A meaningless Merdeka
By Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin
Mohd Rasdi
This
Merdeka is a meaningless Merdeka for the nation as it entrenches itself into
old political mindsets.
After 21
years of writing ideas, criticisms and advice for Malaysians, Malays and those
in power in academic, religious and political institutions, I have no more to
give. Malaysia is on a certain road of destruction with the Malay Muslims
driving it to the ground. I have looked hard and deep into many other ways than
I have mentioned and I have no more ideas to bring to the table.
This is
the most difficult article to write for me and I have thought many times to
just call up Sin Chew and refuse a requested writing for the first time in my
entire career as an academic. I see no more hope for this country. The Malays
will eventually destroy itself and others with it. The only hope for the idea
of a Malaysia lies in the nations of Sabah and Sarawak. If these two quit the
partnership, then the idea of Malaysia is just a joke. If I were younger by
three decades, I would take my family outside this country and resettle in
others or at least in neighboring Singapore and the nations of Sabah and
Sarawak. At least they still have teh tarik there.
With
muftis sounding like gangsters in a terrible movie plot and unchecked by their
patrons, the Malays will continue to be educated in that manner. With veteran
Malay politicians and businessmen helming the fate of the country, the Old
Malaysia has just been given a new lease of life by a heart-bypass. With
academia still counting their H-indexes and SCOPUS papers, these institutions
of learning will continue to be irrelevant entities to social and political
development getting fat by the tax payers money and their own sense of self
grandeur. Religion, academia and politics of the Malays are safely entrenched
to bring the country to a precipice of oblivion.
The
editors of this article wants to know from me what can be changed? Well, I no
longer have any more ideas except to say…save yourself and your family by
hunkering down, tightening the stomach and strategically plan for the children
to be placed outside this country.
I have
now begun to seriously think about such a strategy for two of my children.
There is nothing here in Malaysia that would be anything of a dignified
existence of a person.
When a
mufti with extremely low knowledge on the history of the Indian people can make
simplistic and racist statements about them, and get away without any reprimand
or reminder from his patrons, then the game is ended. When he calls on
hardworking and dedicated groups of Chinese educationist to be outlawed without
measuring their six decades of contribution, what dignity is there left? Worse,
when a peddler of religious capitalism comes to this country blaring insults
not only to other religions but also the presence of our own community of
generations of people, ministers have dinner with him with smiling photo ops. Susah-lah
ini macam.
Then
there is a political party with Islam as its name spew venoms of Islamic
brotherhood being more important than citizenry and that those who oppose the
peddler of religious evangelism from another country as enemies of Islam, and
the police sits quietly without any reaction. Apa lagi nak cerita?
I have
trained myself to be an expert at identifying success and failure in everything
I do. I can also expertly predict success and failure in some things others do.
I can definitely say that Malaysia is a failure. It was failing badly before
May 9th 2018, it has failed even worse after merely over a year.
In the
beginning, this failure was caused by a reluctance of the Malay voters to
change. Then, this failure was fueled by the marriage of the two discredited
Malay parties. Now, the trust of the people has been totally betrayed by the
smallest and least ideological party which happens to helm the leadership and
is engineering a 1990s come-back formula.
Unless a
miracle happens, Malaysia will be the first country to be listed as the ‘fourth
world’ of a three world category. We will go nowhere, be no ‘thing’ and simply
become stuck to the ground with our old ideas about economy, education,
religion and having no sense of dignity to others and the world. When one day,
Muslims will be rejected entry into most countries of the world as with their
favorite penceramah, then the old Malay proverb of sudah jatuh
ditimpa tangga or sudah jatuh baru tertenggadah becomes a stark
reality.
What is
this miracle that may reignite the fires of Malaysia? Only three things. First,
by a stroke of miracle, the civil society restrategize itself with other
existing political parties and puts up 70 independent candidates to oust the
cancerous elements in PH and combine with the dignified parties of Sarawak and
Sabah, then there may be a chance.
How hard
is it to find 70 credible candidates of all races dedicated to nation building?
The names are already on my computer list. The civil society, good and
nation-conscious NGOs can work together with the grassroots of rejuvenated
veteran parties that lost their shorts in the last election. Those civil
leaders appointed by the PH must return to the fold when the time of GE15 draws
closer.
The
second miracle would be 100,000 Malay children and more to come out of their
UEC education and these children must be tracked and given support so that they
can be the savior of a nation from the old bigotry of Muslims and Malays in the
public schools.
That is
why Malay political parties despise the UEC as the new Malays who are trilingual
and globalized networked with China and the West will reformulate new national
constructs based on their times with the other communities in the UEC schools.
Regardless
of whether the PH government will recognize or not, I see the UEC as the only
savior of this nation. The sons and daughters rejected by the majority of their
own race will come back to revive the idea of Malaysia and thus, we Malaysians
must ensure that the UEC survives and thrive.
Those of
our sons and daughters educated in the international schools with international
curriculum would be the other force that can cure an ailing nation, and that
too must be protected and expanded so that it becomes affordable to send our
children too. Leave the public schools entrenched in its own issues and
problems.
The third
miracle would be the private education tertiary institutions. These
institutions have gone through the economic gauntlet and is now secure with a
mixed group of academics to lead the nation where public universities fail in
their own ethno-centric constructs of self-delusion and irrelevant academia. If
these private universities can wake up to fill the minds of young Malaysians
with the right mind set and ideas to lead the future, than the future can be
theirs for the taking.
Private
universities must get out of their balance sheet mindset and show that they can
take over what was left out by the big brother universities and strike out on
their own. The private university academics can form their own Professor
Council and produce strategies for real impactful research and ideas that can
move Malaysia 50 years into the future and pool its student talents to research
and recharge industries linking the world. The future industries are in a
mapless world and do not require a Malay Majlis Perbandaran to give the okay to
start a factory. The new ‘factories’ are in cyberspace and offshore. Countries
will work with these students who do not display any sense of ethnic or
religious superiority complex and shun those that do. The world belongs to the
private enterprise as government fails to change because of Old Politics.
The third
miracle would be the pooling of resources by private companies and enterprises
across a maples world to provide financial and infra-structure backings to
clear thinking and hard working graduates and young skilled individuals freeing
itself from any governmental ‘requirements’. Again, governments do not control
cyberspace and off shore dealings. Malaysians will be everywhere in the world
working, living, playing and worshipping while still rooted to their ‘tanah
tumpah darah ku’.
This
Merdeka is a meaningless Merdeka for the nation as it entrenches itself into
old political mindsets. But this Merdeka is a new Merdeka for all Malaysians
who love the idea of living with deep respect to each other’s faith and
cultures and working with each other for mutual prosperity.
What we
need is a Merdeka from the old rules of the game towards a new game play of
global dimension that frees us from the old 90s ball and chains.
To save
this Malaysia, our children must ‘leave the present Malaysia’ and embrace the
future Malaysia that lies beyond its shores into a global and universal
construct rooted in our traditional faiths and cultures.
(Professor
Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at UCSI
University.)
