Friday 29 Mar 2024
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#JUSTSAYING: Maszlee Malik is Malaysia Baru’s most controversial Cabinet Minister to date, mostly thanks to his habit of putting his foot in his mouth. His latest remarks have divided the nation, but should we use our anger over the remarks made by one inarticulate Cabinet Minister as an excuse to tear each other apart?

 

Following is a transcript of the video:

Maszlee Malik. Malaysia Baru’s most controversial Cabinet Minister to date, mostly thanks to his habit of putting his foot in his mouth. When The Edge did a survey last month, he was ranked highest in terms of not meeting expectations by 81% of the respondents.

Most recently, he has come under fire again for linking the matriculation quota system to job postings specifying “Mandarin-speaking only”.He also made a sweeping claim about how non-Malay students could well afford to go to private unis because apparently if you’re not a Malay, you are rich.

I am the granddaughter of two rubber tappers. They were so poor that they and their five children had to sleep on the kitchen floor of a tiny attap-roofed wooden house they shared with ten other people. So, I find this statement extremely insulting.

But I’m not here to talk about the quota system, or question the special position of Bumiputras. I’m absolutely not defending the “Mandarin-speaking only” job posts.

What concerns me is how Malaysians have reacted to Maszlee’s remarks. Like The Edge’s contributing editor Mohsin Abdullah says, this controversy has, generally speaking, led to “Malays supporting Maszlee, and non-Malays attacking him”. It has divided us. And, of course, political parties had to pile in, with “the Malay parties of PH and BN on one side, and the Chinese parties of PH and BN on the other”. Opponents pounding their chests, jostling to be seen to be the guys who are fighting for the interest of the race their parties represent.

This fierce defence of each other’s race has only amplified what’s been going on all these years -- mistrust stemming from years and years of identity politics and racist indoctrination.

I mean, let’s be honest. If a loved one or a friend were to tell you that they were the victim of a crime, say, a snatch theft, what are the three questions you’re most likely ask? One, are you ok? Two, what did you lose? And three, what race was he? Or she, let’s not deny women equal opportunities here.

Worse still, Malaysians are using this issue to defend a tit-for-tat practice. As the argument goes, “if we can be deprived of certain opportunities, then so can you”.

The ugly truth is although many Malaysians were swaggering in step last year after GE14, united in showing off Tabung Harapan donation receipts, celebrating the Cabinet’s very first Sikh minister, and chuckling at that wise saying by Mark Twain, “Clever clever squirrel jump, one day fall to the ground also”, the fact remains that we are far from free of the racial bogeyman.

And this is not the time for our nation to be divided. Economic growth is lagging, the stock market is bleeding, salaries are stagnating, job cuts are happening. You have the Opposition painting DAP as the puppet master pulling the strings in Putrajaya in a bid to sow fear and doubt.

Remember, we are entering Year 2 of Malaysia Baru, and it’s not like we have not witnessed any improvements. We’ve seen aggressive action on financial scandals like 1MDB, Lembaga Tabung Haji and Felda, impressive progress on good governance, and improved press freedom and freedom of expression.

And now after months of house-cleaning and fiscal restraint, Putrajaya has signalled a pivot towards growth. The PM has announced a new economic direction under the theme Shared Prosperity 2030, with a focus on equitable growth.

If you remember, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has stressed that policies and programmes must be "needs-based," and that while no one should be left behind in the pursuit for national prosperity, the government has no intention of spoon-feeding those who need a leg-up.

Just yesterday, his trusted advisor Tun Daim Zainuddin said that PH now needs to pay more attention to issues affecting the daily lives of Malaysians now that it is into its second year of running the country. He said the three issues that need greater focus are affordable housing, cost of essential goods and reduction of toll rates.

This doesn’t mean issues like education and meritocracy are less important, of course. We just need to exercise a bit of patience, and let the new government take it step by step.

In the meantime, criticise your lawmakers all you want, but don’t turn it into a racist spat. We are building a brand new nation from scratch, so we cannot use remarks made by one inarticulate Cabinet Minister as an excuse to tear each other apart even before the five years are up.

Back to Maszlee. I’m not questioning his efforts in managing his portfolio. I’m not a Ministry insider, and I understand that making real change takes time, effort, consultation, compromise. I’m not privy to what’s going on behind the scenes. But I do believe that Maszlee could be much, much better at balancing his role as both a Cabinet Minister, and a member of PPBM. I mean, is he an Education Minister for all, or a politician championing the Bumiputera agenda?

If he wants to be both, he needs to articulate better, and fact-check before he speaks, because while there is nothing wrong in wanting to see your own ethnic group flourish, surely it cannot be at the expense of another. So, he needs to be able to get his point across about wanting to safeguard the interest of the race his party represents, without sounding like he’s only interested in this one race.

Because sadly, even in Malaysia 2.0, there is no escape from racial tensions. And although this is not how we all pictured Malaysia Baru, the truth is in this country -- and, for that matter, many parts of the world where populism dominates -- fighting for the interest of a particular race or religion is all we care about. Just Saying.

*The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the view of The Edge Media Group

Mobile app users may watch the video here.

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