The Truth of Malaysia’s Racism
How can there be One Malaysia when the Malays in terms of wealth, are actually second class citizens in the country?
By By Mat Goneng
Mr. John Malott’s essay on the “The Price of Malaysia’s Racism” which appeared in the Wall Street Journal of 8th February 2011 lacks depth.
Reading his article one would conclude that the Malay race is the richest racial group in Malaysia. Far from it, on the contrary, the average income of the Malays at RM3,500 is the lowest. The Indians average income is RM4,500 and the Chinese RM6,200.
But that is not the full story. Of the thousands of SMEs in the country, the Malays own less than 5% of the total and if one looks at the export of manufactured goods (rubber, wood, plastic based, etc) which are strongly supported by the Malaysian government through its agencies, MATRADE and MIDA, the biggest beneficiary are the Chinese and Indian SMEs with more than 95% of the total export.
When the “actual profits” from manufacturing are considered the actual average income of the non-Malays could be three or four times higher than that of the Malays.
It’s true that 90% of the civil service, police and military staff are Malays but these are all low paying jobs. What is troubling is that when Malaysia reaches a developed nation status with a targeted per capita income of RM49,500, the largest number of Malaysians whose income will be below the targeted average will be the Malays. How can there be One Malaysia when the Malays in terms of wealth, are actually second class citizens in the country?
What is a tragedy for the Malays is that neither the present government nor the opposition has clear, effective policy implementations to address the big issues confronting the Malays. Basically, the Malays are very weak and despite their poor economic status, have been accommodating the request of the non-Malays as though they (the Malays) have achieved huge successes in Malaysia.
As a race the Malays are just docile and pathetic. Despite being the poorest, it’s not the Malays but the Indians who went to the streets to protest their so-called disadvantaged position. At the rate the country progresses, when Malaysia reaches a developed nation status, the Malays will remain the poorest in the country and lulled by their false symbols of supremacy in the Prime Minister, King, Sultans, administrators, soldiers and policemen being Malays.
Mr. Malott has to really rewrite the superficiality of his thoughts. Malaysia is a complex country to understand and govern and all considered has actually done quite well.
