"ALL MALAYSIANS ARE EQUAL," says Pak Lah

All Malaysians are equal

MERDEKA DAY SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER ABDULLAH BADAWI.


“Let all citizens of Malaysia, without feeling inferior, without feeling sidelined, irrespective of race or religion, rise to become statesmen in our own land. We’re equal, we’re all Malaysians. No individual in this country is more Malaysian than another. Unleash your potential and shape this country of yours the way you want it to be,” The Prime Minister’s Merdeka Day message to all Malaysians.

I'm sorry, did I read it incorrectly? It was extremely pleasant piece of news from the beloved PM. All Malaysians can now be rest assured that we are all Malaysian citizens and we do not need to feel inferior as we are equal. We can now unleash our potential and shape this country of ours, the way we want it to be. Thank You Mr. Prime Minister.

But .... we can't be equals, can we? I'm classified by the government as a non-bumi, while Sarawakian natives, the Portugese from Malacca, the Sabahan natives, and all the Malays are classified as Bumis (and the Indonesians and Mamaks too).

Is that how we define EQUALITY? I appreciate the firm and comforting words from the PM and on-behalf of Malaysian Chinese, we thank the Prime Minister for the offer of equality; but DEEDS matter more than WORDS.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to challenge anyone rights or privileges but, if the PM says I'm equal, I want to believe him. But there are Malay reserve land but no Chinese or Indian reserve land. I applied to join MARA for an accountancy course and was told it was only for Bumis. In the tender for public construction projects, contractors are classified as Bumis and non-bumis and most projects for tenders are for bumis. I wanted to buy a house, but the developer says I can't get the 15% discount meant for bumis as I'm Chinese. I am not allowed to invest in Amanah Saham and I'm not allowed to join UMNO, PAS and MIC. The Malays and Indians are not allowed to join MCA. But I can join Gerakan, PPP, KeAdiLan, and DAP because they believe in equality (presumably for the time being till they come to power; just like PAS).

The government wanted racial integration and was concern about that problem particularly, in our schools and universities. The national service project was suppose to enhance that philosophy. But can racial integration be achieved when we had defined a term to separate the various races? We had a class-system, similar to the caste-system in historical India. It will take many more years or decades to achieve racial integration. It may need a situation where all the races are driven by an external force (economic and political) such that we will be equal in pain and suffering, before they can accept to integrate together as equals so as to confront a common enemy. Globalization, liberalisation and NeoAmerican Political-Hegemony may be the external force.

As the saying goes, "The law of the land will never allow people to live equally in prosperity; only in extreme poverty can we unite and be equal."

"All men are equal, but some are more equal."
(from George Orwell, Animal Farm)

So, it should be: "All men are equal, when they all have nothing." Once they had something, equality is past tense.