Dilema Melayu Masa Kini

 Dilema Melayu Masa Kini

 

M. Bakri Musa

Kedua Daripada Tiga Bahagian:  Contohi Ireland Dan Quebec

 

[Dalam Bahagian Pertama saya mengutuk budaya kita yang asyik dengan peraga. Akibatnya ialah keadaan semasa yang memalukan di mana negara maju tetapi kaum Melayu tidak ikut bersama makmur. Dalam bahagian ke dua ini saya mendorongkan supaya masyarakat kita mencontohi rakyat Ireland pada tahun 1950-an dan Quebec pada tahun 1960-an untuk mengatasi cabaran semasa.]

 

            Malaysia hari ini mengingatkan saya kepada keadaan negeri Ireland pada 1950-an dan provinsi Quebec, Canada, pada 60-an. Orang Melayu hari ini, seperti orang Ireland dan Perancis-Kanada ketika dulu, berada di dalam cengkaman ketat para nasionalis dan seagama kita. Anak Melayu berpusu-pusu belajar Bahasa Arab, hadis, dan ilmu wahyu hingga mengabaikan Bahasa Inggeris, sains, dan matematik. Orang Ireland dan Perancis-Kanadi dahulu juga sibuk dengan tasbih dan katekismus (catechism) mereka; kita Melayu sekarang dengan ratib dan zikir.

 

            Orang Ireland dulu heboh untuk menghidupkan semula bahasa mereka yang sudah lama mati, yakni Gaelic. Orang Melayu hari ini tidak mahu kanak kanak kita belajar bahasa lain. Belajar Bahasa Inggeris disifatkan sebagai menghina bahasa ibunda dan bukan seperti yang sepatutnya, yakni mencari satu kemahiran yang berharga serta diperlukan.

 

            Perusahaan besar di Malaysia sekarang berada di tangan orang bukan Melayu manakala orang Melayu heboh dengan politik sahaja. Di Ireland ketika dulu, perniagaan utama berada dalam genggaman Inggeris manakala orang Ireland sibuk untuk menyatukan semula dengan kerabat mereka ke Utara. Orang Quebec pula sibuk hendak berpisah dari Kanada.

 

            Oleh sebab sistem pendidikan Ireland di masa dulu ketat di bawah kawalan gereja, dengan mata pelajaran penuh dengan unsur agama sahaja, pusat pengajian yang terkemuka ialah yang berkaitan dengan Protestan Inggeris. Jika ada ibu bapa orang Katolik Ireland yang bercita tinggi untuk masa depan anak mereka dan ingin mendaftarkan anak mereka di institusi Inggeris, mereka di anggap murtad. Pada tahun 1960-an, Mary Robinson, yang kemudiannya menjadi Presiden perempuan Ireland yang pertama, terpaksa mengambil kebenaran khas daripada paderinya untuk belajar di Trinity College, satu institusi kemuka Inggeris.

 

            Sean Lemass, Perdana Menteri Ireland dari 1959 hingga 1966, berjaya mengubah nasib rakyatnya. Dia bermula dengan menyingkat kuasa dan pengaruh Gereja dengan melucutkan kawalannya ke atas dasar sosial dan pendidikan. Dengan itu anak Irish kini boleh meninggalkan sekolah dan kolej Katolik mereka yang bermutu rendah untuk menghadiri sekolah Inggeris yang lebih unggul tanpa rasa takut bahawa mereka akan dilihat sebagai berdosa. Begitu juga mereka kini boleh menggunakan kontraseptif tanpa rasa takut akan azab abadi.

 

            Lemass membebaskan akhbar serta media am, termasuklah yang di miliki oleh kerajaan. Dengan sekali gus dia mendedahkan rakyat kepada dunia yang lebih luas dan perbagai pandangan. Beliau juga menggalakkan kritikan terhadap kepimpinan dan dasar beliau, mencerminkan keyakinan dan kecekapan beliau. Dan sunggoh pun orang Irish bersikap benci kepada orang Inggeris termasuk kepada bahasanya, Lemass mengistiharkan supaya bahasa Inggeris, bukan Gaelik, menjadi Bahasa resmi Ireland. Orang Irish sekarang tanpa segan silu memuji pengarang mereka dalam Bahasa Inggeris seperti James Joyce. Sementara itu merentasi Atlantik Utara dan sadekat kemudian, Jean Lesage dari Quebec melakukan serupa kepada kaum Perancis-Kanadien di wilayah mundur itu. 

 

            Disebaliknya renungkan sedikit tangkah laku Sasterawan Negara kita Muhammad Haji Salleh. Dia tidak lagi ingin menulis dalam Bajasa Inggeris sebab itu kononnya ialah satu perbuatan derhaka atau menunjokkan tidak percaya kepada bangsa dan bahasa. Tetapi dia sendiri fasih dalam duibahasa. 

 

            Pilihan atau jalan masa depan untuk Malaysia khasnya kaum Melayu ialah untuk mengikuti cara orang Ireland dan Quebec supaya kaum kita boleh dianggap dalam kalangan masyarakat yang maju.

 

            “Melayu malas,” “Melayu mudah lupa” dan stereotaip pemusnah lain yang menyamar sebagai ‘penjelasan’ dan ‘penyelesaian’ lebih mencerminkan kebodohan mereka yang mengucapkannya. Bandingkan dengan apa yang ditulis oleh orang Inggeris dahulu tentang orang Cina dan candu mereka, orang India sistem kasta mereka, dan orang Ireland agama mereka. Lihat di mana mereka sekarang.

 

            Jika orang Melayu malas, soalan seterusnya dan segera kita tanya ialah, kenapa dan mengapa? Mungkin mereka mendapat pampasan dan hasil yang rendah untuk usaha mereka. Petani Amerika tidak "malas" kerana mereka mempunyai sokongan harga untuk produk mereka, walaupun ianya negara kapitalisme. Selain daripada itu petani di Amerika mendapat pinjaman subsidi untuk membeli jentera lading yang membolehkan mereka dengan sekali gus meningkatkan produktiviti dan keluaran mereka. Renungkan sedikit. Semasa Perentah Jepun dahulu tiada orang Melayu yang malas! Malas dan engkau akan di kerah atau di hantar berkerja di “kerata api mati” di Burma.

