Malaysia-HK: one country, two systems

By MT Webmaster Last updated Oct 21, 2014

Anyway, let us now talk about the issue of pendatang, which Zam lamented about. Maybe it is time we abolish the use of that word, as should also the word Bumiputera. By labelling one race as Bumiputera and another as pendatang we are just dividing Malaysians into two groups.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Hongkongnese (if such a word exists) are fighting to retain the concept of one country, two systems. Malaysians, on the other hand, are fighting to remove the concept of one country, two systems. Well, at least some Hongkongnese and some Malaysians are.

However, the concept of Hong Kong’s one country, two systems is very different from Malaysia’s — and the Hong Kong Chinese and Malaysian Chinese are as different as the Malaysian Malays and South African Malays.

Today, Zainuddin Maidin a.k.a. Zam said that the Chinese in Malaysia still act like pendatang (immigrants). And the reason is because they refuse to learn Bahasa Malaysia and assimilate with the Malays (READ HERE).

I am not too sure whether the word ‘assimilate’ is the right word to use here. I mean, why should the Chinese want to be assimilated into the Malay race. And I do not mean this is because the Chinese consider themselves superior to Malays, although some do.

Even in America one race will not assimilate into another race even though all consider themselves Americans and equal to one another at that. Would a second-generation Catholic Puerto Rican want to assimilate into a Jewish Polish American community? Each has its own language, culture and traditions that they are proud of.

Zam, to put it bluntly, is talking cock. I mean the male chicken cock so please don’t regard this as a four-letter word — although cock is a four-letter word just like Umno.

Actually, many Chinese men find Malay girls quite attractive. And I am sure some Chinese women are attracted to Malay men as well if all those Chinese women who whisper into my ear are telling me the truth (I hope my wife does not read this piece).

The problem is, most Chinese men and women can just admire the Malay of the opposite sex (and sometimes of the same sex as well) from afar. This is because it would be impossible for them to take the relationship further, especially if it is going to involve marriage.

And the reason for this is if a Chinese man or woman wants to get entangled with Malays of the opposite sex, he or she would have to be prepared to convert to Islam (although that may not be necessary if it is a same-sex relationship).

So there is no way, as Zam complained, for Chinese to get assimilated into the Malay community. This can only happen if you marry into that community, not if you speak Bahasa Malaysia. So, if Zam wants to see many Chinese become Malays, then inter-racial marriages without the need for conversion to Islam has to be allowed. Is Zam going to also suggest this?

It is easy for Zam, a Mamak, to talk. Indians have been marrying Malays for generations so now many Indians have become Malays, just like Zam. But that is because all these Indians happened to also be Muslims. In fact, Indians were Muslims long before Malays discovered Islam and these Mamaks now even refuse to be considered Indians and want to be classified as Malays or Bumiputeras.

The problem is not so much racial or that the Chinese are resisting to Malaysianise. It is more religious in nature. Malaysia, like Hong Kong, adopts a system of one country, two systems. While non-Malays (meaning non-Muslims) are free to inter-marry and assimilate, Malays do not enjoy that same privilege.

Malays do not enjoy their civil right of marrying outside their race because that would also mean they are marrying outside their religion. And unless someone of another race/religion can be allowed to marry a Malay partner without having to convert to Islam, then Malays are doomed to forever marry another Malay.

So, is it the Chinese who are resisting assimilation, as Zam said, or is it the Malays who are guilty of this? That is the crux of the whole matter. Many Chinese Muslims (who were Muslims long before the Malays discovered Islam) have assimilated into the Malay community. You can see them in the East Coast and most of these people originated from Yunan in China.

So, as I said, it is not a racial thing as much as it is a religious issue.

Just to digress a bit, I have non-Malay friends (not just Chinese) who told me that they prefer Malay girls to, say, Chinese girls. And they gave me all the reasons why (which I will not repeat here lest I offend some people). Basically, if they were given a choice, they would choose a Malay partner over someone of their own race. Alas, this is not possible unless they are prepared to convert to Islam, which they are not.

So, are the Chinese a hindrance to assimilation or is Islam the problem (or rather Malaysia’s way of implementing Islam)? This is something people like Zam may have to think about long and hard.

We should make the labelling of Malaysians a crime under the racial discrimination law. Can you call a Pakistani a Paki in the UK and get away with it? A Pakistani in the UK is British and do not even try to suggest otherwise unless you want to end up in jail.

If you leave this to the politicians this will never end. Both sides of the political fence will play the race card until the end of time because it is a good political strategy to divide the people. This was how a few thousand Englishmen controlled colonies of millions of natives. They divided and ruled the people they colonised.

And the legacy of the British divide-and-rule policy is still prevalent in Malaysia. If we want this removed then we, the people, have to do it ourselves. We must resist being called Bumiputeras and pendatang. We must insist that we be called Malaysians never mind what ethnicity we may be.

But first of all Malays must stop thinking that they own the land and Chinese must stop thinking that they are superior to the Malays. If not we shall still be discussing this way into the next century.

Malaysia must no longer uphold a policy of one country, two systems. Malays have to meet the Chinese in the middle somewhere. However, while we expect the Chinese to become more Malaysian and less Chinese, Malays, too, have to become less Malay and more Malaysian. We cannot expect the Chinese to abandon their Chineseness whereas the Malays refuse to abandon their Malayness.

If not then this is just going to be all talk with no solution in sight. After saying all that, I fear we shall not see this in our lifetime because it requires political will to see a dramatic change such as this — and politicians just do not have this political will because it is not good for business, the business of divide-and-rule.

Anyway, this was what we had hoped to achieve four years ago when we launched the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement. Unfortunately, Malaysians from both sides of the political divide were not ready for it. So we shall probably see this 100-year old problem remain a problem for another 100 years.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK