Dr M’s dangerous prescription for unity

Changing our names to Muslim-sounding ones and adopting a Malay culture is not the answer to achieve unity across the races.

COMMENT

By Kenneth Lee

Mahathir Mohamad recently stated that the idea of a multi-racial Malaysia as a united nation was not feasible unless the non-Malays were more open to changing their names and adopting the Malay culture.

Citing Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, he argued that a united Malaysia would be possible only when these aspects of society came to be.

Let us examine the logic, or rather the fallacy, underlying Mahathir’s strategy for a united Malaysia.

Assume that I change my name from Kenneth Lee to Kamarudin Abdullah. Will that be sufficient for the UMNO government to accept me as an equal to a Bumiputera for government jobs, business contracts, IPOs and house purchases?

Can my children, with Malay-sounding names, be treated the same as Malay candidates when applying for university places and scholarships?

Will “Race” be excluded from all official documents?

Can I still continue to go to church on Sunday even though my name is Kamarudin Abdullah?

Can I continue to have a beer and enjoy bak kut teh openly during Ramadan and buy “4-D” while wearing the “Kamarudin” name tag?

As any sensible person knows, the answer to all these questions is “No”.

I can bet that even the registration department would not allow me to change my name to an Islamic one unless I become a Muslim first.

Even if the registration department allows me to change my name, Jais and other Islamic bodies would surely not allow me to be engaged in non-Islamic and haram activities while wearing the Islamic “Kamarudin” name tag.

So it looks like it would not be sufficient for non-Malays to change their names. Perhaps Mahathir really meant that non-Malays must not only change their names to Islamic ones but also change their religion to Islam, speak Malay and completely adopt the Malay culture, i.e. “masuk Islam”.

If this was what Mahathir meant, he may be right. Mahathir, himself a half-Indian who was classified as Indian when born, is a full-fledged Malay and was able to rise to become UMNO president and prime-minister.

There are many like him, non-Malays who have become full-fledged Malays and are treated as such.

Why, even recent Bangladeshi, Indonesian, Filipino and other Muslim migrants (legal and illegal) are now “Malays” and consequently are able to enjoy Bumiputra privileges.

So it looks like Mahathir may be right if he meant that non-Malays should not only change their names but also become Muslims and denounce their original ethnicity, religion, culture and heritage.

If Mahathir were right, then we’ll have 27 million Malays/Muslims in Malaysia, all of them enjoying the same privileges.

We can all look forward to easy business contracts, a 15% discount on houses, scholarships and university places for our children, jobs and top positions in government, easy loans, access to Malay reserve land, etc.

Wow! What are the non-Malays waiting for? But will this happen?

When the base becomes large, there will be less to go round. If mass religious conversion happen, the resulting 27 million Malays/Muslims will enjoy far less than that accorded to the Malays today.

In fact, even current UMNO Malay beneficiaries will receive far less because the ex-Chinese entrepreneurs, being Muslims now, will no longer continue operating lucrative businesses such as gambling, 4-D, alcohol, night-entertainment (karaoke lounges etc.), porcine-related businesses and conventional banking (as opposed to Islamic banking) to contribute substantially to Malaysia’s GDP and pay billions in taxes.

Genting, Berjaya, Carlsberg, Guiness, San Miguel and major banks’ (Maybank, CIMB, Public Bank, etc,) non-Islamic banking services would have to be closed as they do not conform to Islamic principles.

Furthermore, as Muslims, these entrepreneurs would have to abandon some of their potent Chinese business practices (e.g. kongsi, paying incentives for deals and paying/charging interests for loans), which do not conform to Islamic principles.

So from an economic perspective, a weaker economy and far less for everyone including privileged Bumiputras of today is the future that awaits Malaysia if all non-Malays become Malays/Muslims.

If Mahathir’s strategy was right, then there should be unity amongst Malays in Malaysia today. They all have Malay names and practice the Malay culture. Yet there is a visible division between those in UMNO and the Malays in Pakatan Rakyat.

There is and always have been divisions even with UMNO (e.g. today, those allied to Najib and those allied to Muhiyidin/Mahathir) and PAS (the Islamists and the moderates).

So, Mahathir’s “brilliant” prescription for a united Malaysia based on Malay names and one culture, if not a single race, is nothing but a fallacy.

If we extend Mahathir’s prescription for national unity to other countries like Britain, France, USA and Australia, then would it not mean that the Muslims citizens there change their names to Christian ones and adopt the Western culture?

If Mahathir really believes in what he is preaching, he should call on Muslims living in the Western world to do precisely that.

Will Mahathir dare to make such a call? He fully knows the reality of making such a call and the consequences of it.

At home in Malaysia, he can utter anything without consequence regardless of how ridiculous, absurd or detrimental it may be.

Kenneth Lee is a FMT reader.