COMMENTARY For Malaysians, a day for
speaking out By
Ioannis Gatsiounis
Malaysian Independence
Day on August 31 has officially been used by the
government to instill gratitude and for
reflection. Additionally, though, it has been
employed to reassert power over the rakyat
(people); for weeks leading up to and on the big
day, politicians and the state-run media remind
Malaysians that they live in a free, prosperous
and harmonious society.
And so, for many
Malaysians, who celebrated the 48th Merdeka
(freedom or independence) Day this past week, the
event has long been void of real meaning.
Articulation of the fact, however, has usually
been restrained and nebulous, and in the end the
idea of Merdeka as a glorious day in a great
nation has triumphed.
But skepticism may
be challenging obedience as the national virtue,
if the exchange of ideas taking place via the country's
handful of independent news
outlets is any indication. At the very least
Malaysians appear to be getting more exasperated
with their country's shortcomings, at the same
time becoming more pointed and articulate in their
criticism of them.
Perhaps that is to be
expected. A number of recent developments have
provided Malaysians with no shortage of targets at
which to take aim.
Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi's anti-graft drive continues to inch along
at a snail's pace; he has fried a few big fish but
has not dissuaded the culture that feeds the
practice. Several of Malaysia's most renowned
university professors have resigned or been
dismissed in controversy. Meanwhile,
multinationals continue to bypass Malaysia for
developing countries with ostensibly better talent
pools and cheaper labor costs. And national
carmaker Proton has hit the red, its future
uncertain, having seen its domestic market share
drop to 44% in 2004 from 60% in 2000.
This
is not to mention developments in the issue that
has most obsessed Malaysia for the past 36 years:
race. While the Indians and Chinese, Malaysia's
two largest minority groups, have grudgingly
accepted the long-standing affirmative action
program designed to economically uplift the
majority Muslim Malays, they have always held out
hope that the plan would eventually be scrapped.
Those hopes were dashed in July, when the ruling
United Malays National Organization's (UMNO) youth
wing leader called for a revival of the plan. At
the same assembly meeting, he brandished a
traditional Malay dagger while his supporters
chanted, "Long live Malays".
One letter
writer attributed the sour mood this Merdeka Day
to a "failure to thrive. The things that are wrong
with Malaysia could be destroying the very few
things that are right with it."
Over the
years the government has managed to delay tending
to many of Malaysia's problems - including racial
tensions, an inclination toward mediocrity,
creeping Islamic fundamentalism and a moribund
education system - by adroitly drawing attention
away from them.
One way has been to
reiterate key numbers. Some are impressive.
Poverty has shrunk to about 10% from 49% in 1970.
Household income is second highest in Southeast
Asia. Unemployment hovers about 4%.
Another way has been through
infrastructural development; indeed on the surface
Malaysia has begun to resemble a developed
country, with "smart" cities, modern edifices, sky
trains and a world-class highway system.
A
third way has been to whip up anti-Western
sentiment. The invasion of Iraq and the occupation
of Palestine have been invaluable in this sense.
The government bought further time when
Badawi took over the premiership from the
long-ruling autocrat Mahathir Mohamed. But after
nearly two years at the helm, Badawi hasn't
delivered on many of his promises, while the old
guard remains ostensibly as sated as it was under
Mahathir.
But the cracks have gotten
harder to ignore. The glorious numbers, the
inexorable construction and manufacture of
external bad guys haven't bought Malaysia the
stature it yearns.
The alternative media,
blogs and message boards have become an outlet for
lamenting the fact. But it was arguably more
vitriolic this Merdeka season than past ones.
One has to wonder whether that's a
portent. If the government can't instill gratitude
during that nation's independence day, what can it
expect for the rest of the year?
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