Tun Mahathir resignation as an Umno member caught everyone by surprise and one politician called it a political earthquake that will shake the party. It is true from the above respondents, whatever Dr. Mahathir does there will be a cause and effect to Umno and for BN too. Some believed his decision has good intention to really help Umno and BN to come to their senses and quickly rebuild the BN dream.
PPP respect Dr. Mahathir’s decision and be independent. As our most respected Mentor, we welcome him to join and work together with us to build a truly national multiracial party in line with Dato’ Sir Onn Jaafar’s dream.
Briefly, Onn Jaafar started UMNO on May 1, 1946 to look after the social economic welfare of the Malays. Later, he was not happy with UMNO’s communalist policies and called for party membership to be opened to all Malayans and UMNO to be renamed to United Malayans National Organisation.
Onn Jaafar's recommendations were not widely accepted and he left UMNO on August 26, 1951 to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). The IMP failed to receive sufficient backing from Malayans and later left to form Parti Negara (PN) to woo Malays from UMNO and restricted other races to join Parti Negara. Neither party, IMP and PN gained popular support against Tunku Abdul Rahman's new Alliance coalition (now known as BN) and he was eventually eclipsed from Malayan political life.
We believe in his dream and let’s come together to build the truly United Malaysian National Organisation within BN and make Onn Jaafar’s dream a reality today and for our future Malaysian generation.
PPP respect Dr. Mahathir’s decision and be independent. As our most respected Mentor, we welcome him to join and work together with us to build a truly national multiracial party in line with Dato’ Sir Onn Jaafar’s dream.
Briefly, Onn Jaafar started UMNO on May 1, 1946 to look after the social economic welfare of the Malays. Later, he was not happy with UMNO’s communalist policies and called for party membership to be opened to all Malayans and UMNO to be renamed to United Malayans National Organisation.
Onn Jaafar's recommendations were not widely accepted and he left UMNO on August 26, 1951 to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). The IMP failed to receive sufficient backing from Malayans and later left to form Parti Negara (PN) to woo Malays from UMNO and restricted other races to join Parti Negara. Neither party, IMP and PN gained popular support against Tunku Abdul Rahman's new Alliance coalition (now known as BN) and he was eventually eclipsed from Malayan political life.
We believe in his dream and let’s come together to build the truly United Malaysian National Organisation within BN and make Onn Jaafar’s dream a reality today and for our future Malaysian generation.
SEGALANYA UNTUK SATU BANGSA DAN SATU NEGARA
Further reading, go to http://www.mysinchew.com/node/11890?tid=14
Dr. Tan Kim Sai
1 comment:
Tun Dr. Mahathir's thought on Multi-Racial Malaysia as follows:
I have been asked “What is the meaning of a multi-racial Malaysia to me?”
Being multi-racial does not mean the same thing to every multi-racial country e.g. Singapore claims to be multi-racial but basically it is a predominantly Chinese State.
Because of the refusal of the descendants of migrants from China and India to be assimilated by the indigenous people we have to accept the retention of the identity of Malaysian citizens of Chinese and Indian origin. The people of Indonesian origin chose to be assimilated by the indigenous people, so they don’t constitute a separate entity.
Multi-racial countries are usually unstable. Racial conflicts occur frequently. If Malaysia is to avoid racial conflicts it must try to reduce the differences between the different races.
We cannot change ethnicity. So we have to accept the ethnic differences. Religious differences also cannot be changed.
However, various aspects of the cultures can be made common. Chinese food in Malaysia reflect the influence of Malay and Indian tastes. We can celebrate each other’s festivals etc. etc.
But economic disparities pose a major problem. Yet this is one area where corrections can be made and can reduce tension in a multi-racial society.
If we care to look we would notice that even in a single ethnic country, disparities in wealth distribution lead to conflicts. The principal reason why the Socialist and Communist ideologies were formulated and then espoused by the working class is because of the extreme disparities of wealth between the workers and the employers. But Socialism and Communism tended to reduce economic growth, causing not only the rich to suffer but also the poor.
Trade Unions also tend to stunt economic growth, as they are often abused as for example the holding of nationwide strikes for political reasons.
These confrontations between workers and employers, basically between poor and rich, happens quite often even in single-ethnic countries.
Now if the workers and the poor are made up largely of one race in a multi-racial country and the employers are rich and are of another race, then class confrontation would be amplified by racial animosity. That was the basic situation in Malaysia pre-1969, and we know the results.
