What Might Have Been If Malaysia Boleh

What might have been if Malaysia Boleh
By Eric Loo February 22, 2008 1:31PM Malaysiakini

The Qu'ran says God is not three in one, that Jesus Christ is just a messenger of Allah. Muhammad is the last messenger. The Bible says God is three in one, that Christ is the living son of God. He's the first and the last.

Buddhism denies the concept of a God; that there are no moral absolutes in life, only guidelines. And, the Bahais say Muhammad, Jesus, Siddharta are all manifestations of God on earth to spread peace and love.

Indeed, different doctrines create different communities distanced by distrust. What if no one group has any exclusive claim to absolute religious truth? Imagine what might have been if every religious group came together with one vision for world peace. Imagine every Malaysian responding to the melodic Azan call to prayer from suhur to isyak - all faced to Mecca and Jerusalem, giving thanks for another day to make a difference given our limited lease on life (presently about 70 years for a Malaysian male, 75 for a female).

Inconceivable? But indulge me for a moment on what's possible, and certainly desirable, in a plural society. That a vegetarian dhoti-clad Christian/Catholic may pray five times a day, appreciates the life story of Muhammad, enjoys the epic of Mahabharata, reflects on the aphorisms of past Buddhist sages, and ponders over the ecumenic teachings of Baha'ullah.

Religious diversity
Imagine every Malaysian living in racially mixed suburbs - no Kampung Baru Cina, no Kampung Melayu - with a common resolve to do what's right, good and noble by their neighbours. Visualise an Indian in baju Melayu lunching at the same kopi tiam with a Malay in cheongsam, and a Chinese in saree, chatting in our peculiar Manglish. Imagine if there was more inter-racial marriage minus the dilemma of mandatory religious conversion?

Imagine if every Muslim goes to the mosque, Buddhists and Hindus to the temples each Sunday morning when their Christian friends go to church - all to worship their god and pray for what's intelligent, right and good to prevail in the coming election. Imagine if every Malaysian takes time to understand their neighbour's faith with no conviction of being called to convert or fear of being converted. But, just believing in religious diversity and the common good with no zealous claim to any jealous god.

I witnessed this common good in humanity, free of religious exclusivity, at the Thaipusam festival in Penang. It was 6.30 on a Tuesday morning. The Malay and Indian police were already up directing traffic and the pre-dawn crowd spilling in to see the chariot of Lord Murugan leave the temple from Penang Street. Following the golden chariot, Chinese and Malay council workers were haphazardly sweeping broken coconuts off the streets. Up front, Indian and non-Indian penitents, skewered and stubbed, were shouldering kavadis followed by Chinese devotees offering sweets and fruits, some handing out packets of food to the crowd. The scene was kaleidoscopically Malaysian, yet 'cacophonically' Indian.

That's the intercultural spirit politicians forget when they talk of imminent racial discord if Barisan loses its majority hold in Parliament. As long as I can remember, since I cast my first vote for the opposition in 1974, each election has been driven by the coalition's caution on Malaysians to vote carefully, rather than intelligently, to avoid another May 13.

Four years on, I wrote in The National Echo (June 28, 1978): "The National Front must understand and realise the aspirations and role of the Opposition's inter-communal compromise should be the basis of government policies. The future has no place for religious and communal based party." That future came and went with no qualitative change in the substance of party campaigns. Apart from today's relatively more strident political discourse by bloggers, it's "same old, same old lah," says an old friend, despondently, of the current electioneering.

Imagine what might have been if our politicians could rise above race and religion in their spiels. What if Mahathir had downplayed religion and race from the equation and denounced in 1984 the political pressure to Islamicise his government machinery? What if Anwar Ibrahim as the anointed leader of UMNO Youth in 1984 had then talked the way he thinks today as the de facto leader of PKR? What if Abdullah Badawi had explicitly reiterated in November 2003 that East and West Malaysia combined is a plural secular nation governed by common secular laws? Would today's character and conduct of Malaysian realpolitik be any different? Maybe.

Rise above bangsa and ugama (race and religion)
Imagine an election that focuses on critical policy reforms to restore the country's depleting human capital, reverse the brain drain, and open its doors to the world's best talent regardless of race or religion. Imagine if UMNO had stood for "Uniting Malaysia Now". And, an MCA-MIC alliance that broke free from their racial religious identikit. What if MCA had stood for a 'Malaysian Collective Advocate' for fair opportunities to all rakyat. And, an MIC reborn as a 'Movement for Integrity and Conscience' in government, and acting as the people's whip over the 'many incompetent cohorts' in parliament.

Malaysia Boleh embodies these many possibilities of what might have been if for the last 35 years or so we had focused on advocating for fundamental reforms in the country's racialised politics, and ridding parliament of politicians who take their constituents for fools. Indeed, we deserve the government we get.

Growing up in Penang with schoolmates from Indian and Malay families, and having worked with colleagues from diverse ethnicities, I know this for a fact. Mydin is not any more likely to be a fundamental kris-wielding Muslim UMNO member than Ah Chong is likely to be a Buddhist, Christian, or atheist MCA loyalist. Or Ayappan is necessarily a Hindu vegetarian MIC follower, or a DAP supporter a frustrated left-leaning non-Malay NGO worker.

The day may come when our politicians, civil activists, and the rakyat are able to rise above bangsa and ugama in their discourse and advocacy for improvements to living conditions and equal access to opportunities to realise one's full potential. While talks and chats in the Malaysian public space are bolder than what they were in the pre-Internet days, the arguments are as racialised as ever. Same-old, same-old.

Imagine if the government, after winning the next election (I can't imagine any other outcome), would lead by setting up an alternative 'cabinet' where it invites Opposition and civil society leaders to sit and talk as equals, over a cuppa, to deliberate over programs for the benefit of all Malaysians. No politics. No inter-racial bidding. Behind the 'complexities' of race politics lie a common sense solution - talk, listen and act for the common good.
Tags: Quran, Jesus Christ, Allah, Buddhism, Bible, Bahai, Muhammad, Siddharta, Mecca, Jerusalem, Malay, Cheongsam, Chinese, Saree, Indian, Baju Melayu, UMNO, MCA, MIC, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Malaysian