What's new, Pussycat?

What's the latest challenge - for the warriors of equal opportunity?  It has to do with that nasty word RACE. It should be binned - so they said - as we are all  True Malaysians.  

This great struggle for the True Malaysians started  with the rallying cry for a "Malaysian Malaysia" concocted by Singapore's PAP when it was in Malaysia.  Now that cause has been passed on to Malaysia's DAP ( blood brother of Singapore's  PAP ) - albeit differently attired like in The Emperor's New Clothes.

Then came the next clarion call,  spouted by the non-Malays - they shouted the slogan "meritocracy" as an  attack against the NEP.  Of course it sounded so reasonable and justifiable - but in the context of the Malay Peninsula and her history, it's just another 'hurrah' word used for bolstering and protecting the interests and agenda of the wealthy and powerful and the status quo inherited from the British.

The visit by the US President added grist to the mill of those 'liberals' and their equal opportunities campaign.  It's a very attractive bandwagon to jump onto - plus you can be assured of receiving blessings from the human rights deities in the West.  If you shout loud enough you could even receive an award from the mother-of human rights- and- self righteousness,  the US.

Now Malaysia is getting another rap on the knuckles, to get her to liberalize her wayward ways by putting an end  to inserting 'Race' in all types of forms.  These crusaders of' 'human rights'  in  the Peninsula opine that this would end 'discrimination' or 'ostracism'. In fact they are actually referring to - if they're open and honest - their perceived view of themselves as "victims"at the hands of the Malays.  If that's the case and seemingly a dire one at that - most certainly, people  like the Rohingyas  and the  "First People " of the US would  prefer this Malaysian-style discrimination and ostracism.

Balan Moses ( The Metro, 9 May 2014) wrote "As long as red blood courses through our veins, and we are made of flesh and blood, we will all be the same."   Well, "tell that to the Marines" and the Gazans, Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghanis, the Adivasis ( the Indian Tribal people), the lower castes of India, the native Indians of South America, the aborigines in Taiwan and Australia.

"The British", said my late Abah, "will cut the ground from under your feet and make you thank them for it." Other than profiteering from the resources of the Malay Peninsula, they stimulated the flood of immigrants who are like 'chalk' to the  'cheese' in the Malay Peninsula so as to facilitate and  the economic 'development' (exploitation) of the Malay Peninsula.

Here is how they fear the arrival of  foreigners to UK today.  This Home Office Go-Home Van was later removed but people certainly got the message.

The manipulation of the cultural makeup of the Malay Peninsula had its origins in post-war Federated  Malay States (FMS), Unfederated Malay States (UFMS) and the Straits Settlements.  Britain could not afford to run her Empire as before.  But she wanted to hang on to the benefits and needed to be assured that this Peninsula's economy would keep on ticking. With such a toxic mixture of population, the immigrants (especially the Chinese - the movers and shakers of the economy) had to be assured and guaranteed of their stay and their profit in the Peninsula.  So, said the men in the Colonial Office, let's call this motley of administrative centres 'Malaya'!  And so we had books on Civics and Geography in our schools to tout this policy of living in a country called 'Malaya' and all the happy people in it are 'Malayans'.

Here are a couple of pertinent or impertinent - (depending on the ahem 'Race'of the reader) - observations written in 1947 by E.H.G. Dobby, B.A., Ph.D, Head of the Geography Department, Raffles College, Singapore.

Gosh! If only it's that simple - to be likened to a 'grouping like the Boy Scouts, families or trade unions'. I suppose it may work for the Captains of Industry and their compradores and for the denizens of the well-serviced and well-endowed in the urban areas.  
   

What the good Professor failed to see is that these "chalk and cheese" communities cannot be held together simply because "they have many needs in common".  At least, this is what the British themselves thought.  The Chinese, said J. Cameron, "have attained a high civilization of their own sort, and this keeps, and I think always will keep, them distinct from other peoples with whom they mingle ". (Our Tropic Possessions in Malayan India, 1865).  A century and a half later, the Chinese diaspora in the Malay Archipelago remains distinct, with its own wants  and needs.

Let's look at why they came ..........

From Philip N. Nazareth :  The Story of Malaya and Her Neighbours, 1961

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......... and what they wanted, for example, to preserve and protect their culture via education in Chinese.  Such a  policy was articulated a long time ago.

So, the formulators of 'Malaya" had either  no idea or no interest in safeguarding "The Malay Protectorates" and the Malay Rakyat.

I'm certain the liberals in the West, especially in Britain, will support to the hilt the demands of those who want to eliminate the word 'race'  in our paperwork - giving succour to those who have been weaned on the milk of so-called British "liberalism and human rights".  Yet the motherland of liberalism could not discard the use of 'race' in their analysis of their country's future. It signifies their prejudice, but especially their fear.  Now the gander ( Britain) has to lump the same sauce as the goose ( The Malay Peninsula).  At last, the chickens are coming home to roost.

In 20 years'time, the white Brits will have to learn how to live and let live with only a 64% majority.  But they have the advantage, in that no one ethnic (racial?) group makes up nearly a quarter of the population.

According to Malaysia's human rights warriors,  the deletion of 'race' will make us all equal.  Certainly that will make some people invisible - cloaking the elites, the rich and powerful from the scrutiny of the lesser and poorer beings.

