No May 13, No "Ketuanan Melayu" (revisited)

[From an email I posted on the Artisproactiv forum on 14 October 2004. It was subsequently published in this blog on 30 September 2008, but I feel it's worth reprising one more time to mark the 50th anniversary of 13 May 1969]


Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 16:41:20 +0800
From: Antares
Subject: Re: UNMASKING THE HORNETS

Those in power will do ANYTHING it takes to remain in power. This is a basic Machiavellian truism. Exceptions to the rule occur, of course, but all too rarely. It takes a Prince Siddhartha to turn one's back on the false and treacherous allure of earthly power and embark on a personal quest for truth and enlightenment.

Or perhaps a prince like Tunku Abdul Rahman who resigned a sad and broken man after May 13 rather than battle those within Umno who wanted him out.

Shortly before his death, the Tunku confided - in a series of intimate interviews with K. Das, former bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review, who was working on the Tunku's official biography - that what happened on May 13, 1969, was really the implementation of a contingency plan to prevent the political opposition (in this instance the DAP and PAS) from forming a parliamentary majority after the 1969 general election. The Tengku actually named FIVE individuals who were the key conspirators.*

Strategies had been laid long before the general election to spark off "racial riots" - in the event of a poor showing for the ruling party in the polls - that would precipitate the declaration of a state of national emergency (temporary martial law and the hasty formation of the National Operations Council) - and the nullification of the 1969 election results. The loss of a few hundred lives was deemed a necessary sacrifice to ensure Umno's continued dominance and the political survival of the Alliance (now the Barisan Nasional).

The plan obviously worked. By declaring it a "sensitive" issue, the May 13 plot effectively acquired the status of a national taboo, thereby protecting its perpetrators from a royal commission of inquiry and charges of criminal treason. 35 years down the line, not one of the five key conspirators has ever been exposed and charged with complicity in this deadly and repugnant sandiwara.

This sort of strategem is actually standard practice - and since "winners" rewrite history as they please - it often takes ages before such skeletons are excavated from the dusty remains of political cupboards, centuries later.

Take the infamous Gulf of Tonkin "incident" which led directly to America's invasion of Vietnam... or the JFK assassination of November 22, 1963: the whole thing is still shrouded in mystery and much discussed amongst "conspiracy theorists." Despite the Freedom of Information Act in America, and a slew of well-researched books on the subject, the general public still unthinkingly accepts that JFK's assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald. Same thing with RFK (Robert F. Kennedy) and MLK (Martin Luther King).

Then there was the story (planted by PR firm Hill & Knowlton) about Saddam Hussein's troops snatching infants from their incubators in Kuwait, which swung public opinion in favor of Emperor Bush I's 1991 Operation Desert Storm. And now we have September 11, 2001 as America's very own "May 13."

Race riots, my foot. May 13 was really just "Plan B": a carefully orchestrated mengamuk.

Yup, it's Chicken Run all over!
______

* One of the five May 13 conspirators is still alive and plotting - and among the others, some of their offspring are still active in politics. So I won't name any of them without proper legal backing or documentary evidence. However, I can drop a heavy hint: two of them subsequently became prime ministers. How did I come by this info? I collaborated with K. Das in 1986 on a book of political quotes and we had a few good conversations over the years.

Vernon Emuang forwarded this Malaysiakini essay by Sim Kwang Yang:

It would seem to be a clear case of sedition when a political butterfly dressed up in hornet's armour tried to revive the ghost of May 13 in the recent Umno general assembly, to the thunderous applause of all those present.

Speeches during Umno general assemblies are more likely to be carefully orchestrated representations of their mainstream thinking, rather than the spontaneous cut and thrust of creative ideas. So we - who are excluded from the inner sanctum of Umno faithful - have to assume that their perennial call to arms is an integral part of Umno ideology. After all, May 13 was the cornerstone upon which the grand superstructure of the NEP had been erected for the past 35 years.