 

            Renungkan pencapaian akademik dan lain-lain yang rendah antara murid Melayu. Pada tahun 1950-an pakar ekonomi Ungku Aziz mencadangkan untuk mengukur tinggi dan menimbang berat serta melakukan ujian darah ke atas anak-anak kampung. Penyelidikan yang mudah itu, jika dilakukan dengan teliti akan memberikan data yang tidak ternilai harganya dan akan boleh memperbaiki nasib kanak-kanak luar bandar. Allahyarham Ungku tahu bahawa kemiskinan dan kekurangan zat makanan yang berkaitan adalah akibat dan bukannya punca prestasi mereka yang kurang berkebolehan. Begitu juga dengan kemalasan dan kurang motivasi mereka.

 

            Setengah abad kemudian, penyelidik ekonomi suami-isteri di MIT, Abhijit Banerjee dan Esther Duflo, dianugerahi Hadiah Nobel atas kajian mereka tentang prestasi buruk pelajar sekolah Afrika luar bandar. Dari kajian mereka, initiatif yang paling berkesan bukanlah sekolah yang lebih baik, guru yang mahir, atau makanan sekolah diberi percuma, tetapi sebaliknya . . . memberi murid murid itu pil cacing! Kanak-kanak itu tidak malas atau bodoh; perut mereka penuh dengan cacing membuat mereka lesu oleh sebab kurang darah! Bapa saya tahu sedikit tentang perkara ini. Semasa kecil dahulu saya pernah diberi pil cacing.

 

            Sebagai seorang pakar bedah di Malaysia pada penghujung 1970-an, seorang perempuan Melayu ternama kecewa kerana dia di rawatkan oleh saya dan bukan oleh pakar bedah yang lebih tua dan bergelaran Datuk pula. Perempuan itu tidak puas hati sebab saya memberatkan kiraan darahnya yang rendah. Doktor lain, dia mengadu kepada jururawat saya, boleh mengesan anemianya sejauh satu batu dan tidak membuat kesah. Sebaliknya si perempuan ini suka dengan keadaan anemianya kerana itu membuat rupanya "lebih putih." Begitu juga dia tidak peduli kalau rasa malas akibat anemianya sebab dia mempunyai ramai pembantu rumah.

 

            Saya terdengar keluhan dia. Saya jelaskan bahawa saya lebih ingin mengetahui apa sebab dia kurang darah. Mungkin dia berdarah dalam badan atau mengalami penyakit yang jarang berlaku di mana perutnya tidak dapat menyerap Vitamin 12, penting untuk pembentukan darah baru. Penyakit itu amat berbahaya kerana selain menyebabkan darah rendah, ia juga berkait dengan satu jenis barah perut yang sangat ganas. Itu memeranjatkan dia. Selpas itu dia tidak lagi memperlekehkan nasihat saya.

 

            Fakta dengan sendirinya tidak bermakna. Lebih dasyat lagi, seperti yang dinyatakan oleh pengarang Arthur Conan Doyle "Tiada yang lebih menipu daripada fakta yang jelas."

 

            Fakta yang jelas seperti “Melayu malas” dan “Tidak pandai berniaga” telah menipu dan terus memperdayakan ramai orang Melayu termasuk pemimpin seperti Mahathir. 'Fakta' seperti itu sepatutnya harus menjadi rangsangan untuk siasatan selanjutnya dan bukan untuk digunakan untuk memburukan masyarakat.

 

Seterusnya: Terakhir dari Tiga Bahagian: Takdir Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim Mengarah Kita Ke Qiblat Yang Benar

 

The Malay Dilemma Today Part II: The Lessons From Ireland And Quebec

 The Malay Dilemma Today

 

Part Two:  The Lessons From Ireland And Quebec

M. Bakri Musa

Second of Three Parts

 

[In Part One I related the folly of our culture’s penchant for peraga (showing off) and the consequent stark as well as embarrassing reality that a developed Malaysia has not translated into a corresponding prosperous Malay society. In this second part I suggest that Malays emulate the Irish of the 1950s and Quebecois of the 1960s in overcoming our current challenges.]

 

            Today’s Malaysia reminds me of Ireland of the 1950s and Quebec of the 60s. Malays today, like the Irish and French-Canadiens then, are in the tight clutches of our nationalists and co-religionists, with our young flocking to study Arabic, hadith, and revealed knowledge instead of English, science, and mathematics. The Irish and French-Canadiens of yore were consumed with their rosaries and catechisms; Malays today, ratib and zikir.

            The Irish then were obsessed with resurrecting their dead language, Gaelic. Malays today would have our young not study any other language but Malay. Learning English is seen as showing contempt for our mother tongue instead of, as it should be, acquiring a much-needed added skill.

            Major enterprises in Malaysia are in the hands of non-Malays while Malays are consumed with politics. In Ireland then, major businesses were in English control while the Irish were obsessed with endless dreams of reunification with the North; the Quebecois, separation from Canada.

            With Irish education under tight church control and consumed with religious instructions, the leading educational institutions were thus the English-affiliated ones. If there were to be any ambitious Irish parents who dared dream of a better future for their children by enrolling them there, they risked being excommunicated. “Murtad” in local lingo. In early 1960s Mary Robinson, later to be Ireland’s first female President, had to get a special dispensation from her Archbishop to attend Trinity College.

            It took the enlightened Sean Lemass, Prime Minister from 1959-66, to clip the powers and influences of the Church by stripping its control over education and social policies. Freed from the suffocating controls of the church, the Irish could now abandon their inferior Catholic schools and colleges to attend the much superior English ones. 

            Lemass also liberalized the media, including state-owned ones, thus exposing citizens to the wider world and the consequent diversity of viewpoints. He not only tolerated but encouraged criticisms of his leadership and policies, a reflection of his confidence and competence. And despite the then Irish antipathy towards things English, he made English, not Gaelic, the language of Ireland. The Irish unabashedly celebrate their James Joyces. By contrast, our National Laureate Muhammad Haji Salleh feels that writing in English is a disservice to his race and nation. He of course is fluent in both languages.

            A decade later across the North Atlantic, Quebec’s Jean Lesage did likewise for the French-Canadiens.