The Malay, Chinese and Indian leaders of that time agreed that the disparities in wealth between the races must be corrected. That is why we introduced the New Economic Policy which proposes to eliminate the identification of race with economic functions.
Unfortunately the affirmative action we have to undertake must result in discrimination against Chinese and Indians in favour of the Bumiputera. This caused resentment because even the economically prosperous race must have a fair number of poor members. These people will feel the discrimination more acutely.
The other leg of the NEP is to eradicate poverty irrespective of race. From surveys it is clear that there is more poverty among the indigenous people than among the Chinese. It is therefore more likely for poverty among the Chinese to be self- eradicated than among the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. Unfortunately the Indian leaders did not address the problem of Indian poverty.
If we are going to correct the imbalance it is necessary to try to reduce poverty among the indigenous people more than among the Chinese. However, where the Chinese poor show exceptional abilities, as for example getting brilliant examination results, they should not be deprived of help simply because they belong to a more prosperous race.
The affirmative action of the NEP is good in principle but along the way there were misapplications and failures. Nevertheless since 1969 we have seen no major racial conflicts in Malaysia. Also despite the NEP and its imperfections, Malaysia has remained far more stable than most other multi-racial or even single ethnic countries. And economic growth in Malaysia belie the assumed negative effects of the NEP.
I feel sure that if we can reduce economic disparities between Malaysians they would not be too conscious or too insistent on being identified by their racial origins. They would still be Malays, Chinese, Indians, Muruts, Bajaus, Dayaks etc. but they would be less hostile and critical of each other.
Malaysian races are symbiotic and they really complement each other. Even though multi-racial Malaysia will still be ethnically multi-racial, Malaysia would remain relatively peaceful, capable of good economic growth and exhibit relative harmony between races if the leadership of the country understands this problem and knows how to manage.
That is as much as we can hope for since we are opposed to the adoption of a single mother tongue and culture and to dropping the identification with the countries our ancestors came from.
*************
Masyarakat berbilang kaum Malaysia
Saya ditanya apakah makna negara Malaysia berbilang kaum bagi saya.
Pengertian masyarakat majmuk berbeza bagi setiap negara yang mempunyai rakyat berbilang kaum misalnya Singapura yang mendakwa ianya negara berbilang kaum tetapi secara dasarnya adalah sebuah Negeri yang dikuasai oleh penduduk berketurunan Cina yang besar.
Kerana keengganan keturunan kaum pendatang dari China dan India untuk di serap ke dalam masayarakat pribumi, kita terpaksa terima pengekalan identiti rakyat Malaysia daripada keturunan Cina dan India. Orang keturunan Indonesia memilih untuk diserap sebagai kaum pribumi oleh itu mereka tidak terbahagi kepada kaum-kaum yang berlainan.
Negara berbilang kaum pada kebiasaannya tidak stabil. Ketegangan kaum kerap berlaku. Jika Malaysia hendak mengelakkan konflik antara kaum ianya mesti cuba kurangkan perbezaan diantara kaum-kaum tersebut.
Kita tidak boleh menukar etnik. Jadi kita perlu menerima perbezaan etnik yang terdapat. Perbezaan agama juga tidak boleh ditukar.
Bagaimanapun, beberapa aspek perbezaan kebudayaan boleh di jadikan sesatu yang boleh diterimapakai oleh semua kaum. Makanan Cina di Malaysia melihatkan pengaruh cita rasa Melayu dan India. Kita juga boleh meraikan perayaan kaum-kaum lain dan sebagainya.
Perbezaan tahap pencapaian ekonomi merupakan satu masalah besar. Tetapi ianya juga merupakan satu bidang di mana pembetulan dapat dibuat dan ketegangan kaum dapat dikurangkan.
Jika kita mahu melihat, kita akan dapati bahawa walau di dalam negara yang mempunyai satu etnik sahaja pun perbezaan di dalam agihan kekayaan akan membawa kepada konflik. Sebab utama ideologi Sosialis dan Komunis diperkenalkan dan diterima pakai kelas pekerja adalah kerana jurang kekayaan yang terlalu besar di antara pekerja dan majikan. Tetapi Sosialis dan Komunis kerap membantutkan pertumbuhan ekonomi sehingga bukan sahaja yang kaya merasai kesan buruknya, tetapi juga yang miskin.
