#31st edition of world press freedom day

[studentsinresistance]

Glossary of What I Think is Malaysia

by YVONNE TAN YIT FONG

It’s 2016, with Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) not so far down the road anymore. We will then become (or at least be labelled as) a fully developed nation. So, let’s recall the first “challenge” that Mahathir posed within his Wawasan 2020 speech – realising Bangsa Malaysia.

I entered Malaysia in the 1990s when modernisation was presumably at its peak during Mahathir ’s rule. Growing up with the grandiose ideas of 2020, one could look at the future of Malaysia with optimism. We would forge our very own place in this world.

Amidst this optimism, some concepts, terms, or keywords need to be revisited. At times, some of them were used to justify and promise what was/will make he great “Malaysian” identity; some other labels may point to a unique achievement and yet has grown to turn out otherwise.

RACE

Sorry folks, we can’t seem to escape the race rhetoric. The British colonial ideology of “divide and conquer ” continues its legacy. It emphasises our differences but yet cal l s us to live in harmony and unity with “values” such as tolerance and mutual respect. And it has been this way since the day we stepped into our schools, vernacular or not, and so as Malaysia’s governance, which is still run by race-based politics: Malay, Chinese, Indian. Bumiputera, Pendatang, Pendatang. Ampang, Cheras, Brickfields. In this politics of identity, we already know what’s problematic here off hand – the omission of other ethnicities and the aborigines. Just within the collective label of the “Orang Asal” we have:

1) The Orang Asli in the Peninsular, a term for the Semangs, Senois, and other Proto-Malays; 2) The Dayaks consisting of Ibans, Bidayuhs, and Orang Ulus of Sarawak and; 3) Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, and Murut in Sabah.

By definition these labels are also problematic, including the definition of the “Malay race” by the federal constitution as “a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay Language, [and] conforms to Malay custom”, one of whom would be eligible for Bumiputera rights.

We all have friends who def y these rigid labels. The Pakistani-Chinese who wears a hijab and speaks fluent Mandarin or the one with Malay and Chindian parents who converses primarily in English. Yes, those are my friends who are all eligible for “sons of the soil” status. At this rate that we’re going, I personally would like to see the day when we are all eligible.

In Malaysia, race is institutionalised and ossified into a set of status and entitlements. There are undeniable forms of segregation that trickle down from these institutions, but I believe we will still go to our local mamak stalls without hesitation together. Hardly anyone says no to cheap (I can’t find a better word for this but) Malaysian food and to cheer on our sports teams. And did I hear you say “May 13”? Well, it might loom around our heads whenever there arises an inter-racial conflict, but no, we would never avoid another race as though they were out there to kill us.

(Afterthought: as a pendatang myself, I hope our history books will at the very least in future provide a fair representation to the new wave of immigrants in Malaysia. The Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Burmese, Filipinos, and Nepalese that some of our distant relatives were once in their position in this country too. In fact I am partially excited at the prospect of integrating with their cultures. No one would be surprised that they have given their whole lives to the development of this country and ultimately “ Vision 2020”, which, ironically, plans to oust them.)

SHOPPING MALL

H&M, Uniqlo, Gap, Adidas, Superdry, Forever 21, and just about every other international department store brands that we, or rather the developers, feel the need to have it in every location in the country. Some yearn with nostalgia knowing that Pavilion was once the Bukit Bintang Girl’s School, that KLCC was once Selangor Turf Club. While an upcoming Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) that is built on the grounds of the Pudu Jail, puzzles some. Within the last few years in Klang Valley alone, we have (brace yourselves) IOI City Mall, Nu Sentral, Sunway Velocity Lifestyle Mall, Sunway Putra Mall, Quill City Mall, D’Pulze, and The Strand. Priding ourselves as a shopping destination, maybe these malls reveal a collective ideal of modernity. That the way forward lies within a globalised consumer culture and rapid urbanisation. Without a doubt change will keep pressing and some have chosen change in the form of consumerism.

PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS

The Petronas Twin Towers is plastered across tourism ads, and is today, probably how the rest of the world would associate Malaysia with, just in case they thought we lived in jungles. The skyscraper used to be the tallest building (my bad, still is the tallest twin towers) in the world.

The twin towers are supposed to be a symbol of modernity and nationalism, through Mahathir ’s Look East Policy. The ambitious project is a reminder that Malaysia can achieve such economic and architectural feats yet being known for two look-alike phalluses. But the allure of it fades over-time being another shopping mall with overpriced parking , although with a park that is nice at night. The promise of modernity expressed by the Twin Towers is of the “economic imperatives (capitalism) as ‘good’ modernity ” while we pay little attention to “its cultural effects (Westoxification) as ‘bad’ m-dernity, makes it seem as if these two spheres are mutually exclusive of each other and not, as they are in reality, conjoined”.[1] Maybe then the Twin Towers represents our split uneasy relationship with modernity for what Sheryll Stothard calls the “cari makan-makna question”.[2] As a symbol for our nation, it can’t just end at the representation of economic well-being, the “cari makan” side, leaving the cultural “makna” side void.

MERDEKA (INDEPENDENCE DAY)

If the Petronas Twin Towers is synonymous with Mahathir, Merdeka is synonymous with Tunku Abdul Rahman. Balibar argues that “in the history of every modern nation, wherever the argument can apply, there is never more than one single founding revolutionary event which explains both the permanent temptation to repeat its forms, to imitate its episodes and characters”.[3] If we have to pick an event over centuries of our history, I would say it’s 31st August 1957. It is ingrained in us and remains as the definitive reference point that we always return to. Be it measuring our country’s “age” against that faithful date (Happy 59th Merdeka!) or throwing celebrations on that day where we can feel the full extent of patriotism. The day is supposed to be exemplary on how Malaysia managed freedom from the British colonials through “peaceful negotiations” with the main character, Tunku Abdul Rahman, leader of the UMNO party and the Alliance.

But we know that Malaysia’s independence wasn’t as straightforward and clear cut as the mainstream media informs us. Overtime, our fervour for Merdeka wanes as it becomes another justification for the current ruling party to continue their rule, to reiterate their own version of history. Heck , even the race and religion of our leader is still mandatorily kept the same after all this while.

MILO

Need I say more? There is a reason why we put Milo in everything and why it has been with everyone here across generations. Hot chocolate just won’t do it for us. It tastes like nothing else, just Milo. Made by the Australian Nestlé company in 1934, it has (safe to say) become our national drink.[4]

1MDB

1MDB is the most scandalous controversy of Najib Tun Razak . We started off with several promises, but things magically took for a turn into bankruptcy with a RM12 billion debt, a figure well ensuring us that we’re on our way to hell.

I can’t seem to be able to say much either after witnessing powerhouses such as The Malaysian Insider, The Sarawak Report, and Mahathir being taken down to ground zero. Regular citizens huddling among 29 million of us aren’t spared. With the recently enforced Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, we see arrests over Facebook , Twitter, and even Whatsapp posts.

Just like a good dystopian story arc, it has ignited public outcry for change. Although through negative cohesion against those in power, we reinstate our freedom to do so. It has made us re-evaluate the meaning of democracy here and to exercise our right to work towards a better, or at the very least decent Malaysia, however slowly, against the monopoly. You know something is up when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) denied the allegations from the Wall Street Journal that RM2.6 billion transferred to Najib’s personal accounts were from 1MDB.

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Notes:

[1] Khoo Gaik Cheng, Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006), p. 130.

[2] A word play: cari makan means “to earn a livelihood”, while cari makna means “to find meaning”. See Amir Muhammad, Kam Raslan, & Sheryll Stothard (eds.), Generation: A Collection of Contemporary Malaysian Ideas (Kuala Lumpur: Hikayat Press, 1997), p. 47.

[3] Étienne Balibar & Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Class (London: Verso, 1991), p. 87.

[4] Andreas Zangger, The Swiss in Singapore (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2013), p. 198.