[First posted 30 September 2008, reposted 13 May 2009]

The elephant in the room ~ no unity without equality

Commentary by Gabriel Tarriba

As my Malaysian summer comes to an end, I decided to take stock of what I have learned during two eventful months of research, writing and travel in the country. I came to Malaysia knowing very little about the country: my original intention was to try to understand why this young multi-ethnic country has been so successful in developing economically over five decades.

Malaysia is today an example for many developing and emerging economies and I believe that all Malaysians should be proud of how much has been achieved in so little time. The country definitely offers many lessons for my own country, Mexico, which was spectacularly overtaken by Malaysia in economic and social development recently.

And yet, in spite of my admiration for the country’s economic trajectory, I must admit that on the political level there is something about Malaysia that I find frankly disturbing and incompatible with its image as a modern country.

It is the country’s original sin, a moral blemish so blatant and deep that even fifty years of sustained economic growth and a state machinery of censorship and intimidation have not been able to erase. It is the elephant in the room, the one element that sets Malaysia apart from the group of advanced countries that it wants to resemble.

It is also the source of national disunity and ethnic tensions, and it is intimately linked to the current political upheavals.

I am talking about the rejection of the principle of equality of all citizens contained in the Malaysian constitution. This legal anomaly underpins one of the largest systems of institutional racism of the modern world (if you prefer euphemisms you may call it ‘race-based affirmative action’. It is also the legal foundation of the New Economic Policy and all other policies that benefit one racial group over the others.

Like all forms of injustice, this inherently racist system is only viable if people are not able to discuss it; lacking any ethical and logical justification, the Malaysian original sin is underpinned by intimidation, censorship and repression. Racism stands no chance when reason is allowed to prevail.

Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, president of the
fundamentalist Malaysian Muslim Solidarity NGO

In defence of the Malaysian racist regime, I must say that at least it is very blatant and visible. The Malaysian constitution contains its own version of the Orwellian dictum that ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.

Article 8 of the Malaysian Constitution says that “all persons are equal before the law” but then the second point reads: Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.

The first seven words of the previous sentence open up the door to legal discrimination. Article 153 then clarifies what forms of discrimination are expressly authorised (hint: a lot) on the basis of the ‘special position’ of the Malays and natives of East Malaysia).

A peculiar ‘social contract’

How did this system come into being? The short answer is that the Malays managed to coerce the Chinese and Indian minorities to accept a peculiar ‘social contract’ at the time of independence, through which they would become citizens, but without the same right as the Malays. The latter never recognised the Chinese and Indian as legitimate migrants, because most of them had settled in the Malacca peninsula in British colonial times.

These migrants, or rather descendants of migrants, could either accept this raw deal or face deportation and possibly statelessness. This makes the validity of the Malaysian ‘social contract’ highly questionable, just like any contract or confession obtained through coercion is void in a court.

Leaving aside the circumstances under which the ‘social contract’ was crafted, it is worth pondering the logic for which it stands. In a nutshell, the idea is that ethnic Malays, plus the native populations of East Malaysia, are the rightful owners of Malaysia because their ancestors arrived there earlier.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise how arbitrary, unjust and impractical this reasoning is. The distribution of human groups on the territories of this planet is the result of tens of thousands of years of migrations, conquests, forced displacements and the subjugation of one group by another. There is nothing fair or civilised about it.

The ethnic Malay, Chinese, Indian, Orang Asli, and all other groups that live in modern-day Malaysia arrived on these lands at different points in time. It is absurd to qualify their right to be here on the basis of their belonging to a certain group that was politically and militarily dominant at a specific point in time.

That is why modern countries don’t try to make such distinctions: they have only one class of citizens and they all have the same rights and obligations, regardless of where their ancestors come from.

Equality is the only way to achieve national unity. You can’t tell people to unite and live in harmony when you are the first one to discriminate and divide people by race when it comes to rights and opportunities. You can’t tell people that there is ‘1Malaysia’, when all the time you promote racism, segregation, resentment and envy.

If you are serious about national unity, harmony and a constructing a common identity, you have to accept that all Malaysians have as much of a right to be here as you do, and that you are not entitled to more than anyone else.

