Saturday, 12 July 2008

The "social contract" - A Dead-end Roadmap to Piracy

There were two articles of late in Malaysia Today which said a lot about the political realities prevalent today.
The articles were The Roadmap to Nationhood by Ahmad Mustapha and Farish Noor's A Dead End for Malaysian Politics?
The titles of two articles complement each other very well - so much so, the two could have been combined nicely under the title "A Dead-End Roadmap For Malaysian Politics & Nationhood".

What we see today is the result of the myopic methods and ideas prevalent since 1969.
The ghost of the "race riots" of May 13 still haunt the nation to no end, despite the recent March 8 "rebellion". These "ghost" will keep eating out the fabric of the nation, until & unless, the authorities reopen debate on matters and allow forum for the healing to take place without political interference - that can pave the way for nationhood.
One other much recycled & infamous ghost is - "The Social Contract", as defined by the Barisan Nasional "creed" (as Mahathir would call it), wherein to question is "rebellion/ sedition"..
(After the intro, I still await Mahathir's take on The Social Contract- as he had promised after Shad Faruqi media release promoting his book about the Constitution)

Sorely lacking in the Malaysian political environment, is the lively and civil debate of progressive ideas among the political parties.
At present, they all go down the same slippery road of "R & R" - race & religion.
Politicians and the people on all sides of the spectrum don't seem to see anything beyond the horizons of these two "issues" which have been the tools by which the electorate has been enslaved. Amidst all these smokescreens at play, we also have a political leadership that is intellectually and ideologically bankrupt, but adept at gymnastics of rhetoric and fear-mongering.

Taking demographics into consideration, it is the Malays who will determine the fate of the "nation", Ketuanan Melayu" and Bung-heads or not - and that is a foregone conclusion.
Any Malay leadership is doomed to collapse under it own weight of mediocrity, should the Malays fall for fear-mongering tactics used by certain parties, and subscribe to the "idol-worship" that is prevalent. And the pirates will keep on preaching their message of hatred, "perceived insecurities" and rights to more mega-handouts, so as to suck the nation dry. It is the mindset of the victims of "siege propaganda", which has "worked wonders" thus far.

When can we see the people take to leaders who speak of progressive ideas of nationhood? As RPK says, probably not in our lifetime.
Never mind the "race quotas" and "bumiputra privileges" preached by the federal govt (depite all the piracy)- they reached there with such an agenda.
Take the new movements that have come up lately (the numerous 'NGO's) - they all speak of "racial rights & quotas".
Hindraf comes up with their question of Perak councillors lately .... what difference does it make if the man at the helm is an Alaskan, if he can deliver to the community? And PAS wants only 5-time praying Muslims for the civil service and Islamic this and that? Aren't they asking all the wrong questions? Don't they know that the wrong questions beget all the wrong answers and threaten the feeble alliance in PR?
Don't they realize that they are playing the dangerous "Alliance social contract game"?
Man- I'm so sick of all the racism and religious bigotry on both sides of the fence!

One thing for sure - until an unless, there is a Malay leadership that can practice some form of honest meritocracy, accountability and social consciousness (devoid of chauvinism & bigotry), we are definitely at a dead-end. The "social contract" culture of cheating and manipulation has to go. It is their only possible salvation - and that of Malaysia!
They should have no reason to fear a political agenda that promises affirmative action based on economic status- if they are indeed the underprivileged. Other communities can only play a supporting role to the Malay polity.

The Malays don't have much of a choice -they must to rise to the occasion and stop subscribing to sectarianism, religious bigotry, the seige mentality, and discard the "BN social contract", so as to compete on a truly level playing field. It is in this arena that they can prove their metal - not in waving or kissing the kris, body-snatching, British math-whiz "escorts", Mongolian deaths, rempits or even the infamous Carburettor Dung (just couldn't resist it - had to include them! LOL!).

Or else, today's children of Malaysia are doomed to the gutters of the future- with a wawasan of piracy, mediocrity and despotism on a dead-end roadmap - and true Nationhood is but a pipedream.

Note: Dr Mahathir has already posted his "Social Contract" story at CheDet.com

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