            The choice for Malays is to emulate the Irish and Quebecois so we too could be counted to be among the developed. Curtail the influence of religion on education and social policies. Separate state from faith. That is Malaysia’s greatest challenge. Besides, as per American scholar Abdullahi An Naim, Islam thrives when it is free from the state. A faith coerced is no faith.

            The Qur’an is divine guidance to a life along the straight path. Reading the guide alone no matter how diligent or exquisite, will not do it. You have to live the message.

            “Malays are lazy,” “Melayu mudah lupa” (Malays forget easily) and other stereotypes that pass for ‘explanations’ and ‘solutions’ reflect intellectual shallowness. If indeed Malays are lazy, the next and immediate question should be, “Why?” Perhaps because they had so little to show for their efforts. American farmers are not “lazy” because they have price support for their products, the country’s commitment to capitalism notwithstanding. Beyond that they get subsidized loans and tax advantages to buy farm machinery, thus enhancing their productivity. As a parenthesis, there were no lazy Malays during the Japanese Occupation. The occupiers made sure of that!

 

            As for academic and other under-achievements, back in the 1950s economist Ungku Aziz suggested doing simple blood tests as well as measuring the heights and weights of kampung kids. Those are indicators of health. Done diligently it would provide invaluable insights that could lead to effective remedies. The late Ungku intuitively knew that their ‘laziness,’ underperformance, and lack of motivation were the consequences and not the cause of their poverty. 

 

            Half a century later the MIT husband-and-wife team of economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo won the Nobel Prize for their insights on underperforming poor rural African schoolchildren. The pair found that the most effective intervention was not better schools, skilled teachers, or free lunches rather . . . dispensing regular deworming pills! Those kids were not lazy or stupid; they were lethargic because there were infested with worms! My parents knew something about that as a child I used to take those pills.

 

            As a young surgeon in Malaysia in the late 1970s, a Malay socialite was upset that she was assigned to me instead of the other much older and more senior surgeons with Datuks to their names. I aggravated her disappointment when I made a fuss over her low blood count. The other doctors, she complained to my nurse, could spot her anemia a mile away. Besides, she likes it as that made her look “more white.” As for being lazy, she had maids galore.

 

            I overheard her conversation and explained that I was more into finding out why she was anemic. She could be bleeding internally or have a rare condition where her stomach could not absorb Vitamin B12, essential for blood formation. That particular malady is especially sinister, for apart from causing profound anemia it could also be associated with a virulent form of stomach cancer. That grabbed her attention.

 

            Facts by themselves are meaningless. Or as per Arthur Conan Doyle, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

 

            ‘Obvious facts’ like “Malays are lazy” and “Not good at business” have deceived and continue to dupe many Malays including leaders like Mahathir.

 

Next:  Last of Three Parts:  Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Manifest Destiny

A Refreshing Royal Address!

 A Refreshing Royal Address

M. Bakri Musa

February 27, 2024

 

The 17^th Agung’s Inaugural Royal Address to Parliament on Monday, February 26, 2024 was a refreshing departure from the norm. In tone and style, as well as demeanor and substance, it was low-key, far from the usual embellished royal speeches. Yet there was no mistaking the gravity of his message to the nation’s leaders and lawmakers. And through them, Malaysians.

 

            First, a necessary note of caution. There are significant differences between the official transcript as posted on Parliament’s website versus the live speech. Those changes go beyond the necessary editorial changes needed to make oral presentations readable.

 

            What struck me with this Royal Address was His Majesty’s very first sentence after his obligatory and very brief traditional Islamic salutation. The uncustomary and much-welcomed brevity of his religious greetings aside, what surprised and impressed me was the ending of his very first sentence. “. . . [S]audara saudari yang Saya hormati sekalian.” (lit. Ladies and gentlemen whom I respect; fig. Respected ladies and gentlemen!)

 

            He used the uncustomary “Saya” first person pronoun, not the traditional feudal “Beta!” The capitalized “S” of “Saya” was in the official transcript but in his speech it sounded as but a simple modest “saya.” He used “saya” many more times. In tandem he referred to Members of Parliament (MPs) as plain “Saudari saudari.” In the transcript however, they are “Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat sekalian” (Honorable Members all).

 

            There are more and very substantive differences between the speech and transcript. Third-way into his address, the Agung let go his first shot. He wants MPs to be decorous and treat each other with civility, avoiding rude language and uncouth behavior. That they have to be reminded of this elementary courtesy reveals much. Noting what had transpired in the House during the past few years, His Majesty admitted that he felt embarrassed to enter Parliament. That drew loud applause. The camera angle did not permit me to see the response from the Opposition side. 

 

            The Agung added that he had given the “Green Light” to the Speaker to suspend any uncouth MP for two weeks. Again, loud applause, and again this segment together with his preceding remarks on rude MPs were also absent from the transcript.

 

            From the MPs’ past behavior it would be appropriate to call them Monkeys of Parliament, all jockeying to reach the top branches to get the juiciest fruits, never mind how much damage they inflict on the branches and ultimately the tree.

 

            The Agung went further. Again, this critical segment was missing from the official transcript. His Majesty asked MPs to respect the current Unity Government, and added, “If MPs want to play politics, wait till the next election.” Again, great applause. I would have loved to have seen the faces of the likes of Muhyiddin Yassin, Azmin Ali, Hishamuddin Hussein, and Hamzah Zainuddin at that very moment. These are characters associated with the Sheraton and Dubai Moves infamy. As for the other leading culprit, Leader of the Opposition Islamic Party PAS, Hadi Awang, he was absent from Parliament.

 

            Towards the end of the address His Majesty urged the Anti Corruption Commission to be more aggressive in pursuing the corrupt, and for the court system to expedite its processes. Yes, this portion of the speech too was missing from the transcript.

 

            Seeing His Majesty reading his speech, the parts that were missing in the transcripts did not appear to have been adlibbed. He was diligently reading the document in front of him.

 

            I had intimations earlier that Sultan Ibrahim is cut from a very different cloth literally and figuratively. He came in not dressed in the traditional Malay sultan attire of embroidered songket and samping complete with a towering tanjak. Instead he opted for the ceremonial white military garb complete with a green beret. His was a commanding officer moving his quarters to the front of the war zone, not in the comfort of the protected rear.

