|
 ©The
Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Wang Gungwu
LAST week, Raja Nazrin Shah, the Raja Muda of Perak, spoke of the dangers of
modern tribalism and how diversity is essential for a strong and progressive
nation. This was the latest in a series of speeches he has given around Malaysia
to alert everyone to some of the serious problems the country faces. That he has
done so as a member of Malay royalty is refreshing. That he has done so in the
wake of the March 2008 elections serves to remind us that Malaysia has a
constitutional monarchy and one that does care what happens to all its peoples.
Sixty years ago, what was seen as Malayan nationalism had, at its core, Malay
nationalism. Wrapped around it were the aspirations of Chinese, Indians and
other ethnic groups who had settled in the country. Sovereignty rested with the
Malay sultans while actual power and control were still in the hands of the
British. The future hinged on agreements, made at various levels, to prevent
communal and class conflicts from destroying the future independent new nation.
The desired balance was a delicate one and many leaders worked hard to maintain
the equilibrium by which it was hoped a unique nation could be created. The
merger of Singapore with Malaya in 1963 and its separation in 1965 tested that
vision, and the riots that followed the May 1969 general election produced
another test that was even more serious. Compromises had to be made in order for
the country to survive that emergency and relations among the communities were
redefined so as to establish, hopefully, a new equilibrium.
By 1980, that balance rested on four legs. The first was a modern bureaucracy,
which in turn acted in the name of the second leg, the constitutional monarchy
that ruled over the plural society. The third leg was Islam, which tied the
sultanate to the Malays who saw themselves as indigenous to the country. The
various immigrant peoples who had settled in Malaysia constituted the fourth
leg.
Together, the different groupings could hardly be described as a coherent
entity, but they were officially committed to the ideal of a multicultural
nation in which democracy and justice would one day give an integrated community
the nationhood that it was promised.
That balance has proved to be very difficult to maintain during the past 30
years. Over time, the hoped-for equilibrium became in danger of being set aside.
Parti Islam SeMalaysia had successfully used the democratic process to challenge
the bureaucratic structures that the British had left behind. That bureaucracy,
in turn, was steered to service a nationalist agenda that institutionalised
communal differences. The Muslim leg occasioned a shift in political power from
the modern administrative leadership, even from the historic rights of the
sultans, to a potentially divisive religious base. That shift eventually became
obvious and intolerable and, this year, the fourth leg, representing mainly the
lesser communities of Chinese and Indians, began to voice their disquiet.
Nevertheless, no one was quite prepared for the March 8 elections this year when
the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) lost heavily in states like Penang, Perak and
Selangor. There, many Chinese, Indians and others followed a new generation of
Malay leaders who were committed to the country's foundational ideals or were
totally disillusioned with its current set of leaders. As a result, the ruling
coalition that had dominated the country for decades was forced to undergo
unprecedented changes in its leadership, most notably in the transfer of power
from Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
All at once, there has arisen a new force that can now be used to establish a
different equilibrium, one where two multi-communal alliances - the opposition
Pakatan Rakyat and the ruling BN - could produce a two-party system in the not
too distant future. Islamic reformists have joined with non-Muslim groups to
seek a new balance. This marks an extraordinary opportunity for the
reconfiguration of political power in Malaysia.
In this context, what Raja Nazrin Shah has done in his lectures is to remind us
that there is still another leg that could help stabilise the uneasy conditions
in the country today. The constitutional monarchy represents a resource that the
country should not neglect - that of symbolic capital. For decades, former prime
minister Mahathir Mohamad had weakened that leg, as he did the pluralist and
multicultural leg, so that it began to appear that only two legs - the BN-dominated
bureaucracy and a kind of Islamic universalism - were politically relevant to
the country's future. As a result of the democratic shifts that occurred this
March, more voices from the two other legs could now be heard.
Online news portals, e-mail, blogs and thousands of cellphones had already done
much to bring new Malaysian voices to the surface and they had a decisive impact
on the March election results. Immediately afterwards, two sultans, those of
Terengganu and Perlis, spoke up on the choice of menteri besars for their
respective states. It was a salutary reminder to the ruling coalition not to
ignore the Malaysian Constitution. But perhaps even more significantly, the
rulers of four states now deal directly with parties outside the BN framework,
something they had little chance to do before. Opposition parties now lead the
state governments of Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan, and to most people,
fresh perspectives are now possible.
Raja Nazrin Shah may still be the only one of his background to speak publicly
about the country's multicultural foundations. But he has set the tone by asking
all citizens to reflect on the nation's future in terms broader than that of a
particular ethnic group, to respect its traditions and, most of all, to revive
the ideals that had been lost in the tribal competitions of recent decades. His
call to resume a more constructive nation-building process that is far from
completed is now being heard. That augurs well for Malaysia.
The writer is chairman of the East Asia Institute. Think-Tank is a weekly
column rotated among eight leading figures in Singapore's tertiary and research
institutions.
 |
News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Circular No 023/2012: Talk on ISO 9001 | 2008 Quality Management System Certification
If Professor Wang Gungwu is right, the four metaphorical legs the distinguished academician uses to describe the Malaysian polity – the Bureaucracy, the Monarchy, Islam and Multi-racialism or BMIM – must be coordinated by the Executive to ensure we win the race for a healthy and enlightened Malaysian nation-state.
I do not see how a four-legged horse can use only two legs to win any derby or how a donkey can use three legs to efficiently carry its burden.
Of course and alas, the myopia of the Malay nationalist will prevent his transfiguration into a Malaysian nationalist. Therein lies the warped view that the wrong lenses promise any of us.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng