Is BN guilty of criminal negligence?
The BN has failed to explain the Constitution and the so-called Social Contract to the people, says Hishamuddin Yahaya.
Hishamuddin Yahaya: It’s either do away with race-based political parties or stay race-based, in which case the country would forever remain divided along racial lines
ALIRAN
Are our efforts to foster racial unity really doddering, as alleged by some? Indications are that they are. Incidents involving people in responsible positions making derogatory racial remarks all point to that direction. What these people said is too sensitive to quote here. But suffice to say they were derogatory and racist remarks, which no amount of apology will erase.
Again what prompted the PM to give a stern warning that the government would not tolerate such sensitive issues being raised by any quarter? The answer is simply that racial unity is still elusive, and unless programmed and implemented wisely, it will not easily be achieved.
I am prompted to reminisce about what the late Koh Kai Boh, a Cabinet Minister prior to the May 13 incident, said when he came to Malaysia Hall, London to give a briefing on the situation, weeks after the infamous incident. Among other things, he said, “the government is guilty of criminal negligence in not teaching and explaining to the people our constitution.” Had that been done, he said, the racial riot could not have occurred. The late Koh Kai Boh himself was a lawyer.
In short, what the former Minister meant was, had the people understood their respective rights and obligations under the country’s principal law, things would automatically have fallen into place and the racial outburst would not have occurred. Understanding the constitution would also teach the people that to be a Malaysian is not just to be a Malay, Chinese or Indian, but to assume a nationality that is ‘Malaysian’. Race is relegated to nationality and only becomes relevant when applying personal laws such as marriages and other customary practices.
The United Kingdom is relevant example. All citizens are British, not English or Scottish or Welsh. Though, to a small extent, regional sentiments still exist, but on a common front, they are one people, “British”.
So-called ‘Social Contract’
Forty one years later, the BN government still carries the same sin, as pointed out by the late Koh Kai Boh. In fact, another negligence has been added to that: the BN’s failure to explain what the so-called “Social Contract” is about. Many do not know the existence of the Social Contract and have heard it only for the first time. Others think that it is a created thing to justify the BN’s failure to achieve the target for Bumiputra economic participation. If, as some quarters allege, a breach by one party of this alleged Social Contract is the reason for Malays lagging behind economically, then a manipulation of the issue could create something really frightening.
As a 71-year-old, I think the so-called Social Contract is best described as a vague, unpublished agreement, concealed from public knowledge and made to surface at a convenient time, purely for the BN’s political exigency. But this is an issue too dangerous to toy about with. As citizens, we have the absolute right to forewarn the powers-that-be that there are other ways of gaining political support. Do not follow the aphorism that in a time of storm, any port will do. It is simply self-destructive. And we know that the BN is now in a precarious position.
