.
On 9 April 1985, the UN General Assembly adopted, by consensus, guidelines
for consumer protection for global application, though there was an emphasis
on nations of the developing world. It was to provide a framework for national
governments to use in "elaborating and strengthening consumer policies and
legislation".2 The origins of the UN Guidelines (henceforth, UNG) go back to
the late 1970s. A useful discussion of this is found in Allan Asher’s paper.
1
2
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1944), p. 230.
For aspects on the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection, I have referred to two
sources. (1) Allan Asher, “Guidelines for the Global Market”, a paper written for the
International Conference on Consumer Protection which was held in New Delhi from
22–24 January 1997. (2) UN paper entitled “Implementation of theUnited Nations
Guidelines for Consumer Protection” written for the same Conference.
Also see http://www.crcp.org.pk/un_guide.htm. December 2003.
219
Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption
the discourse on the market. This also means that we can think of a tendency in
consumerism to be very closely linked to the market. It also means a number of
significant absences (examined below).
The consumer, by definition, has needs that have to be satisfied. Goods and
services available in the market satisfy the consumer’s needs. The business
community (owners of productive capital and traders) makes them available
(see Figure 2).
va l u E s
Figure 1: Value systems and the UNG for Consumer Protection
A perfect market is one in which the business community provides quality
products and services, the advertisements provide accurate information and
the consumers are in possession of all the information required to help them
buy consumer products and services they require in a rational fashion. The
market presupposes rational players in the market situation.
In reality, however, the market is stratified. It constitutes a power relation. The
business community can manipulate the consumers. They can induce, through
powerful advertising symbolism, significant changes in the configuration and
intensity of needs and they can introduce poor quality products and services
into the market. In all these situations, the consumers stand to lose.
The consumers must, therefore, be protected. Consumer protection in the
3
There seems to be some confusion here. Whether this decision was an administrative one
or one influenced by the pro-environment lobby is not exactly clear.
4 Discourse is constitutive of social life. It contributes to the production, transformation,
and reproduction of social objects. It entails an active relation to the reality producing it,
rather than a passive one in which language merely refers to objects taken for granted.
See, for instance, Norman Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change (Cambridge: Polity
Press, 1992), pp. 41–42.
220
This article is neither an exploration of the (social) history of consumer
protection nor a register of the successes or failures of the UNG. This paper will
attempt to look at the value system(s) that must be at the foundation of the
UNG for Consumer Protection (see Figure 1). The document itself reveals a
‘suturing’ of different tendencies. In a sense, the UNG is multi-vocal and I
would like to consider this multi-vocality in the context of the value systems
that may inform them.
businEss
Two Tendencies in the UN Guidelines
The UNG on Consumer Protection hold two trajectories of consumer protection.
Though both trajectories were a potential to begin with, they came to co-exist
only after 1995, when the UN Commission for Sustainable Development took
over the task of implementing3 the guidelines. Whether this was an administrative
decision or an environmentally-sensitive
decision
is not important to the
Figure 2: Discourse of the market
and the consumer
impact of placing the implementation with the Commission. Thus, after 1995,
the two trajectories came to be part of a single text.
A discussion on why there should be two versions is a lacuna in the guidelines.
Perhaps, a document on guidelines is not expected to contain one. However, it
has, inadvertently, introduced a break and a tension in the UNG reflecting the
influences of two kinds of discourse4 on the UNG. This has resulted in two
versions of consumer protection: a weaker version and a stronger version.
The Weaker Version of Consumer Protection
The weaker version of consumer protection can be examined in the following
manner. The category of consumer is a creature of the market environment, i.e.
the market posits the consumer. Or to put it differently, the consumer appears in
221
UNG a concern of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development points to
consumer protection coming under the influence of another discourse.
A close and critical relationship between consumerism and environmentalism was
being recognised and established. There has been a growing awareness of the strong
link between the production, consumption and disposal of goods and services and a
sustainable environment. There is recognition of the significant role consumer
behaviour plays in either exacerbating or alleviating environmental problems. And, the
traditional consumer concern for “value for money” has been broadened to encompass
responsibility for the environment.6
Consumer protection in the stronger version needs to overcome a conceptual
difficulty in order to combine the power of the two modern movements –
consumerism and environmentalism. I will not spend time in trying to establish
this relationship in a comprehensive manner. The logic for the relationship will,
however, be established for the purpose of understanding the stronger version
of consumer protection.
In the stronger version, the category ‘consumer’ is expanded to imply ‘human
being’. Thus, the category of consumer is viewed at two levels – consumer in a
generic sense and consumer in a market sense. Consumer in a generic sense
implies a human being. The emphasis is on the former. ‘Human beings’, unlike
‘consumers’, come alive within the discourse of Nature (See Figure 3). This way
of understanding the consumer has implications for our strategy of consumer
protection.
5
See Allan Asher, "Guidelines for the Global Market", op. cit., p. 50.
222
weaker version means protecting consumers in the market where ethical conduct
is not the strong point of the business community, and where information-poor
consumers go about acquiring goods and services and may, therefore, end up
making a wrong choice.
The consumer protection strategy emerging from the weaker version has a
number of implications. It excludes a serious inquiry into the nature/pattern of
consumption or the nature and consequences of production technology.
It excludes queries about overconsumption. As far as goods and services are
concerned, they must be of good quality, match what has been advertised and
must offer the consumer value for money. Thus, consider some of the objectives
of UNG:
and desires of consumers;
production and distribution of goods and services to consumers;
at the national and international levels, which adversely affect consumers;
consumers with greater choice at lower prices.5
To conclude, the weaker version of consumer protection is purely a consumerist
perspective. It offers protection by promoting a strategy that aims to make the
market a place which is safe, a place where quality goods and services are
available and where the business community will be guided by responsible
agEnCy
ethics. The weaker version of consumer protection is conceptually blind to
in tHE
bEing
polluting/careless technology and ‘unsustainable’
consumption patterns.
These are not part of its brief. They are, by definition, outside its scope of action.
tHE
The Stronger
Version of Consumer Protection
naturE
The UNG took on a new dimension in 1995. This new dimension seeks to
correct a practice (of consumer protection) that has not undergone selfreflection and, therefore, not become self-concious. Thus in 1995, making the
Figure 3: The consumer in a generic and market sense
6
See UN paper "Implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer
Protection", op. cit., pp. 16–17.
223
Consumer Protection and Value Systems
Now, we are ready to forge a relationship between consumer protection and
values. The weaker version of consumer protection – which does not involve a
discussion on ‘human beings’ – seems to emphasise and promote the third value
system, i.e. the anthropo-centric system. The stronger version of ‘consumer’
protection can be sustained by either the sentient-centric system or the ecocentric system. Among the two systems, the eco-centric view completely
removes representing Nature in terms of its ‘use value’ to us. It has its own value.
These value systems have implications for both production and consumption.
They offer us a way of considering what has come to be termed ‘sustainable
consumption’, which is based on the latter two value systems. Of the two
modes of sustainable consumption, the sentient-centric view is the weaker version
and the eco-centric view is the stronger version.
It would be an important consideration in consumer protection strategies to
consider the stronger version of consumer protection and the stronger version of
sustainable consumption.
7
Luke Martell, Ecology and Society: An Introduction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), p. 162.
224
Understanding consumption as an important human activity takes us closer to
environmental concerns. For consumption is impossible without production.
And production is the inter-face between human beings and Nature.
To consume, we need to actively relate to Nature. It is not a phenomenon that is
merely related to the market environment. The relationship between human
beings and Nature is, of course, mediated by human labour.
All relationships are maintained by a system of values. Values though general
are fundamental standards of a given society, which have a wide influence on
social conduct. There are three systems of values that influence our social
conduct to our relationship with Nature.
Three Value Systems
The relationship between Human Being and Nature can be viewed from three
value systems:
non-sentient things); and
humans).7
These three systems of values are related to three kinds of environmentalists:
225
226
that guides analysis:
Case of the social Cost of
Economic Crises
Written in November 1998. Unpublished.
Context:
This was written for a book which was published by Consumer International (Penang,
Malaysia) in November 1998 on the social costs of the 1997 Asian economic crisis.
Unfortunately, a problem with the Internet around the submission date did not allow
this piece to reach the publisher in time to be included in the book.
Introduction
T
he purpose of all economic activity, i.e. what it ought to achieve, is the
satisfaction of some very important needs of all people, like food, shelter and
self-actualisation. While this is its brief, the practice of economics has taken us
in that direction only differentially: some people are in a better position to
satisfy their needs than others. Such a situation exists because of a number of
serious distortions in the form of economic activity that takes place. The kind
of economic activity we are used to is that in which the satisfaction of some is
achieved at the expense of others. Affluence and misery co-exist.
Thus, unemployment and poverty are as real as affluence and luxury. The
difference between affluence and poverty is the certainty of having food on
one’s table and not having that certainty. Economic development that does not
offer certainty for all people to have the satisfaction of their very basic needs is
one that has lost its purpose.
The dominant form of economic development produces and feeds on social
inequality – some are poor and some are rich, some are powerful and some are
227
Taking Positions
which the process of profit generation is adversely affected and begins to fall?
It is important to subject this point to analysis. Take, for instance, a scenario
where there is basically no difference in the nature of the social cost, whether
we are dealing with economic development strategy or with economic crisis.
In such a situation, the corrective action strategy needs to address the dominant
form of economic development approach just as much as the economic crisis
situation (see Figures 1 and 2).
There is a need to have a clearer understanding of the relationship between
economic development, economic crisis and the social costs of both. Specifically,
such an understanding obliges us to make clear the shape of the social costs
specific to the crisis, in addition to the general negative impact of a specific type
of economic development approach on a people and a nation. Such a focus,
coupled with the need to consider action strategies to deal with the issue of
social cost, demands a clear understanding of the causes of economic crises. Any
narrative, presented to deal with the causes of economic crises, implicitly
supports a guiding theoretical framework. Facts cannot simply be put together
in an understandable sequence without the help of a theoretical framework.1
This brings us close to the focus of this paper: to explore the various theoretical
sOCial
COst
stratEgy
Crisis
Figure 1: The relationship between economic development strategy,
economic crisis and social cost (a comprehensive perspective)
228
Taking Positions
sOCial
COst
Crisis
Figure 2: The relationship between economic crisis and social cost
(a truncated perspective)
powerless, some are properly employed while others are underemployed or
unemployed. This really means that the present strategy of economic
development has an inherent negative impact on the social fabric. There is,
therefore, a ‘social cost’ already inbuilt into this dominant model of economic
development. Which is why, even in non-crisis circumstances, there is a
standing need for social safety nets. Social costs can be understood as the
negative impacts of an economic crisis or economic development on a group of
people in such a way that the people’s needs – physiological, safety (security),
social and self-actualisation – are not met or are poorly met. And, if these needs
are met, they are done so differentially, with some people’s needs better met
than others.
We need to understand what is so different and/or distinctive about the
negative impact of the present economic crisis, i.e. the social cost of the
economic crisis on a people and a nation. Or, rather, can this economic crisis be
understood as a phase within the dominant economic development strategy in
1
Different social interrogative positions will influence our understanding of the crisis and
its social impact. How we look at our economic development and the crisis is bound to
influence how we look at ‘social cost’ and how we arrive at such a cost. Even if the social
cost is similar, the reasons for it to emerge may be different. In addition, why we are
interested in looking at social cost will also influence our analysis and understanding.
This concern essentially links our grassroot politics/political action to economic and
social analysis. Answers to ‘how’ and ‘why’ have potentials for informing or transforming
practice, i.e. efforts to deal with the crisis and its cost practically.
229
Taking Positions
initially most visible within a national economy. Given that we have a globalised
economy, a prolonged crisis in any one place will move through ‘contagion’ to
other areas. We are, therefore, now faced with not only national or regional but
also a global economic crisis. To sum up, economic crises are the result of both
internal and external factors (keeping in mind the reference to national
boundaries and the dominant economic development strategy).
Looking at this analytically, one can arrive at the following positions:
a) Position 1: Crisis induced by exogenous factors only (e.g. unregulated
international financial markets, speculators, IMF policies, etc.):
b) Position 2: Crisis induced by endogenous factors only (e.g. weak domestic
banking system, poor governance, local currency/property speculators, etc.):
Causal factors of Economic Crisis
Economic
Crisis
factors
factors
Figure 3: Causal factors of an economic crisis
2
In attempting to understand the social cost of economic crises, there is really no point in
trying only to paint a detailed picture of the descriptive features of social cost. It is more
important to point our fingers at causes so that we may not only know the nature and
intensity of the social costs of economic crises but also the causal factors behind such a
state of affairs so that action could be taken. Understanding causal factors is directly
related to understanding the positions we take or could take. This will eventually help to
develop strategies for practical action, not only to deal with the crisis as such, but its
social cost.
230
Taking Positions
positions that can be taken in explaining the economic crisis which directly have
consequences on our understanding of social costs and the necessary action
strategies to deal with the crisis and social costs.2
Understanding the Causes of Economic Crisis:
Multiple Possibilities
As indicated above, it is not the focus of this paper to go into the historical
details of the causes of the current crisis. What will be attempted here is an
effort to understand the causes of the crisis in terms of two sets of factors in the
context of the dominant economic development strategy. We can think of the
cause of the economic crisis in terms of endogenous or exogenous factors (in
relation to the dominant economic development strategy - see Figure 3).
Some clarification would be useful regarding the use of the terms endogenous
and exogenous. In this paper, they are used in reference to national boundaries.
That is, those factors that are outside are categorised as exogenous (e.g. the IMF,
and unregulated international financial markets, etc.), and those found inside a
national boundary are categorised as endogenous (e.g. a weak domestic
banking system or ‘poor governance’, which includes corruption). In this sense,
both exogenous and endogenous are really ‘internal’ to the present dominant
economic development model, i.e. the logic that governs the development of
the economy produces factors which are here categorised as endogenous and
exogenous based on the national boundary.3
Economic
understand
it, takes
Crisis
Modern economic
development, as we
place within
factors
national boundaries, with goverments involved to varying degrees in
encouraging such a development.4 As such, a crisis – when it happens – is
Figure 4: Crisis induced by exogenous factors only
3
This is significantly different from how it is used in certain other quarters. First,
exogenous and endogenous categories are not dependent on any national boundaries.
These categories are used in a way to imply whether they are internal to the capitalist
mode (endogenous; e.g. social inequality) or external to it (exogenous; e.g. a flood).
I would like to thank Charles Santiago for bringing this to my notice.
4 In the late capitalist period, global capitalism, working within a strong international
institutional regime, has also influenced economic development within national
boundaries. Such developments, often actively encouraged by national governments,
have seen the same governments lose control over their economy.
231
Taking Positions
Economic
Crisis
factors
Taking Positions:
Understanding
Social
Costs
Figure 5: Crisis
induced by endogenous
factors
only
The reason for a detailed focus above on the positions taken is that these
positions are not usually made explicit. Putting together facts on the economic
crisis into an understandable narrative is not an innocent or objective affair.
Commentators on the crisis may share certain concerns but come from very
different theoretical traditions. Sometimes two commentators present their
arguments as though they are different when essentially the two are informed
by the same/similar framework. There are many ways to look at the situation
today with positions identified with people and institutions: ‘the IMF’s
position’, ‘Krugman's position’, ‘the Third World Network's position’,
‘Mahathir's position’, ‘Michel Chossudovsky's
Economicposition’, ‘local/national NGO’s
factors:
position’,
etc. Important questions we may ask at this juncture are:factors:
What are the
Crisis
political implications of these positions? What action strategiessECOndary
will follow from
these positions? Who will benefit? Who will lose? What policy considerations
are implied by the framework one holds?
Figure 6: Crisis induced primarily by exogenous factors
The framework that identifies the importance of only the exogenous factors
implies a number of things such as:
authoritarianism, etc.;
capitalists;
factors:
Economic
Crisis
factors:
sECOndary
Figure 7: Crisis induced primarily by endogenous factors
232
Taking Positions
Economic
factors
factors
Crisis factors with endogenous
c) Position 3: Crisis caused by exogenous
factors
playing a secondary role. ‘Primary’ and ‘secondary’ simply point to an
emphasis on factors. Thus, one can give emphasis to exogenous (e.g. unregulated
international financial markets, speculators, IMF policies) or endogenous
factors (e.g.
weak
domestic
banking
system,
poorand
governance,
currency/
Figure
8: Crisis
induced
by both
exogenous
endogenouslocal
factors
property speculators).
d) Position 4: Crisis caused by endogenous factors (e.g. poor governance, weak
banking systems) with exogenous factors (e.g. IMF policies, poor international
regulation) playing a secondary role. Here, greater emphasis or importance is
given to endogenous factors.
e) Position 5: An economic development model (purely growth-oriented,
‘people-unfriendly’, social-inequality-producing, exploitation-based, etc.)
that promotes a periodic crisis-prone system which is exogenously and
endogenously induced (with reference to the national boundary).
233
Taking Positions
above and arrive at three sets of positions that one can consider in the analyses
of economic crises and their social costs.
Three Sets of Positions
The first pair of positions (the mono-causal positions) emphasises either the
exogenous factors (see Figure 9 below) or the endogenous factors (substitute
exogenous with endogenous). Like all the other positions discussed below,
these positions imply a political agenda and have specific policy implications.
Holding onto an exogenous position would mean that local weaknesses are
neglected, and therefore not addressed. In the same way, if one stays with an
endogenous emphasis, international factors are downplayed. In the former
framework, privileged local entrepreneurs may be protected as against
outsiders. In the latter, foreign capitalists are absolved from their complicity in
the crisis.
In reading the social costs, this first set of positions (related to positions 1 and
2, corresponding to Figures 4 and 5 above) merely observe an intensification of
negative impacts which are already inherent in the dominant economic
development model being pursued. The general character of this model is not
critically examined and challenged. Hardships that are part of dominant
economic development are presented as ‘normal’ or ‘inevitable’. And the
intensification of hardships is presented as the result of the crisis. The economic
crisis is seen as an aberration of an otherwise-sound economic strategy.
The second set of positions (the dual-causal positions) are based on privileging
either the exogenous or endogenous factors in relation to each other (related to
positions 3 and 4, corresponding to Figures 6 and 7 above). Thus, we can have
a position that privileges the exogenous factors (see Figure 10 below) and
another that privileges the endogenous factors (substitute exogenous with
endogenous factors). Both positions are more comprehensive than the earlier
pair of positions (related to Figures 1 and 2 above). Consider the argument
privileging exogenous factors. In this kind of analytical framework, one factor
is primary (the first group of reasons, e.g. high mobility of capital in relation to
the speculative activity of a fraction of global capitalists), while the other is
secondary (the second group of contributory reasons, e.g. poor governance,
weak banking systems).5 Both the positions do not question the dominant
economic strategies that lie at the heart of the crisis. Thus, both these positions
will demand the regulation of economic development strategies. There will be
demands, for instance, either for international regulation of the high mobility
234
Taking Positions
wealth which encourages/supports privatisation, and that merely
promotes growth through a GNP indicator;
activity.
On the other hand, the framework that identifies the importance of only the
endogenous factors implies yet other things such as:
markets, ‘greedy’ speculators, etc.
banking sector;
inequality, or concentrates wealth, or promotes growth through
macroeconomic indicators;
However, if one identifies with the analysis that considers the causes of the
crisis in the context of the whole dominant economic development model (i.e.
position related to Figure 8 above), the whole scenario changes. An important
implication here is the recognition that there is a need for a completely different
economic development strategy in the first place – a strategy for a sustainable
economy that promotes people-centred development. Thus, a person working
with this kind of analysis may consider the exogenous and endogenous factors
seriously, but will not be confused with positions 1 to 4 (related to Figures 4 to
7 above).