 

            In tone and content this Agung means business. He is precisely the King Malaysia needs today. Perhaps being in Johore and seeing how they do it so crisp and well across the causeway, Sultan Ibrahim is intolerant of what his fellow citizens had endured for the past generation or two. He wants change, radical and now. May he have great success, for with that, the success of Malaysia.

 

            As for the significant discrepancy between the official transcript and the actual Royal Speech, that is emblematic of the vast gulf between reality and what the government’s documents report.

Cast From The Herd Excerpt # 118: Being Part of the New Land

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt #118: Being Part of the New Land

After dinner and alone in my room, I pondered that this new land would now be my home for the next six or seven years, Insha’ Allah (God willing). I recalled the advice my grandfather gave me before I left my homeland. Wherever I would be I should always treat the new place as my homeland. It was after all the same God’s universe, he assured me, and thus I must strive to be a part of the new place as soon and as much as possible, and not consider myself a foreigner.

            To symbolize that, he reminded me of an ancient ritual taught to the young men in our culture on the beginning their merantau (wanderings). When you reach your new destination, you should at your first shower recite a verse of the Qur’an that says (approximately translated) the entire universe is Allah’s creation and for all mankind, and then to pray for the new land to accept you. After that smear a clump of the local soil all over your body to symbolize that the new soil and you are now one. Then wash away the dirt. Do that, my grandfather assured me, and I would be accepted in the new land. 

            I wanted to re-enact the ritual, but how on earth would I get the prairie soil? The garden below was well kept. If I were to grab a fistful of soil from there, I would be vandalizing the beauty. Then there was also the logistics of carrying the soil to my room, and then to the communal bathroom down the hallway. If someone were to see me, he would think this foreigner was a weirdo. Try telling him that I was following my grandfather’s advice! 

            I scouted the area. As I walked around I had shocks from static electricity and marveled at this new phenomenon. Branny saw me and showed me his room; it was full of potted ivies. “Keep the air humid and reduce the static,” he said. “The air is dry here. Hang your wet clothes in your room and by morning they’ll be dry.” 

            Branny gave me an idea. So off I went to buy my small pot of ivy at the campus store. It was a ridiculous 99 cents. I wondered why they did not make it a full dollar. Canadians still valued their pennies. 

 

           On the way back I scoped a fistful of the dark, fertile prairie soil. If caught, I would have a ready excuse – for my plant. Nobody saw me. After depositing the plant in my room I headed for the shower to re-enact my grandfather’s ritual. I prayed to Allah that this new land would accept me. As the dirt washed away from my body, I felt its familiar granularity all over me. I was at home, just as my grandfather had promised. I was now part of this patch of God’s earth, my new roots now grounded in the dark fertile prairie soil. 

            I did not know whether it was the ritual my grandfather had taught me, the generosity of the Canadian government that made possible my scholarship, the helpful strangers I met at Rideau Canal, or the warm welcome I received from Ben, Ray and Branny, whatever it was, I already felt at home on my first day at the University of Alberta. 

            My grandfather’s du’a and advice were right. I would indeed be part of this new land of Canada. Not only did I earn a few coveted academic credentials, but along the way I also acquired some non-academic certificates, the earlier stern warning of the Malaysian Establishment Officer notwithstanding. With great joy I acquired a wedding certificate, and was blessed with two birth certificates – for Melindah and Zachary. I had indeed become part of if not the son of the soil of Canada. (My youngest, Azlan, would come later, when I again pursued my merantau south to Oregon.) 

            I had taken leave of my flock in search of a new pasture and found it in a faraway land. Chairil Anwar’s brashness in his immortal “Aku” poem notwithstanding, it is the nature of humans to want to belong to a herd. My new meadow looked fresh, lush, and incredibly vast. God willing, I would turn it to good use. Chairil Anwar’s rugged brashness and fierce individualism captured in his immortal line in “Aku,” “Aki ini binatang jalang, Dari kumpulannya terbuang,” (I am but a wild beast, cast from its herd!) resonate with me though I am far from being wild, and neither am I cast from my herd.

            Here I was, only a few months shy of my 20th birthday. At that age Chairil Anwar had already penned his famous poem while I was just embarking on my journey. I had not taken exactly after my Muar River. It first flows east following the natural slope of the Main Range, then swings south to the end of the Ridge before turning west, emptying into the Straits of Melaka. I, on the other hand flew east, first to Hong Kong enjoying briefly its luxury, and then on to the Far East, Tokyo. From there I continued eastward, way further east to cross the International Dateline to end up in . . . the West – Edmonton, Canada. 

            Like the seladang (wild buffalo) back home, I had roamed far. I sought Allah’s guidance that I would be at peace and thrive in my new meadow. Please God, spare me the fate of that icon of the Great Plains, venerated and well taken care of but alas still confined within the national parks. 

            Fast forward to two decades later after yet another round of merantau after I returned to Malaysia, I settled, after a brief stay in sparse rural Eastern Oregon, on a ranch south of Silicon Valley, California. A frequent visitor then was a Malaysian graduate student, Captain Shaari, from the nearby Naval Postgraduate School, with his young family. My ranch reminded him of his father’s kampung, and his children loved my lambs. Once, exasperated as his kids fussed about having to leave, he pleaded to me, “Why is it Bakri, when I took my children to their grandparents’ kampung, we had not even arrived yet and my children were already clamoring to leave?”

            Then I remembered the first time I set eyes on this property on a warm October afternoon. Shaded by the massive black oak tree near the creek, memories of my siesta under the huge tamarind tree by the riverbank back at my old village drifted me into nostalgia. Across the road, the neighbor’s Charolais mothers mooed, longing for their just-separated calves, just like my grandfather’s cows in days of yore. I was at my old village again, only this time with modern conveniences of electricity, indoor plumbing, and roof-top satellite dish connecting me to the outside world. However, even without those amenities my children and grandchildren still love hiking the creek and scaling the rocky hills. 

            The most consequential difference between the old village and my ranch in my adopted land is this. Here, my children’s fate (as well as mine) is dependent on their talent and hard work instead of their birth and heritage. That alone made my journey worth it. 

