Answer to Tun M Part 1

Back when Tun M just retired (after a teary emo charged goodbye at the UMNO General Assembly) I bumped into him at KLCC. He was with his wife, and a bodyguard (who was dressed in plain clothes and kept a short distance from the couple). I rushed up to Tun and his wife and asked if I could snap a picture with them and they obliged. Til today, that picture is one of my prized possession.

Til today I respect Tun M for his vision and his ideas.

But I read this today:- http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2009/07/kaki-dalam-kasut.html and I cannot help but wonder how his statements are so horrendously wrong.

"Tokoh bukan Melayu yang cuba duduki tempat Melayu (in the shoes of the Malays) jika ikhlas, akan rasa kekecewaan Melayu melihat hampir semua perniagaan dan perusahaan serta kekayaan yang diperolehi darinya dimiliki oleh bukan Melayu. Segala estet rumah mewah juga diduduki oleh bukan Melayu. Sikit benar orang Melayu yang tinggal di estat mewah ini. Lebih ramai yang tinggal di kawasan setinggan."
(roughly translated to mean: Non Malay leaders who try to put themselves in the shoes of the Malays, if there were sincere, will understand the frustrations of the Malays when they see that all the businesses and industries as well as the riches are all in the hands of the Non Malays. All the affluent townships are dominated by Malays. Only a few live in those townships)

Mungkin semua ini disebabkan kesalahan orang Melayu sendiri. Mereka tidak guna peluang yang disediakan bagi mereka. Ada yang salahguna peluang-peluang ini pun. Tetapi jika seorang pengayuh beca diberi sejuta Ringgit, apakah ia akan dapat berniaga dan berjaya dalam bidang ini.
( Perhaps these are all the faults of the Malays themselves. They have not utilised the opportunities that have been given to them. And some have misused these opportunities. But if a trishaw man is given a million ringgit, can he start a business and be successful in it.)

Does this not give you the impression that Tun honestly and sincerely think that Malay people are useless? Because it sure as hell sounds that way to me. He states if you give a million ringgit to a (presumably Malay) trishaw man, what is he going to do with it? Do you think he will be able to be successful? A chinese man will say, well if I had a million ringgit, by sure I will start a business and be successful in it! An Indian man may state the same. But Tun M thinks the Malay will find it impossible. And hence, because of their sheer genetic impossibility of being successful, the NEP must exist to reduce the big gap between the riches of the Non Malays and the Malays.

If the NEP continues to exist, generation after generation of Malays will become LAZY as they are of the opinion that it is their birth right to be given all that their ancestors have been given. Sure it may be true that other races who come from Empires who have existed long before the Malays and have been more successful may have had more experience in being successful and may at one time in history, be ahead of the Malays. But times have changed. The Malays are now educated, sophisticated and advanced. Many have now acquired the knowledge that were once upon a time, available only to the minority few.

If you use the statistics of Malays living out of town as part of the statistics to show that a majority of them are living in poverty, then one can only say this is because there are clearly more Malays in the country than other races. That's one. Number two, the other races have suffered these discrimination for so long, many have moved away. Number three, the Chinese do not register that they are poor because frankly, they are much too egoistic and proud to do so. While the Malays do not hesitate to do that as it means government aid. Number four, if poverty continue to exist in the Malay community, only the Malay leaders are to be blamed for hoarding all the money for themselves and their people. (Have you ever met a poor Minister? Or a poor Mayor?)

To be continued....