Perhaps this is the right place to pursue a discussion based on the diagrams
5
There can be a number of variations of this. For instance, those holding that exogenous
factors are primary can oscillate from a ‘hard’ position to a ‘soft’ position – one in which
the secondary factors are presented seriously and one in which they are not, for a
number of reasons. When taking a soft line, this position will look like the ‘exogenous
factors only’ (position 1 above) argument.
235
Taking Positions
or
Economic
Crisis
Action strategy to deal with
economic crisis and social cost
social Cost
Figure 9: Emphasis on exogenous (or endogenous) factors
perception is that these structural aspects can be resolved by some sensitive
tinkering of the economic development strategies.
The third set of positions (the triple-causal positions) is the most comprehensive
one, which takes into account all the contributing causes: the dominant
economic development strategies, endogenous and exogenous factors (related
to position 5, corresponding to figure 8 above). In this framework, the
relationship between endogenous and exogenous factors varies in three ways:
[i] endogenously privileged (i.e. endogenous factors – primary; exogenous
factors – secondary; [ii] exogenously privileged (i.e. exogenous factors –
primary; endogenous factors – secondary); and [iii] both as equally important
(see Figure 11 below).
These are positions held by those who think that the nature of mainstream
economic development is seriously flawed and is incapable of realising the
primary purpose of all economic activity – the direct satisfaction of physiological,
physical and social needs and the indirect satisfaction of self-actualisation
needs (e.g. the enjoyment of work) of all people.
These positions focus uncompromisingly on both exogenous and endogenous
factors and also, more importantly, the source of the problem, the dominant
economic development model. Thus, any analysis and proposal for political
action do not lose sight of these factors. It is no point tracing the problem to either
exogenous or endogenous factors – checking, policing and regulating them – but
236
Taking Positions
Primary
secondary
Action strategy to deal
with economic crisis
and social cost
Economic
Crisis
social Cost
Figure 10: Privileging either the endogenous or exogenous factors
of capital, or for national restructuring of financial systems. Structural
transformation of the dominant economic development model will not be part
of the agenda of change.
Some aspects of the social costs will be addressed; e.g. the increased rates of
suicide or human rights violations. There will also be some recognition that the
social costs of the current crisis are but an intensification of problems already
structurally present in the economic development strategy. However, the
Action strategy to deal
with economic crisis
and social cost
Economic
Crisis
social Cost
Figure 11: The causal factors comprising of economic development strategy,
exogenous factors and endogenous factors.
237
Taking Positions
leaving intact the economic system that produces them.
The economic crisis state is essentially seen as ‘internal’ to the nature of the
dominant economic development model. The action strategy or policy
implications of these positions bring to relief and into focus the operations of
international financial institutions/instruments (e.g. IMF, World Bank, WTO,
MAI, etc.), the regime they support (international financial markets),
international cronyism and corruption, etc. In addition, there is an equal focus
on the problems related to national realities, such as poor national governance,
weak banking systems, local cronyism and corruption, etc. Action or policy,
therefore, requires attention to all the three levels of factors. The shape of the
social costs assumes a certain distinctness. Social costs are, therefore, seen as
emerging from the nature of the dominant economic development strategies;
but certain local/international conjectural elements do contribute significantly
to distinct features.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to present the different positions one can assume
in analysing or understanding the present economic crisis and its social costs.
It is important to remember that the position one takes has both economic and
sociopolitical implications. Positions taken have implications on the focus and
spread of corrective action. Will corrective actions be directed against outside
agencies alone or against the local/national agencies, or both? Can there be a
differential emphasis on the focus of action – concentrate more on the outside
agencies than the inside ones or vice versa? Or will the action strategy involve
a reconsideration of the dominant economic strategy and change to a more
sustainable one? Certainly international, national and situational conjectures
and the alignment of significant forces will help in making such decisions.
238
Event: notes on appreciation
of the Cinema
Published in October 2000.
Context:
Cinema has become a central part of our lives. We engage with it indiscriminately and
uncritically. In Malaysia, as in other places, there is an urgent need for a critical
engagement with cinema. This paper* was presented at the cinema appreciation
workshop What Are Movies Telling Us? organised by Cahayasuara** Communications
Centre from 7–8 July 2000 in Kuala Lumpur.
Introduction
C
inema is today an important integral part of our social life. It is virtually
impossible to avoid it. It consumes our leisure time and offers us entertainment.
For cinema, we become an ‘audience’. It makes us cry, laugh, think, get angry;
in short, it influences us deeply. Cinema, backed by contemporary communication
technologies, has acquired the power to confuse fact and fiction, reality and
fantasy or ‘Truth/truth’ and motivated ideology. It has become a pervasive
social force to reckon with. And we may refuse to negotiate with this great
social power only at our own risk!
To begin the process of making sense of cinema and negotiating with this great
social power, I suggest the following:
Scene I: Social Criticism and Societal Learning Loops: Understanding and
applying social criticism in order to encourage self-conscious correction
and promotion of societal learning loops.
Scene II: Cinema Criticism and Appreciation: Linking critical response to
* This paper was published in What Are Movies Telling Us?: Cinema Appreciation Series Vol. 1
(Kuala Lumpur: Cahayasuara, 2000).
** Cahayasuara, the communications centre of the Catholic Church in the Kuala Lumpur region, organises
cinema appreciation sessions as part of its media education programmes.
239
Interrogating the Cinematic Event
Scene II: Cinema Criticism and Appreciation
Let me apply what we have discussed above to the field that we are now
engaged in, i.e. cinema. What is cinema? This is a rather complicated question
and the discussion on it has engaged some of the best artistic minds around the
globe. It can be answered purely in technical terms or in philosophical terms.
For our purpose, let me suggest that cinema is an effective and persuasive
modern/post-modern technique of story telling. And this is creatively achieved
social reproduction
democratic
Environment
social Criticism
social transformation
Figure 1: Critical relationship between social reproduction and social transformation
240
cinema and cinema appreciation to the above.
Scene III: Group-Interest Dynamics: Making an attempt to identify and to
understand the group-interest dynamics contributing to the creation of a
cinema event.
Scene IV: Deepening Cinema Appreciation: Making sense of our cinematic
experience by going through three levels, keeping in mind all the above.
Now let me elaborate the above stages.
Scene I: Social Criticism and Societal Learning Loops
Society in general is constituted by two large-scale, pervasive processes that
y bearing on our everyday life – social reproduction and social
have a direct
transformation. On one hand, we reproduce social values and norms, and certain
accepted patterns of social behaviour. On the other hand, individuals and
communities are also involved in making changes to their social values and
norms, and accepted patterns of behaviour. Such changes may
X be brought
time
about imperceptibly or through large-scale, highly-visible
and spectacular
public movements and events.
activities
Societalsocial
existence
is, therefore, about a careful ‘balancing’ of the twin processes
of social reproduction and social transformation. They are not two independent
or parallel processes. A critical relationship between these processes is achieved
through the activity of social criticism (see Figure 1). A certain accepted pattern
of behaviour or norms/values may be questioned, evaluated, rejected, modified
or substituted. Such activities lead to changes in society. Changes may be good
or bad.
I suggest
social criticism
be guided by:through
(i) some
carefully-developed
Figurethat
2: Sustainable
social transformation
societal
learning loops or
understood notion of participatory democracy and sustainability, (ii) human
values that encourage caring and contribute to community-building, and/or
(iii) that which promotes equity. Approaching social criticism in this way allows
society to become aware of itself and to identify the harmful or unsustainable
directions in which it is moving, and to take steps to correct itself. A societal
learning loop, once established, allows a society to undergo social transformation
in a sustainable way ensuring its social and cultural survival.
It will then reproduce these values and patterns of behaviour. This process is,
of course, continuous.
241
Scene III: Group-Interest Dynamics
(Contributing to the Production of a Cinema Event)
Figure 3 identifies a number of groups/interests that have contributed towards
creating the cinema event. The interests range from sheer profit-making to
artistic creation to social criticism, all using cinema as a ‘medium’. It can also
range from ‘pure’ entertainment to ‘pure’ education through a hybrid form,
edutainment. All the interest groups influence and guide the cinema event. It can
also be used by one sectional interest to influence another.
Cinema appreciation can be achieved at different levels of complexity. I suggest
three levels, i.e. (i) basic, (ii) secondary and (iii) tertiary.
Scene IV: Deepening Cinema Appreciation
(i) Basic level: Cinema appreciation at the basic level (see Figure 4) involves the
audience response to elements internal to the cinematic reality. This involves
emphasis on creative technical elements of the cinema or on the power of its
narrative. It is about ‘feeling good’, ‘feeling bad’ or ‘feeling annoyed’ after
seeing a film. The audience at this level, to a large extent, is ‘passive’ in
comparison to the other two levels.
(ii) Secondary level: Cinema appreciation at the secondary level (see Figure 5)
consists of relating internal creative technical elements to the social reality
represented. This level of appreciation, therefore, involves the consideration of
an external element, i.e. the social reality that is represented, in addition to the
creative-technical aspects. However, at this level, the process of representation is
taken to be unproblematic. That is, there is an assumption that there is one
reality out there and that it is being represented. Only facts and counter-facts or
evidence can be used to criticise a representation. The arrangement of facts is
not seen as a product of social convention. The audience in this case is more
active than at the first (basic) level.
(iii) Tertiary level: Cinema appreciation at the tertiary level (see Figure 6) takes
us to our earlier discussion on groups, interests and beyond. It brings to relief
a whole array of aspects: groups, their interests, social conventions, social
conventions about filmmaking, political environment, cultural environments,
etc. This focus offers an opportunity for a greater appreciation of the cinema
242
financiers
film Critics
intErEst
you
CINEMA
EVENT
technical
group
Hall
government
bureaucrats
Figure 3: Group-interest dynamics contributing to the production of a cinema event
usually by a unilinear narrative. So a narrative and a narrative agency hold a
cinematic experience together. A narrative in its most basic form is a ‘causal
transformation’ of a situation through five stages:
These stages can be seen in the development of most cinema. As you can see,
the narrative is almost always terminated or exhausted by ‘narrative closure’.