Next:  Final Excerpt:  Acknowledgments

Dlema Melayu Hari Ini

 Dilema Melayu Hari Ini

M. Bakri Musa

 

Bahagian Pertama:  Kekosongan UMNO Serta Pemimpinnya

(Bahagian pertama dari tiga)

 

Keputusan UMNO untuk menangguhkan Kolokium Pra-Kongres Ekonomi Bumiputera yang dijadualkan pada 3 Februari 2024 yang lalu dan menggantikannya dengan perbincangan keputusan Lembaga Pengampunan Diraja terhadap bekas Perdana Menteri Najib Razak berkaitan dengan rasuah syarikat 1MDB mencerminkan kekosongan parti serta pemimpinnya.

 

            Pemimpin UMNO memilih untuk memberi tumpuan kepada sesuatu yang mereka akui tidak boleh berbuat apa-apa (“Kami menghormati keputusan Lembaga Diraja Pengampunan . . .”) sambil mengabaikan agenda utama di mana mereka mungkin boleh memainkan peranan yang penting. Yakni, meringankan penderitaan masyarakat Melayu yang lama sudah jauh kebelakangan serta menyedihkan.

 

            Keputusan UMNO untuk bertindak sedemikian mencerminkan isu yang lebih besar untuk masyarakat kita, ya itu kecenderungan budaya kita ke arah peraga sahaja. Bermakna, melakukan sesuatu hanya untuk dilihat sebagai berupaya tetapi hakikatnya kosong. Atau dalam istilah kejuruteraan, nisbah isyarat-ke-bunyi (signal-to-noise ratio) yang rendah. Budaya peraga inilah, atau endah rupa tanpa rasa, yang lama merosakkan masyarakat kita. Itulah unsur utama yang mengakibatkan kaum kita kebelakangan. Mukadimah yang panjang berlarutan di perhimpunan Melayu, sema ada di persembahan resmi dan akademik, mencerminkan budaya peraga ini.

 

            Renungkan sambutan keterlaluan yang masih berterusan terhadap pengampunan bekas Perdana Mentei Najib. Hakikatnya tidak berubah. Si lelaki yang berusia 70 tahun itu masih mempunyai hukuman penjara yang panjang, denda yang tinggi, serta hutang cukai yang besar, selain daripada perbicaraan semasa yang sedang berjalan dan tidak akan terjejas oleh pengampunan diraja itu. Maknanya, pemimpin UMNO serta pengulas am heboh dengan sesuatu yang tidak bermakna atau memberi kesan. Sekali lagi, untuk peraga sahaja!

 

            UMNO sekarang jauh bezanya dari parti gemilang yang ditubuhkan pada tahun 1946. Pemimpin awalnya bijak dan berpandangan jauh. Mereka berani merapati pemimpin kaum lain untuk matlamat yang sama. Yakni, menghapuskan penjajahan British. Kebijaksanaan mereka mengakibatkan negara mencapai kemerdekaannya secara aman, tanpa perang atau pengganasan, satu pencapaian yang jarang berlaku pada masa itu.

 

            Malangnya Semangat 46 ini telah hapus dan digantikan dengan unsur rasuah yang mendalam ke akar umbi. UMNO sekarang jauh sekali daripada berteraskan “Agama, Bangsa, dan Negara” tetapi sebaliknya, “Kami, Keturunan, dan Kembung Perut!”

 

            Pemuda UMNO yang pernah dianggap sebagai sayap halia kerana keberanian mereka untuk menyindir serta mengutuk pemimpin tertinggi, kini dihuni oleh ahli politik muda yang bersemangat “kami menurut arahan” sahaja. Mereka bersemangat Hang Tuah sahaja, tidak hebat atau berani seperti Hang Jebat. Pemuda UMNO tidak berjantan.

 

            Mahathir Mohamad, Presiden UMNO yang paling lama, menanggung bala petaka kemerosotan parti. Sungguh pun dia pada akhirnya mengecut keahliannya, satu perbuatan khianat tanpa bandingan, itu tidak mengubah apa-apa, sama ada dirinya mahupun UMNO. Bahkan semua pemimpin UMNO meninggalkan parti dengan syarat yang jauh daripada manis. Pengecualian ialah Tun Razak yang meninggal dunia dalam jawatan, dan Abdullah Badawi.

 

            Mahathirlah yang juga memperkenalkan budaya “tampa bertanding" dalam pilihan pemimpin atasan. Dengan terus terang dia tidak ingin dan menghalang pencabar. Itu satu tanda pemimpin pengecut dan tiada keyakinan diri sendiri. Dia berbuat sedemikian selepas dicabar oleh Tengku Razaleigh pada 1987 di mana Mahathir menang dengan undi yang tepis. Arahan “tanpa dicabar” ini kemudiannya dipeluk penuh oleh pemimpin yang berikutan. Itulah yang mempercepatkan kelemahan dan kemerosotan UMNO.

 

            Pemimpin Melayu dalam dan luar UMNO gagal memahami realiti yang terang serta menyedihkan. Yakni, Malaysia yang maju tidak semestinya menghasilkan status yang sama untuk orang Melayu. Kampung Baru, jerawat yang mengotorkan wajah berseri Kuala Lumpur, melambangkan kebenaran ini dan juga merupakan peringatan hodoh yang berterusan. Tetapi sebaliknya, jika masyarakat Melayu maju, itu bukan sahaja bermakna Malaysia yang makmur tetapi juga sebuah negara yang stabil. Oleh sebab itu, cabaran yang penting dan utama untuk membangunkan negara Malaysia ialah memperbaiki nasib orang Melayu. Bahkan jika masyarakat Melayu mundur di dalam negara yang berkembang maju, itu adalah malapetaka yang menanti. Untuk bandingan, peristiwa ngeri Mei 1969 itu hanyalah pratonton dan kejadian yang ringan.

 

            Banyak terdapat contoh di mana kaum majoriti yang dahulunya kebelakangan berjaya mengatasi kemunduran mereka. Contoh utama ialah kaum Katolik di Ireland pada 1950-an dan Perancis-Kanada di Quebec pada 1960-an. Sebaliknya terdapat juga di mana keadaan kaum majoriti merosot walaupun mereka sekarang memegang kuasa. Kaum Hitam di Afrika Selatan contoh yang sedih. Keadaan mereka hari ini lebih teruk lagi bila dibandingkan semasa zaman Aparteid dahulu.

