Farish bluntly stated that Ethnic and religious discord is serious in Malaysia

February 17, 2011

John Malott hinted, Farish bluntly stated that Ethnic and religious discord is serious in Malaysia

by Aidila Razak@http://www.malaysiakini.com

Race relations in Malaysia is dangerously close to absolutely breaking down if racial politics is not kept in check, said a political scientist.

According to Farish Noor (left), a lecturer at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Malaysia’s patterns of politics seem to reflect that of other countries which have suffered severe racial and religious discord.

“I’ve spent more than 10 years studying dysfunctional countries and I believe we are going down the path of countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

“I have seen enough race and religious riots to see that Malaysia is close to going down that path,” he said. Indonesia endured from severe rioting in 1998, involving severe attacks against the minority ethnic Chinese, while religious reprisals against the Hindu minorities were seen in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Speaking at forum on public governance by the Perdana Leadership Foundation and the National Professors’ Council today, Farish added that the problem remains with the politicians.

“It is the behaviour of politicians which is maintaining this (situation). We know that each party has its racial vote bank and several attempts to form non-racial parties, like Gerakan, have failed.

“How do we get politicians to act logically and rationally even though it involves the risk of losing votes?” he asked the audience of about 80, made up mostly of academics.

Make racial politics illegal

Agreeing with Farish was panelist Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas  who said that one way to do away with racial politics is to outlaw it. “What we are doing is untenable even in the medium run. We want to have 1Malaysia but what do you do in politics is totally separate,” he said.

Megat Najmuddin, who is also an UMNO disciplinary committee member, added that race relations is also frail due to the existence of vernacular schools. “If you want to talk about 1Malaysia, do away with racial politics and vernacular schools,” he said.

Similarly, Farish noted that it is impossible to build national consensus with children growing up in several different streams of education.

“You can’t build a singular nation with five education streams. This is the case even in the more developed countries,” the erudite academic said.

Pigs’ Heads, Cows’ Heads and The Demons Among Us.

Jan 27, 2010, by Farish A. Noor

In the Malay-Indonesian rendering of the Mahabharatta, the Hikayat Pandawa Lima, we have an interesting and important episode that takes place as the great battle of Bharatayudha is fought. The Pandawa prince Yudistira – who is an ascetic and pacifist at heart – is forced to do battle with the great King Prabu Salya. Prabu Salya has one great weapon that could not be defeated by anyone else, the demon Chandrabirawa.

The demon Chandrabirawa could not be defeated as he grew more and more powerful every time he was hit. If his arm was chopped off, he would immediately grow another arm, even more powerful and deadly than the one before. Hundreds of warriors tried to defeat the demon, but they were all slain and the demon grew stronger with each fight- for the demon thrived on hate and violence.

Yet Prabu Salya had been warned by the sages that his defeat would come at the hands of ‘the man of pure heart who has done no harm to anyone’.

When the demon Chandrabirawa comes to confront the prince Yudistira, Yudistira refuses to fight him. Despite the provocations and taunts of Chandrabirawa, Yudistira maintains a stoic silence and refuses to raise his hand in anger. The demon is enraged by Yudistira’s refusal to be provoked and to fight, and in his anger grows more and more demonic and fiery; but the demon is consumed by his own hate and anger, and eventually succumbs to the fire of hate. Thus the legend comes true in the end, and Prabu Salya is defeated by the man who has done no harm to anyone.

Today in Malaysia there seem to be some who wish to inflame the situation in the country with blatant acts of provocation, intended to arouse the ire and hate of the rest of us. We have witnessed the sad and shameful spectacle of cows’ heads being severed, and now pigs’ heads have been cut in anger too.

While the authorities have the responsibility to stop this cycle of violence from spiraling any further, we – every ordinary Malaysian – have our own responsibility as well when it comes to choosing how to react to these acts of provocation. In times of overheated rhetoric and anger such as these, cool heads and calm tempers must prevail. Now is the moment for each and every one of us to be the Yudistira that is in all of us. Now is the time for the spirit of the wise pacifist to prevail – and it is not a spirit of passive defeatism that is called on, but rather the active and deliberate will not to fall into the trap of provocation.

The cycle of hate and violence can only end when we choose to break the link before us, and refuse to allow ourselves to be made into pawns for some sick and potentially deadly game that is being played by puppet-masters who have neither the courage nor principles to identify themselves in public.