Along with this idea that cinema is about story telling, and is therefore about
narratives, we need to understand that cinema is a creation of numerous
interest groups. There is a complex relational field that produces the cinema
event. Thus, cinema is not just about what you see on the screen but a social
complex created by both cinematic and extra-cinematic factors. In order to
appreciate cinema, it is therefore necessary that we engage in social criticism of
it. Such an engagement will help us become more critically conscious of our
cinematic experience and the totality of the cinema event. Specifically, we begin
to be conscious of the social, symbolic, political, economic and technological
forces behind the cinematic narrative.
243
Edutainment
audience
(yOu)
Cinema
EvEnt
Entertainment
Education
Figure 4: Cinema Appreciation: Basic Level
audience
(yOu)
Cinema EvEnt
Figure 5: Cinema Appreciation: Secondary Level
244
External
reality
Cinema EvEnt
audiEnCE
(yOu)
struCturing
Of PartiCular
narrativE
PartiCular
OrdEring
Of visiOn
EXtErnal
rEality
Cacophony
of sounds
Other
sensory
inputs
Other narratives
Figure 6: Cinema Appreciation: Tertiary Level
event as we will be able to locate it within a context of contested meanings,
narratives and interests. The recognition and appreciation of extra-cinematic
elements that contribute to the cinema event will greatly influence cinema
criticism, understanding and appreciation. The tertiary level offers society
highly self-conscious members who can, through their activity, bring the power
of cinema within democratic control.
Conclusion
The aim of social criticism is ultimately to encourage the formation of societal
learning loops and to create a participatory, democratic and sustainable society
governed by human values. This is also true about criticism and appreciation
of cinema. The aim is to set a ‘people’s agenda’ that guides the creation of a
cinematic event. What that ‘people’s agenda’ is needs to be arrived at through
democratic dialogue.
245
246
southeast asia
Written in March 2001. Unpublished.
Context:
This is part of a paper entitled Orthodoxies, Assumptions and Transcendence:
The Future of the Nature-Society Relationship in Southeast Asia. The paper was
presented at Alternative Perspectives on Southeast Asia, a conference held from
6–8 April 2001 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
A
large set of orthodoxies have ruled our lives, determined the policies of the
nations in Southeast Asia and determined the (unsustainable) development
trajectory of Southeast Asia.
(a) "Economic activity is essentially about material growth."
What is the purpose or aim of economic activity? Is economic activity measured
only in terms of material growth? Is happiness a state that you arrive at as a
result of acquiring possessions? Is economic activity about having and not
being? Is the profit motive the basis for materialist bias in economic activities?
What institutions support this growth focus? Can we think of economic
activities without material growth? What assumptions sustain this material
growth focus?
(b) "Sustainable Development as Growth Everlasting"
Or does sustainable development mean material growth in an everlasting way?
Is it possible to imagine an everlasting material growth at levels we are
consuming today? Is sustainable development about sustaining the NatureSociety relationship into the indefinite future? Is growth the same as
development? Is sustainability only about sustainable economic growth? Is not
sustainable development also about sustainable culture, sustainable politics,
and sustainable technology? What assumptions make the everlasting growth
view possible?
247
Interrogating the Orthodoxies
(c) "Nature has to be anthropologised and commodified."
Is Nature merely for human well-being? Does Nature possess an intrinsic
value? Is our relationship with Nature dialogical or one of domination? What is
the implication of transforming Nature into a commodity and placing it in the
market? What are the assumptions that make this possible?
(d) "Consumption is a here-and-now act."
Is consumption merely confined to the act of consuming, i.e. withdrawing a
commodity from the market? Does the consumption act have a past and a
future? What are the implications of the past or future on present consumption?
What assumptions encourage this orthodoxy?
(e) "Globalisation is inevitable."
Is globalisation an inevitable and necessary process? Is extreme global
interconnectedness an advantage or disadvantage? Does globalisation protect
cultural and biological diversity? What assumptions maintain this belief in
inevitability?
(f) "The future of human society is the future of the free market."
Is the free market a real institution? Is the market the only kind of governance
structure? Is human history the history of markets? Is human society incapable
of managing its distributive function without recourse to demand-supply
functions? Does the market address the real needs of people? Can there be nonmarket post-bureaucratic societies? What assumptions make this orthodoxy
possible?
(g) "Democracy is a problem of management."
Are people capable of ruling themselves or must they be ruled? Is democracy a
technical or management problem? Or is it about decision-making through
discussion and debates? What assumptions offer support to this guiding
orthodoxy?
(h) "Asian democracy is guided democracy."
Who will guide democracy, the people or an elected elite? What features will
make an Asian democracy Asian? Is direct democracy possible? Must all forms
of democracy involve large scale election and balancing the different interests
in a society? Must democracy be based on individual rights or collective rights?
What assumptions make this operating principle possible?
248
and the role of the
Published in 2003.
Context:
This is a chapter in the book Pathways to Critical Media Education and Beyond
(2003), which is a publication of the Asian Communication Network based in
Bangkok.
Making Sense of Theory
M
edia education and media reforms, which reflect the growing concern for
democratisation of the media environment, are critical and need sustained
support, particularly from civil society. While such initiatives are sprinkled
throughout Asia, one unfortunate limitation is the tendency to not engage with
theories or frameworks. Theories/frameworks are summarily dismissed as the
‘concern of the academics’ or those who like to sit in their ‘ivory towers’,
making no sense to others.
The struggle for democracy is not purely based on action. It is equally a
contestation of different concepts and theories. Theoretical practice and
practical efforts must go hand-in-hand, though not necessarily together. If you
tie theory and practice together tightly, they would simply hop around and fall.
Theory and practice are certainly different types of activities. The way we are
educationally socialised does not help us to think through our concepts and
guiding frameworks. We prefer activities at the empirical plane.
But not engaging with theories/frameworks means that one does not have a
‘map’ as part of a collective experience to help chart a clear course through
one’s daily life. Theories are like ‘maps’. If you do not have a ‘map’, it means
that you are not sure where you are, where you want to go and the route you
249
Sustainable Development and theRole of the ‘Democratic Media’
environmental problems were both local and global in scope and both, ordinary
and spectacular in form.
c) Birth of Environmentalism: To begin with, responses to environmental
problems addressed the consequences of the capitalist development process
[that was essentially based on the articulation of formal rationality]. This
consequence-based movement came to be called environmentalism. To a large
extent, environmentalism did not question the basic structure of (capitalist)
production. In fact, eco-efficiency became the in-thing. It added an environmental
dimension to the development path but did not allow that dimension to
radically change the path. (The ‘radical environmentalists’ who sought to do
this were a marginal group.)
d) Historical Changes from 1970s: A number of changes took place in the world of
production and the dominant West from the 1970s that resulted in a significant
change in environmental/ecological consciousness.
(i) The period of modernity was coming to an end in Western societies
around the 1970s.
(ii) The social structure of the Western world (and the advanced among
the developing world) was changing from a modern society to a postmodern one.
(iii) The post-modern society saw the growing importance of information
and knowledge (not as wisdom but as data) and their growing
differentiation.
(iv) The form of technology changed from industrial to information
technology. Or, more broadly, Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT).
(v) Considering the information society, there was a movement away
from Fordism to Post-Fordism to ‘Murdochism’.
(vi) Even as the world globalised, there was greater sensitivity to locality.
(This also meant the production of knowledge was really a local issue,
sensitive to the context of a form of cultural life. The importance of
knowledge produced by experts was being questioned.)
These changes brought about paradigmatic changes in the response to
environmental problems. It brought in the social dimension as part of the
response.
250
are taking (with all its implications). It also means that you may actually be
using somebody else’s (your ‘adversary’, for example) map and not realise it.
Imagine that for a minute and the problems that it could create.
Coming to the topic at hand, taking up issues of media education or
democratisation of the media requires content sensitivity, collaboration and
direction. It needs a ‘map’. Media education or reforms cannot be considered in
self-contained enclosures. It must become conscious of where it is, what it must
deliver for its survival, its role and responsibility to the community and how it
should go about doing that. Theories and frameworks will certainly play a
major part in such an effort.
In the rest of the paper, I will present a case for sustainable development. It is
an examination of a theoretical framework and the role and meaning of media
within that framework.
Making Sense of Sustainable Development
a) Capitalism and Commodification: The emergence of industrial capitalism
brought into our midst the ‘culture of commodities’ and the process of
commodification. This complex transformation process saw the encroachment
of commodification into all aspects of our daily life. Everything came to be
thought in terms of profit – material and/or non-material. Relationships were
forged on the basis of profit-motive. Nature was turned into an object of
exploitation for the benefit of entrepreneurs. From external control of nature,
biotechnology provided us the power to control its inner being, with the control
of germplasm. The commodification process has become all-pervasive, from the
interiors of our being to the vast expanse of outer space.
b) Instrumentalisation of Our Relationship with Nature: The transformation of the
relationship with nature into an instrumental one meant that nature had no
intrinsic value. Its value was dependent on us. In an unsustainable sense, we
exhibit a species-wide anthropological aggressiveness. Nature could thus be
exploited without a conscience, without a concern for any values. Such a
relationship in the context of ‘progress’ led to the sustained degradation and
destruction of nature, presenting us with what we have come to understand as
environmental problems – resource depletion, destruction of habitats, extinction,
pollution, health and general environmental risks. Because capitalism was
global in nature, environmental problems also assumed a global nature. Thus,
251
temporal context (the time-space). See Figure 1. While these concepts can be
applied in a modified form for all species, here they are used to understand
human beings.
Ecological Consciousness and Activism
Environmentalism
Sustainable Developmentalism
Figure 1: Species Contextualisation
b) Value Focus
The three contexts produce three symbolic objects endowed with meaning and
value and help secrete three value-focuses that serve as a guide for our
evaluation, choice and decision-making processes (in our private and public
life). See Figure 2.
Figure 2: Value Focuses
c) Imaginative Orientation
The Orientation Principle presents an interpretational-navigational device, a
device that helps in the interpretation of a situation. It helps us make choices
and decisions in order to navigate in a sociocultural context in the direction of
252
e) From Envirnmentalism to Sustainable Developmentalism: A new stage of
ecological consciousness and activism came into being. There was a shift from
environmentalism to sustainable developmentalism (Table 1).