 

            Banyak ajaran serta penunjuk yang boleh kita di teladani daripada masyarakat Ireland dan Perancis-Kanadi dulu; tiada rahsia atau sihir. Seperti yang dinyatakan oleh novelis doktor Stanford Thomas Verghese dalam buku terlarisnya The Covenant of Water, "Rahsia bisa tersembunyi di tempat yang paling jelas." Itu termasuk benda serta ilmu dan ilham.

 

            Dalam karangan kedua daripada tiga saya akan meneroka apa yang boleh kita pelajari daripada Ireland dan Quebec tentang rahsia yang tidak begitu tersembunyi ini untuk menyelamatkan bangsa Melayu daripada penderitaan yang sekarang dialami oleh orang kulit hitam di Afrika Selatan.

 

Seterusnya (Kedua Daripada Tiga Bahagian):  Contoh Dari Ireland Dan Quebec

The malay Dilemma Today Part I: UMNO's Irrelevance and the Vacuity of its Leaders

 The Malay Dilemma Today

M. Bakri Musa

 

Part One:  UMNO’s Irrelevance And The Vacuity Of Its Leaders

 

(First of Three Parts)

 

It reflects the irrelevance of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and the vacuity of its leaders that the party had postponed its Bumiputera Economic Pre-Congress Colloquium scheduled on February 3, 2024. Instead they met to discuss the Royal Pardon Board’s decision to ‘lighten’ the sentence on former Prime Minister Najib Razak for his central role in the massive 1MDB corruption.

 

            In so doing UMNO leaders chose to focus on something they admitted that they could do nothing (“We respect the Pardon Board’s decision . . .”) while deferring if not ignoring a critical agenda where they could potentially play a major role. That is, alleviating the longstanding pathetic socio-economic plight of Malays.

 

            As my old wickedly witty classmate Nik Zainal back in Kuala Kangsar in the early 1960s would put it, UMNO’s decision may be sound (at least to them) but alas only sound! Levity aside, UMNO’s action (or rather inaction) reflects a much bigger issue – our culture’s penchant for show over substance, to be seen doing something over actually doing it.

 

            It is the old pernicious peraga syndrome, or as the engineers would put, low signal-to-noise ratio. The long drawn-out preambles at Malay gatherings, par for the course even with business and academic presentations, reflect this.

 

            Consider the recent and continuing overblown reactions to Najib’s pardon. The fact that it would not materially alter the reality escapes many. The 70-year-old man still has a long prison sentence, hefty fines, and massive tax liens, quite apart from the current ongoing trials that would not be affected by the partial pardon. UMNO leaders and others are fulminating over something meaningless. Again, peraga!

 

            Today’s UMNO is but a pale shadow of its earlier glorious version. Established in 1946, its then farsighted leaders undertook a bold and unprecedented move to reach out to leaders of the other communities for the common goal of getting rid of British colonialism. The wisdom of that decision was Malaysia getting her independence peacefully.

 

            Alas this Semangat 46 (Spirit of 46) has all but evaporated, replaced by the current miasma of fetid corruption. UMNO is no longer Agama, Bangsa, dan Negara (Faith, Race, and Nation) but Kami, Keturunan, dan Kembung! (Me, my progenies, and my gluttony!) 

 

            UMNO Youth, once dubbed the ginger wing for its penchant in spicing things up and making the top leaders squirm, is today populated by young ambitious politicians of the supplicant Hang Tuah strain. UMNO Youth is bereft of jantans (alpha males).

 

            Mahathir Mohamad, UMNO’s longest serving President, is responsible for this sorry state. He later resigned from the party, an ingrate of the lowest order. That changed nothing, not him nor UMNO. It is also significant that all UMNO leaders left the party on less-than-laudatory terms, the exceptions being Tun Razak who died in office, and Abdullah Badawi.

 

            Mahathir introducing the “no-contest” rule for the party’s top slots was but a bald attempt to discourage challengers, the signature mark of an insecure leader. He instituted that following his near-death experience after being challenged by Tengku Razaleigh in 1987. That rule was later embraced with even greater enthusiasm by his successors, accelerating the party’s rot.

 

            Malay leaders within as well as outside of UMNO fail to grasp a central pathetic reality. That is, a developed Malaysia would not necessarily result (and indeed has not) in a similar status for Malays. Kampung Baru, a hideous wart on Kuala Lumpur’s otherwise glittering face, epitomizes this, quite apart from being a constant and very visible reminder, not that one is needed. On the other hand, a developed Malay society would mean not only a prosperous Malaysia but also a stable one. Thus the challenge is more with improving the lot of Malays. A backward Malay society in a thriving Malaysia is a catastrophe waiting. The gruesome May 1969 incident was but a preview, and a mild one.

            

            The tragedy is that there are many ready examples where the previously backward majority had overcome their obstacles. Ireland’s Catholics of the 1950s and Quebec’s French-Canadians of the 1960s come to mind. A tragic reminder of the reverse, the majority being worse off despite their being in charge, is today’s South African Blacks.

 

            Emulate the Irish and French-Canadiens; there are no secrets or magic. As the Stanford physician-novelist Thomas Verghese put it in his best-selling The Covenant of Water, “Secrets are hidden in the most obvious places.” That applies to things as well as ideas and insights. 

 

            The second of my three-piece article explores what we can learn from the Irish and Quebecois of this not-so-hidden secret so as to spare Malays from the tragic plight of Blacks in today’s South Africa.

 

Next:  Second Of Three Parts:  The Lessons From Ireland And Quebec

Cast From The Herd Excerpt #117: An Unexpected Identity Crisis

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt #117:  An Unexpected Identity Crisis

On campus I was assigned to Athabasca Hall, an old three-story wooden building. As my two Malaysian greeters who met me at the airport helped me up with my suitcases, we made quite a ruckus on the old wooden floor. Soon two gentlemen emerged from the end of the hallway. 

            “Hi! I’m Ray, your RA [resident advisor]. You must be Ben, welcome to the U of A,” the first one greeted me. 

            “Ben is that one,” I replied. “I’m . . . .” 

            “I know Ben,” interrupted the second man, “then you must be Mohammad! Hello, I am Branny. Welcome to Athabasca Hall. I’m your other RA, but unlike Ray, never around.” He laughed. 

            “Actually I’m Bakri.” 

