Ahmad Mustapha Hassan is a former
press secretary to second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and the writer
of the book, "The Unmaking of Malaysia
一些马来人，特别是那些参与所谓红衫军集会的人，对于他们自己的历史以及这个国家为何会演变成一个多元种族、多元文化以及多元宗教所知甚少，这是可悲的。
这些马来人甚至还没有超越他们的理性、情感、不合逻辑的思维方式，还有他们的牧群以及攻城心态。
大多数人甚至不知道为什么自己会出现在那场蛊惑人心的集会中。
一些人参加集会是因为他们获得免费交通、食物以及金钱。有些人则视这为在吉隆坡购物的机会。
但总体而言，他们对于国家的历史是所知甚少的。
在英国人来到之前，马来西亚半岛充斥着各位酋长之间的冲突。
他们并没有任何创造国家的想法。
每一名酋长都会视那些接受他作为权力最终来源的人，就是他的臣民并属于他的管辖的。
当时收入的来源主要是来自盗版以及鸦片税务。
他们并没有欲望或是远见要将收入的领域扩展至其他来源。
当时只有柔佛展示了发展国家的渴望，它们也开放了土地作为胡椒以及甘比尔（gambier, 甘蜜）的种植。
柔佛当时的统治者邀请了来自新加坡的华裔来到柔佛种植有关植物，而这些华裔在新加坡是参与农作物培育的。
他们因为有关目的而获得授予土地，并得到有关土地的特殊权利。
在历史中，那时的柔佛就成为了胡椒以及甘比尔最大的出口商，而这也为该州增加了不少财富。
然而，财富的另一来源是锡米。
马来矿工被要求以固定价格出售锡米给他们的酋长，然后酋长再将锡米卖给华裔商人。
但是，这个行业在酋长之间引发竞争，并造成损害。
在1829年，华裔移民踏足此行业，有些华裔甚至为马来酋长打工，但是由于马来酋长之间出现竞争，导致华裔渐渐成为这个行业的主导。
这个行业为霹雳以及雪兰莪创建了不少财富。
因此，这表明国家的财富，纯粹是华裔透过辛勤劳动，而为国家创造财富的。
马来酋长们也纷纷加入这个行业，并试图抢得先机，因此他们也在彼此之间产生了敌意。
贪婪使他们失去了这个行业，并拱手相让给其他人。
即便国家充满自然财富，但是马来人成为穷人并非华裔的过错。
这是因为他们酋长之间的不稳定局势导致他们将整盘生意输给华裔的。
英国殖民通过给酋长们固定的津贴，从而在他们之间达致和平。
英国也帮助那些在半岛的人确定谁才是正确的索赔者，那些对英国有功的人，就会扶摇直上被跃升为苏丹的地位，并得到维多利亚女王的祝福。
他们都必须宣誓效中于英国君主。也就是，这就是发生在马来西亚半岛的。
随着马来西亚在1963年出世，全国的政治人口也起了变化。
“巫裔至上”已经变得不恰当而且是过时的，我国已经成为一个多元种族、多元文化以及多元宗教的国家。
English Version
It is very sad that some
Malays, especially those who took part in the so called red shirt rally, know
very little of their history and why this country evolved into being a
multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious country.
These Malays have yet to
transcend their irrational, emotional, and illogical mindsets as well
as their herd and siege mentalities.
Most were not even aware as
to why they were there in the rabble-rousing rally.
Some came because they were
given free transportation, food and money. Some considered this an opportunity
to do some shopping in Kuala Lumpur
But on the whole they had
very little knowledge of the history of the country.
The peninsula before the
arrival of the British was full of conflicts among the various chiefs in the
country.
They did not have any sense
of creating a state where boundaries and areas were clearly marked.
Each chieftain would consider
those who accepted him as the ultimate source of power as being his subjects
and belonging to his state.
The sources of revenue were
mostly from piracy and tax on opium.
There was no desire or vision
to extend this area of revenue to other sources.
Only Johor at that time
showed some eagerness to develop the country by opening up land for pepper and
gambier plantations.
The ruler of Johor at that
time invited the Chinese from Singapore
who were involved in cultivating these crops in Singapore
Land was given to them for
that purpose and special rights to the land were also given to them.
Johor became the biggest
exporter of pepper and gambier during that period of national history and this
added to the wealth of the state.
Yet another source of wealth
was tin.
The Malay miners were
required to sell the tin to their chiefs at fixed prices and the chiefs then
sold the tin to Chinese merchants.
But there arose the rivalry
among the chiefs to the detriment of the industry.
In the 1820s Chinese
immigrants were involved in the industry with some working for the Malay chiefs
but due to the rivalry among the Malay chiefs, the Chinese became the dominant
group involved in this industry.
The industry created wealth
for Perak and Selangor.
It therefore showed much
evidence that wealth in the country was created by the Chinese through sheer
hard work.