Temporal Context
Relational
Existential
Context
Context
Table 1: Stages of Ecological Consciousness and Activism
f) Sustainable development as a moral-emancipatory project: Sustainable development
needs to be seen not as a technical but as a moral-emancipatory project. It
demands a moral regulation of our relationship with nature, our fellow beings
and the future generations. Simply put, sustainable development, as a UN
definition goes, ‘is development which aims at providing for the needs of the
present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations
to take care of their needs’.
FutureThrough
Generations
Some Concepts to Think
on Sustainable Development
To help us think about sustainable development, let me present three concepts:
a) species contextualisation
Equity (and
b) value Equality)
focus and
c) imaginative orientation.
Ecology
(Nature)
a) Species Contextualisation
Three contexts constitute species contextualisation, which relates to ecological
niche creation or the formation of cultural life. These are: the existential context
(specific natural space), the relational context (specific social space) and the
253
sustainability. The orientations provide a philosophical-moral-practical basis
for our everyday life.
Thus with the three value-focuses as the basis, we arrive at three imaginative
orientations. See Figure 3.
Generational Imagination
Socialistic
Imagination
Deep Ecological
Imagination
Figure 3: Imaginative Orientations
The three imaginative orientations will help us focus on development with
reference to future generations, equity (intra- and inter-generational, and
equality) and nature (the ecological context). See Figures 2 and 3.
I would like to suggest that a development process which is guided by the three
imaginative orientations be termed sustainable development. They are the basis of
sustainable developmentalism.
Components of Sustainable Development
and the Democratic Media
Based on the discussion above, it is not difficult to see that sustainable
development goes beyond the confines of traditional environmental concerns.
To achieve sustainable development, the effort must include sustainability at
various levels, i.e. we need to locate environmental sustainability in the
contexts of economic, political, social and cultural sustainability. Table 2 offers
a view of these various types of sustainability and their main concerns. It also
locates the concern of ‘democratic media’. How do we make critical sense of
this location and type of media?
254
diversity
management/
Resource use
planning for
present,
future and
other species/
Space use
management/
Private to
public
equity/Deep
ecology
concerns
Economic
Political
social
Cultural
economic
policies/
Dematerialising the
economy/
Market
alternatives/
Appropriate
technologies
rights/
Reduced risk
environment
income
distribution
with reduced
income
differential
both locally
and globally
sensitivity
to cultural
factors/
Enlightened
localism
development/
multicultural
citizenship
and multistakeholder
and equality/
participation
Equity and
resource
equality for
allocation/
indigenous
Footprint
folks and
management/ governance
people with
and use/
(corporate
disabilities
Waste
and
management
government)/
Accountability/transinvestment
parency/
in basic
equitable
preventive
access to
trust
health and
resources for
education/
all (gender,
Social
indigenous
investment
people,
in the family
people with
disabilities,
etc.)/Intergenerational
on people
and intraparticipation
generational
equity
Democratic
Media
Table 2: Types of Sustainability and Their Concerns
255
diversity and
dialogical
transactions
contributing
to nonanthropomorphism,
to dematerialisation
time sense
and holism
commodification. If the vision is one of sustainable society and the values are
non-anthropocentric, dematerialised and democratic, then the representation
by the media of society, the people and their concerns will be different.
d) Figure 5 locates communication in relation to media and representation (as
indicated in Figure 4 above) within a sustainable development framework.
It transforms ‘media’ into a part of the general process of democratic mediation.
e) What does this mean? A sustainable society is only possible when three
conditions prevail: (a) a general democratic environment (b) active selfconsciousness at a societal level and (c) a free, responsible, democratic media.
vision
direction
representation
(Content)]
Communication
values
Figure 5: Media, social criticisms and societal learning loops
f) Figure 5 suggests that human activity today is generally taking us in the
256
Making Sense of the Media in Relation
to Sustainable Development
a) To begin with, what is the media all about? I like to think of the media as a
‘technology of (narrativised) representation’. And by representation, I mean
the individual and collective, the conceptual and practical activities of naming,
meaning-making, classification, orientation, negotiation, and navigation in the
natural, cultural, and now, cyber worlds.
Let me link this understanding to sustainable development with the aid of the
two figures (4 and 5) provided below.
y
H
u
m
a
n
time
X
a
a
c
b
t
i
v
Figure
i 4: Values-Vision Relationship and the Location of the Media
t
C
b) Media is the
y interface between the need to communicate and the practice of
representation (of what is to be communicated). Communication involves
representation in understandable narratives (‘stories’). The key questions to be
asked about communication and representation are: What/who influences
these representations? Is it carried out democratically or produced under a
hegemonic situation?
Adapted from Anil Agarwal (ed.), The Challenge of the Balance: Environmental Economics
c) The(New
values
one
holds
theand
vision
one has1997),
about
society (Figure 4) directly
Delhi:
Centre
forand
Science
Environment,
p. 13.
characterise communication and the practice of representation. Thus, if society
is influenced by the commodity culture in a general sense, the representations
made by the media (largely the ‘commercial media’ - see Table 3 below) will be
a type that will rationalise and legitimise the society that supports
257
Table 3: Sector and Media Type
i) To conclude, the democratisation of the media needs to include not only a
reform in the technological and content creation aspects of the mediation
process but also an active contribution to the re-formation of our society
towards a sustainable model (Figure 6).
sECtOr
Private
government
Civil society
audience
Figure 6: Media Reforms for a Sustainable Society
recipients of
j) This framework not only contributes to an internal democratisation process
of the media and its institutions but also allows media activists to build
Political
networks with other movements. Representing
the generic property of
communication, which is unavoidable in all relationships, media activism can
survival
naturally insert itself into any movement that is animated by the sustainable
development agenda.
References
258
direction of unsustainability – environmentally, politically, economically,
socially and culturally. ‘Society C’ is unsustainable. The only way we can
change that is by creating a critically self-conscious society that is willing to
learn and change from its unsustainable ways, creating social learning loops,
and, consequently, alternative institutions. This can be created by democratic
media through social criticisms and by encouraging social learning and
establishing feedback loops. ‘B’ and ‘C’ are hypothetical societies that have
transformed themselves in the direction of sustainability (though one does so
faster and earlier than the other).
direction
g) It is important to keep in mind that communication is a generic property of
all human interaction. The responsibility
of media activism is therefore really
representation
much larger than what it is made out to be. The way to connect media activism
to this larger responsibility
can be achieved by placing media within the
democratic
framework of sustainable developmentalism.
Communication
h) The reference to democratic media above implies other forms. Table 3 below
values
provides other details of the types of media. These are sort of ‘ideal types’.
There are transactions between these types and there are certainly hybrid types.
Thus, for example, the commercial media transforms people into ‘demand’ and
‘market’. However, people are not merely ‘demand variables’ but have the
capability of taking action to deal with the market hegemonic situation.
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260
On tHE dangEr Of tHE us fOr glObal sustainability
the amoral beast
Published in Malaysiakini, March 2003
This article is dedicated to the memory of those innocent Iraqis who were killed in the
unilaterally-decided US-led unjust war against Iraq. It was a war carried out without
the formal sanction of the world community. It was really an invasion, a practice that
the US Administration is rather well experienced in. The article reflects on its character
in a global context.
Many years ago, I saw a film called Jaws, directed by the then young director,
Steven Spielberg. At that time, it was an exciting film to see. I even saw the
sequels, though I did not enjoy them as much. Many years later, rethinking the
film and particularly the mechanical shark featured in it, I began to wonder
how close that was to the character of the US. Here was a representation of an
animal that was a ferocious eating machine. It hunted, attacked and killed its
victim without a conscience. While that is not what a real shark will do just for
fun or for the entertainment of an audience, the Hollywood representation of it
is, in a sense, what the US has grown up to be today: a terror without a
conscience. In Jaws, the essential nature of the US was captured pretty
accurately. In fact, many films after that which portrayed the beast in many
forms truly reflect the US. Perhaps it is some sort of an unconscious
representation of itself!
How else can one even begin to understand the US? How else can you explain
its behaviour in the global context? Americans have written about their guiding
values. In one trajectory, Americans (read: Anglo-Saxon Americans) like to
claim that rationalism, empiricism and individualism are their foundational
values. Can one see any rationalism in their collective behaviour? Here is a
country that beats its breast and broadcasts to the world the mantra ‘individual
liberty and democracy’ every opportunity it can get. They would like us to
perceive them as a personification of those principles. Should we?
This same country spends an incredible amount on its war machinery. For the
year 2000, US military spending stood at $343 billion. This was 69 percent
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The Amoral Beast
institutions that promote marketing and militarism. Both are based on the reality
of aggression, ranging from ‘soft’ to ‘hard’. They form the real core. The gentler,
funnier side that we see in their sitcoms or their Academy award nights are
really a marginal America in terms of the decisions and direction the US takes
in a global context.
The ‘angry’ US today behaves as though there was no history before September
11. It seems to say "How could they do this to us? We are innocent." Is the
US innocent? There is a definite history before September 11, one in which the
US played the role of the ‘big white shark’, doing what it wanted to do and as
it pleased. Nothing in that history shows any semblance of respect for the kind
of values it likes to project or be identified with. In his book Rogue State
(referring to the US), William Blum notes that from "1945 to the end of the
century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign
governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements
struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US caused the end of
life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of
agony and despair". Against this collective violence of the US, the individual
dictator Saddam Hussein seems rather innocent. A few cases would illustrate
what the US really stands for and what animates it.
After Congo in Africa became independent from Belgium, Patrice Lumumba
was democratically elected to power and became its first prime minister. He
leaned to the Soviet Union for help. In the midst of the Cold War, that was too
much for the US. And, never mind democracy. According to a memo relating to
a National Security Council meeting in 1960, former US president Dwight
Eisenhower ordered the assassination of Lumumba. He was to be eliminated by
the use of a vial of poison to be injected into something Lumumba might eat.
