Johor minefield
KTemoc Konsiders
In the Malay Mail Online House buyers welcome new Johor bill Chang Kim Loong who is the secretary general National House Buyers Association (HBA) appeared at first glance to be saying something totally at odds with the opinions of most Malaysians including both sides of politics.
What he said about the controversial proposed housing board bill to be tabled at the Johor state assembly today, was that it would be a step in the right direction.
However, if you read on, he then qualified his rice-bowl (= profession’s) statement by stating: “The bill is a welcomed enactment by HBA but we feel rulers should not be part of the set up as the Sultan should not be involved in the administrative business of the elected state government. After all, the state government has the executive power to run the state.”
Chang is in the end of the same opinion as most Malaysians.
However, his professional counterpart, Michael Yam, president of Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia, is typically Chinese in being more (oxymoronically or yang-yin-ishly) forthright yet circumspect, an old Chinese specialty which younger Chinese Malaysians have not been well taught on, wakakaka.
What Michael Yam opined on the Johor Housing & Real Property Bill has been: “We are on sensitive ground here, and I would not like to speculate until the full understandings and implications of the act is [sic] known.”
But even then, he couldn’t resist saying “Needless to say, all legislation emanating from the state should be aligned both in principle with the constitution,” thus revealing his inner feelings on the issue, wakakaka.
One highly sensitive issue in Malaysia, even more so than religion, has been and still is the sacrosanctity of a Malay ruler, who captures in his royal self all that Malays menjunjung tinggi(uphold highly or very dear), a God-King status not unlike the Chinese ‘Mandate of Heaven’ for their respective Emperors.
Chinese and Indian Malaysians are well advised to ether stand clear of or excise extreme prudence when commenting on or about a Malay ruler.
Strangely, many older Chinese and Indians are actually staunch monarchists at heart, perhaps possessing closer memories of their respective homeland dynastic monarchs as well as their ethnic social-cultural (and in the case of Indians, also religious) indoctrination. My own maternal granddad was a staunch monarchist.
Few would be the Indians who do not thrilled to the exploits of Rama, the son of a king and eventually a king himself, despite recent scholarly dissertations he was quite a cad in his treatment of his wife Sita. He also exhibited the most arrogant ketuanan mentality and injustice in justifying his sneak-murder of Vali, King of the Vanara.
And we know that quite a many Chinese and Indian Malaysians take pride in being honoured with awards by the rulers, though we accept that yes, some of them aim for such honours only for practical business reasons, wakakaka.
Anyway, Malay rulers! Chinese and Indian Malaysians! Do you notice any issue standing out?
Well, if you don’t then just hang on for a while, wakakaka.
Now let me share some of my earlier (post 05 March 2008) thoughts with you. There was a brief hopeful and near orgasmic moment (or two, wakakaka) when I thought HRH’s of Perak and Selangor, both being well-educated and modern thinkers, would come in from the left field and innovatively approve non-Malays as MB in their respective states.
But in Selangor, not even a non-Malay deputy MB was allowed, let alone a MB! This relates to a 2008 hope amongst Pakatan (or rather, DAP wakakaka) supporters in Selangor that sassy Teresa Kok might be appointed deputy MB.
