Different highways to the Malaysian dream

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On May 2, 2013

(Today Online) – It is apparent that the demand for change galvanises young Malaysians to chase the Malaysian dream. Unfortunately, this is not good enough. The young are deeply divided on how to get there.

There is little doubt among political observers that the outcome of Malaysia’s 13th general election could well rest on how young Malaysians cast their vote.

The last few years have seen young Malaysians aggressively using social media and news portals to pitch their views on politics. It is good to see the young taking ownership of Malaysia’s political future, but the big question is, what do the young want?

There are common themes that run through the seemingly chaotic online conversations. To start with, Malaysians, young and old, want better governance. They no longer want to be bogged down by issues of corruption and nepotism.

The online conversations see Malaysians desiring a more transparent and accountable government. They want institutions that help strengthen the democratic process; institutions that can accommodate an increasingly critical public. So far, the government has responded by abolishing the Internal Security Act and replacing it with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act. More is needed.

Young Malaysians are highly impatient — and rightly so. They want quick results; this generation has little appetite for incremental or prosaic policies. This highly-networked generation, born and raised in a new Malaysia, wants instant information, instant results and instant gratification.

NEP BENEFICIARIES

These grievances may seem coherent but the truth is there is little coherence among the young on how to get there. Malaysians, particularly the young, are more divided now than ever before.

To start, there is an ever growing number of young bumiputras — whom we shall call group A — who are beneficiaries or whose parents are beneficiaries of Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP). Having been brought up in at least a middle-class environment, these young bumiputras do not see ethnicity as a major issue. Some are lending their voices to calls for change in this election — personalities like Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Karim Raslan, Azmi Shahrom, Salahuddin Ayub and Azmin Ali.

Some, like Fuziah Salleh, a government scholar picked by the state to do her A Levels and university studies in the United Kingdom, remain staunch supporters of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat.

Members of group A may still be uneasy with the idea of a complete rollback of Malay dominance, but they largely agree that Malaysia needs to recalibrate its race-based policies.

ISLAMIC LEANINGS

There is yet another group of bumiputras — group B — who lean more towards Islam. They are usually graduates of Malaysia’s religious institutions or local higher institutions who are persuaded by the idea of a more Islamic Malaysia.

Some have secular education but remain bent on the Islamic solution to Malaysia’s state-building. They include the likes of Dr Zulkefly Ahmad, Dr Hasan Ali, Nasruddin Mat Isa and Dr Asri Zainul Abidin.

Members of this group are usually concentrated in rural Malaysia, but increasingly, urban Malaysians whose parents were born and raised in the Malay heartlands of Kelantan, Trengganu and Kedah, are attracted to the idea of a more Islamic Malaysia. They give a romantic portrayal of an Islamic Malaysia, one that views religion, not politics or ethnicity, as the best arbiter in distributing resources.