Though this was not what actually killed him (it was the agents of the Belgium
government), it simply goes to show the Beast at work. Lumumba was killed in
January 1961. Many years later, the Belgium government apologised for its role
in the killing of Lumumba. The US, of course, thought that it was their right to
eliminate leaders whom they did not like. They, of course, continue to think so.
In the 1960s, Chile was experimenting with a dynamic form of socialism quite
different from the Soviet or Chinese model. It involved the election of a Marxist
leader, Dr. Salvador Allende, to power. That was again too much for the US.
Everything that it built and promoted as the communist approach to politics as
part of its Cold War policy was crushed by Allende and the development of
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The Amoral Beast
Nat
greater than that of the next five
nations combined. Russia, which
has the second largest military
budget, spends less than one-sixth
of what the US does. Iraq, Libya,
North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Iran and
Syria spend $14.4 billion combined;
Iran accounts for 52 percent of this
total. Does this not look a little
strange – promoting a culture of
liberty and democracy while
maintaining
an
aggressive
militaristic culture? Where is there
rationalism in this?
In terms of its consumption
behaviour, consider again this
nation that is so concerned about life, liberty and democracy across the world.
The amount of energy used by one American is equivalent to that used by 3
J
a
p
a
n
e
s
e
,
6 Mexicans, 14 Chinese, 38 Indians, 168 Bangladeshis, and 531 Ethiopians.
A person in the US causes 100 times more damage to the global environment
than a person in a poor country. Where is the rationalism in this? In fact, recent
estimates indicate that at least four additional planets would be needed if each
of the planet's 6 billion inhabitants consumed at the level of the average
American. The USA is that much unsustainable and dangerous to all life on
earth.
This brings us to a number of questions. What is it that makes it tick as a
collective entity? The above values of rationalism, individualism, liberty and
democracy? Or, the values that are presented in another trajectory, namely:
fairness, compassion, honesty, justice, winning, and patriotism? What are its
‘real’ core values? What drives an amoral America? What really animates this
conscienceless nation? Certainly not all that it claims for global consumption.
There is also a classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the American character.
Individual and collective America are at disjunction with each other, with the
dominant collective Hyde dominating the global context, making American
exceptionalism its principle of engagement. The twin pillars that govern the
behaviour of this collective amoral beast are centred on the ideas, practices and
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The Amoral Beast
in 1978 after overthrowing Somoza’s dictatorship. The Sandinistas were thrown
out of power in 1990. How that happened is instructional in understanding the
nature of US behaviour in the global context.
Under President Carter, the initial strategy of sabotaging the Sandinista
government was both diplomatic and economic. But later, under President
Bush Sr., the fight was through Washington’s proxy army, the Contras, whom
the US Administration lovingly called "the freedom fighters"! This was the
army mobilised by those who had terrorised the Nicaraguan people under the
dictator Somoza. The US refused to allow the Sandinistas to rule peacefully and
concentrate on the development of their country. Not only did it train and
supply the Contra rebels, but it showed contempt for international law by
having the US navy lay mines outside Nicaraguan ports and assist attacks on
harbours, oil installations and naval bases. Nicaragua brought the US before the
International Court of Justice (ICJ). In the 1986 Nicaragua vs. US case, the ICJ
commented that the US Congress was entitled to criticise the Sandinista human
rights record but not seek to ‘improve’ it by mining Nicaraguan harbours,
destroying oil refineries and sending in the Contras as surrogate soldiers!
The critical point here was that the "right of humanitarian intervention" arises
in an emergency to stop continued crimes against humanity but not for a bad
human rights record (in the US view). In effect, the "right of humanitarian
intervention" is not really the "right of ideological intervention", which is what
the US is guilty of. How did the US respond? The US argued at first that the ICJ
had no jurisdiction. When that argument was lost, it ungraciously walked out,
announcing that it would not be bound by any decision that did not suit the
interests of America or its (questionable) exceptionalism. Then it withdrew its
agreement under the Optional Clause, so that it could not be forced before the
ICJ again. (The optional clause makes countries, unconditionally or with certain
reservations, accept the jurisdiction of the Court for all legal disputes as
compulsory.) Thus, when an international instrument is not in its favour, the US
withdraws or sabotages it, which it has done to the UN today (in the case of
intervention in Iraq).
The US is really unconcerned about all this, even as it quite successfully
projects the values of fairness, compassion, honesty and justice as the reasons
for its global mission. That is the power of the ‘American Lie’, and the danger
of the "American Dream" to the world.
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Chilean socialism. Not only was he elected but he also upheld the constitution
and was increasingly becoming popular. If Dr. Allende had been with us today,
not only would he have given us a model of ‘Third World parliamentary
socialism’ but he would also have been there to oppose the Iraq war!
The minute Allende started to become popular, the US market and military
forces started to take over. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, John F. Kennedy,
and his brother, Robert Kennedy, and later Richard Nixon, were all involved in
making sure Allende’s rule came to an end. The CIA, American corporation ITT,
World Bank and IMF played a crucial role in this conspiracy. In 1973, in a
military coup by the US-supported Gen. Pinochet, Allende was killed and there
was a ‘regime change’, supposedly for liberty and democracy. What happened?
Pinochet, who came to power in 1973, killed over 3000 people and tortured a
thousand more. In the midst of this, the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger,
assured Pinochet that, "In the United States, as you know, we are sympathetic
with what you are trying to do here … We wish your government well."
This was the same Pinochet who left his well-guarded ‘hide-out’ at the beautiful
Andean foothills in Chile for treatment and was arrested in London in 1998,
about 25 years after the coup, on a warrant from a Spanish magistrate alleging
his systematic use of torture.
The American presidents or the American institutions or the corporations that
stood behind these tortures and deaths escaped that ‘humiliation’, as they
always do. Their modus operandi is to work with locals so that they are not
implicated. If they are, they deny it vehemently. If enough evidence is there to
prove their involvement, they protect their institutions by deflecting scrutiny to
individuals or technical matters. An extremely smart beast.
Nat
Fidel Castro in Cuba is a constant
embarrassment for the US. Unable
to do anything directly with this
small nation, the US has made
sure no other socialist society
came into existence in the region.
Thus, in the late 1970s, the US was
yet again interfering in the affairs
of another Marxist government in
Latin America. In Nicaragua, the
Sandinistas, under the leadership
of Daniel Ortega, came to power
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The Amoral Beast
projects became public which stretched the limits of the BTWC and – in some
cases – violated it. These included the testing of mock biological bombs,
explosive testing of aerosols, and production of weapons-grade anthrax. In the
wake of the anthrax attacks, the US Congress has approved spending over
US$10,000,000,000 for bio-defence studies." The outputs of these studies are
potential materials for the development of bio-weapons. We will have an even
more dangerous US in the future, who may claim then that bio-weapons are,
after all, okay to have.
The self-proclaimed life-liberty-and-democracy defending US has become a
major obstacle to many international efforts to make the world a safer place for
us today and for our children tomorrow. All these, only to protect its interests.
The image of ‘Selfish America’ is, of course, well hidden behind legal or
academic jargon. Take, for instance, the growing problem of climate change.
This is a serious global problem. Among the many consequences, it will lead to
the melting of polar ice formations, and the rising of the sea level. This will
certainly threaten small island nations. For instance, Tuvalu, a tiny island
country in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia, and
barely 23 years since it gained independence, will soon be lost forever. Global
warming and the consequent rise of the sea level are no longer just ideas. Ricegrowing river floodplains in Asia, including those in India, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia and China, are also predicted to be affected, threatened by the
inundation of coastal areas.
The UN Protocol concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in early December 1997 cannot completely succeed
because of US Congress hostility. With about 5 percent of global population, the
US is responsible for about 25 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide, the
main pollutant covered by the Kyoto Protocol. (China has a quarter of the
world’s population but produces only 13.5 percent of the world’s carbon
dioxide emissions.) The Protocol commits 38 industrialised nations to reduce
the emissions of the main gases produced by human activities. These gases are
blamed for climate change. By 2012, they would have to cut emissions by an
average of 5.2 percent on their 1990 levels, and the US by 7 percent. Of course,
the mighty US did not like that. A former British ambassador to the UN, Sir
Crispin Tickell, commented that "The US decision is very short-sighted, and a
confession of weakness. Saying [that the] Kyoto [Protocol] would harm their
economy just shows how inefficient it is…They’re pleading protection for their
own inefficiency." In relation to this, the esteemed environmental group Friends
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There are far too many episodes that show the character of this dream. Consider
the issue of biological and chemical weapons, which the ‘Anglo-Saxon horde’
(US,
UK
and
Australia)
are
singing
about.
While there is a long history to the use of chemical and biological agents as
weapons, the supposedly-civilised British and the Americans excel in its
deployment. Not only did they develop and use them but they also ‘shared’
that technology. Thus, as the US geared up for possible military action to ensure
that Iraq is stripped of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), there was renewed
attention on Washington's instrumental and pivotal role in helping Baghdad
develop its arsenal of chemical and biological agents in the 1980s to help the
Iraqis in their war with Iran. This programme allegedly involved the crucial
role of the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, which, of course, he claims
he does not remember. Just as the US was instrumental in creating the al-Qaeda,
so it was instrumental in giving Iraq the WMD, making the world that much
more unsafe and unsustainable. Rational America? The American Dream
worldwide? (Incidentally, this kind of selective ‘memory loss’ is part of the
American foreign policy practice as they seem not to remember much of what
they did to the world before September 11.)
Knowing the danger chemical and bio-weapons might cause to its own citizens,
the UK and the US renounced biological weapons in the 1950s and 1960s
respectively. This eventually led to the introduction of the 1972 Convention on
the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological
(Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, commonly known as
the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). About 144 states are
party to this. In 1994, a verification protocol was introduced. The US, as in
many other international efforts and treaties, has not allowed the conclusion of
this binding multi-lateral verification agreement claiming that other countries
may cheat and that "Honest America" will lose in the process.