Enough is enough. One severed cow’s head, or pig’s head, is already one too many. As Marina Mahathir has noted in her article ‘Let us Not let them Provoke us into War’ (27 Jan 2010), let US – Malaysian citizens of all walks of life and belief – regain our will and autonomy and reclaim our nation from the hate-mongers, cowards, bigots and chauvinists. Hate will not be defeated by more hate, and racism will not be defeated by more racism.

Like Yudistira, we must show that love – for peace, for others – is a mighty force that can defeat the demons among us. And like Yudistira, we must understand that Pacifism is NOT weakness, but rather the strongest expression of an independent intelligent will that refuses to compromise its dignity and autonomy by blindly walking down the path of irrational hate and anger.

End.

BAHASA MALAYSIA VERSION

Khinzir, Lembu dan Raksaksa di Kalangan Kita

(*Terjemahan dari rencana Farish A. Noor bertajuk “Pigs’ Heads, Cows’ Heads and The Demons Among Us” oleh saudara David Chong yang budiman. Saya terhutang budi kepadanya atas kesudian beliau untuk menterjemahkan rencana ini.- FN )

Oleh Farish A Noor/ Diterjemahkan oleh David Chong

Terjemahan Mahabharatta dalam bahasa Melayu-Indonesia, Hikayat Pandawa Lima, menceritakan episod menarik dan mustahak yang berlaku atas medan pertempuran Bharatayudha. Putera sulong Pandawa bernama Putra Yudistira – seorang pertapa berjiwa damai – terpaksa berperang dengan Raja Prabu Salya. Prabu Salya memiliki suatu senjata hebat yang tidak boleh dikalahkan oleh sesiapa pun, iaitu, Raksasanya Chandrabirawa.

Raksasa ini tidak mudah ditumpaskan kerana ia menjadi lebih kuat setiap kali ia diserang. Jika tangannya dipotong, tangan baru tumbuh semula, lebih berkuasa dan berbisa dari yang sebelumnya. Ratusan pendekar cuba mengalahkan raksasa ini tetapi mereka semua gagal. Malah makhluk itu menjadi lebih kuat selepas pertarungan kerana ia dibekalkan keganasan dan kebencian.

Namun Prabu Salya telah diberi amaran bahawa beliau akan tumpas di tangan ‘orang berjiwa murni yang tidak mencederakan sesiapa’.

Apabila Raksasa Chandrabirawa datang berdepan dengan Putra Yudistira, baginda enggan berlawan. Walaupun dilontar cemuhan dan provokasi Chandrabirawa, Yudistira tabah berdiam dan langsung tidak bertindak keras. Maka Raksasa itu naik berang melihat tingkah laku Yudistira dan api kemarahannya semakin marak sehingga ia musnah dibakar obor kebenciannya sendiri. Termakbullah legenda bahawa Prabu Salya akan ditumpaskan oleh ‘orang berjiwa murni yang tidak mencederakan sesiapa’.

Hari ini, ada golongan yang ingin sengaja mengapi-apikan keadaan di Malaysia dengan perbuatan provokasi, bertujuan untuk menyalakan rasa gusar dan benci di kalangan kita. Kita melihat insiden sedih dan memalukan di mana kepala lembu dan kini, kepala khinzir pula dipancung dan dilontar dalam kemarahan.

Walaupun pihak berkuasa bertanggungjawab untuk menghentikan kitaran keganasan dari berterusan, kita, setiap warga Malaysia, juga memikul kewajipan memilih bagaimana kita bertindak balas terhadap perbuatan provokasi golongan tersembunyi ini. Pada masa sebegini, fikiran tenang dan emosi tabah harus dikekalkan. Inilah saat kita diseru mencontohi jiwa Yudistira dalam sanubari kita. Semangat cinta damai putera bijaksana ini adalah suatu sifat aktif, serta melibatkan suatu keputusan untuk menghindari perangkap golongan provokator.

Kitaran benci dan keganasan hanya dapat dihentikan apabila kita sendiri mematahkan rangkaiannya yang di depan mata dan enggan membiarkan diri menjadi bidak dalam permainan api dalang yang tidak berprinsip dan takut mendedahkan diri mereka di muka umum.

Sudah cukup kita melihat insiden kepala lembu atau kepala khinzir ini! Marina Mahathir, dalam tulisan beliau, juga telah menggesa kita agar jangan biarkan provokasi mereka membawakan persengketaan (27 Jan 2010). Jadi marilah kita – warga Malaysia dari setiap lapisan masyarakat yang pelbagai kepercayaan – memulih kembali kebebasan negara kita dari golongan fanatik, penakut dan provokator ini. Kebencian tidak dapat dikalahkan dengan kebencian, dan rasisme tidak akan ditumpaskan dengan lebih racun rasisme.

