This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 29, 2022 - September 4, 2022

For journalists, waiting is synonymous with the profession, mostly for a press conference to start and end. A longer wait could be in store if it’s a meeting of political parties’ supreme councils. These meetings could end way past midnight, only to have the respective parties’ secretaries-general say, “We will issue a press statement later.”

The longest wait could be at a summit of regional or world leaders. The wait for the final communique of the summit to be issued could take more than a day and sometimes even two. In the background, the diplomatic corps would haggle over the preferred words to use, often opting for text that is neutral for the majority of the leaders. In the end, the final communique often lacks a strong commitment to a position or course of action.

It was at one such wait, in the corridors of power in Putrajaya, that the prime minister’s aide, who was a former journalist, sarcastically said to me: “You know what is your problem, Azam? You’re a compromised bumiputera.” While I did not take him seriously — journalists sometimes sing a different tune when they are in the corridors of power — throughout my years in journalism, I have made it known through my writing and discussions with politicians and my peers that I am not in favour of a ketuanan Melayu brand of Malaysia.

Does “compromised bumiputera” refer to the fact that I must not disagree with the view of the Malay majority that Malay supremacy must reign supreme for this nation to move forward and progress further?

Call it Malay supremacy or lordship, it reflects exclusivity of leadership and not inclusivity, which the nation badly needs. Why should one community lead and decide what is good for the country in the name of political stability and expediency?

What kind of Malaysia do I want? It is one where the notion of a multiracial and multicultural nation reigns supreme. I strongly believe that Malaysia will be a strong, developed and high-income nation if we can harness the strengths of its various races and do not dwell on what divides the country.

At his birthday celebration in June, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah reminded Malaysians that “unity and togetherness in a society with diverse backgrounds is actually a recipe and strength in shaping national aspirations. It is a pillar of the nation’s prosperity and contributes to peace and stability”.

Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah, at the launch of the book titled The Malays: Pathfinders and Trailblazers, also in June, sent out a similar message when he emphasised that Malaysia must champion and remain an exemplar of multiculturalism.

But still, for umpteen years, politicians in power seemed to prefer to divide and polarise the different races and religions rather than unite them. The nation’s problems, including its socioeconomic issues, are often compartmentalised into short-term, race-based solutions that will never work in the long term.

The dominant Malay parties, even after 65 years of independence, still like to instil fear among the Malay community that they have a lot to lose if ketuanan Melayu is not the overriding theme of the country’s political and socioeconomic development.

What is there for the Malay majority to fear? We already have a strong Malay monarchy system that showed its maturity when the government and prime ministers changed three times since the general election in 2018. The prime minister’s position — by virtue of the Malays and Muslims being the majority of the population and thus securing a similar majority in the number of parliamentary seats — is likely to remain Malay. The position of Islam and Bahasa Malaysia remain sacred and certain privileges enjoyed by the community are protected by the Constitution.

So, what is needed now is less racial politicking — which is getting more evident in recent years — to get the nation back on the track on the path of unity and economic growth. While we as a nation continue to seek solutions for the challenges we are facing, the long-term formula for Malaysia to become a developed and high-income nation has to be anchored to the idea that the best, irrespective of race, should be allowed to lead.

Many good policies, including those on economic development — for example, the New Economic Model, which was supposed to leapfrog the obstacles posed by the 1970 New Economic Policy — did not fully take off as political impediments to their implementation later became obvious. It was the case of the government wanting to initiate the changes such as the removal of barriers, including racial quotas, that had held Malaysia back from reaching its full potential in the past, but it was the same government that in the end lacked the political will to do it.

In the field of education, recognition of the importance of the English language continues to be mired in unfruitful polemics that do not help us as a nation. Can’t we just accept the fact that English is an important economic tool for us to take advantage of global growth and help us become a developed and high-income nation? Indonesia and Vietnam, in the meantime, have embraced the English language enough to help them advance their digital economies.

Affirmative action in the socioeconomic field and in education, on the other hand, should continue to be taken to help the poor and needy irrespective of race. Inevitably, it will still mostly benefit the Malays as population-wise, there are more Malays in the lower-income bracket of B40 (bottom 40% of households whose income is below RM4,850) than other races.

We have shown that in sports, we can harness the strength of diversity when we compete in the international arena. Here the best, fastest or strongest have represented the country and we are proud of the winners irrespective of whether they are Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban.

Sports personalities Nicol David (squash), Lee Chong Wei (badminton), Azizulhasni Awang (cycling) and Pandelela Rinong (diving) are world champions and world-class athletes who are, first and foremost, Malaysians who are the best in their respective sports. We recognise them, more than anything else, as Malaysians first, not Indian, Chinese, Malay or Bidayuh.

In team events, we still reminisce about the great Malaysian football team of the late 1970s and early 1980s. R Arumugam (goalkeeper), Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh (centrebacks), Shukor Salleh (midfielder) and Mokhtar Dahari (striker) formed the core of the team simply because they were the best in their respective positions.

Why can’t we embed this same spirit of togetherness and of being the best in other segments of the society and economy?

The government wants to promote a more inclusive Keluarga Malaysia societal concept but what we see on the political ground is still very much the same old polarised Malaysia.

As we celebrate Merdeka, what kind of Malaysia do we want?

Azam Aris is editor emeritus at The Edge. For this article, you can send feedback on 'What kind of Malaysia do we want?' to azamedge@gmail.com.

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