The UMNO General Assembly of 2006 ended last week; unlike any other conventional political party of our time, it sparked images of nationalist organizations of old. It was also televised for the much-needed benefit of the Malaysian people, and for once we could observe fully the proceedings which involved racial diatribes and divisive overtones.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that the General Assembly “… was supposed to be an arena to raise issues that would help develop good economic policies. That did not happen… But instead of debating on the matter, racial sentiments are blown as though our economic problems are caused by the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese.” Of course, it may not be that the sole purpose of UMNO to cast doubt on the loyalty and nationalism of the ‘immigrant races’ is to conceptualize the perceived failings of the Malay ‘race’. It is, rather, their attempt at gathering more power, of the political kind or other; Samuel Huntington in his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order quotes Michael Dibdin in Dead Lagoon:
“There can be no true friends without true enemies. Unless we hate what we are not, we cannot love what we are. These are the old truths we are painfully rediscovering after a century and more of sentimental cant. Those who deny them deny their family, their heritage, their culture, their birthright, their very selves! They will not lightly be forgiven.”
Needless to surmise, it is no surprise that Anwar Ibrahim is labelled a traitor to the Malay race or that Mukhriz Mahathir and his father face UMNO threats in the light of their recent revelations.
Huntington further goes on to say:
“People use politics not just to advance their interests but also to define their identity. We know who we are only when we know who we are not and often only when we know whom we are against.”
UMNO, or any other race-based party, has thus come far from their original roles as defenders of different sections of colonial Malayan society. Malayans had a common identity and were united in knowing whom they were against, as loose as it may have been: the English colonialists. Upon being granted independence, Malayans regressed in their newfound status. It has thus become the mainstay of Malaysian politics, never having matured from being freed of the shackles of the old Empire, to dwell on who you are and who you are not instead of what we all should do.
Nowadays, to speak of colonial Malaya necessitates an insight from the ever-eloquent Farish A. Noor. In an article entitled, “‘Amok’ Season Again: How We Perpetuate The Myths Of Empire,” Noor explains the perpetuation of labels, ideas or contructs of “the Malay” which the Malays have not overcome, and rather perversely have themselves internalized. This is a common theme in Noor’s writings, although it is still not espoused enough times in this country’s academics. The esteemed author consequently asks:
“So when UMNO leaders of today reach for their kerises and mouth their slogans of blood and defiance, are they aware of the fact that their very rhetoric bears the stains of a colonial anthropology and ethnology which were part and parcel of the colonial construction of the Malays?”
This same logic does not only apply to the Malays. The other races in Malaysia are guilty of the same fault and contribute equally to the polarization of our society. As long as we give in to ideas and concepts of who we are based on the meanderings of scheming colonialists of old, and as long as we define ourselves based on who we are not, we will continue to live in an environment of antagonistic tribalism.
Racial polemics are gaining momentum with each passing day, and the recent UMNO General Assembly is merely the latest evidence of the presence of an underlying racism which pervades throughout the Malaysian consciousness, be you Malay, Chinese, Indian or any other race that Yasmin Ahmad deems fit for casting in the next Petronas advertisement.
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