Dangerous stakes of racial games

P Ramasamy

All is not well with race relations in Malaysia. The conflict that took place in the last few days in Kampung Lindungan, Kampung Gandhi, Taman Medan, Kampung Dato Harun and Taman Desa Ria seems to be an essentially a Malay-Indian affair.

Although the cause of the conflict was not really ethnic in nature, the row between two ethnic groups, one preparing a wedding celebration and the other preparing funeral rites, led to a initial clash in which motorcycles and cars were damaged. In less than week, this small-scale conflict which could be have been resolved by the fast action of the police, turned into a full-blown racial clash causing the death of five persons - four Indians and one Indonesian - and injuring more than 37.

While the top government leaders want very much to downplay the racist aspect to these clashes, there are other parties which have taken sides. For instance, the state assemblywoman of Taman Medan, Norkhaila Jamaluddin, whose last election victory was assured by non-Malays and Indians in particular, came out with a statement saying that Indian provocation caused Malays to retaliate.

Saturday’s Utusan Malaysia frontpage carried a photo in which the Selangor chief minister was consoling a Malay man who was injured on his arm. An impression was given by this irresponsible paper that the victims were all Malays. Now if Umno politicians like the above and papers like Utusan Malaysia are playing the their own racial games, how can we expect a speedy solution to these conflicts? Furthermore, Indians have accused the police of inaction as the main cause of their present sufferings.

Ethnic hatred

But the greatest tragedy of racial conflict in Malaysia and elsewhere is that the real culprits seldom get punished. Those who die, suffer and get injured are innocent people, those who have no role in the particular conflict.

The present recent clashes in these areas in Kuala Lumpur is testimony that those who died, injured and lost their homes are really innocent people, those who were totally unaware of happenings in their surroundings. More importantly, these racial clashes between Malays and Indians have taken place in areas that are socially and economically depressed.

The combatants and victims are members of the working class who have real no enmity with one another. But then the nature of racial politics, symbolism of Malay dominance, the racial discrimination of Indians, class exploitation of Malays and Indians together have combined in the most nefarious ways to bring out ethnic hatred among these ethnic groups.

State agencies are themselves partly responsible for the present conflict. Years of neglect of depressed areas, lack of proper housing, lack of space for recreational purposes, lack of inter-racial committees to manage conflict and others have caused irreparable damage to inter-ethnic relations in the country. The affected areas are not so much housing estates of the middle- and upper-middle classes, but areas of working class concentrations such as the ones mentioned earlier.

Here there is little or hardly any interaction among ethnic groups. Only during elections time, these housing concentrations matter in terms of obtaining votes, but after that there is total neglect. Some of the political parties that have an idealistic conception of Malaysian politics hardly get involved to address the day-to-day pressing problems of the working class of different ethnic origins.

Cavalier attitude

What is so glaring about these racial clashes is the fact that the law enforcement agencies such as the police hardly took the initiative to nip the problem at an earlier stage. Numerous police reports and others have not really mattered to the police. Complaints from the different ethnic groups have not registered significance with the police.

Indians generally feel that the police force, being entirely staffed by members of one race, is hardly responsive or sensitive to their grievances. Even Malays reacted harshly when there was an attempt made to put the blame on outsiders. It was pointed out to an Umno politician that despite numerous complaints, even the government took a very cavalier attitude to their problems.

A time has indeed arrived for the government to take a very serious look at the ethnic situation in the country. It is of no use calling for Malay unity when the country is about to explode into a nightmare of racial and ethnic warfare. What is needed for Malaysia at the moment are level-headed politicians who would take a more macro approach to the country’s problems.

Rather than mechanically calling for Malay unity to arrest the inevitable slide of an ethnic party, politicians should address national problems. Chief among these is the question of national unity and the promotion of better and more progressive race relations in the country. Not race relations on the basis of Malay hegemony or Ketuanan Melayu. Such symbolism merely serves the existing status-quo and not the rank and file Malays and others.

I really think that the different races in Malaysia harbour no animosity against each other. It is the nature of the political system in Malaysia that is fundamentally responsible for the present state of racial and religious polarisation among the different races.

Unless the present or future governments address the root cause of racial animosity, Malaysia would make no progress politically, socially and economically. Let us seize the bull by the horns and deal with the matter with honesty, transparency and responsibility. .