Another problem in this context reveals where the US is going in relation to
bio-weapons. The developments in science can be used in both ways, i.e. for
peaceful use and for war. A hammer is an instrument of gentle creativity in the
hands of a carpenter but a weapon in the hands of a murderer. This is true for
atomic energy. So it is for biological and chemical weapons. The "dual-use
ambiguity" has been creatively used by the US. In a report by the respected
Sunshine Project, an NGO that "works to bring facts about biological weapons to
light", it states: "The US has been especially creative in this regard. In September
last year (2002) and following the anthrax attacks, several US bio-defence
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The Amoral Beast
above). In the list mentioned above is Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer.
Does this company follow the values Americans so cherish and project?
Even the US-based KLD Domino 400 that checks on social responsibility does
not think so and has dropped Wal-Mart from its list for being socially
irresponsible in relation to labour practices. Over half of Wal-Mart’s imports
come from its contractors in China. In 2000, a human rights organisation
discovered a factory in Zhongshan City, China, where workers for Wal-Mart’s
contractor were forced to put in 14-hour shifts, seven days a week, 30 days a
month. They were effectively held as indentured servants in overcrowded
dormitories. At the end of the month, nearly half of them owe the company
money – to cover two dismal meals a day and pay deductions for talking to
co-workers while sewing.
Nat
Nike presents another case. In 1991, Indonesian workers who have been
making products for Nike, an US clothing and footwear giant, for the past ten
years, were paid US$0.45 per day, not enough to meet basic physical needs. In
addition, they were exposed to sexual and verbal harassment, had limited
access to medical care and had to do compulsory overtime as is commonplace
in Indonesian factories. Female workers in one factory were forced to trade
sexual favours to gain employment. In spite of the fact that Nike, giving in to
pressure from human rights groups, issued a statement in 1998, promising to
improve conditions for the
500,000 employees of their
contractors across Asia, many
claim that the situation has not
significantly
improved.
Sweatshop workers are still
being exploited. This is another
multinational that has also been
dropped from the KLD list for
bad labour practices across Asia,
and not only in Indonesia.
Central to the secret life of
Corporate America is corruption
and bribery. Transparency International annually produces the Bribe Payers Index
(
B
P
I
)
.
The BPI shows that US multinational corporations have a high propensity to
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The Amoral Beast
of the Earth commented that "George Bush is attempting to tear up the Kyoto
Protocol in the face of world opinion," something that we hear very often in the
context of the war on Iraq.
It created a similar situation in the process of the creation of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and the determination of its powers. The Statute outlining
the creation of the ICC was adopted at an international conference in Rome in
mid-July 1998. Some 120 countries voted to adopt the treaty. Seven countries
abstained. The supposedly ‘fairness-conscious and justice-minded’ US was one
among them. So was Israel. The ICC is established to investigate and prosecute
people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, when
national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.
The USA has been the only state to actively oppose the establishment of the
ICC. To scuttle this effort, the USA has approached many governments
requesting them to sign agreements not to surrender or transfer US nationals to
the new ICC. It has already signed such bilateral agreements with Israel, East
Timor, Romania and Tajikistan. The USA is exerting extreme pressure on states
to meet their demands, in many situations threatening to withdraw US military
assistance. Amnesty International observes that "These agreements seek to
undermine and weaken the ICC which was created to end impunity for the
worst crimes known to humanity" (which could include the US or its citizens).
It has done a similar thing to the UN today by taking unilateral action on Iraq,
claiming
the
support
of
some
35
nations.
Of course, a strained, stressed, sombre-looking, American TV-managed Bush
sold it to the American people by presenting a weak statement of support from
about 35 countries.
There are many more such obstacles put by the US for ‘improving’ the world to
protect its selfish interests. The behaviour of its corporations is just another area
to explore the ‘real’ values animating the US. According to the World
Development Report, in 2001, in relation to revenues earned, 6 out of 10 top
MNCs are from the US. Their earnings are so huge that they are far more
economically powerful than many sovereign nations, but without the
accountability we assign to a nation-state. There are, of course, many more in
addition to this list that constitute American corporate power in all economic
fields. There have been many US-based corporations involved in all kinds of
anti-labour and subversive activities across the globe (see the case of Chile
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The Amoral Beast
Nat
refused to comply with the WTO ruling. Chiquita then donated $350,000 to the
Republican Party and the Republican-dominated Congress prepared legislation
to impose tariffs on goods imported from the EU as punishment for refusing to
comply with the WTO's ruling." The EU had to comply and the US corporation
had its way, putting a lot of poor people in difficulties. Compassion? Fairness?
Sensitivity?
The list can go on. And on. Its
support for the South African
apartheid regime before it was
dismantled and the provision of
sensitive intelligence information
for the arrest of Nelson Mandela,
its double standards in dealings
with Israel and other states like
Palestine in the Middle East, its
convenient use of terms, such as
‘just war’ and ‘humanitarian
intervention’ when it really
wants ‘regime change’, are some
more of its hypocritical behaviour in a global context.
Last, but not least, is the US ‘export’ of the debris from the Twin Towers
(bombed on September 11, 2001) to a number of countries in Asia, including
Malaysia. The debris contains highly-toxic elements. Bad for Americans. Good
for business. Never mind the Asians. Really, what do all these suggest?
The US of America is really the US of (Chronic) Aggression, the basis of its
marketing and military activities. That is the core of the American Dream and
values. The rest is merely sugar coating delivered through their various cultural
channels for global consumption. Or, values that are sustained by a small
number of good Americans who are a non-entity, ashamed of their nation and
helpless, in many ways like the rest of the world. Instead of a nation of Martin
Luther Kings, Howard Zinns, Oliver Stones and Noam Chomskys, we have
Bushes, Rumfelds, Powells and their likes. Dangerous for the world.
USA is certainly an amoral beast that knows only one thing: to protect itself
(even if it means destroying world peace and its institutions, if not destroying
the world itself). With an entity that is amoral or without any conscience, you
cannot discuss anything. It will get on with what it wants to do. Though one
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The Amoral Beast
pay bribes to foreign government officials. The BPI ranges from 0 to 10:
0 represents very high perceived levels of corruption while 10 represents
extremely low perceived levels of corruption. The US scored 5.3 for 2001
(matched by Japanese companies, but worse than the scores for corporations
from France, Spain, Germany, Singapore and the United Kingdom). In fact, the
propensity to bribe has only increased. In 1999, the US managed 6.2 on the BPI.
What values really govern the corporations that systematically offer bribes?
Certainly not ones America likes to officially project.
Consider corporations from the land that loudly claims to the world to be fair,
understanding and compassionate and so on, and their closeness to political
power and their use of international instruments whenever it is convenient and
in their favour. The issue illustrated here pertains to the Africa, the Caribbean
and the Pacific (ACP) nations in the Caribbean growing banana. The European
Union (EU) maintained a preferential trade relationship with ACP nations.
An agreement, called the first Lomé Convention, was signed in 1975 between
the then European Community and 71 ACP nations creating, in a sense, an
EU-ACP trading bloc. In the Caribbean, the EU used to buy 8 percent of its
bananas. These banana sales contributed to the livelihoods of about 200,000
people in countries where unemployment rates reached 30-50 percent. In effect,
it was a trade bloc helping the poor farmers of the Caribbean who were also
practicing environmentally-friendly agriculture and equitable distribution.
However, in the world of global free trade, under the World Trade Organization
(WTO) regime, this preferential arrangement could not be practised.
Why? Because the WTO says it is unfair market practice! In a decision made by
WTO in September 1997, the Europeans can’t make their buying decisions
based on anything other than price. One report on this matter reveals the
following: "The Chiquita Company is a U.S. company that owns banana
plantations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras and
Panama where thousands of underpaid workers are
The most
exposed to dangerous pesticides and unions are banned.
dangerous
Chiquita supplies 50 percent of the EU’s banana imports
predator on
each year, but wants an even larger market share. Chiquita
grows no bananas in the US, but a few days after the
the Earth
today is not corporation donated $500,000 to the Democratic Party, the
Clinton/Gore administration filed a complaint with the
‘man’ but
WTO on behalf of Chiquita. The WTO ruled in favour of
‘the US’.
the U.S. and Chiquita (in September 1997). The EU initially
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The Amoral Beast
cannot imagine or support that the world community do to the US what
Hollywood did to the great white shark in Jaws, the only language the US
understands
is
f o rc e
and
a g g re s s i o n .
This is what Tony Blair passionately argued in the House of Commons about
what Saddam Hussein understands. Will the world community be able to ever
stop the US? Can the world community stop the Anglo-Saxon Horde – led by
Bush in America, Blair in UK and Howard in Australia – by a global collective
political will and common moral and material force?
The US must be disarmed for an authentic free world to emerge. Otherwise, we
will have to live indefinitely with the Hollywood style "hungry great white
shark" in our midst. To paraphrase what many nature programmes like to note
at the end, the most dangerous predator on the Earth today is not ‘man’ but
‘the US’.
272
aftErWOrd
The Unbearable Likeness of Democratic Multiculturalism
By Yeoh Seng Guan, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Media Studies
Monash University Malaysia
T
he first time I met Dr. Nadarajah (or "Nat" as he is more commonly known
amongst acquaintances and friends) was at that much-beloved Malaysian
watering hole, a roadside teh tarik shop in Brickfields about 3 years ago. The
meeting was set up by a mutual friend who probably felt that our common
interest in things ‘cultural’ (and beyond) would spark off a mutually-fruitful
exchange in ideas. At that time, Nat was researching Georgetown’s fascinating
multicultural landscape. Subsequently, about a year later, we were to collaborate
in the pioneering international conference, The Penang Story: A Celebration of
Cultural Diversity1 jointly organised by the Penang Heritage Trust and Star
Publications.
Consisting of a body of work written over a
period of time that bridges the end of a
Composed under
millennium and the beginning of another, the
specific circumstances
articles in Another Malaysia Is Possible are
remarkable for what they document and
and for particular
illuminate. Amongst his long and diverse list of
audiences in mind, the
topics are the sorry state of the Malaysian media,
salient feature of all
the perceived irrelevance of mother-tongue
the chapters is to probe
education, the perpetuation of the "malesupremacy complex", failed meritocracy in
and to re-question the
public universities, the roots of the Kampung
norm and the
Medan tragedy, the draconian effects of the
celebrated.
