The Chinese community in Malaysia has reached a crossroad - one that will determine its future role in the country. The altered political landscape of the post-Mahathir era as well as the liberal administrative style of the Abdullah Badawi government has spawned a renewed crusade to redefine the status of this immigrant community.
More than ever, the older generation and the current generation of Chinese are intent to force a change in the way their country treats them. This agenda has not and will not be without great travail and strife.
The latest United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) Bukit Bendera Umno division head Datuk Ahmad Ismail who allegedly made seditious racial remarks against Malaysian Chinese, punctured the perception of racial unity in Malaysia.
The undercurrent of discontent is now so evident that the Merdeka Centre, an independent research outfit in the country predicted that two out of every three, or sixty percent of eligible Chinese voters would vote an opposition party.
The first casualty of such a scenario would almost certainly be the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Chinese-based political party which is in alliance with the ruling Malay party, UMNO. The Chinese community is furious over the apparent silence of the MCA when faced with a barrage of accusations from UMNO over concerns of Chinese chauvinism.
MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting defended his party, countering, "The MCA has its constraints because, on one hand, we have to safeguard the interests of the community, and on the other, we have to maintain racial harmony and national unity."
Thus, for the majority of Chinese, maintaining the delicate balance as citizens of Malaysia while submitting to policies that discriminate against non-Malays is becoming more of a political non-starter. As far as they are concerned, Malaysia is their home and for many of the younger Chinese, it is the only country they have ever known.
The unfortunate reality of not only Malaysia, but other regional countries too, is that the race card is used by political friend and foe, for a variety of purposes. Frustrations of yesteryear continue to dominate as evidenced by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's accusation last year against Malaysia and Indonesia of systematically marginalising their Chinese communities.
The issue of discrimination however has arisen, as after three decades of affirmative action in the form of the New Economic Policy (NEP), the anticipated transformation of Malaysian society has been fitful at best, and a dismal failure at worst.
Nevertheless, what the NEP has done is to create a strong middle class of Malay professionals. These professionals share the same concerns of the Chinese community with regard to the NEP. The dishing out of contracts to the same few elite businessmen, on the grounds of political patronage, angers the Malay middle class too. In that sense, the Chinese and Malays share common sentiments about the NEP.
The fact that there are many Chinese who are poor and struggling to make ends meet, casts a different spotlight on the NEP - there have long been demands that the NEP take into account the poor, regardless of race, and provide disadvantaged and marginalized Malays, Chinese and Indians the all important leg-up. Malaysia can forget about fostering a national identity when generation after generation grows up with an entrenched notion of being either Malay or Chinese or Indian before even being considered Malaysian.
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