History shows us that all systems based on racial discrimination are unsustainable in the long run, because they can only survive while reason, ethics and empathy are repressed. As Malaysia’s political system becomes more democratic and participative, the issue of equality will start to be discussed openly and without fear.

Eventually, the absurdity of the system of discrimination will become apparent to everyone and equality will be embraced as an ethical imperative but also as the missing element to propel the country into a prosperous, democratic future.

GABRIEL TARRIBA is a Master’s candidate in Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. Published 2 September 2015 in Malaysiakini

MALAISEA: A Political Overview (Reprise)

NOTE: THIS ESSAY WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN 15 APRIL 2001. IT WAS UPDATED AND POSTED ON THIS BLOG ON 8 FEBRUARY 2007. I AM REPOSTING IT AS PART OF MY PERSONAL CAMPAIGN FOR REFORMASI VIA A SPECTACULAR WIN FOR ANWAR AND PAKATAN RAKYAT AT PERMATANG PAUH.

Only a decade or so ago people were looking forward to a great future - no matter what their outlook or worldview. Rich folk believed they were going to get even richer. Poor folk felt they had a fair chance of at least getting a bit of furniture in their homes and maybe their kids would be geniuses at school and be given full scholarships all the way. Industrialists eagerly anticipated taking over the action from flagging western economies; social activists and environmentalists formed themselves into energetic little NGOs and found their opinions gaining some ground. 1996 was a jolly time to be a Malaisean! People were buying computers for their kids and everyone was getting on the Internet.

True, some of us knew a lot of stupid, ugly stuff was going on in business and politics - like everywhere else - and that the government was in the hands of highly sophisticated hoodlums descended from the great space pirate lineages. But we thought that sooner or later enough citizens would awaken from their consumerist trance and restore a measure of accountability and democracy in government. All it would take is a sizeable middle-class with access to good information and proper education - and we were definitely getting there.

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?

The Asian Tigers suffered a collective stroke in July 1997. Overnight, currencies like the Thai Baht, the Malaysian Ringgit, and the Indonesian Rupiah were devalued by approximately 40%. The Icarus Effect kicked in: from being among the highest flyers in the Asia-Pacific Area, the wings of the Malaisean economy suddenly melted and we plummeted feetfirst towards terra firma and almost broke our spines when we landed on hard reality. But what was really badly bruised were the inflated egos of Malaisean prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his wheeling-dealing Wild Bunch of Umnoputras (UMNO = United Malay Nationalist Organisation; Umnoputras = the swaggering political party leadership).

As long as the economic bubble was visibly expanding, nobody wanted to look too closely at the shenanigans and shady businesses underpinning the Malaisean success story. Nobody wanted to know how much had been borrowed from which banks by whom and how in hell they hoped to ever repay their astronomical debts. Nobody wanted to cut the administrative body open and figure out how many cans would be needed to hold the wriggling worms that had gorged themselves off the fat of the land for decades.

Suddenly finding his megalomanic dream of building his very own Evil Empire and turning Malaisea into his personal Death Star project thwarted, Mahathir's paranoia took a turn for the worse. He knew his hand-picked successor to the throne, the charismatic but enigmatic Anwar Ibrahim, was more than ready to take over his job. Anwar had the support of most of the younger generation and was already holding two important posts: deputy prime minister and finance minister.

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin - Mahathir's invisible Grand Vizier, Undisputed Godfather of the Malaisean Mafia and Master Manipulator - saw the end of the Mahathir era rapidly approaching. With his entrepreneurial protégés all facing bankruptcy proceedings, Daim couldn't survive a sea change in party leadership. So he came up with a plan to discredit Anwar and stop him from cracking down on corrupt party members with heavy business connections. They would circulate rumours that Anwar was a freestyle fornicator with a penchant for anal sex and thereby force his resignation.

