‘Celebrate diversity’, the Idris Jala trope
His keynote address is full of ‘Let’s-all-sing-Kumbaya’ soundbites but short on substance as he does not address the hard issues.
By Helen Ang
The Christian cabinet minister Idris Jala prefers race and religious differences considered as “polarities to be managed” rather than problems to be solved. He talks of the North Pole and South Pole balancing the Earth on its axis as an analogy of how to arrive at equilibrium.
Idris forgets that the two geographical ‘poles’ are not lopsided, unlike his metaphorical ‘polarities’ (word meaning two opposite tendencies, opinions) between the Malaysian citizenry belonging to different races and religions. While there may be antipodean opinions, it is only on one side that the opinion makers are threatened with police action.
Take for example, this latest agitation by the blogger Big Dog — who is Mukhriz Mahathir’s loudhailer and fang barer; the Umno deputy minister in turn who is a backer of Perkasa. On Sept 16 Malaysia Day, Big Dog again called for Umno ministers to “take action against personalities like Lim Guan Eng, Karpal Singh, Theresa Kok, Helen Ang and most recently [to cause ‘offence’] Wee Meng Chee (Namewee)”.
Note that the police crackdown is sought against members of the Chinese and Indian minorities (as per the name list above). The racial skew does not bespeak of polarities equal in strength as would be in the case of the two poles of a magnet.
Note too that once before, a representation of 10 non-Muslim ministers had petitioned the then prime minister to redress the acute bullying suffered by adherents of the minority religions. Yet within the blink of an eye, the ‘mighty’ ministerial delegation — after a little dissuasion — withdrew its protest, tail between their legs.
If there are polarities, the two are not “managed” (to quote Idris’s desired wish) but it is one polarity — the ultra sensitive one — that harasses and intimidates the other, easily cowed one.
Action speaks louder than words
Also in the plenary session at UCSI’s ‘National Congress on Integrity’, Idris in his commemoration of Malaysia Day said: “The way to become 1Malaysia is not through government policy but through behavioural change”.
But who is it asked to change their behaviour? Idris as a member of the Najib administration should look in his own backyard first. Isn’t it the keris-kissing Perkasa that should behave better? Is Idris’s boss looking at all into making Perkasa behave?
And going by the Idris formulation, government policies should be left unchanged even though their inherent discrimination is the fundamental reason why 1Malaysia is stillborn.
His keynote address is full of ‘Let’s-all-sing-Kumbaya’ soundbites but short on substance as he does not address the hard issues. His is only a softsell, like the Yasmin Ahmad Petronas ads that used to be aired every Merdeka anniversary.
Idris calls for the different communities to move beyond ‘tolerating’ each other to ‘acceptance’ of our differences. From ‘acceptance’, Idris preaches that the next and top rung of the ladder for us step up to is “to celebrate each other’s differences”.
But first, let’s look at who Idris is preaching to. The entire day’s proceedings where he was feted was conducted in English — from emcee to guests-of-honour opening words to VIP presentators to roundtable participants to workshop speakers to moderators to the observers summing up.
Although a Malaysia Day function, the national language was not heard except in one or two questions from the floor and the speakers’ replies.
It was an English-speaking audience that day listening to Idris. Demographically, only half the country’s population is English ‘literate’ (in the sense of accessing media in the language). Hence, Idris was making his pitch at a banquet room urban crowd that is unrepresentative of the larger Malaysia. The Minister, despite his Muslim-sounding name is really a Sarawak Kelabit, and reputedly very popular with churchgoers.