            Here I was, not yet unpacked or even in my room, and already there was some confusion over my name. I never realized that even a simple matter of a name could be so confusing when one crossed borders and cultures. I thought I had solved the problem with the changes on my birth certificate earlier. 

            “I bet you Bakri,” Ray concluded as he deliberately and correctly pronounced my name, “folks here will call you Ben, Ben Musa, or Buck, but not Bakri. Canadians are fond of monosyllables. We’ll shorten it or stick you with a nickname.” 

            “That’s not true,” Branny teased. “I have two syllables; they have no problem with that. Bakri is like Branny.” He smiled. “But I agree with Ray, they’ll never call you ‘Mohammad.’ Moe, maybe!” 

            My room, home for the year and perhaps longer, was the size of my old prefect’s cubicle at Malay College. And like there, I did not have to share it with anyone. There was a western-facing window, and the warmth of the setting sun lifted my spirits only to be dampened by the sight of the huge coiled steam heater below the window sill. Winter must be really cold! Across the garden with flowers still in bloom was Pembina Hall, the women’s residence. 

            Later, settled and in the silence and privacy of my new room, I pondered the earlier discussion. I did not want to be called ‘Ben’ as it sounded foreign, or ‘Mohammad,’ even though that was the name of our revered prophet. It is a beautiful name but as many Muslims have it, it has no identifying function; more decorative. I was never called by that name back home. Back there they called me ‘Bakri’ and that was what I wanted to be called here in Canada. 

            The tradition of a surname is alien in my culture. The decorative Mohammad excepted, I have only one name – Bakri. For further differentiation, I have my father’s name, hence Bin (for son of, or “Binte,” daughter of) Musa. To complicate matters, at my requiem I will be introduced to my Lord as Mohammad Bakri Bin Jauhariah (Jauhariah being my mother’s name), in conformity with our matriarchal tradition. 

            What a way to begin my stay in Canada; on a clear fall day I was clouded by a name crisis. I wrote my name in different versions:  M. B. B. Musa, M. B. Bakri, or simply M. Bakri, after the then popular singer back in my homeland. However, none looked or sounded right. I finally settled on ‘M. Bakri Musa.’ ‘Bakri’ will be my first name and ‘Musa,’ last. I would dispense with the ‘Bin.’ When I get married my wife would be Mrs. Musa and my children would have Musa as their last name. As for having a first initial, well, there was J. Edgar Hoover, the famed FBI director. In a new land I would begin with a new tradition. Now all I had to do was educate my new friends as to my new name but same identity. 

            That settled, my mind wandered onto other things. I could not help but compare my warm welcoming reception here at Athabasca Hall to the hell I had endured at Malay College nearly three years earlier. I was deep in thought when there was a knock on my door. It was Ray. 

            “Hi, Buck-ree!” 

            Good, he pronounced it right, emphasizing the last syllable. He told me that the dinner table assignment was displayed downstairs but for that evening it would be open seating. 

            “Oh,” he added, “tomorrow’s dinner will be formal, suit and tie. After dinner, sing-along. Great way to meet the girls from Pembina!” 

            What? A sing-along after dinner? To meet the girls? No hazing? These Canadians were sure civilized! 

Next:  Excerpt #118:  Being Part of the New Land

Anwar's Anti-Corruption Crusade Is Less Machiavellian, More Pragmatism

 Anwar’s Anti-Corruption Crusade Is Less Machiavellian, More Pragmatism

M. Bakri Musa

 

It was pathetic to see ailing former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin hauled into court bent over in his wheelchair. His pseudo bravado assertion, “I am not too bothered about my fate now. Let Anwar throw everything at me!” only made it worse.

 

            Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed too blamed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC’s) investigations of Mahathir’s now obscenely wealthy sons.

 

            The pair reveals more about themselves and their mode of governance than of Anwar. It is now obvious that Mahathir had used MACC and other apparatus of the government to bludgeon his political enemies. Anwar could testify to that; he was Mahathir’s most brutalized victim.

 

            Today that world has changed, and for the better. Anwar is letting MACC do its job without interference; a novel concept to the pair and incredulous to Malaysians long used to Mahathir’s corrosive one-man show. That also explains why Malaysia is in such a pathetic mess today, with corruption entrenched at the highest levels and in all sectors. Anwar has made good his intention to combat corruption, much to the horror of the likes of Daim and Mahathir.

 

            The new Agung, Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim, too had declared his abhorrence for and determination to hunt “all the corrupt people.” In an added pointed reference, “even those nearing a hundred years.” With both titular and political heads now treating corruption for what it is – a lethal societal cancer – I hope others, in particular religious and intellectual leaders, would also join in this critical crusade.

 

            Ulama in particular have a major role both in their sermons as well as in their personal behaviors. In sermons, be less obsessed with the Hereafter and emphasize the Hell right here and now that are the consequences of corruption. Witness the hellish faces of Covid-19 patients desperate for their last breaths because of faulty ventilators, another product of corruption. Their loved ones too went through hell.

 

            Likewise what is the message when our ulama are flown in luxurious corporate jets for their Hajj and umrah while failing to disclose who paid for those luxuries? How to explain to the poor fisherman in Kelantan when the Federal Mufti who was also a former cabinet minister diverted zakat funds to finance his son’s university education?

 

            Religious leaders should focus on leading the flock along the straight path, away from corruption, a challenging enough assignment. Quit being politicians. The Qur’anic Day of Judgement is as much conceptual and metaphorical as real and temporal. Ask the likes of Daims, Najibs, and Mahathirs. As to what awaits them in the Hereafter, Allah hu allam (Only Allah knows!). As per the wisdom of 13^th Century Ibn Ata Allah Al Iskandariah in his Hikam (Aphorism No: 73), “If you want to know your standing with Him, look at the state He has put you in now.”

 

            As for writers, consider the impact of the late Shahnon Ahmad with his classics (SHIT, Tok Guru, and others.) That he is now forgotten reflects more on our rotten education system, yet another victim of systemic corruption. With intellectuals, I pine for long-gone giants like Syed Hussain Alatas for their fearless exposing of our blight. He and Shahnon did not need the imprimatur of the National Professors Council or other such props to have powerful impact.