The plan backfired (pun unintended) when Anwar refused to take the money and run. Instead, he turned around and openly challenged Mahathir for the nation's top job. On September 2nd 1998, Mahathir sacked Anwar. Thousands of sympathizers flocked to Anwar's residence pledging their support. In less than three weeks, Anwar was leading protest processions through the streets of Kuala L'impure, the national capital. Some say the crowds reached as high as 80,000; others estimate the numbers at no more than 40,000. In any case, Anwar Ibrahim's unceremonious dismissal inspired the largest gatherings of dissenters in Malaisean history. The velvet glove was removed and Mahathir ordered Anwar's arrest on the evening of September 20th 1998.

Since that shameful night the entire country has been plunged into moral darkness. All the excesses and weaknesses of the system have been grossly magnified; all the leaks are letting in water like crazy (and even the pipes are leaking!). There's no more pretense at democracy. The well-behaved press has been further intimidated into serving as mere conduits for government propaganda.

Over the 22 years of his beady-eyed and heavy-handed rule, Mahathir quietly castrated the royals, offering them a handsome share of the Big Business ball game as compensation while securing his own financial dynasty through his children á la Suharto of Indonesia.

By now Mahathir was the uncrowned Emperor of Malaisea - dubbed Mahafiraun (Great Pharaoh) by his detractors in Umno. When the people demonstrated, a snarling Mahathir (as home minister) greeted them with water cannons and tear gas. His specially trained goons infiltrated street marches and sparked off rioting, thereby giving the police an excuse to crack down hard on the young hotheads calling for the prime minister's resignation.

On the night of his arrest Anwar Ibrahim was brutally assaulted by the Inspector General of Police. Anwar's associates were picked up and tortured into signing affidavits claiming they had been sodomized by the erstwhile deputy prime minister. Highly paid, well-dressed witnesses came forth and denounced Anwar as a profligate. The trial judge declared all evidence of a political conspiracy irrelevant - and pressed on relentlessly for a guilty verdict on a ludicrous charge of corruption which was delivered on April 14th 1999. Anwar was given a 6-year prison term after having been held in custody for nearly 7 months without bail. The whole thing stank.

[On August 8th 2000, Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty of sodomy by another kangaroo court and sentenced to an additional 9 years behind bars! If he had been charged in a Syariah or Islamic Court, Anwar would most likely have been acquitted, as Syariah Law states that accusations of sexual indiscretion must be corroborated by four male witnesses of indisputable integrity who must swear that they saw the deed with their own eyes!]

And this reek of evil has permeated every facet of Malaisean society. Indeed we are in grave danger of getting inured to abuse of power and moral indecency in high office. It's truly a wonder that one wicked uncle and his gang of trained hyenas could have systematically corrupted the police force, the judiciary - indeed, the entire machinery of governance, including the mass media. The only avenue of dissent left open is the Internet. To win a victory in the streets we'd need 250,000 assembled in Freedom Square. They'd have to call out the army - and, hopefully, the troops will join the people in demanding a whole new government founded on decency, justice, freedom, and truth.


The key to power has long been Divide & Rule. Mahathir is a past master at the game, pitting different ethnic interests against each other, stirring up petty quarrels within each faction, capitalizing on the base human emotions of fear and greed. Without access to the mass media, opposition groups find themselves preaching to the converted. When it comes down to it, most Malaysians still vote with their bellies, not their conscience. By banning 680,000 newly registered voters from the general election on November 29 1999 (in addition to the usual bribery and fraud) Mahathir managed to steer his regime to a narrow victory with a mere 105,000 vote margin. But that was enough to buy him and his business associates a little more time.

Time in which to cover their financial backsides and wear down all political opponents. "We're bullish on bouncing back!" screamed the press advertisements. "Economic recovery expected with 6 months!" boasted the well-connected pundits. Well, wander around KL and see how many public phones you can find that actually work. Check out the public transport system and see how many sweaty commuters can fit into a single overworked bus. Find out how many factory workers and construction crews have been retrenched and repatriated to Bangladesh and Indonesia. How many Filipina maids have been harassed and sent packing. These are the real indicators of the Malaisean economy - and they don't look too good. All the energy and power is concentrated within a tiny segment of society; less and less of it trickles down to the masses these days. Essential services like electricity, water, and telecommunications have all been privatized (more precisely, piratized) - and even education and health care are headed that way.

