Written by Syazwan Zainal
Everyone was buzzing with excitement as we headed to Perlis on Friday afternoon. We met at Subang Airport and took the plane to Kuala Perlis, eager to learn about Politics, Laws and Institutions. Being the first workshop for the National Unity Youth Fellows after our initial introduction in Kuala Lumpur in early February, everyone was looking forward to a weekend of discovery and enlightenment.
The first night was spent discussing some of the findings from the Merdeka Center for Public Opinion, presented by Ehsan Shahwahid. Some of the points raised by the surveys conducted by the Merdeka Center were, at first glance, counter-intuitive. For example, initially everyone thought that the higher the exposure of an individual to the Internet, the higher the likelihood for that individual to be open to revamping affirmative action policies in Malaysia. Interestingly, the survey established the opposite result. At first everyone puzzled over the finding. Surely, if an individual was exposed to the Internet, that individual would be perceived to be more open-minded, liberal and urbane. But after much group discussion, we felt that the main explanation for the Merdeka Center findings lay in the polarising nature of social media. During the discussion, we specified four challenges to national unity: communication and distrust amongst the different groups in Malaysia; the racialisation of policies; the increasing religiosity in public discourse; and the differing goals of different groups in Malaysia.
Everyone was buzzing with excitement as we headed to Perlis on Friday afternoon. We met at Subang Airport and took the plane to Kuala Perlis, eager to learn about Politics, Laws and Institutions. Being the first workshop for the National Unity Youth Fellows after our initial introduction in Kuala Lumpur in early February, everyone was looking forward to a weekend of discovery and enlightenment.
The first night was spent discussing some of the findings from the Merdeka Center for Public Opinion, presented by Ehsan Shahwahid. Some of the points raised by the surveys conducted by the Merdeka Center were, at first glance, counter-intuitive. For example, initially everyone thought that the higher the exposure of an individual to the Internet, the higher the likelihood for that individual to be open to revamping affirmative action policies in Malaysia. Interestingly, the survey established the opposite result. At first everyone puzzled over the finding. Surely, if an individual was exposed to the Internet, that individual would be perceived to be more open-minded, liberal and urbane. But after much group discussion, we felt that the main explanation for the Merdeka Center findings lay in the polarising nature of social media. During the discussion, we specified four challenges to national unity: communication and distrust amongst the different groups in Malaysia; the racialisation of policies; the increasing religiosity in public discourse; and the differing goals of different groups in Malaysia.
It seems befitting then that the next day we met the Mufti of Perlis, Dr Asri Zainal Abidin. The discussion was quite revealing. He raised some fascinating points, such as the seeming obsession that Malaysians have on form over substance. A distinction was made between the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of the law. Some quarters tend to emphasise recognising Malaysia as an Islamic state and having hudud as the law of the land, rather than working towards justice and prosperity for all Malaysians, which is what Islam promotes as the raison d'etre for a good state. Hence, a reinterpretation of an Islamic state must be done in Malaysia. With regards to living in a pluralistic nation such as Malaysia, the discussion revolved around the concepts of tolerance, understanding, and compassion between the different faiths. Extremism was specified as a common enemy.
In order to comprehend the Malaysian context, an undertanding of basic Malaysian laws must be established. In furtherance of that goal, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari of the University of Selangor (Unisel) came to give a short lecture on Malaysia's legal and political culture. He argues that the laws (forms) exist, but there is an absence of a mature democratic culture (lack of substance). In some countries, laws and constitutions may not explicitly spell out the rights of individuals, but a mature political culture makes the system workable. For example the encroaching power of the Federal government over state administration is a worrying problem for a federation like Malaysia. The 2011 Selangor state secretary crisis stemmed from the federal government's power to appoint important state governmental posts. The State Secretary, Legal Adviser, Financial Officer, and Administration and Diplomatic Officer of the Selangor state government are all appointees of the federal government. De jure, the appointment of these individuals is done by the Sultan, but de facto, this is done by the Federal government. If Malaysia had a mature democratic culture, problems would not have arisen. But unfortunately this is not the case.
After absorbing the complex issues facing Malaysia theoretically, the Fellows then went on a turun padang (field trip) to meet three different local non-government organisations (NGOs) who are doing great work in Perlis. The twenty Fellows were divided into three different groups to meet the Siamese Association of Perlis, the Buddhist Association of Perlis and the Barisan Nasional Youth Volunteers. Overall, we established that locally, there were minor challenges to unity. On the ground, the people in Perlis were more concerned with local issues such as addiction to daun ketum. In terms of interaction, the different races in Perlis seemed to have no underlying problems. Time and again, the political discourse emanating from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya via the media was seen as the only problem identified by the three groups. For the Siamese Association of Perlis, a Buddhist monk even recalled a time when Malay-Muslim families would live within the vicinity of a Siamese temple.
