Mahathir and the "Chinese Problem"

(English translation of Lau Tai Onn’s column article published in Nanyang Siang Pau on October 19, 2021)

In his new book "Paradise Lost: Mahathir and the End of Hope" Chapter 8 "The Chinese Problem", former Malaysian ambassador Datuk Denis Ignatius remarkably addressed the racist thoughts and actions of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir. Some salient points are highlighted as follows:

 

Race issue has always been the top priority of the political power games played by Mahathir. A large part of his political thinking is based on the preoccupation that the Chinese pose an existential threat to the Malays. Keeping the Chinese in check therefore becomes a cardinal feature of Mahathir’s lifelong politics and that concept of “skin colour comes first” has been deeply rooted in the political culture in this country until today.  

 

Mahathir often complains that Malays are "lazy". Considering the fact that he launched the “Look East” Policy as early as in 1981, designed to transform the Malays into a workforce that is as industrious and disciplined as the Japanese, but he still accuses the Malays of being "lazy" 40 years later, isn't that proof of his leadership failure? In fact, had he encouraged the Malays and Chinese to work together in the first place, instead of trying to import the values of an alien culture, our country might have already made great progress by now!

 

In addition, Mahathir’s argument of the so-called “rich Chinese - poor Malay” and “urban Chines - rural Malay” in his 1970 book "The Malay Dilemma" is so deeply etched in his mind that even after 50 years, he always talks about this now and then, despite the fact that massive advances in education, industrialization and urbanization have significantly changed both the rich-poor division and rural-urban landscape.

 

What is most infuriating is that the Malay supremacists are quick to blame other races, while ignoring the fact that all the power to improve the conditions of the Malays is in the hand of a government dominated by Malays themselves. They plunder assets, resources and allocations and then point fingers at the non-Malays.

 

Dennis recalled a past event in his book that he accompanied a delegation of U.S. congressional staffers to meet the then Prime Minister Mahathir in the late 1980s. As usual, Mahathir talked about the racial situation in Malaysia and the need for affirmative actions to help the Malays. He pointed to Dennis and said, "Look at Dennis. He is an immigrant but he holds a senior position in the Foreign Ministry." This made Dennis deeply humiliated, and even the U.S. delegation was shocked at Mahathir’s use of the term "immigrant" to describe a citizen whose family had lived in Malaysia for over a century. But Mahathir did not see anything wrong with it.

 

As we all know, Mahathir consistently denies any responsibility for what is happening now in our nation.  He has never taken any responsibility for any failures or mistakes.  Any fault is always done by someone else. Disgraceful historical cases such as the Memali Incident, Operasi Lalang, ISA, Removal of Chief Justice, Failure to achieve Vision 2020, sacking and persecution of Anwar etc, he maintains a set of excuses that all the above were not his faults.

 

On the other hand, Dennis who was a diplomat in Beijing from 1979 to 1981 recently wrote an article "Mahathir’s abiding obsession with race” in his blog on October 9, 2021, in which he refuted Mahathir’s obsession that our country remains mired in racism due to non-Malays’ insistence on retaining their identification with their “countries of origin”, refusing to assimilate with the indigenous people, and their doubtful loyalty to the country.

 

He criticized Mahathir’s advocate that racism in Malaysia would only end when non-Malays abandon their respective identities - cultural, linguistic and religions, and identify themselves completely with the indigenous people. Such is an outrageous and profoundly racist assertion that cannot go unchallenged!

 

We Malaysians of Chinese, Indian or other descent are born as such and can’t be changed, but this does not make us less Malaysian. Multi-ethnicity has always been unique to our country. In contrast, leaders like Mahathir and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who insist they are Malay first and Malaysian second, when in power systematically marginalized non-Malays and excluded them from the civil service, the armed forces, the universities, GLCs etc, how then can the non-Malays contribute to the nation’s development?

 

Dennis also disclosed that when he served as ambassador, he met with many Malaysian diasporas and could deeply feel the pain in their hearts at having to leave their homeland. They left not because they did not love their country, but because their country did not love them or appreciate them. They could not tolerate being overlooked or treated like second-class citizens because of their race or religion. This is the pain that non-Malays as a whole carry in their hearts wherever they may be, and leaders like Mahathir have built their political careers upon such pain.

 

In the speech "I Have a Dream" delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, his had this famous saying that goes, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Well, isn’t that a dream that we all Malaysians also long to have?

Layout of NYSP's Opinion Page on 19/10/2021