Kesatuan Sekerja juga boleh membantutkan pertumbuhan ekonomi kerana ianya sering disalahguna oleh pihak tertentu dengan, mengadakan mogok kerana sebab-sebab politik.
Konfrantasi di antara pekerja dan majikan, yang pada dasarnya adalah antara yang kaya dan yang miskin kerap berlaku termasuk di negara-negara bukan berbilang kaumpun.
Jika pekerja dan yang miskin sebahagian besarnya terdiri daripada satu kaum di dalam sebuah negara berbilang kaum manakala yang menjadi majikan yang kaya pula adalah daripada kaum yang lain, permusuhan antara kelas akan menjadi lebih buruk kerana perbezaan kaum. Itulah yang terjadi di Malaysia sebelum 1969, dan kita tahu hasilnya
Kepimpinan Melayu, Cina dan India ketika itu bersetuju bahawa perbezaan kekayaan diantara kaum mesti dikurangkan. Oleh sebab itu kita telah memperkenalkan Dasar Ekonomi Baru yang bertujuan menghapuskan identiti kaum dengan fungsi ekonomi.
Malangnya tindakan yang diambil tidak dapat tidak melibatkan diskriminasi terhadap kaum Cina dan India untuk memberi keutamaan kepada kaum Bumiputera. Ini menyebabkan ketidak puasan hati kerana di dalam kaum yang termaju dan mewah sekalipun terdapat sebilangan yang miskin. Mereka ini akan lebih merasai diskriminasi.
Satu lagi aspek DEB ialah untuk menghapuskan kemiskinan tanpa mengira kaum. Daripada kajian yang dijalankan amat jelas bahawa terdapat lebih banyak kemiskinan di kalangan pribumi berbanding kaum Cina. Kemungkinan kemiskinan dapat di hapuskan di kalangan kaum Cina adalah lebih besar berbanding Melayu dan penduduk pribumi di sabah dan Sarawak. Malangnya pemimpin kaum India tidak membangkitkan masalah kemiskinan di kalangan mereka.
Jika kita hendak memperbetulkan ketidakseimbangan ini, adalah perlu untuk kita cuba mengurangkan kemiskinan di kalangan pribumi berbanding di kalangan kaum Cina. Tetapi jika terdapat di kalangan orang Cina yang miskin yang menunjukkan kebolehan luar biasa, umpamanya mendapat keputusan pepriksaan yang cemerlang, mereka tidak harus diketepikan daripada mendapat bantuan hanya kerana mereka adalah daripada kaum yang lebih kaya.
Secara prinsipnya DEB amat baik, tetapi di dalam pelaksanaannya terdapat beberapa kegagalan dan kelemahan. Bagaimanapun, sejak dari 1969 kita tidak melihat berlakunya konflik perkauman yang besar di Malaysia. Dan walaupun terdapat kelemahan pada DEB, Malaysia jauh lebih stabil daripada kebanyakan negara-negara berbilang kaum yang lain, begitu juga negara yang mempunyai satu kaum sahaja. Dan perkembangan ekonomi di Malaysia juga menidakkan apa-apa jangkaan negatif hasil daripada DEB.
Saya yakin jika kita boleh mengurangkan jurang ekonomi diantara rakyat Malaysia mereka tidak akan begitu hiraukan atau begitu tekankan akan perlunya mereka di identifikasikan menurut ketrurunan kaum mereka. Mereka akan tetap jadi Melayu, Cina, India, Murut, Bajau, Dayak dan sebagainya tetapi mereka akan kurangkan bersengketa tehadap satu sama lain.
Ras-ras di Malaysia saling berpaut antara satu sama lain dan mereka saling bergantung sesama mereka. Walaupun masyarakat berbilang kaum Malaysia akan terus berasingan daripada segi etnik kaum, namun Malaysia akan terus aman, berkeupayaan untuk mencapai pertumbuhan ekonomi dan memperlihatkan keharmonian perhubungan antara kaum jika pimpinan negara ini memahami masalah yang terdapat dan mempunyai kemampuan mengurus.
Sebanyak itulah yang boleh kita harapkan kerana kita tidak bersetuju untuk bertuturkata di dalam satu bahasa dan mengamalkan satu budaya serta melepaskan identifikasi dengan negara-negara dari mana nenek moyang kita berasal.
Tuesday June 3, 2008 10.48pm
at www.chedet.com
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