The Chinaman’s Burden

 

The political environment in Malaysia does not favor the Chinese community with the ruling government criticizing the Chinese community for not supporting them in the general election. That leaves the Chinese community in a dilemma because their economic dominant strength will face challenges with the political institution condemning their political direction.  

Natesan Visnu 

Extract from Dr. Mahathir’s blog:

 “If today the schism between the races is deeper it is because the DAP reject the Malay/Chinese/Indian “kongsi”. The DAP wants the Chinese who already dominate the economy, to dominate Malaysia’s politics as well. It is clearly racist and rejects inter-racial sharing of power and wealth as advocated by the BN. Racial polarization has become more pronounced as a result. It will become more so in the future”

Extract from Lim Kit Siang’s blog:

“What they want is a new politics of a Malaysian Dream which could unite all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region, in a common national purpose to build a new Malaysia where all Malaysians can hold their heads high as proud citizens of a Malaysian nation where there is freedom, justice, good governance, prosperity for all Malaysians where the politics of race is a nightmare of the past”

The recent spat between two senior leaders on racism has intrigued the younger Malaysian to analyze further the concept of Malaysian Dream and racial polarization. The younger generation needs to dig further on the statements made by the leaders with a fair mind without any emotive sentiments towards political belief or support.

The Malaysian Chinese dominates the business and commerce sectors of Malaysian economy. Chinese community contributes 90% of the national income tax and 60% of Malaysia’s national income. In context of socioeconomic, the Chinese makes up the higher percentage of Malaysia’s educated and professional class. Chinese are the highest white-collar workforce and highest household income earner in Malaysia. Chinese community dominates the Malaysian economy.

In the current development of political economy, the scholars described ‘political economy’ as interdisciplinary studies of laws, economics and political science. The study explores relationships between political institutions, political environment and economy (capitalist, socialist & mixed) and how the three disciplines influence each other. Translating to our current political scenario, the political environment in Malaysia does not favor the Chinese community with the ruling government criticizing the Chinese community for not supporting them in the general election. That leaves the Chinese community in a dilemma because their economic dominant strength will face challenges with the political institution condemning their political direction. 

How a community with economic superiority does survive in the political chaotic environment? We examine the political chaotic environment using the prisoner’s dilemma game. It is a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so.

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The police admit they don’t have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a Faustian bargain. If he testifies against his partner, he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh, yes, there is a catch … If both prisoners testify against each other; both will be sentenced to two years in jail. (Wikipedia)

Advocating from traditional Prisoners’ Dilemma structure;

Both political parties may choose to “Cooperate” or “Defect”. The following describes the payoff matrix:

R (Reward) – if BN and DAP choose to cooperate

T (Temptation) and S (Sucker) – if BN defects, DAP refuses to cooperate and vice-versa

Punishment (P) – if both defects

                                           Cooperate (DAP)                                   Defect (BN)

Cooperate (BN)               R (BN), R (DAP)                                  S (BN), T (DAP)

Defect (DAP)                   T (BN), S (DAP)                                    P (BN), P (DAP)

The above is an example for mutual cooperation is greater than mutual separation. In the context of politics, DAP will never cooperate with BN because of fear for dominant strategy. Economic superiority will lose its strength when it is not backed by political will. The dominant player will always win the game regardless of the condition. In our current development, the Chinese is left with a burden to assist or rather develop the socio-economy of Malays, Indians, Iban, Kadazan, etc. Eliminating the strategy to work with BN leaves DAP with no options to pursue the mutual political cooperation via economic development and transformation at national level.

53% of Malaysian has supported Pakatan Rakyat. The challenge for the Chinese community is to uplift the poor Malaysians from poverty. The political support from Malaysians have demonstrated the desire for a Malaysian Dream. The aspiration from Malaysians must be transformed into reformation actions. The new politics as advocated by Lim Kit Siang has garnered political support but failure to develop socio-economy will definitely affect the support for Pakatan Rakyat. The failure in Kedah is an alarming signal from the public that if Pakatan Rakyat fails to perform, the people will not hesitate to vote PR out of public office.

DAP has demonstrated their political ambition to form a multiracial society. DAP has recruited leaders from all races to represent them. Lim Guan Eng has contributed to Islamic religious activities in Penang more than any other state in Malaysia. On the other hand, PKR has appointed a DAP woman to become the 1st female speaker in Dewan Undangan Negeri. The ‘rakyat’ truly appreciates the initiatives towards a multiracial society without race, religion or ethnicity. Kudos to Pakatan Rakyat!

The initiatives should not be stopped and the people are expecting more economic initiatives from Pakatan Rakyat. The strength for Pakatan Rakyat at this juncture comes from Chinese community economic strength, 53% popular votes, retaining Selangor, Kelantan and Penang and the additional 7 seats in Parliament. The Malaysian political landscape is divided into two fraternities with the ruling government with the political power and the opposition with the economic power.

Both political parties have a level playing field to deploy dominant strategy. Advocating on the prisoner’s dilemma game, if the players are converted into race instead of political parties, the cooperation between Chinese and Malay will reward the relationship. On that note, PR needs to use economic strength to dominate the political environment.

The failure to transform the socio-economic condition of other races will reduce the support for Pakatan Rakyat. DAP should initiate economic reform actions in uplifting the socio-economic condition at massive scale for PR political dominance. PR should form a joint economic council with participation of major Chinese corporations and business owners for economic advancement of other races. The strategies from social business enterprises should be studied further for implementation in Pakatan-led states. The Chinaman’s burden continues in the wake of the Malaysian political paradigm shift.