Time for a Chinese Tiger Counter-Movement and Happy Chinese New Years
By batsman
I must say that many of the articles and comments here still reflect the old paradigms. They still say that the problem with Malaysia is still very much a Malay-Chinese quarrel, albeit UMNO is only slowly being seen as the villain that perpetuates this quarrel with openly and arrogantly racist policies.
Articles that tell of UMNO manipulation to open up the Malay-Chinese divide by perverting positive discrimination into Ketuanan Melayu rings true in many Chinese souls and attracts favourable comments.
The great problem here is that such articles and comments do not ring true in the Malay soul. At most it causes anxious ripples, never a clear loud uncompromised ringing. Part of the problem may be that these articles only talk of Malays causing problems, never Chinese causing problems. This alone makes these articles unconvincingly one-sided and sound like badly done propaganda efforts.
It is thus only natural that the Malay soul remains unconvinced and with UMNO’s propaganda machine whispering viciously about the Chinese danger, the old paradigms still hold sway. What Malays are unreservedly against is UMNO’s immorality, corruption and perversion while arguments against Ketuanan Melayu present only a distant discomfort.
In the Chinese year of the Tiger, hopefully a new paradigm will take shape that will influence the struggle against racism in a new direction. The Chinese Tiger needs to get smarter while the Malay Kancil needs to be more trusting. Is such a situation possible or will old habits and attitudes die hard?
Will the Chinese Tiger swallow up the Malay Kancil with such a new paradigm shift? Will the Malays be making a suicide pact?
Seen from the angle of the tiger and the mousedeer, such a proposal is dangerously ridiculous. However, seen from the angle of natural conservation, things start to make more sense. It is this common sensibility that I appeal to.
However strong and fierce the tiger, it is nonetheless in danger of becoming extinct. Once it becomes extinct, the natural balance will be disrupted forever. The natural human fear of the tiger must be replaced by one of mastery of conservation, a true Ketuanan, a real master of the fate of Malaysia, the type that sees the big picture not the type that grabs all wealth and tries to dominate all nature.
The above pertains to the Malay Kancil retaining its traditional cunning and wisdom, but also becoming more trusting of the Chinese Tiger in a sane and cautious way in order to help the fierce but essentially unresponsive Tiger from becoming extinct altogether.
Conservationists in Yellowstone find that the absence of a top predator, the wolf, creates ecological problems. For one, their prey, the elk population becomes larger and more unsustainable. New growth forest disappear because the elk eat up all the young shoots and trees. Erosion of the river banks become a serious problem because the elk eat up all the weeds on the banks which prevent erosion. Even the beavers disappear because the trees have disappeared and the rivers are eroding. Other wildlife such as ducks and migratory birds also avoid Yellowstone because the ecology has been disturbed and the natural habitat has changed. Coyote populations have increased because competition from the wolf is no more, but unfortunately coyotes also hunt smaller prey such as wild birds and their eggs and nestlings with consequent diminishing of the bird population.
And this is not the end of the story. The situation was still developing and as elk populations grow even larger, they will face starvation as they eat up all the remaining vegetation without predators to keep the balance. Luckily realization stepped in and the situation is being addressed.
UMNO is implementing policies that will see the extinction of the top predatory Chinese Tiger. The whole social and economic balance of Malaysia is changing beyond recognition. UMNO policies essentially mean a purely Malay Malaysia. This may be interpreted as apartheid policies that will eventually lead to genocidal policies. They cannot but be seen as immoral and racist as well as practically senseless. Hopefully realization will step in and the situation will be addressed.
The sad part is the Chinese Tiger is not responding well to UMNO attacks. It is essentially fierce in nature and this is how it responds, but fierceness alone will not save it. It has to get smart.
It should realize that fierceness creates fear and that fear in the ordinary Malay is not something that will ensure its survival. Fear in the ordinary Malay will only drive him into UMNO’s arms however smart or wise he wishes to be.
Of course real tigers can never think in this way. They are after all wild beasts. In the wild they will continue to be tigers whatever you do. But humans with the nature of the tiger should be smart enough to try and form honest alliances with as many friends as possible. This means treating the ordinary Malay as a friend and reserving fierceness for UMNO.
And this must not only occur in the arena of politics, but also in daily life and in daily business. This is the new paradigm shift as opposed to the old paradigms of seeking UMNO cronies as business friends in alibaba partnerships in order to grab as much wealth as possible while treating the ordinary Malay as coolies and as people to be denigrated and looked down upon. Such old paradigms of reserving fierceness for ordinary Malays and seeking to make friends with UMNO and become an UMNO crony need to be abandoned.
If such a new paradigm shift is at all possible, then happy Gongxi Facai to you. I do not wish any decent person any ill will, but if the old paradigms still hold sway, I believe there will be quite a few unhappy new years to come for all – Malays and Chinese alike.