Seperti Yudistira, kita harus membuktikan bahawa sifat cinta kepada keamanan, cinta sesama kita adalah kuasa yang mampu menewaskan raksasa di kalangan kita. Dan seperti Yudistira, kita mesti faham bahawa pasifisme bukanlah ciri kelemahan, malah ia adalah ekspresi paling ketara bagi jiwa bebas lagi bijaksana yang enggan berkompromi dalam mengikuti jejak dendam dan kebencian.

Tamat.

The Maharaja wears no clothes

January 27 , 2010

“Is Anwar that naive or stupid that he cannot see the false façade that Zul is wearing on his face? I think Anwar may need to spend a second term in the Sungai Buloh Prison to wake him up to the reality of what is going on in the real world.”--Raja Petra Kamaruddin, No Holds Barred (Malaysia-Today, January 27, 2010)

by Farish A Noor

Looking at the state of Malaysian politics and society today, at a time when the nation is caught in the grip of a collective anxiety over questions of identity and its future, it is heartening to note that so many of the efforts at nation-building, reconciliation, the fostering of a sense of nationhood and common belonging is coming from ordinary people from all walks of life. Almost all of the efforts we have seen thus far — be it in the form of defining the meaning of Anak Bangsa Malaysia to the healing of collective wounds and sensitivities — have been individual efforts initiated by Malaysian citizens who still believe in the Malaysian project and the idea that Malaysian identity ought to be founded on the notion of a common, universal and equal citizenship for all.

Such positive developments, however, are set back by the lame and insipid developments on the political front; most notably the turgid pace of reform in some of the political parties of the country, including those parties that claim to be founded on the basis of reform itself.

Most recently we have witnessed the pathetic spectacle of political parties totally unable or unwilling to undertake the task of reform in their own ranks, and failing to admonish errant members whose actions and speech seem to contradict what the parties stand for. We are told that this is due to political necessity and fed the same excuse that politics is a ‘complicated business’ where egos and personalities need to be massaged all the time. Then there is the other familiar excuse of pragmatism backed up by the equally lame argument of having to pander to the communitarian sensitivities of their vote-bases and constituencies.

Politicians, however, ought to be reminded that politics is all about the art of the possible and to open up new opportunity structures all the time. Even in the most desperate situation, the able politician is capable of finding ways of compromise and negotiation. And in instances when parties flounder due to the behavior of errant individuals, then parties will have to decide in the name of the good of the party and its image.

After all, consider this: If there was a Capitalist party that discovered one of its members to be a Communist, the Capitalists in the party would simply lay down an ultimatum to the member and tell him/her to make one of two choices: Either conform to the ideology of the Capitalist party or leave and join a Communist party. So would it be with a Communist party that harboured an errant Capitalist member. So would it be with any other party on the planet, for heaven’s sake.

Yet the failure of PKR to deal with issues of ideological consistency and conformity with/to party principles leaves the mind boggling. After all, political parties are composite entities that require wilfull participation of members who believe in the same things. It’s not a dinner party.

All of this points to the now evident weakness of the man who has become the emblematic leader of the PKR himself, and who was the icon and idol for so many. Not least an entire generation of first-time voters who saw in him a new hope for the future. The ‘New Politics’ that was bandied about in March 2008 was meant to be a departure from the old mode of patronage-clientelist personalised politics and the ‘buddy-buddy’ network of the past. However as some senior PKR leaders themselves have come to admit, it appears that not everyone is equal in PKR and that some are more valued and protected than others.

The damage that this has and will cause to PKR cannot be gauged at the moment, but the lustre has begun to wear off. Perhaps the first blow came when the much-lauded and over-hyped ‘takeover’ of the country scheduled for September 16, 2008 never materialised; akin to standing in the heat waiting for the space shuttle to take off and only to be told that the darned machine won’t fly because the astro-toilet system cannot flush. A series of similar letdowns and non-shows have disappointed us all, and with that so have the admiration and respect waned. I am not the first and only one to say this, but others have noted too that the party now seems to be a case of all ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’ — to quote the leader’s favourite playwright. The Maharaja has lost his charm. The mojo has gone. And the party stands naked, exposed for what it is.

Oh well, time for Malaysians to recover their will and agency on their own I suppose. And that may not be a bad thing considering the appalling performance of our politicians of late. — othermalaysia.org•