To the best of my knowledge, if you were raised within the Malaysian Chinese community around the turn of the 21st century, you probably have internalized – or at least heard – that Malays are lazy, pampered, and secretly envious of the Chinese work ethic; the Indians dirty and delinquent; and “we” Chinese rational, entrepreneurial, and successful – attributes of which has constantly attracted injustice from the state. If you have good grades, your parents would insist you in getting a scholarship studying abroad – to secure a stable, respectable job there – and never come back.
When occasion comes convenient, those doctrines and sermons are preached in the classroom, in the dining table, and even in certain public gatherings with passion and authority (accompanied with a slight bit of caution); encountering the “others” however, adult life taught them to suppress those politically incorrect behaviors. The empty phrases of “Malays, Chinese and Indians (MCI) ”, the slogans of “unity” and “tolerance” and “harmony” that Malaysians have advertised to the world and to themselves are summoned to contain the backlog of resentments against the “others”.
Yet the edifice of politeness is not impervious: the situation becomes ugly in public when subjects of education, foreign policy, religion, and even strictly apolitical ones like Covid-19, emerge, Socially functional adults turn into truculent infants, and its propagating effect unleashes the inner demon inside sensible adults. The bitter things we normally murmur within our own race are now broadcasted to the nation, and guess what happens next? Forget MCI, only the May 13 bogeyman/ultimatum could appease/threaten the obstreperous mob. Things start to settle down when the public loses crusading zeal, or when politicians have done exploiting the madness of crowds – until the tide of rage gains its momentum yet again.
What is this? For me, it seems that Malaysia succumbs to a compulsive disorder. People mind their normal lives, until utterances of “Islam” and “DAP”, cartoonish depictions of “others” in all-too-familiar contexts turn them into madman. Like the pawn on a chessboard, their vicious emotions are shoved haphazardly by a Youtube video, a crass comment in social media, or fomentations from a political figure. Those who remain sane, defeated by Malaysia’s politics of toxic emotions, become cynics, or if capable, yearn for greener pastures in foreign lands.
But why no one dared to publicly diagnose Malaysia’s malaise? Why no one openly declared to transcend the national discourse beyond race? Because doing so appears radical and iconoclastic. MCI, “May 13”, and the urge for “unity” and “tolerance” would transform into a bludgeon to punish those who refuse playing the race game. “We must be ‘sensitive’ ”, the cult of race disciplined, and most people obeyed – that is the problem.
To “eradicate” racial discrimination, we first have to overcome our reticence discussing about it, to be a little more brave, a little more fearless in the face of the “bludgeon”. We just have to utilize our talent, intellect, passion – and most importantly, the scarce resource of hope – to announce: “identity politics is divisive; racial discrimination is absurd” because we know we cannot wish racial discrimination away. Rather, it has to be confronted headlong.
Postscript:
Similar analytic discovery on Malaysia’s divisive rhetoric cycle was proposed in Amrita Malhi’s article on the fall of Pakatan Harapan. She calls it the “scandal cycle”, and unlike me, she thinks that religious rhetoric supplements the already virulent racial one in the reinforcement of social polarization in Malaysia. (Please read the article to fully understand her point of view)
Randolph Yew 
Leave a comment