50 Posts to Independence No.24

Thanks Howsy for tagging me on the subject called "50-Post to Independent".

Firstly, I apologize for not responding timely to his tag until he notified me yesterday.

Honestly, I don't know what to write as it had originated from Nizam Bashir.

Visited Nizam's posting and it seems that the participant is to write something related to his contributions to Malaysia or what had made Malaysia special to him?

Malaysia sure is special to me as I was born in this land, not out of my own choice.

My father was born in Malaysia and hence he becomes a Malaysian.

I didn't choose to be a Malaysian citizen; it was bestowed unto me and I truly appreciated it.

From a young age, Malaysia was special to me as I could attend multi-racial school and get to know the other people who had different color of skin to mine, and who speaks in languages different from mine. However, we could all communicate in a common language - Bahasa Malaysia and English.

During the primary school and secondary school days, all of us, Malays, Chinese, Indians, and Sikhs, we were all Malaysians and we hardly differentiate ourselves with the color of our skin or religion. In our conscious mind and sub-conscious mind, we only know we are Malaysians and that everyone of us are approximately equal.

We never heard of NEP, Bumiputera-ism and Islamophobia were unheard of. The Malays were generally Muslims, and almost all the Indians were Hindus or Christians. The Chinese were mostly Buddhist, Christians or Taoist. Religion was never an issue that divide us nor cause anxieties between the various races.

In the civil services and uniform services, we can observed that the three major races existed in approximate uniformity. Though the percentages of each race may not be equal, however, the quota system or domination by any single race was unheard of and never an issue. Meritocracy persisted and was empirical. The Director-generals of the civil services are made up from the various races, rising through the ranks, based on seniority and competence.

The social landscape changed drastically since 1970. We now can count the numbers of D-Gs from the other races in the civil services with out bare-hands. Meritocracy is now extinct and though the word is still in use by the system administrators, it could never ever be justified by any logical intellectual means.

If we observed the public universities and its administration, we can understand why there are hundred of thousands of unemployed or unemployable graduates (the numbers of unemployable had only being reduced through the behemoth absorption by the civil service and GLCs) . However, the system is still suffering from denial syndrome. To the system administrators and the controller, there is no need of any solution as there wasn't any problem in their eyes and that of their masters. As long as those in power are blind, they can't see. But the problem is not they are blind; it's they are self-enhance blinded.

This is what makes Malaysia special to me - Mediocrity had now being baptised as Meritocracy and marginalization redefined as marginal acceptance. It's hard to differentiate between right and wrong, and what is right is redefined as what the political masters believed is right.

If Karl Marx is alive today and is in Malaysia, I believed he would not be writing his doctrine about the dilemma of the Proletariat vs Bourgeoisie. He would have redefine the new kind of class struggle where the law is now made an ideological weapon of the ruling class deployed by the state through the legal system so as to maintain class rule and oppress the other classes.

The laws of economic development today still reflects the fundamental antagonism as envisaged by Marx but it wasn't about those who own the instrument of production and those labour class. It is about those who holds the instrument of power who are productionless and those who are productive are subdued and suppressed via coercive but legally valid norms.

Marx's point was simple but deadly. Modernity will have to change into a form which will allow the freedom of the "species-being" of mankind to be realized. The task is to locate and analyze the actual conditions which produced the gap between man's humanity and his world. If man were to realize his possibilities in history he would have to change the actual, material conditions of his existence. To Marx, the goal of modernity is to achieve the task of human freedom and happiness, and the obstacles can be overcome through the progressive force of social reason and the communication of ideas.

Hence, Malaysians should not blind themselves to the reality of domination inherent in law. Class interest is a powerful element of legal power. The liberal talk of rights and freedom are obscured by our social reality. In Marx words, we are free; we are indeed free to be poor and free from all rights, from every real form of national citizenry existence. Since we are free from all means of support, we are forced to sell our souls to the ruling regime in order to survive and those in power are free to exploit and are obsessed with surplus wealth and vanity.

Suffice to say,it is not possible to defend ourselves against the ruling class and the legal order of injustice.

Will there be a better tomorrow? It is still a dream. Let's hope it's not a nightmare.

I tagged 2020FreeLunch