 

            Anwar faces formidable obstacles, real as well as perceptual, in his fight against corruption. His critics castigate him for having a man of far-from-stellar reputation in the competency as well as integrity department as Deputy Prime Minister. However, if that is the price for sparing Malaysia the likes of Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri, and Hamzah Zainudin, so be it. If Malaysians do not like that, then give Anwar a strong mandate at the next election.

 

            In letting MACC do its job, Anwar is less Machiavellian, more a pragmatist; less a conniving politician, more enlightened leader. If employing a thief to catch another is effective, so be it. As to the inevitable and frequently-asked question, “Why now?” The riposte is simple. You charge when you have the evidence. Malaysia has no statute of limitations with respect to criminal deeds. Justice, like mother’s love, has no expiration date.

 

            Those who feel that prosecuting the previously high and mighty (who by statutes are mostly Malays) would lead to political instability have a low opinion of Malaysians, and of Malays in particular. On the contrary, letting those corrupt Malay leaders get away with their crimes would destroy our society.

 

            The recent royal partial pardon for former Prime Minister Najib Razak does not alter the dynamics or reality, the ensuing hullabaloo and explosive diarrhea of commentaries notwithstanding. That pardon was but mere Malay shadow play; a needed but not-so-entertaining distraction. Little need to restrict the entertainment, I mean, comments. Najib is not going anywhere soon. He remains in jail, still has the massive fines (discount or not), and three more trials not preemptively pardoned. Meanwhile Malaysia bears for decades to come the humongous debt incurred by him.

 

            It is significant – and prescient – that the Sultan of Johor, now Agung, remains the only ruler who did not see fit to honor Najib during the height of his (Najib’s) days. Thus far only the Negri Ruler and the Sultan of Selangor have withdrawn theirs. The others have not seen fit to do likewise. We still have a challenge there in our fight against corruption in high places.

 

            As for Anwar, it is noteworthy that none of the previous Prime Ministers from Mahathir to Ismail Sabri were present at the recent installation of the Agung. Our symbolic national ceremonies should remain untainted and unblemished.

 

            The perceptive and ever-biting Zunar captured it best with his latest cartoon strips on Daim’s performances. One shows him striding tall and in control at Langkah Tebuk Atap (Strategy to topple the government) and Langkah Dubai (Dubai Move); the other, awarding him the Oscar for Best Actor for his wheelchair performance.

Cast From The Herd Exerpt #115: Let The Expanding Universe Be Your Teacher

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt #115:  Let The Expanding Universe Be Your Teacher

Our city bus tour of Ottawa also took us to an experimental farm out in the suburb. A young man demonstrated his experiments crossing prairie wild grass with alfalfa varieties that would yield high protein to benefit cattle ranchers. He was a PhD, in cowboy boots and jeans, his hands dirty with mud and loving it! I did not realize that the simple wild grass could potentially have such economic significance. Then I remembered the conversations I had with my biology teacher at my old school in Kuala Pilah who recounted his fellow graduate student doing his doctoral dissertation on worms. There is nothing in nature that is not worthy of study!

            Before I left Malaysia, my parents urged me to write home often. There was no possibility for them ever to visit Canada; my writing home would serve as vicarious visits for them. Observe the country and its people, they counseled me, as well as be perceptive of and receptive to your new environment. Heed the wisdom of our culture, Alam terkembang dijadikan guru (Let the expanding universe be your teacher), echoing Wordsworth’s “Let nature be your teacher.” The more you learn, the more your universe expands. That bus tour provided me with ample materials for many letters home, quite apart from expanding my universe.

            My father also asked me to ponder this question:  Why was it that Canada was giving those generous scholarships to young Malaysians and not Malaysia to young Canadians? I doubted whether any other parents of Colombo Plan scholars had ever pondered that question.

            Years later at an international gathering I attended, an African student suggested that the West offered such generous scholarships to Third World students in order to influence them. They would then return home thoroughly infatuated with the West. Far from being a generous gesture, this student suggested, those scholarships were but subtle and nefarious means of “mental neo-colonization.” 

            That African student had the benefit of modern Western education; my father did not. Clearly, education is no guarantee of wisdom, any more than medicine is to health. Not properly appreciated or applied, education like medicine could perversely destroy if not pervert you, as with that African student.

            Jared Diamond in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fate of Human Societies, recounted his experience with a Papua New Guinea chief at the end of World War II. At that time the Allied Forces were dropping regular relief supplies to the natives. To them, those “goodies” were literally dropped from heaven. Their wise chief Yali however, went beyond. He wondered why it was that Diamond’s people (meaning the West, white people) who were dropping those gifts to the natives, and not the other way around, echoing my parent’s earlier query.

            The central theme of that perceptive chief’s, as well as my wise father’s observation, was this:  Why are some societies developed, successful, and consequently generous while others remain poor, backward, and forever dependent on the charity of others? Thinkers and philosophers throughout the ages have pondered this critical question. The answers still elude us.

            Viewed from a different perspective, why was I grateful to the Canadian government for financing my education while that African student looked upon that same generous gesture as but a sinister scheme to brainwash him? Dispensing with the philosophical query of intent versus deed (a frequent Qur’anic refrain, together with the prophetic tradition of actions be judged by intentions), as the beneficiary of someone’s generosity I must be grateful and attribute only the noblest of intentions to my benefactor.

            That was the personal dilemma I wrestled with in high school when I had nominated my classmate Nafsiah to be president of our science society. Yes indeed she felt honored and was grateful for my doing so, but my motives were less pure if not downright malicious. I did it so as to distract her from her studies and thus lessen the competition for me. Having learned from that episode, my duty now should be to make full use of that precious gift endowed upon me so I could in turn reciprocate the gesture to others, and do so with the purest of intentions. 

            My father’s earlier wise counsel sensitized me to the world beyond my classrooms and lecture halls. It made me a student in the broadest sense of the word. On a pragmatic level, seeing that I had no shortage of material, I wondered whether my father’s advice was but his sneaky way to get me to write home often, much like his earlier queries (when I was in primary school) on the pictures in the English newspaper were but prods at making me read the full article. Otherwise with nothing to write home about beyond “I’m fine; don’t worry,” I would not be so diligent in doing it. 

            Alas, my stay in Ottawa ended way too fast. Soon I was on the plane again back to Toronto, and then westward to Edmonton, Alberta, my final destination. 

Next:  Excerpt #116:  Alberta, Here I come!