Comments on: Race and Religion II

By: Wan Saiful

Wan Saiful — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:15:00 +0000

By the way, I don’t see any elements of “ultra-malay-ness” yet….

By: Wan Saiful

Wan Saiful — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:08:00 +0000

I am not sure about the exact content of NEP or other Malaysian economic “policies” because in practise, what we can see is lack of fairness. Whatever the actual policies are, the problem is the way they are implemented.

I agree that we need to create a level playing field for all. But this is a utopia. I do not think the “playing field” will be ever be totally level. Yet stil, there must be a measurable target for a time when the bumiputera concept is officially declared obsolete.

I do not know how to translate the phrase “Islam comes first before country” into practise. Plus, I do not see any reasons to put one thing ahead of the other.

(NB: I think Maududi tried to put Islam before country and he ended up suggesting that an Islamic state should allow any Muslims to immigrate and they then automatically become citizens. This is just not workable in modern times. Thus, it is important to conceptually operationalise the phrase before we go too far into theoretical discussions.)

As citizens of a country with communities of various backgrounds, we have to consider the diversity of our society when talking about the standard of morality *for the whole country*. Just as we Muslims do not want others to impose their values upon us, we should not be imposing our values on them either.

By: Failasuf

Failasuf — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 20:19:00 +0000

It took quite a while to wair for your response. But I appreciate it.

Regarding the need for a socio-economic based affirmative action, I thought this is already in place under the NEP. So I’m curious to know what happened to the NEP that it became labeled as bumiputra-ism? Or is it via other policies?

1. When I mentioned the problem of chinese racist selectivity, I’m specifically referring to the Malay’s problem to make it big in business,one of which is due to Chinese dominance and racism. We all know and agree that the Chinese were given a huge headstart under British rule, and this is why I think reverse/positive discrimination in favor of bumiputras is important. I agree that the ideal is to have race-less consumers, but due to the ‘headstart’, everyone would support Chinese businesses and this becomes an endless cycle of economic oppression towards the Malays.

2. I’m sure you would agree that Islam comes first before country.

3. It is important that there be social sanctions so as to maintain the moral standard in Malaysian society. I’m not sure how, but secular materialist influence has to be minimized.

I apologize for being ultra-malay, if that’s how it appears to you.