APA LAGI CINA MAHU? – A Chinese Responds
For Malays to need UMNO or any protection, the Malays must feel vulnerable or weak. Obviously if the Malays were strong, they would need no such protection.
Ng Chak Ngoon
IRRELEVANCE
“Apa lagi Cina mahu?” is a question asked by UMNOputras based on the tacit assumption that they have the divine right to rule, and that if they are not returned to power, there must be something wrong with the electorate. Hence the question: “What more do you want?!” being asked, perhaps in real or mock exasperation.
The implication of this question is that the Chinese have already been given so much and yet they are still asking for more. Therefore, the Chinese must be greedy. As Chinese, I am offended by the arrogance in that question. We should not mistake it for the slightly differently worded but very different question of “Apa Cina mahu?”
If anyone, it should be the Malays who voted against UMNO who should be asked this “Apa Lagi” question. They obviously include the most educated who have benefited from the NEP by way of scholarships abroad, contracts and promotions.
THE BN STRATEGY
Instead of mulling over that question, we as Malaysians, Malays or non-Malays, should be asking “Apa masaalah Malaysia?”, “What is wrong with Malaysia?” so that we can arrive at the answer and therefore the possible solutions.
To my mind, the essence of Malaysia’s problems is that this country has been ruled by kleptomaniacs nurturing a racial divide to keep themselves in power for more than 50 years.
Let us try to understand how BN has been doing it. UMNO tells the Malays that if not for UMNO, Malays would be overwhelmed by the non-Malays ignoring the fact that Malays form the majority in this country, and that in a democracy the majority rules. If UMNO loses power, the Malays do not lose power. It is only a change of government in which Malays will still predominate. Mathematics of racial composition demands it.
At the same time UMNO periodically threatens the non-Malays with bellicose statements and acts such as imposing unnecessary constraints on the Chinese and Indian communities simply to remind them that they need MCA and MIC, effectively UMNO’s goons, to protect them from UMNO. This is classic protection racket except that is has been given the racial slant. It has worked well. It keeps the country divided so that the UMNOputras, MCAputras, MICputras, and other BNputras can retain power to continue stealing the country’s wealth.
HOW IT WORKS
The myth that UMNO propagates may be summarized this way: The Malays need help and only UMNO can help them. Without UMNO, the Malays would be overwhelmed by the non-Malays, especially the Chinese. Therefore, the Malays must support UMNO to save themselves.
For Malays to need UMNO or any protection, the Malays must feel vulnerable or weak. Obviously if the Malays were strong, they would need no such protection. Therefore, for UMNO to remain relevant to the Malays, Malays must remain weak, and UMNO has been striving to keep Malays weak.
UMNO keeps Malays weak by making them economically vulnerable, i.e. poor, so that they will always depend on UMNO, for handouts and other benefits. UMNO keeps Malays poor by restricting the majority of Malays to learning only one language, Bahasa Melayu, the Malay language. Equipped with only Bahasa, the Malays are trapped within UMNO’s patronage system in at least two ways.
Firstly, a Malay finds it impossible or at least very difficult to acquire the skills needed to compete with others when almost all new technology comes in some other language. That is why Malay graduates educated in local institutions of higher learning are mostly employed in government service and GLCs. The benefit to UMNO is that these Malays are completely under UMNO’s control to become UMNO’s “safe deposit”. The ability to trace every ballot paper to its voter is part of this control. Only those Malays who have learnt enough English are equipped to compete with others and can venture into the private sector. This is the segment of the Malay community that now rejects UMNO.
Secondly, when most Malays can only understand Bahasa Melayu, they can receive only information via the UMNO-controlled media: radio, television, and local Malay newspapers. All other sources of information are effectively cut off. Restricted to a one-food diet which shapes their world view and attitudes, these Malays can be manipulated in any way that UMNO wants.
These are the two reasons why UMNO is so adamant in retaining Bahasa as the sole medium of instruction despite the negative impacts on the Malay community; it is the lock that guards UMNO’s safe deposit of loyal supporters.
The Malay community is now split in two: UMNO’s safe deposit and the enlightened Malays. The former consists of those who know only their own language, are generally poorer and therefore dependent on UMNO handouts. They are captives within the UMNO economic and propaganda domain. The other segment consists of enlightened Malays, mostly English literate, independent of UMNO’s patronage, often internet savvy and therefore well informed. Wise to UMNOputras’ chicanery, they tend to be the most critical of UMNO. The gradual decline of UMNO can be inversely correlated with the increase of this segment of the Malay community.
WHAT DO THE CHINESE WANT?
Essentially all the Chinese in Malaysia want is to be part of this country or at the very least left alone to prosper. Instead, under the guise of NEP, Chinese have been excluded from certain economic sectors, and in extreme cases, robbed off successful businesses and substantial properties. For the ordinary Chinese, opportunities for higher education in local institutions have been limited. An average Chinese family has to come up with anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands ringgit for each kid to go through college, depending on the route taken. Do I need to go on with this list of grievances?
These problems created by UMNO are felt by the Chinese and other non-Malays at very personal levels. Is it any wonder that we detest UMNO? But even without inflicting these sufferings on the non-Malays, BNputras are a bunch of crooks who would be booted out of government in any practicing democracy. Therefore, what the Chinese want is no more than what many enlightened Malays also want: NO MORE UMNO.
