A Malaysian writes to his Prime Minister

September 30, 2010

www.themalaysianinsider.com

From a Malaysian to the Malaysian Prime Minister

September 29, 2010

Dear Datuk Seri Najib,

Greetings from a Malaysian. I hope that you are well and have had a fruitful trip to the United States in your official capacity. I sincerely hope that you’ve achieved all that you had set out to achieve when the trip was planned and I pray for your safe return to the country.

Datuk Seri, I was compelled to write you this letter having seen what’s happening here in the country recently. I have always identified myself as a Malaysian first and everything else was and still is secondary to me.

I don’t go about proclaiming myself to be a Chinese first as I feel what good is a race without a citizenship and a place to call a home? Neither do I go around with a humongous cross hanging on my neck to proclaim my faith. Faith, I sincerely believe is a matter between me and God or Allah or whatever it is that we choose to call our Creator.

Allow me to stray and share a personal experience with you, sir. I came to the capital city a few years ago for economic reasons with a mind full of prejudice. Coming from a laid back society in Sarawak, we’ve always viewed West Malaysians with an unhealthy degree of suspicion. I recalled all the advice, both solicited and unsolicited reminding me of the characteristics of the three major races in the country.

The Malays were to be avoided for their supposed extremism and zealous propagation of their religion up to and including proselytising. The Chinese on the other hand were aloof, selfish and arrogant. A relationship with the Chinese is supposedly measured purely in financial terms. While the Indians were a different animal altogether. Tales of their drunkenness and suspect trustworthiness  were commonplace. I remembered as I reported for my first day at work, I wondered if I was ever going to have any friends at all.

Reporting to work with me that day were two other Chinese, one Indian and five Malays. The next three days entailed visits to different offices in the far reaches of the Klang Valley. My first lesson came that day when I was asking my fellow newbies on how could I get to the three different offices by public transport. The sole Indian offered to drive me there since he was staying a short drive away from my rented home then.

The visit to the final location which was over an hour’s drive away required us to report to the office at 6am. We decided to carpool but the early hour meant picking everyone up would be a hassle. And that was when my second lesson came.

One of the Malay newbies offered me a bed at his home to make it more convenient for our Indian friend to pick us up. And that, after being acquaintances for a mere three days. And moving on to pick the fourth of our party, we found him waiting for us at 4.30am with bags of a fast food chain’s breakfast meals.

That day, my prejudice towards my fellow Malaysians was washed away, completely. No longer do I stereotype any races with their supposed characteristics nor do I discriminate on the account of their religion or lack of. Today, I’m proud to say that I have a liberal mixture of races in my list of friends both in the social networks and in real life.

Datuk Seri, you may be asking me why am I telling you a tale as such? I sincerely believe that this country, which belongs equally to all Malaysians, is heading towards an abyss from which there may be no return.

I remembered the days when I would read the sports section of the newspapers as the local news was invariably less exciting. These days, unfortunately, I read of hate, vitriol and blatant abuse of power shouting out at me from the headlines.

The last year or so, we’ve seen many incidents which had touched the raw nerves of many peace loving and moderate Malaysians. We can start with how the Al-Islam journalists desecrate what is holy to Catholics. It was amazing that the Attorney-General decided that No Further Action (NFA) was necessary. Even the apology came grudgingly after it was demanded for by the Archbishop of KL. In fact, there were some quarters who felt that the apology was not necessary.

Let’s compare that with the recent incident involving an elected representative from the opposition, Datuk Seri. She was present at the surau to disburse of aid for the rakyat. And she gave short speech. I’m certain that she wasn’t trying to convert the Muslims who were there then. But consider the uproar that happened in the aftermath of the issue.

Let’s cast our sights at a few other incidences involving religion shall we, Datuk Seri? The cow’s head issue and the arson of churches in the country were incidents we cannot be proud of. It’s good that both cases had been tried in the courts of law and the perpetrators had been found guilty and punished. What is sadly lacking is a truly united Malaysia in condemning the attacks. In fact, there are even quarters within your political party questioning the need for the government to present aid to Metro Tabernacle Church.

I believe in a Creator, Datuk Seri. When I worship in English, I refer to the Creator as God or Lord. When I worship in Bahasa Malaysia, I refer to the Creator as Tuhan or Allah. Ask any man or woman your age in Sabah and Sarawak how do they address God in Bahasa Malaysia and they’ll tell you the answer.

When the previous home minister decided to tackle this matter, it had remained as it were without any issues or confusion. Even your current home minister said that they should have “let sleeping dogs lie” but the fact of the matter is they didn’t. The hornet’s nest was stirred and now the stinging consequences would haunt us all for the foreseeable future.

Moving on, Datuk Seri, the cases of racially tinged statements is truly going up the roof recently. Educators are supposed to educate the next generation to be better persons and to learn from past mistakes. It’s unfortunate that our educators are spewing instead hate with a racial flavour. And to make matters worse, your deputy cum education minister is unable to act as there’s no provision for him to act on supposedly “High Grade” officers of the civil service.

In the last few days, a high ranking officer from Biro Tata Negara (BTN) under the auspices of the PM Department likened certain races in the country to being “slit eyed” and “drunkards”. I suppose that as the PM, your hands are tied, too, as he’s a “High Grade” officer of the civil service and should be dealt with by the Public Service Department?

I know the difficulties of wearing corrective glasses for eyesight impairment, Datuk Seri, as I have been using spectacles since I was eight. But even without glasses, is it really that difficult to see how members of your party and by extension your administration are currently being myopic on issues to harp about?

One of the biggest culprits, in my humble opinion (though probably unsolicited), is your minister in charge of information. He seems to be constantly threatening to arrest those who are making “inappropriate” remarks when there are so many of his own race and religion are making far more callous remarks towards others.

Perhaps, the minister in question should walk the talk. We see the curtailing of news from the mainstream media daily. Reports on the remarks from the BTN officer is not seen anywhere in print media nor on the telly. But it’s all over the internet portals. Neither is the directive by the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) to the villagers of Pos Pasik to demolish their nearly-completed church, publicised. Is this due to the fact that it would reflect badly on your administration, Datuk Seri?

I read with interest on your speech to the United Nations recently. I truly am a strong supporter of you even before you assumed the premiership. But reading the text of your speech left me with mixed feelings as I lament the malaise that the country is in.

I remembered the sense of pride I had and the kindling of hope that maybe, just maybe under your stewardship the country would turn for the better. Today, I’m disappointed with the way things are but the hope remains that you’ll turn things round eventually.

Datuk Seri, I speak to you not as a Chinese, nor a Catholic. But I speak to you as a Malaysian and a fellow human being. I think that your actions will speak louder than all the words you can say in your speeches sir. It’s time to tell the citizens of Malaysia regardless of race or faith that it’s time to walk together hand in hand as we seek the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.

It’s time to put all our petty differences behind us and make our mark in history that we can all be proud of. Let the history books in future tell generations to come of the day we took control of our destiny and smash all the barriers that are impeding our unity and progress. Let us not make history for the wrong reasons — the start of the downward spiral which ends with the destruction of this proud nation.

I take my leave now with my best wishes to you and your family sir. Thank you and may Allah bless you and grant you good health always.

Best regards

David Martin,
A Malaysian first, second and last