That night, one of our own Fellows, Dian Diana, who is currently a Law lecturer at the University of Malaya, gave a presentation on the Malaysian constitution. An historical perspective was employed to help us understand more clearly the reasoning behind specific provisions in the Constitution. It was established that the Bumiputera privileges is just that; privileges, not rights and entitlements. It was meant to be temporary rather than a permanent concept in policy-making. The notion of ‘the social contract’ was nowhere to be seen during the drafting of the Constitution. In fact, the social contract as a concept first appeared in 1988 stated by Abdullah Ahmad, an aide to the then Prime Minister, Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In Perlis, we considered the challenges that Malaysia faces in achieving national unity. Interestingly, most individuals whom we met on our field trip have no problems with people from different races and religions. However, the polarising rhetoric emanating from Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur affects them. The racialisation of policies and increasing religiosity in politics are considered to be the more important challenges for Malaysian unity. There is a need to understand the politics, laws and institutions of Malaysia in order to mitigate these challenges. Given the central role that systems play in shaping any country, it was enlightening to learn about how existing systems contribute to the worsening of problems. Ultimately, discussions on and attempts to address national unity will be left wanting if the systems in place are not reformed.
In order to comprehend the Malaysian context, an undertanding of basic Malaysian laws must be established. In furtherance of that goal, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari of the University of Selangor (Unisel) came to give a short lecture on Malaysia's legal and political culture. He argues that the laws (forms) exist, but there is an absence of a mature democratic culture (lack of substance). In some countries, laws and constitutions may not explicitly spell out the rights of individuals, but a mature political culture makes the system workable. For example the encroaching power of the Federal government over state administration is a worrying problem for a federation like Malaysia. The 2011 Selangor state secretary crisis stemmed from the federal government's power to appoint important state governmental posts. The State Secretary, Legal Adviser, Financial Officer, and Administration and Diplomatic Officer of the Selangor state government are all appointees of the federal government. De jure, the appointment of these individuals is done by the Sultan, but de facto, this is done by the Federal government. If Malaysia had a mature democratic culture, problems would not have arisen. But unfortunately this is not the case.
After absorbing the complex issues facing Malaysia theoretically, the Fellows then went on a turun padang (field trip) to meet three different local non-government organisations (NGOs) who are doing great work in Perlis. The twenty Fellows were divided into three different groups to meet the Siamese Association of Perlis, the Buddhist Association of Perlis and the Barisan Nasional Youth Volunteers. Overall, we established that locally, there were minor challenges to unity. On the ground, the people in Perlis were more concerned with local issues such as addiction to daun ketum. In terms of interaction, the different races in Perlis seemed to have no underlying problems. Time and again, the political discourse emanating from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya via the media was seen as the only problem identified by the three groups. For the Siamese Association of Perlis, a Buddhist monk even recalled a time when Malay-Muslim families would live within the vicinity of a Siamese temple.
That night, one of our own Fellows, Dian Diana, who is currently a Law lecturer at the University of Malaya, gave a presentation on the Malaysian constitution. An historical perspective was employed to help us understand more clearly the reasoning behind specific provisions in the Constitution. It was established that the Bumiputera privileges is just that; privileges, not rights and entitlements. It was meant to be temporary rather than a permanent concept in policy-making. The notion of ‘the social contract’ was nowhere to be seen during the drafting of the Constitution. In fact, the social contract as a concept first appeared in 1988 stated by Abdullah Ahmad, an aide to the then Prime Minister, Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In Perlis, we considered the challenges that Malaysia faces in achieving national unity. Interestingly, most individuals whom we met on our field trip have no problems with people from different races and religions. However, the polarising rhetoric emanating from Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur affects them. The racialisation of policies and increasing religiosity in politics are considered to be the more important challenges for Malaysian unity. There is a need to understand the politics, laws and institutions of Malaysia in order to mitigate these challenges. Given the central role that systems play in shaping any country, it was enlightening to learn about how existing systems contribute to the worsening of problems. Ultimately, discussions on and attempts to address national unity will be left wanting if the systems in place are not reformed.