Internal Security Act, and the predatory
American invasion of Iraq.
The work sits squarely within a particular fraternity of writers that embraces the
1
See www.penangstory.net for more details.
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AFTERWORD
market rationality. Epitomising this point are myopic calls to abandon Tamil
schools simply because "critics perceive that the national-type schools are better
equipped to achieve the economic agenda of modern education".
The ambivalence towards the long-term economic viability of Tamil mothertongue education becomes starker if one were to juxtapose its plight with the
array of mediated cultural images that come to the foreground during National
Day celebrations and religious festivals, as well as those that adorn colourful
and cheerful tourist brochures and advertisements. In these instances, Nat
claims that whilst these messages attempt to suggest that sharing and
hybridisation are something new and worthy of promotion, the truth is that
these sanitised and abstracted images gloss over a phenomena that has evolved
for decades, if not centuries, without official sanction. Paradoxically, these
repackaged cultural commodities belie the ethos of standardisation and
homogenisation rather than actually buttressing authentic local cultural diversity
and natural heritage. By contrast, for Nat, the active promotion of "ethnocultural
consumption" would recognise and affirm, amongst others, the wisdom of
supporting mother-tongue education as an essential precondition for sustaining
cultural diversity.
But what is the structural blinker that currently renders "ethnocultural
consumption" unpalatable and insignificant? Not surprisingly, Nat’s diagnosis
reveals a sentiment that perhaps strikes a chord with many "Malaysians" but
which is, nonetheless, not raised often enough in public discourse for fear of real
and imagined reprisals. Rather than "Malaysianisation", what is more in
evidence is "Malay-sianisation". The latter is an
...ethno-communal hegemonic form of nationalism [which] rests on the assumption
that Malaysia is part of the Malay world and that the Malays must necessarily have
‘more’ rights – symbolic and real – than the others in the country… Malay hegemony
is a cultural agenda with a political programme; Malay unity is a political agenda
with a cultural programme.
The beast of marginalisation of whatever colour and form attacks its victims
differentially. Thus, in the context of poverty alleviation programmes that seem
to cater more for the majority rather than the minority community, Nat pleads,
When are we going to learn that ethnicity alone is really an inadequate criterion to
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AFTERWORD
pleasure and responsibility of putting thoughts and feelings to paper. Composed
under specific circumstances and for particular audiences in mind, the salient feature of
all the chapters is to probe and to re-question the norm and the celebrated. Indeed, taken
as a whole, they embody a blend of acute sociological observations, timely
commentaries, and passionate scholarship. Because many of the chapters were
written in direct response to contemporary events, they retain the freshness and
urgency of eyewitness narratives. And because they contain sociological analysis
and critique, they are more than snapshots or slices of the Malaysian social
fabric. They are contrapuntal narratives probing incisively beneath the surface
of superficial (and even erroneous) descriptions, prescriptions and proscriptions
that are often characteristic of dominant media reporting and the ruminations of
the powers-that-be.
Applying his critical gaze on events, trends and policies that have engulfed the
Malaysian nation for the last few years, Nat’s concerns are both ecumenical and
particular.
Particular, because of his specific attention to the plight of the Tamil community
in Malaysia; and ecumenical in the sense that they pose to other Malaysians
disturbing questions on what it means to be a multicultural citizen in Malaysia
at the dawn of the 3rd millennium. Both concerns interpenetrate one another,
and mark out the master trajectory that all of us are being currently propelled
along. The key refrain seems to be: "Are these structured beliefs and practices
socially just?" Equally important, "Are they culturally sustainable?"
What is of specific concern to him is the kind of hegemony that currently
pervades the Malaysian social and political fabric. Whilst its manifestations are
non-discriminatory, Nat strategically draws our attention to the particular
debilitating impacts that they have on a community with which he is most
familiar with – the working-class Tamil community.
Let me summarise selectively some of Nat’s key observations and arguments.
In assessing whether the current educational system provides young Malaysians
with "multicultural competencies" in order to "navigate in multicultural,
multiethnic, and multi-religious worlds", Nat’s diagnosis is stark – "the national
educational system is an utter failure in terms of education’s cultural agenda. It
is hardly the place to look for an active and informed support for cultural
diversity in this country". More in evidence, instead, are mechanisms for
sustaining a culturally-hegemonic situation as well as serving an all-pervasive
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AFTERWORD
– the labouring class – are less optimistic. As Nat puts it,
The labouring community needs support during a crisis – natural, socio-economic,
sociopolitical or a combination of these – which is not of their making but which
results from the growth model on which the economy is based. Whilst Malaysia has
promoted some social protection programmes, it has neither institutionalised social
protection of the labouring community, nor set up a stable ‘crisis-response’
mechanism during crisis times.
For some, the prerequisite for mitigating ‘crises’ and ensuring predictable levels
of ‘stability’ lies in the wielding of a strong, even authoritarian, government.
Others differ, seeing a system of democratic governance, where there are
substantive checks and balances as the more sustainable alternative. In this
scenario, the existence of vibrant and principled opposition political parties is
vital. Nat opines that these parties – and one might add the political parties of
the ruling coalition – should not be animated by short-term and cynical
pragmatism but by deeper and more lasting convictions.
For those who have been hoping for values and principles-based politics, a strong
opposition that cares for values and principles and defends them is a must.
In conceiving such a political practice, merely winning is certainly not the issue …
The opposition to BN is not just about winning an election but also, and more
important, about the process we must set in place, guided by values and principles,
so that a victory is a victory of one set of principles over the other, of democracy over
authoritarian politics.
The value of Another Malaysia Is Possible is not confined to its timely and lively
commentary. By empirically linking together the separate realms of politics,
economics and culture as they manifest in a particular community in Malaysia,
and repositioning them vis-à-vis the larger questions of social and cultural
sustainability, Nat prompts us to inquire into our own perceptions of Malaysian
citizenship, and the conditions that must be encouraged for a more socially-just
and convivial co-existence between communities. Whilst the tone is arguably
provocative at times, the book does suggest new lines of inquiry for the possible
contours of a "democratic multiculturalism" in Malaysia. Further research,
dialogue and reasoned debate would help to fill in incrementally the fuller
details of this new and more desirable "imagined community". Among some of
the
research
questions
I
have
in
mind:
In what ways do the present regime of prescriptions (and proscriptions) for
276
AFTERWORD
deal with poverty? In an uneven playing field, I think we need to look at poor
Malaysians. They are Malaysian. They are our people. They need help. Why is this
so difficult to see? We look but do not see. We hear but do not listen. Our drive for
political survival is so narrow and blind that it suffocates and kills our sense of
justice and compassion.
Apart from equipping the individual with ‘competencies’ of the sort noted
earlier, many would consider education
– especially tertiary education – as the
In what ways do the present
vehicle par excellence for easing
regime of prescriptions (and
families and communities out of the
poverty cycle. But even then, Nat
proscriptions) for national
discerns an alarming gap between
integration facilitate (and
rhetoric and reality.
undermine) such a process? In
what ways are the particular
experiences of the Tamil
working-class community
replicated in other ethnic and
sub-ethnic communities? What
kinds of empirical evidence
and ethnographic data need to
be generated in order to render
more visible the mechanisms
of exclusion as well as the
everyday practices of mutual
recognition? What are the
structural and cultural habits
of thought that need to be put
in place (or dismantled)
to allow a more expansive
form of citizenship to
flourish in Malaysia?
Our present mode of governance of
tertiary educational opportunities through a
meritocratic system will work if there is a
level playing field between the players, a
common university entrance system and
transparency to examine the processes that
contribute to the moderated meritocratic
system. Unfortunately, we have a situation
where none of the above is applicable.
The malaise of non-transparency in
governance becomes particularly acute
in the context of a mode of economic
rationality that is prone to throw up
casualties even as it favours a small
group strategically positioned to draw
from its bounteous well of material and
symbolic wealth. Whilst those
"strategically positioned" will most
likely be able to escape relatively
unscathed from the vagaries of freemarket forces, the prospects of those
who provide the very fuel and
foundation for the generation of wealth
277
AFTERWORD
national integration facilitate (or undermine) such a process? In what ways are
the particular experiences of the Tamil working-class community replicated in
other ethnic and sub-ethnic communities? What kinds of empirical evidence and
ethnographic data need to be generated in order to render more visible the
mechanisms of exclusion as well as the everyday practices of mutual recognition?
What are the structural and cultural habits of thought that need to be put in
place (or dismantled) to allow a more expansive form of citizenship to flourish
in Malaysia?
The answers to these questions have both particular and ecumenical implications
for all of us. Like the teh tarik stall, one hopes that they will help us arrive at a
convivial point of nourishment, both intellectual and physical, if not in the hereand-now, then in the not-too-distant future. More to the point, I recall the words
of Martin Luther King:
Youngsters will learn words they will
not understand
Children from India will ask:
What is hunger?
Children from Alabama will ask:
What is racial segregation?
Children from Hiroshima will ask:
What is the atomic bomb?
Children at school will ask:
What is war?
You will answer them
You will tell them:
Those words are not used any more,
Like stage-coaches, galleys or
slavery
Words no longer meaningful
That is why they have been
removed from the dictionaries.
278
http://www.geocities.com/sounvx/middle_age_crisis.htm
http://www.malaysia.net/aliran/monthly/2002/6h.html
http://www.vettipechu.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=97
http://www.geocities.com/council_aim/malaysiakini_nada18062001.html
http://www.geocities.com/sounvx/nagging_pains_of_local_indians.htm
http://www.geocities.com/sounvx/violence_tamil_movies.htm
http://www.geocities.com/sounvx/violence_tamil_school.htm
http://www.kabissa.org/lists/newsletter-submissions-l/1297.html
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/200307010041237.php
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vetti-pechu/message/84
279
280

Another Malaysia is Possible and other Essays

Transcription

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