The Malay chiefs were much
too involved in trying to grab opportunities, thus creating animosity among
themselves to their own detriment.
Greed made them lose the
industry to others.
It was never the fault of the
Chinese that the Malays became poor although the country was full of natural
wealth.
It was the unstable situation
among their own chiefs that caused them to lose out to the Chinese.
British colonialism managed
to bring peace among all the chiefs by giving all of them fixed allowances.
The British too were
instrumental in determining who the right claimants were to the various states
in the peninsula and those helpful to the British were elevated to the status
of Sultans with the blessing of Queen Victoria
All of them had to pledge
loyalty to the British monarch. That, in short, was what happened in the
peninsula.
And with the creation of Malaysia
The “ketuanan Melayu” had
become irrelevant and out of date as the country had become multi-ethnic,
multicultural and multi-religious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read More By Ahmad
Mustapha Hassan @ www.theantdaily.com:-
It is quite normal for anyone
to ask this question: Where are we going and where are you taking us? Since you
took over the reins of government, we seem to be moving neither here nor there.
Most people are baffled because you seem to enjoy life while the country is
facing innumerable critical problems.
Even as these problems are
left unattended, more problems are being added. Your words have no meaning
whatsoever as your cabinet ministers have been acting to dismantle what you had
promised the people before you were given the mandate to run the country.
Your father was so different.
Tun Abdul Razak’s words were meant as instructions to all, ministers, civil
servants and the people. No member of his cabinet would go against what he
desired for the people. All worked towards achieving that aim.
He was very prudent and would
not spend people’s money unnecessarily. He limited his overseas travel to no
more than twice a year. He would cut out all non-essential expenses. He did not
believe in creating unwanted and expensive icons.
He was interested in
uplifting the economic situation of the whole nation, not just creating a few
wealthy and self-centred individuals. He believed that he should not waste the
rakyat’s money by bringing those who did not matter on his overseas trips.
That was how astute and
concerned Tun Razak was about the welfare of the people and the country.
You appear to be away from
the country most of the time and it had been reported that so far your travels
had cost the country RM44 million. That is a very huge amount even for a prime
minister.
Your father depended on
advice from local experts, and he placed trusted people in positions, in the
knowledge that their contribution would see to the success of projects. He
started Mara to take over the role carried out by Rida (Rural and Industrial
Development Authority) before and placed capable officers to man the various
divisions in Mara. He had the late Mansor Osman (later MB of Negeri Sembilan)
placed in the division to offer scholarships and aid to needy rural students.
He trusted Tan Sri Arshad
Ayub to steer the Mara
College
He placed an able and
dedicated civil servant Tan Sri Thong Yaw Hong in a position to assist him
realise the objectives of his rural development programme.
He recognised and trusted
those civil servants whom he knew personally and appointed them to positions of
trust, like Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam , Tan Sri Tunku Shahriman, Dr Agoes Salim,
Raja Alias and Tan Sri Rama Iyer in planning and development units in the Prime
Minister's Department.
To him, all were Malaysians
and he overrode any racial or religious sentimentality. He was a man of the
people of all shades and religious beliefs.
He had only one goal in mind
and that was the welfare of the people and to him it would take all Malaysians
to achieve this. He was also not distracted by petty and hollow sloganeering.
None would dare to approach
him and shout “Ketuanan Melayu” or any such nonsense. The government would help
all the people towards achieving a better life.
Government involvement in
religion, to him, should also be at a minimum scale. Religion was a faith
adhered to by individuals and that should be about all there was to it.
He did not encourage the
religious department to expand its jurisdiction whereby it could pose a threat
to national harmony.
But unfortunately, at
present, things seem to have gone out of hand. Ministers contradict what the
prime minister had promised. Voices of disharmony were allowed free reign. Acts
that harm the sensitivities of those not of the Muslim faith are on the rise.
And yet you champion
1Malaysia. It was there all along but subsequent leaders, especially those from
Umno Baru, had dismantled that by allowing anti-national elements from the
cabinet itself to “flourish” uncontrollably.
You told the Sabah and Sarawak people of the freedom in practising their
religion and then a ban was imposed on their newsletter. Sarawak and Sabah
together with Malaya then had formed Malaysia ,
and there was no need to tell them that they are part of Malaysia Malaysia
One very important factor was
that Tun Razak walked the talk.
The Malay paper Utusan Melayu
with national calibre editors like Yusof Ishak and Said Zahari had been vocal
in fighting for the truth and even when it was taken over by Umno, it still remained
as a national paper that was very much respected.
But once Umno Baru took over
the country, the paper has become the party’s organ and has been allowed to
become a national trash. The TV channels have also become the mouthpiece of the
party. They have miserably failed to play a positive role in fostering national
unity.
Every single effort should be
coordinated like during Tun Razak’s time to achieve the national goal of
equality, prosperity and happiness for all.
Pray! Tell us! Are you taking
us towards disaster!
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