Perhaps our crusaders were looking at a Golden Age of job opportunities prior to the May 13 Race Riots.
Take this extract from the The Annual Report of 1962 (Malay Mail)  on Education.

.
The Report on the University of Malaya tells a similar story.

That, I reckon, is what our crusaders want it to be - a return to a sort of Camelot  for "racial/equal" opportunities.  Since then, a lot of water has gone under the bridge.  After the Race Riots of 13 May 1969, steps were taken to ameliorate this imbalance in the education and employment opportunities of the Malays in the Malay Peninsula.

Finally I anticipate with trepidation another salvo of demands. Who knows,  in their pilgrimage for "equal opportunities" they might desire (with the help of their overseas friends and mentors) to create a more  'inclusive'  nation by re-naming the country - just like the British when they coined the country 'Malaya" in exchange for the FMS, UFMS and the Straits Settlements.

Why not rename Semenanjung Tanah Melayu as MALCHINDIA, so they say.  Sabah shall remain Sabah and the same for Sarawak.

Hmmmh - as for Malaysia - a name like BUMICHINDIA sounds more egalitarian.  There's no reference to Malays because they are already included in the word BUMI.  So there's no reason for them to grumble.  That makes us all the same - and that is why the Muslim word  "Allah"  should be 'shared' as well!!

However some Bumiputeras and most Malays may feel a tad uncomfortable because BUMICHINDIA also means the Land of the Chinese and the Indians.

Oh hell!  I think we need to tap the brains of the whizkids in the media and communication industry - to get them to look into their box-of-tricks - to give us a makeover - to invent a name that sounds  cosy and shallow.  After all they specialize in calling a spade a trowel and casting a trowel as the spade.

As an afterthought, if people are so keen to discard  'race' because it fosters disunity, shouldn't they go the whole hog and discard Chinese and Tamil schools and have a united education policy?

PS  I missed a few lines in Paragraph 11 - which have now been corrected.

For Wania's Album

Tonight AsH is a very relieved and happy (adopted) 'Daadi'  (or grandmother in Urdu) - and so is 'Daada'!

On 5 April, Yasir, her Baba ( Dad) sent us this video of Wania's  "first ever steps on her own"- in the words of the proud father. We  were just as delighted and I must admit I must have played that video 6 to 7 times.

In  Leicester, all our friends are close to our age - that is, OLD! - and so knowing Yasir, Raffia and Wania is such a joy.  We have known Yasir for the past ten years and when he got married about three and a half years ago to his gentle and beautiful Raffia  ......

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.........we were delighted as we reckoned it was time that this bachelor settled down.  They were blessed when Wania came into their life in November 2012. She was such a bright, happy, and playful child and we were soon adopted as Wania's Daada and Daadi..  Whenever we got back to Leicester, we would visit them quite often,  chiefly to have a bit of fun with Wania, and to enjoy Raffia's cooking.  Her chapati, chicken karai, briyani, and raita with chili, cucumber, tomato and chopped onion - they are just supercalifragilisticaspialidocious!!! - in fact everything she cooks is fabulous.    Lucky Yasir .... and lucky Auntie and Uncle!

Then on 17 April - DISASTER!   Wania had a bad fall  - and her leg had to be put in plaster.  Yasir and Raffia had very little sleep for 3 days because she was in such pain.  To make it worse, as a matter of routine, the Hospital arranged for a Social Worker to visit them in their house.  They were desperately worried - not knowing the why, what and wherefores - and fearing the very worst ... that they would be blamed for Wania's injury.  Over here we were worried too, trying to think how best we could be of help from this distance.  Because these three are all "alone" in Leicester Iain sent them a letter of support - in the form of a testimonial from a long term friend, uncle, and 'local'  resident.

At 6pm today, Yasir called to give us the good news.  The Social Worker had made her visit.    She was very happy with the situation, closed the case, and offered Yasir, Raffia, and Wania whatever help they might need.     Yasir and Raffia can now relax and enjoy the Spring .....although poor Wania is still grounded.

The last line in the first paragraph of  Uncle's letter says  "we have watched them begin their family and their life together in their new homeland".    For Raffia to obtain her Visa for Indefinite Stay in her new homeland she had to :

1. Pass an English Language Test which costs GBP250.
2. Pass a Life in UK Test.  It involved Rafia having to answer questions about the types of churches, names of British composers,  pop musicians, football clubs, - and a lot of history, geography, politics, economy and everything else which even the native Brits would be hard pushed to answer.   (In fact, there were numerous questions even a retired English university lecturer couldn't answer!)    Raffia had to take this test 5 times and each time cost them GBP50.

And what's more - to insert the Visa into her Pakistani Passport they had to pay GBP1450.  And should Raffia apply for a British Passport, they would have to set aside GBP975.

This couple did not take advantage of the benefits that they were eligible for when Wania was born.  Yasir works very, very hard - sometimes 7 days a week  and he and Raffia are so grateful that their little family will be safe and sound in the UK,  a country that is not ridden with violence, political  insecurity, bombs - and, now and then a drone attack from President Obama's  country.

The Happy Family in March last year.

Wania with her left leg in plaster - just 3 hours ago.

Salam and good night to all three of you from Uncle and Auntie.  Here's a song for Wania so she won't keep her parents awake tonight.