When Pak Lah stepped in as prime minister after Mahathir's compulsory retirement (Umno stalwarts could see that Dr M, like G.W. Bush today, had become a liability to his own political party), it appeared that we had underestimated the man. It was refreshing to see a PM with less of an ego problem who seemed a great deal more open to public opinion and learned advice. Indeed, by releasing Anwar Ibrahim from Sungei Buloh Prison, Pak Lah effectively took the wind out of Opposition sails. People had little anger left to discharge and gladly returned to business-as-usual.

Now, a little more than three years after Pak Lah took over, we are seeing age-old problems re-emerge - problems that have never been courageously faced and resolved once and for all. The notorious ISA and OSA remain in place to prevent hardnosed investigators from unmasking corruption and abuse of power at its source. Samy Vellu is still in cahoots with corporate highwaymen and threatening to jail anybody who reveals his secret deals with greedy concessionaires. Sensational scandals have raised many unanswered questions, and rumors implicating prominent ministers are rife. In an era when presidents and prime ministers find themselves charged with war crimes, genocide, corruption, deceit, and rape - cold-blooded murder would be just another high-profile scandal. But, unless justice is seen to be done, it could cause the ruin of an entire country. Intimidating bloggers and whistle-blowers can only postpone the inevitable.


Socially, Malaiseans are fast becoming a bunch of self-serving ruffians. We have the ethical integrity of a gnu in heat. Nobody trusts the police. Everyone has at least one cousin or uncle who's turned to crime just so he can support his family. Or drug habit. Young people with ideas are forced underground, linking up with international anarcho-punk networks. Older artists and theatre practitioners have sold out - or dropped out. The best writers in the country have a hard time finding publishers who can offer a straight deal. Nobody has the money to fund a feature film - unless the plot is absolutely banal and the script insults human intelligence. True, a few adventurous souls have recently begun making powerful personal statements with low-budget digicam movies. But mediocrity and malice continue to rule with an iron hand in poor, benighted Malaisea. All it takes is one evil-minded nincompoop with access to the Malay press to get adventurous films banned, and a popular film club shut down.

Indeed we seem to be in the cultural and spiritual doldrums. The mental atmosphere is stagnant, and everywhere you turn there's a toxic stench of putrefaction and industrial pollution. The rainforests are almost non-existent now and so is the political will to conserve the environment. Indigenous tribes are being driven off their traditional lands and forced to take their place as society's lowest stratum. Their dignity and freedom - which is all they own - is being confiscated. The rest of us lost ours ages ago.

IS THERE REALLY NO HOPE FOR US?

To answer this we have to sit back, relax, and look at the Big Picture. The deadly drama playing out in Malaisea is a hologram of the spiritual crisis facing all humanity. No system of governance exists today that can stand up to thorough scrutiny; all of it ultimately leads to Big Brotherism or one of its many permutations - despotism, totalitarianism, fascism, nazism. In short, the New World Odor - yup, the familiar stench of the old feudal hierarchies, thinly concealed as the Corporate Superstate.

The only way to deflect this life-denying reality from taking complete possession of our destinies as autonomously evolving individuals with free wills is to reconnect with our inner selves and scan our deep memories for corrupted files. Clear out our neural circuits and regain our youthful innocence, so we can once again look at the twinkling stars and wonder what they are - if not our true origins. That's right, folks. We have to get cosmic and quit rolling around in our own mental excrement, trapped in our claustrophobic pigpen 3D realities. We have to get multidimensional and stay heart-centred - because our heads are too dead to appreciate the awesome mystery of life.

But first things first: we have to remove reactionary politicians from high office; yank them all out like rotten teeth. Or their poison will go to our brains and kill us in our prime.

Antares © 2001-2008

[Written April 15 2001, updated February 8 2007, reposted 24 August 2008]