Justice of Peace , Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and Labuan, CC Pung’s dose of philosophical musings.
I salute the Malaysian Tiktoker for openly questioning if Malays/bumiputeras in Malaysia lacked inert ‘ability’ to excel.
He asked bluntly ‘what’s wrong with our race?’
I’m no expert.
But as a non Malay, non bumiputera citizen of Malaysia, I’d like to assure this fellow Malaysian that it has nothing to do with ethnicity, genes or ancestors.
It (the lack of success) has everything to do with leadership, policies and governance.
And all these aspects are ironically in the hands of Malays and Bumiputeras.
The Tiktoker’s premise for the discussion was his observation that of all the successful Malaysians on the international entertainment stage from actor Michelle Yeoh to standup Ronnie Cheng, every one was of Chinese ethnicity.
But then the Malaysian entertainment industry is, by contrast, dominated by non Chinese! Everything from licencing, censorship, funding, etc. So what’s amiss?
Cleverly, this Tiktoker kept his exploration only on the lack of international success of our artists and stayed away from subjects like science, invention, integrity and academia.
To my knowledge there are Malays who are aware of the collective decline of the entire community caused by widespreadpolicies granting undeserved privileges that, for one thing, blunted the survival instinct and competitiveness of the Malays and Bumiputeras.
If we had an open unbridled forum to dwell on the reasons for the malaise among the Malays/bumiputeras, the riot police will have to be present.
Why? Because the decades of unfair privileges and preferential polices have rendered our Malays/bumiputeras incapable of facing questions, even those that may have bearing on their future and that of their off springs.
A non like me will likely be told to fugg off.
There is a theory among many communities around the world that the wealth in a family will only last three generations. It’s not deep science, but common sense.
A diligent man becomes rich, gives his son the best. His son gives the grandson the best and, unwittingly, blunts his willingness and instinct for competition and hardwork unlike his grandfather.
Without the basic ingredients of success, the grandson will naturally be challenged in keeping the family fortune.
Since the New Economic Policy in 1971, Malays/bumiputeras enjoyed blatantly preferential, some discriminatory policies.
We are surrounded today by a third generation of Malaysians who think that economic fruits can be demanded into existence.
We have a deep state that thinks that they can mint PhDs and our people will be deemed ‘smart’ or, if our children can’t pass crucial exams, we’ll simply lower the passing marks. We’ve become delusional, but we refused the diagnosis.
I am convinced that the Creator did not make one ethnicity stronger or weaker. Look at water melons.
Nature dictates that they are round. Farmers in Japan grow square melons by putting them in a square box.
The moral of this example is that the box determines the shape of the fruit. What kind of a box has Malaysia put in place to shaping world conquering Malays/bumiputeras?
Gong xi fa cai. Peace for Gaza, – Talantang
Editor – The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Talantang.
