The Death of Patriotism

When I was a schoolboy, my friends and I would sometimes talk about what we would do if war were to ever break out. In our youthful naiveté, we all agreed that if the worst were to happen, we would fight, and be willing to die, for our country.A decade has passed and more has happened than just the addition of a receding hairline, a few wrinkles and some extra pounds. Somewhere during that decade, my love, loyalty and patriotism died. It wasn’t a natural death. Rather it was a slow, agonizing death that came from brutal, systemic torture inflicted by the very people who were supposed to guide and care for me – my leaders.With time and maturity, has come the realization that I live in a racist state. Worse, I live in an unashamedly racist state. A broad, sweeping and unfair statement perhaps? Well, consider the reasons behind my assertion.Recently, I read for the umpteenth time how the government is aiming to increase the Bumiputra influence in the political and economic sectors. This despite the fact that we already have a Bumiputra Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. This despite the fact that most of our Cabinet consists of Bumiputra representatives. This despite the fact that most government departments heads and staff are Bumiputras. This despite the fact that most government-linked companies have Bumiputras at their head. This despite the fact that every university vice-chancellor is Bumiputra. I could go on and on, but you get the picture I’m sure.The amazing fact is that nobody seems to be the least bit bashful about this in-your-face racism. Terms like Malay superiority and Ketuanan Melayu keep getting bandied about by all and sundry. What are these people trying to say? That the non-Malay’s sat on their arses and waited for handouts? That the non-Malays were handed the keys to the kingdom of heaven on a silver platter? That we didn’t earn our right to live here?Where would Malaysia be without the Chinese tin miners? Where would Malaysia be without the Indian rubber-tappers? Where would Malaysia be without old Ah Seng the merchant? Or Thangamma, who broke her back laying tar for roads? Or for that matter, where would Malaysia be without the educated Malayalee and Ceylonese civil servants who served the government in the early days of our nation’s youth?At the same time, where would Malaysia be without the Bumiputra who planted our rice and caught our fish? Or the many Bumiputra soldiers who fought and died for us?The fact is that we are all equal partners in this, share and share alike. Nobody deserves more and nobody deserves less. We have all contributed to our nation’s growth and we are all responsible for its future.Yet, we have come to a point where the matter is not up for discussion. The non-Bumi is a second-class citizen. Period. The Chinese businessman knows he will never have as strong a chance as a Malay does when it comes to getting a contract or a tender. The Indian academic knows that he will never attain the top post at his university simply because of his race.We pay more for our houses, we pay more for our cars. We get fewer rights, fewer perks and fewer loans. We don’t have trust funds. We don’t have anything, in a nutshell.Nobody is allowed to question this arrangement. Nobody is allowed to criticize it. Nobody is allowed to debate it. We get slapped in the face with the “fact” that our forefathers signed “the social contract” agreeing to the Bumiputras’ special rights and privileges.What if I disagree with the contract my forefathers went into? Don’t I get a fucking say in the matter? Am I supposed to be bound to this “social contract” ad infinitum? I’m supposed to pay for the sins of my fathers? My sons too? How about their sons and grandsons?This is the only place I have heard of where the vast majority enjoys extra privileges at the expense of the minority. Make no mistake, this is not a fair and a just fight for equality. This is a fight for EXTRA and ADDITIONAL benefits, something which is both unfair, unjust and inhumane. That’s right. INHUMANE. After all, what is humane about a good student being told that her scholarship award is going to a less deserving candidate simply because the quota has been filled? What’s humane about a hardworking civil servant being passed up for promotion time and again because he is not a Bumiputra?The worst part is that this system doesn’t not even have the effect its architects wanted it to have. They claimed they wanted to elevate the Bumiputra to the level of the other races. Yet, when the original 1991 deadline came and went, the Bumiputra had still not got their “fair” slice of the economic kuih lapis. Fast forward 17 years later and it seems that they are still no closer, which means there is still no end in sight to the NEP. I sometimes wonder whether the NEP has in fact weakened its beneficiaries instead of strengthening them.
In the meantime, the underprivileged non-Bumi is forced to become stronger, wilier and more adaptable to survive in this rotten system. The non-Bumi has to learn every dirty trick in the book in order to survive. Worst of all, the non-Bumi ends up filling his belly and nursing a deep grudge, a deep hatred against the leaders and the country that has forced him to slog for every crumb of bread he puts in his mouth.Whatever I have said in this posting could very well be seditious, going by the fluid definition of sedition this nation seems to have. I neither know nor care. I find it hard to pledge love or allegiance to a country that places so little a value on my life and my being.If there ever comes a time when I will no longer be regarded as a lesser man than the Princes of the Earth and if there comes a time when I will be judged by the content of my character and not the colour of my skin, I might change my mind.Hell, if that happens I might actually be willing to fight and die for this godforsaken country!