This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on October 12 - October 18, 2015.

ON Sept 30, I was invited to speak at a forum on “Defending the Malay Dignity” organised by a student/youth organisation called Gerak Merdeka Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur.

I told the forum that I did not believe the Malay dignity was being challenged. But since some people, like the Red Shirts, have brought up the issue, we might as well explore it properly.

I have chosen to discuss the subject objectively, inclusively and substantively, not sensitively, exclusively and reactively.

If we are talking about Malay dignity, which Malays are affected? An individual? A group? A Malay political party? Non-Malay political parties? Multiracial political parties? Shia Malays? Sisters in Islam? Malays in DAP? The bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak? Or the Malays who attended the Bersih 4 and Red Shirts rallies?

What is the definition of dignity? Does it include wastage, leakage, corruption and misuse of power?

To me, we should promote the idea of dignified Malays that is based on religion, culture, citizenship, mature democracy, rule of law and substantive discourse.

We must look at Malay dignity objectively. The Malay survival is guaranteed by the federal constitution and Malay rulers. The Malays are the majority and head the federal government and all states except Penang. Hence, no Malays should have a siege mentality.

We should not have a knee-jerk reaction to the deviant behaviour of a few individuals. We should be able to distinguish between a real issue and a non-issue that has been exaggerated as an issue. And even if we have to react, we should not resort to anger, bad words, character assassination or dirty politics.

I do recognise that there are valid issues of Malay weakness in some areas. Examples are in education, professional fields, unemployment and business. But aren’t all the agencies responsible for the progress of the Malays manned and led by Malay officers and ministers?

Look at the quality of recent statements made by the Malay ministers. Some are simply laughable. The leaders top them all. They refer to Malays who do not support them as “bangsat”. They use the word “pengkhianat” to again describe the Malays who do not support them.

So, I ask, is the challenge to the Malay dignity an effect of the doings of the non-Malays against the Malays or is it self-inflicted by the doings of the Malays who are entrusted to look after them but choose to breach that trust?

Today, we should be talking about defending and improving the dignity of all Malaysians. Not just the Malays. Or any other race or ethnicity. In this context, we must do two things.

First, we must inclusively improve some basic areas, for example, knowledge, skills and the attitude of our youth. In education, the focus is no longer on access but quality. For example, in a professional field like accounting, it is no longer about providing people with a degree in accounting but about ensuring that they become chartered accountants.

Second, we have to work on a new configuration of how we do things. As a Muslim, I am afraid of being an “assabiyah” (racist), which is condemned by Islam.

That is why I have been advocating an end to race politics — when the state uses race through laws, policies and institutions. It also uses a discourse called “democratic racism” to rationalise its actions.

The current political configuration used by the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) — that is “consociationalism” (bargaining of power and division of work based on race), which now looks like moving towards “bumiputera dominance” — must be changed. It must be replaced by a new configuration of “centripetalism” or centrist multiracial politics based on inter-ethnic collaboration in the real sense of the word.

The government must also change its paradigm. We can no longer use the “guardian” paradigm, which is based on protecting the people. This can easily slide into using threats and intimidation to strike fear into people’s hearts so that they hang on to your guardianship. In this paradigm, programmes such as education risk sliding into “dumbing down” mode (read: indoctrination).

Instead, the government should advance to a “governance” paradigm based on empowering the people to unleash their full potential and talent. In this paradigm, education will be about knowledge, culture, creativity and innovation.

The people are ready. The problem is that most of the leaders of the race-based political parties are not ready. But I am very optimistic that change will happen, soon.

In conclusion, it is about the dignity of all Malaysians.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah is CEO of the Global Movement of Moderates, chairman of the Youth Academy and former deputy minister of higher education. He is active on twitter @saifuddinabd.

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