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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Divide and rule, continuing a colonial tradition

Malaysians have been divided racially and religiously to keep a handful in power
COMMENT
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By Raja Abdul Kadir
CEASE the stereotype labelling of my fellow Malaysians and me.
Then it was: “The lazy Melayu is content to sit and slumber”, “The Chinaman will even sell his grandmother”, “The drunkard Indian bugger beats up his wife”, and the natives of East Malaysia, “They are so ‘ulu’ and ignorant”.
Now it goes: “The Melayu (Bumiputera) is dependent on the crutches provided by the government”, “The greedy ungrateful Chinaman wants more”, “The Indian is a ruthless gangster” and the East Malaysians “So easily gullible and bought over by trinkets”.
Incessantly drilled into our heads by scurrilous leaders all these years, each one of us can add more colour to the stereotype list.
There is an underlying reason to this name-calling.
After 58 years of independence the rulers of this country, under the guise of an “all embracing” Barisan Nasional, are practicing what they have learnt from the former colonial masters: divide and rule.
The British have used race and religion in their divide and rule policy that had served them well in Ireland (the oldest colony), the Indian sub-continent, Africa…
What about pre-independence British Malaya? Keep the Malay man in the kampung, the Chinese man in the side streets and mines, and the Indian man in the estates and along the railway line.
To help keep the natives in step, the British colonialists trained and educated a core of locals who were the lords and masters among the natives.
What now in post-independence Malaya and Malaysia?
These locals have learnt their lesson well. After two decades or so of continuing to serve the Mother country, they began to serve themselves.
Divide and rule, but throw some crumbs to the natives to keep them happy and in their place.
Are we happy with the crumbs thrown to us? Surely we deserve more to cope with high cost of daily living.
Never have we had to pay so much for rice, meat, fish, poultry and greens, and we are faced with higher utility bills, higher tolls to reach the office, and higher pump prices for petrol even though we are blessed with a large reservoir of this natural resource.
So my fellow Malaysian, let us carefully ponder when a politician or bigot throws a racial or religious slur at us. Is it a calculated move to divide and rule, and divert us from the real problems facing us?
Raja Abdul Kadir is an FMT reader

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