Open letter to Tun Mahathir

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Jul 23, 2009

The Flaccid Mind

A reader has kindly helped me (thank you Daisy Sheppard!) with the translation works for my previous Bahasa Melayu post ‘Surat terbuka kepada Tun Mahathir‘ , so here is the English version for your reading. Please share it around if you think it is worth doing so.

Dear Tun Mahathir,

I refer to Tun’s article entitled “Walk in the Shoes” written on the 20th July 2009 on Tun’s website. Allow me to share my opinion with regards to what had been written by Tun.

2. I believe the questioner perceived that non-Malays are feeling very oppressed and disappointed with the “injustice” against them in Malaysia (by a Government that is controlled by Malays).

The non Malays have strong reasons for feeling very oppressed and disappointed with the injustice towards them in Malaysia. In fact non Malay bumiputeras specifically the orang Aslis and Sabah and Sarawak bumiputeras also share the same feels as they too were not given the same treatment as the Malays whereas they are the original inhabitant of this country. How many non Malay bumiputera were accepted into the government sectors and government owned corporations like Petronas?

3. I do not know if this questioner ever asked non Malay luminaries the same question that is the feelings of Malays as to the state of their ancestors’ country that they have now become a race that relatively speaking are the poorest and still lagging behind.

Tun, the keyword here is ‘the poorest and lagging behind’ and that means irrespective of race, Malay or non Malay. If aid had been given to those who are deserving and in need without taking in account race, skin colour and religion and it was found that the majority of the deserving poor are Malays, it would have been well received by all.

No one will question such a policy. It is only wrong to create on purpose and then systematically misuse a policy to provide priorities to a particular race without taking into account the merit and need. In fact if such a policy is implemented – by taking into account needs and merit in deciding the distribution of aid, the majority of the Malays will automatically receive the benefits.

It has been more than 30 years the NEP has been implemented and there are still many Malays who are poor and lagging behind. Does this not give an indication that the NEP has failed in its implementation and that something drastic needs to be done? The gap between the poor and the rich keeps increasing where wealth is only directed to a group of Chinese, Indian and Malay individuals.

When you were in power, you gave many lucrative contracts to your non-Malay friends and some of them went to become among the richest individuals in Malaysia. Why didn’t you give the contracts to Malays back then? If you did, what happened to them?

And by using the argument that the richest individuals in Malaysia are from those who are non Malays, Tun presumed that it is all right to continue the NEP by giving priority to the Malays and punishing the non Malays who are poor and lagging behind? Is not the original intention of the NEP to help all who are poor and in need of economic aid regardless of race? Since when has the NEP been exclusively reserved for the Malays only?

Oh yes, is it not according to anthropological and historical studies, that most of the Malays in Malaysia and their ancestors actually originated from Indonesia, Thailand and India? Even from China? So their ancestors’ country is actually not Malaysia, just like mine? For example yourself,Tun; Khir Toyo and Syed Hamid Albar?