The Malaysian Social Contract
Malaysia is a beautiful country, both in terms of its nature and its culturally diverse population. Today the population can be divided into three main groups, the Malay, the Chinese, and the Indian. It is, in terms of trade and economic growth, a relatively developed country in Southeast Asia. Visiting Malaysia one at first glance finds it an open and warm society, strongly Americanised with a consumer culture and a popularisation of the American dream. It is easy for a westerner to see this and subconsciously be positively influenced as it reminds one of home. In turn it is easy to overlook an increasingly pressing matter; the racial tension within Malaysia. Although Malaysia has a long history of diverse presence the issue has not been resolved. Racial issues have always been difficult to discuss, not only in Malaysia. With that said equal civil rights can hardly be said to exist for all Malaysian citizens. The social contract is part of the Malaysian constitution and simply states that non Malay Malaysians (at the time of independence from the United Kingdom) are granted citizenship and in turn grant the Malay Malaysians special privileges including easier access to public services. This renders millions of people second class citizens and creates a society of racial supremacy. If you are born in Malaysia with a Chinese ethnic background one is excluded from all government educational scholarships, for example. Politically Malaysia is also divided. The three main parties mirror the three main ethnic groups. The nation is thus in a state of apartheid, were the different races do not traditionally mingle in business nor in social life. In the 21st century this is an unbearable situation. For when the open-minded reach out to create businesses and relations across the racial boundaries the government and law is suddenly directly and indirectly opposing them.
Since the Malays are in political power the government is driven by Muslim morals, amongst others, which also discriminates against other cultural minorities. There are laws that only apply to Muslims. There is a recent example of a young Muslim model that was caught drinking a legally bought beer and thus punished with caning which may have given her scars severe enough to affect her modelling career. The law states that Muslims cannot consume alcohol. It’s not the severity of the punishment that gets to you; it’s the fact that the specific law only applies to people of a certain religion. It’s frustrating to see a country with such abundant natural resources and culturally diverse and educated population be hampered by an obsolete philosophy or ruling. Malaysia is as mentioned relatively well off. One can always ask how much better off she would be with a more tolerant government driven by the quest for equality. Another thought is that little if anything will happen before the current constitution proves a strong enough financial threat. When businesses leave the country solely based on the racial issue for example. Sadly this will probably not happen to any significant extent.
So the issue persists. The Muslim Malay Malaysians live with a different legal framework from others (sometimes harsher) while the rest are being given limited social services. Malaysia is a self-proclaimed democracy however with the religion still not separated from the state and an institutionalised racial discrimination the Malaysian State is hardly a system reflecting the popular ideal. The government is overlooking the voices of millions of legal citizens of this nation. The proud slogan says Malaysia, truly Asia but I sincerely hope that the true Asia is a place were one is equal under the law regardless of sexuality, race, or religion.
