That equality conversation
119,039 folks to be exact, as of yesterday signed the petition to stay the country’s “separate but equal” philosophy. They demand formal inequality over equality as a perverse necessity to retain national balance, in the Malaysian vein.
Praba Ganesan, The Malay Mail Online
Should we pursue equality for all Malaysians? More than a few of my countrymen felt it’s a lousy idea. Actually, 119,039 folks to be exact, as of yesterday signed the petition to stay the country’s “separate but equal” philosophy. They demand formal inequality over equality as a perverse necessity to retain national balance, in the Malaysian vein.
Their immediate object of disdain?
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) which Malaysia has been a little behind to ratify, delayed by 49 years to be precise.
Whatever spark of hope Pakatan Harapan’s victory offered to ratification before the 70th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights, has dampened significantly.
We don’t know what we don’t know
The alleged train to equality has come to a screeching halt, it appears, as the petition hit home, and laid a minefield for Malay leaders, in and out of government.
These are cautious days for leaders with race politics on their shirt sleeves, just ask Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who is apt to alternate between messages of “people are people, just love each other, man” to “but, I must, as a loyal son of this soil, defend the Constitution, all the bits, not just the ones written in crayon.”
As expected, all Malay leaders folded.
Pribumi Bersatu asked for calm and measured steps. PKR, the cradle of multiculturalism, waffled about how all views should be heard first. So, the listening exercise commences in the room next door marked “cold storage.” Amanah passed on the offer, their progressive Islam could not cope, apparently. The whole of Borneo bought popcorn for their viewing pleasure, nothing pleases them more than to see Malay Semenanjung politicians cringe.
PAS has offered to attend as many required rallies to underline their ICERD disgust.
Umno is too fractured to enjoy its schadenfreude moment, on how racial indoctrination does work. Rebel leader Khairy Jamaluddin understands flirting with ICERD is suicide, so he stays a block away and dedicates different vegetables to his party leaders.
It was, in hindsight, not difficult to derail the ICERD.
Say Malay, supremacy, equality snorting liberals and change in the same sentence and red flags jump up. Couple it with the Malay segment’s electoral uncertainties, how their vote was split three ways — Umno, PAS and Bersatu-PKR-Amanah — then the fear turns real in record time.
The double-speak liberals
My friend Lukman Sheriff Alias has been a relentless petition champion on the ICERD. He can’t stomach those proposing the ratification as a benign act, purely symbolic. His riposte has been clear, the ratification does alter things and there will be Constitutional effects.
I agree with him on that. The suggestion a key ratification would have no real impact on everyday Malaysian life is mala fide. I can’t blame him if he does not suffer fools very well.
I don’t however, agree with him that Malaysia should not sign the ICERD or other conventions which pave the way to universal equality.
For I am a liberal who concedes change will mean different, otherwise, how can it be change?
While I have sympathies for the petition’s progenitor, I am not enthused by the majority who signed the petition. Primarily in the manner they project the arguments against ICERD — infused with racism, rich with global conspiracy theories and irrational unwillingness to defend inequality with reasonable substantiation.
It’s the Constitution, stupid
While it is the highest law of this land, it has been altered more often than many realise.
It should not have been rejigged as often, but the point remains that when necessary, amendments are possible.
