Green Wave Floundering On Its Own Shallowness
M. Bakri Musa
Many fear that the recent green wave in the state elections of Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu portends an ominous future for Malaysia. This sentiment, harbored by non-Malays but also shared by many Malays, is misplaced. The recent Islamists’ victory was but a rare rogue political wave that had crashed on a shallow beach. Spectacular to behold maybe, more so to landlubbers. As for lasting impact, none except for some superficial changes in sand dune contours.
I have yet to see in the modern world any successful Islamic nation. Muslims’ hopes soared with the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Today the Ayatollah drove more Muslims out of our faith than even Stalin could ever hope.
Those three states are marginal in all respects – population wise, the quality of their people as measured by their health, education, and other measures, as well as economic output and other meaningful indicators. Kelantan leads only in the number of pornographic downloads, child and spousal abuses, sexually transmitted diseases, and divorce rates. Although overwhelmingly Malays, only one in six Malays reside in those three states, and their exodus continues. Those three states contribute less than seven percent to the national economy. If you further consider, the bulk of that are from their small non-Malay population, the five million or so Malays in those three states combined economic contributions to the national output are in the low single digit, percentage wise. Their tin kosong loudness notwithstanding, their economic contributions and thus political impact on Malaysia are also minimal despite observers making a big fuss about them.
However, it would be a great tragedy not only to them but more so the nation if we were to ignore their grouses and frustrations. I share their lament and frustration in being bypassed by the economic development of the country. Theirs are justified, more so as those issues have long been ignored or if attended to, not very effectively. Like Malays elsewhere in the country, they see themselves increasingly marginalized. Their blaming pendatangs generally and the predominantly Chinese Democratic Action Party in particular reflects their helplessness and impotence. More satisfying emotionally, as well as buttressing one’s nationalist credentials, to do so rather than blaming our own corrupt incompetent leaders. These leaders continually promise heaven in the Hereafter for their followers. Meanwhile their followers endure Hell right here on earth. This frustration of the natives and envy of others, more so pendatangs, are not unique unto Malays. To wit, poor whites in rural America; hence Trump’s continued popularity.
While I share the lament and frustrations of these poor Malays, I disagree profoundly with their and their leaders’ diagnoses of the issues, and even more with their remedies. The problem is not with the “others,” rather our leaders.
My solution would be two-prong: bring economic development and improve the current abysmal education. The first is easier. Consider Kedah’s proposal for an international airport. At least the Chief Minister is thinking in the right direction. However with Penang Airport nearby and with two bridges across the strait, that is less urgent and would not be the best way to spend precious funds. How about a mega agricultural co-operative comparable to Canada’s Alberta Wheat Pool to develop those rice farmers? Make Kedah an efficient productive rice bowl able to export rice.
An international airport at Kuala Terengganu would make far greater sense. That would boost tourism to the region. With rich Chinese tourists and others flooding in, those natives would have a different view of foreigners. Now that China is FELDA’s greatest customer, those Malay settlers have a decidedly different view of that country and in tandem, its people. A few years ago the Monsoon Cup was the sailing world’s celebrated event. Now that event is long gone. The East Coast could easily compete for international tourists with Bali, Phuket, and the Maldives.
Along the same line I would have the headquarters of many federal agencies moved to the area. Learn from the British. They had a teachers college in Tanjung Malim, Malay College in Kuala Kangsar, Forestry Research Center in Kepong. Why not move Petronas headquarters to Kuala Terengganu, nearer to the oil fields?
As for improving education, the system is now so rotten that it would be easy to make spectacular progress and in the process endear yourself to the people. Start with improving the physical facilities as well as providing highspeed Internet, and giving secondary school students laptops. Money would be more productively spent there than subsidizing Hajj and umrah or building crystal mosques. Revamp the curriculum to have science, mathematics, Malay, and English taught daily. As there are only so many hours in the school day, that would mean a corresponding decrease in hours devoted to Islamic Studies. There the emphasis should be more on the humanistic values of our faith, less over the rituals. I find it downright idiotic to teach students funeral ablution rites. By all means memorize the Qur’an, but that should be an after-school activity, done in the afternoon as with music, arts and crafts.
Build a magnet school in every district, with 80 percent of the students drawn locally. Recruit capable foreign teachers, not the dozen or so through the Fullbright Program but hundreds as they do in Japan. I was visiting Terengganu back in the 1980s and saw a beautiful campus for a Petronas International School. It was later abandoned as few expatriates wanted to live there. Instead of letting local children use that facility, Petronas boarded it up, complete with laboratories, libraries, and luxurious teachers’ quarters.
There are many lessons from the recent state elections. Fear of the Islamists taking over Malaysia is not of them.
