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Daim: Insecurity threatening Malays

JOHOR BARU: Malaysia’s rich and beautiful history of multi-culturalism and racial unity fell by the wayside when politicians decided to use race and religion to gain power, according to Tun Daim Zainuddin.

He said Malaysia had enjoyed these since its very inception but admitted it was still very complex with jobs and economic sectors identified with race, income inequality between the races and different educational systems.

“All these happened against a backdrop of consistent armed warfare against terrorists during the Emergency when all races fought shoulder to shoulder to gain victory.

“We are the only country in the world to defeat terrorists.

“Then came the formation of Malaysia and the Konfrontasi and throughout Malays were working with non-Malays to achieve national goals,” he said in his keynote address to academicians at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai on “The Malaysian Narrative – Malays in Question”.

Daim said Malaysia would only prosper when the Malays prosper, adding that the country could not afford to have 50% of its population in low income as it could result in economic instability affecting everyone, regardless of race or economic status.

“For Malaysia to succeed, the Malays must succeed. But this can only be achieved within the national context, working together with non-Malays for the benefit of Malaysia,” said the Council of Eminent Persons chairman.

Daim also said when one talked about the Malays, one must talk about Islam too as both were deeply entwined and could not be discussed separately.

But this, he said, had led to the ignoring of the cultural and regional heritage which had been abandoned in favour of foreign cultures.

This, he said, had fed into the insecurity of the Malays.

“It seems that everyone who does not speak like us and everything that we do not agree with is a threat to Malays and Islam.

“We must ask ourselves – is this true? Since when have the Malays and Muslims become so insecure about our place in this country?” he asked.

Daim said when the Malays were far less economically advanced and far less educated they defeated the British by rejecting the Malayan Union.

“We were brave, united and strong.

“However, we didn’t know how to deal with success; the Malays started to split.

“When we are successful, we are drunk with success. When we fail, we look for scapegoats and go amok,” he said.

Daim added that there was one Malay graduate for every 20 Malays now but despite being more educated and having a large educated segment the Malays were still unable to convince themselves that they have nothing to fear in this country.

“Are Malays thinking strategically, critically and logically? It looks increasingly obvious every day that the Malays are thinking with their emotions instead of with their intellect.

“We have allowed our emotions to run wild and influence the way we see others.

“Instead of depending on logic and facts, we prefer to buy in to the racist rhetoric of politicians with dubious reputations,” he said and asked the academicians what role would they be playing in injecting some logic and fact into the Malaysia narrative.

“Do you intend to go along with the emotional flow or do you see it as your academic duty to question the irrational narratives that are being shoved down the Malays’ throats?

“Do you as ‘the educated’ speak honestly and bravely about what is happening or do you simply pretend that this growing racism is justified?” he asked.

Source: TheStar