Racial Issues: We Should Always Use A Mirror - Part 01

Many have requested Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the owner of Malaysia Today to become a Member of Parliament. They actually say they would be voting for him should he be nominated.
It seems that he will not be doing that anytime soon, as evident in his article Me, Wakil Rakyat? No way Jose!.

It seems the people have not given up on this idea. Commentators in the article persisted with encouraging him to become one.

As usual, comments and ideas always get too saturated in any Malaysia Today article when it deals with politics. The 'story' eventually shifted to the NEP, bumiputra policies, discriminations, Malaysian Malaysia and so on and so forth.

There is one particular comment that caught my attention. Some corrections were made to spelling and grammatical mistakes for a better read. Here it is:

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BULUHITAM wrote:

And talking about being seen as true Malaysians, please avoid the following:

1) Do not speak Chinese and Tamil when you are among mixed races, use BM or English so that others will understand what you are talking about.

2) Do not employ only Malays/Bumiputras as the peons in your companies. Have some Malay staff in the higher hierarchy as well.

3) When advertising jobs for your companies, please avoid stating that the ability to speak and write Mandarin is a pre-requisite or even stating that only Chinese need to apply.

4) Do not have two-tier pricing policy for the goods you are selling i.e. cheaper price for your Chinese customers and higher price for your Malay/Bumiputra or Tambi Kuis.

5) Do not offer 7 percent Bumiputra price for condos or homes when the units offered at that price is the one not wanted by the Chinese because the location of the units are facing the sunset/sunrise or junction(s). Be sincere when discounts are given or don't give it at all. In many cases most of the units offered are not taken up by the Bumis because of the reasons above or that Bumis cannot afford to purchase.

6) Stop this culture of offering bribes. Corruption can only be minimised if this practice of giving bribes is stopped.

7) Stop creating artificial shortages in sugar, onions, flowers, spices etc, espaecially during festive seasons purely for making greater profits.

8) Stop all illegal farming and smuggling activities.

9) Stop opening illegal labs to produce drugs such as Ice,heroin,etc.

10) Stop pirating CDs, DVDs and clone computers.

11) Cast away your secret society culture.

12) Give other races a share of the marketplace.
08/05 11:47:35

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Below is my reply to BULUHITAM.

SAGALADOOLA wrote:

Dear BULUHITAM,

I do agree with certain points that you have written. I call for all non-bumiputras to reflect on what you wrote.

When we talk about others, we should also take a mirror and look at ourselves.

I am using your words and made some slight modifications; Just to turn around the mirror for you to view.

Reform has to happen from both sides. There is a Malay saying "Tepuk sebelah tangan tidak akan berbunyi". For a clap to happen, we need to use both hands.

"Talking about being seen as true Malaysians, please do the following":

1) Do learn to speak other languages like Chinese and Tamil. Knowledge of more languages is advisable for any race. When you are among mixed races, you will experience great benefits from the knowledge. This is especially prevalent when you are making business with Taiwanese, China's Chinese or India's Indians.

2) Do not employ only Chinese/Indians as the peons in bumiputra companies. Have some Chinese/Indian staff in the higher hierarchies as well.

3) When advertising for jobs in bumiputra companies, please avoid stating that being a bumiputra is a pre-requisite or even stating that only bumiputras need to apply.

4) Do not have unfair policies for the systems you implement (education, most recently banking) i.e. harder for certain Chinese/Indian students/lawyers and much easier, sometimes almost effortless for Bumiputras.

NOTE: Somehow, I can still accept certain bumiputra quotas in education. However, what I despise is Straight-A's Chinese/Indian students were not allowed into local universities but Bumiputra students with Straight-E's are given priority.

As for banking (Maybank recent strategy), that is a no-no. Could it be a violation of the Constitution? Let's take a look and judge for yourself:

PART II - FUNDAMENTAL LIBERTIES, Article no. 8, point no 2:
(2) Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be NO DISCRIMINATION against citizens on the ground only of religion, RACE, DESCENT or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or CARRYING ON of any TRADE, BUSINESS, PROFESSION, vocation or employment,

5) Do appreciate the discounts given for the houses. It is not everytime that everyone can get the best out of any discounts; even in departmental stores, you do not always get discounted prices for the best T-shirts, kitchen utensils during Mega Sales.

We have to settle for what was given and what we have. There is also a number of chinese/indians who cannot afford to purchase expensive units but had to settle for non-discounted low cost houses. There are no discounts for not-well-to-do chinese/indians because they are not bumiputras.

Please bear in mind that not all Chinese/Indians are rich.

6) Stop this culture of asking for and accepting bribes. Corruption can also be minimised if this practice of asking for bribes is stopped.

7) Stop creating artificial shortages of budget in government-bailed companies especially during "Yearly Government Budget Allocation" seasons, purely for "making greater profits" (I believe you get what I mean). Start to practise more transparency in the accounts.

THE POINTS BELOW APPLY TO BUMIPUTRAS AS WELL (Not only the non-bumiputras are affected)

8) Stop all illegal farming and smuggling activities. (Yes, this apply to bumiputras as well)

9) Stop illegal vices.

10) Stop buying pirated CDs, pirated DVDs.

NOTE: For your information, the creation of clone computers is for the advantage of everyone. Previously, you complained certain houses are expensive. Perhaps, you should consider clone computer as a way to get optimal performance with minimal cost. Clone computer is a cheaper affordable alternative version for all Malaysians regardless of race.

11) Cast away your Mat Rempit culture.

12) Give other races a merit share of the marketplace. (Yes, this apply to bumiputras as well)

If one aspires to change the society, one has to start from "the man in the mirror".

Good luck and may God bless you.

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To be continued ==> Part 2