I am trying to make sense of yesterdays rowdy demonstration at the site of a condo project. The reason for the residents objection against the project was, apparently, that the Malay residents in that particular Malay-dominated residential area fear that the area would soon be turned into a Chinese or foreigners area. That is because it is expected that only Chinese and non-Malays could afford to purchase properties from the said project. I cant help but suspect that the said demonstration was orchestrated by certain parties who were out to tarnish the Selangor state government. Call it a hunch. Or intuition. Or reasonable deduction. Whatever. I dont have evidence. But thats how I feel. That was my first reaction. Which public rally or demonstration would make available free nasi lemak and drinks to the rally goers? That aside, what is rather disconcerting is the reason proffered by the amoking residents. Yesterdays demonstration is a stark reminder that within our seemingly peaceful multi-racial society, there are sections that are parochial and exclusionary in nature. At a glance, such parochial, tribalistic and hence, exclusionary sub-society, is almost a trademark of our society so much so that it has been accepted by all and sundry. Or at the very least, accepted by acquiescence. How often do we read in the news or articles that certain incidents had hapoened in a Malay-dominated area or a predominantly Chinese occupied area? How very often have we heard our leaders propounding the preservation of the identity and heritage of a certain area? Deep down inside, our society is far from being metropolitan and inclusive by definition, practice and behaviour. The present political landscape does not help either. The failure of our affirmative actions and economic policies in establishing a fair and equitable distribution of wealth and closing the gap between the haves and the have-nots only serve to create inter-class enmity and resentment. I have said it before that nowadays Malaysia is seeing the shrinking of the middle class simply because the bulk of the wealth seems to be controlled and possessed by the few elites. The gap grows so big so much so that what was deemed as the middle class before has now been sucked by the class below it, namely, the lower class. Lets face it, the school teachers, policemen, clerks, junior executives, managers et al were all the occupants of the middle class. Due to the enlargement of the wealth of the upper middle class, these people are now in the lower income group! Coupled with the fact that a certain economic class is now identified with a certain race - as well as a certain religion - if left unchecked, a sure fire recipe for disaster is right at our front door. When any section of the society struggles with its identity, it will cling to any semblance of identification that it has or it thinks it has or ought to have. Obviously, the first thing is race. Then religion. Or both at the same time. After that, of course, this land. Yes, this land. This land is ours. This area of the land is ours. It belongs to us. To our race. It is our identity. Hence the demonstration at Jelatek. While the number of yesterdays demonstrators was not large, the motivations, doctrine and misplaced principles which drove them are at the very least emblematic of a society at the onset of a cancerous outbreak. To me, it is downright frightening.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 02:16:51 +0000
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