17th September 2025
THE VOICE OF PATRIOT - 17th Sept 2025
THE VOICE OF PATRIOT
Malaysia @ A Solid 62 - Slackening, Sprightly or Stimulating or, @ A Stalemate
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Warmest greetings and best wishes for a memorable magnificent Malaysia Day. Our sympathies, support and prayers for our Sabah compatriots as they cope with a devastating flood situation.
Just past our 68th Merdeka anniversary we are now celebrating our 62nd Malaysia Day. It is a time when we should be particularly driven and inspired by feelings of loyalty to the Yang Dipertuan Agong, patriotism to the nation, compassion for our compatriots and renewed, dedicated commitments to the wellbeing, unity, inclusiveness, dignity and development of our nation.
We are undoubtedly a much changed, better educated and well equipped nation. The most significant concern would be to assess our strengths and safeguard the independence. sovereignty and security of the nation. Those values of loyalty, patriotism, obedience to the spirit of the law are meaningless if the sovereignty or security of the nation is compromised. Social media has highlighted almost all our many fault lines and weaknesses in every shade of bias, brilliance and brutality.
The conduct of the country's leaders has also come under increasing scrutiny especially after the trial, conviction and the jailing of a former prime minister and the colossal currency cache and gold traced to a former short-term prime minister.
Our nation enjoys peace, some political stability, a reasonably competitive environment and a good measure of predictability. We have been a cherished oasis of peace for decades in a region that has seen much turbulence, disruption, authoritarianism and somewhat authentic steps towards democracy.
Almost all those countries that supply Malaysia’s manual labour and house help requirements- Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka & Thailand - have seen vicious and violent expressions of people’s power.
It is important that Malaysia does not lapse into becoming a major source just for supplying maids and workers for low-end jobs. The economy and education system must evolve to a higher plane to provide jobs for our own highly educated and skilled workers.
Within the country we now seem to produce an overabundance of administrative titans and tyrants or ‘little Napoleons’ who seem to decide and pronounce on every specialised subject- attire, food, foreign policy, history, law, medical science, military strategy, policing, road safety, social media, technology and artificial intelligence. The aging political leadership seems to have more a preponderance of dedicated veteran politicians than technocrats to function as allies of this administrative elite. Missing is the respect and regard that should be accorded to the real economists, educationists, specialists, the rainmakers and the experts in agriculture, diplomacy, engineering law, science, sociology and technology. It must be conceded that for a well placed strategically located resource-rich country that had had initially a well-educated and diverse work force, that did not have a high population problem in the 1950s and 60s we have not done that well. We must not forget that we once had the best civil service, schools, our premier university attracted top notch scholars, a spectacular set of rubber and oil palm scientists and most importantly we had solid social harmony and unity.
Today only Sabah and Sarawak have that symbiotic smooth social fabric that transcends ethnicity, faith and tribalism.
In the peninsula we seem to have created occupational, institutional and residential sections, segments, and silos sometimes entirely along exclusive ethnic and religious lines.
The country’s multiethnic diversity, especially after the formation of Malaysia was an immense, immeasurable asset that we failed to build on in an imaginative and orderly way.
One glaring example of the failure is the reluctance to absorb Sabahans and Sarawakians into the highest echelons of the enormous civil service bureaucracy. It is disconcerting that the quota for entry into the premier Perkhidmatan Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD) or Administrative and Diplomatic Service of the nation is the same unchanged ratio implemented by General Sir Gerald Templer from January 1, 1953.
Why the inability to alter a quota set seven decades ago.
Victor Purcell in his MALAYA: Communist or Free (Stanford, 1955) refers to the country as’ a glorified commercial undertaking than a ‘State.’ Are we still so beholden to the British than to our own sense of brotherhood or nationhood.
The top echelons of the civil service must take responsibility for this unsatisfactory situation, more so decades after September 16, 1963.
Pre~Malaysia
The pre-Merdeka 1957 to early 1963 period with Malayanisation was an immense success as our own nationals assumed full control of federal institutions including the various ministries, the judiciary, the police force, schools and hospitals. Increasingly too Malaysians also became owners and managers of large private businesses and plantations.
It will be recalled rubber and tin had put us on the world map. There was then the confidence that with a multiethnic civil service the communist insurgency could be contained and cauterised and there was impressive progress in agricultural land management and food production. The government handled the provision of facilities for health, education and basic amenities reasonably well and laid the foundations for a communications infrastructure. Rural development with well managed FELDA schemes was in full gear and a source of pride. Corruption was not an issue.
The formation of Malaysia further elevated and enhanced the international stature, importance and impact of the fledgling Federation of Malaya.
Where Are We Today
We saw the defeat of two prominent peninsular Malay leaders in the last general election. Both Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah were icons of peninsular Malay nationalism. Their defeat in the predominantly Malay heartland suggests that Malaysia is evolving beyond strict ethnicity-based asymmetrical coalition politics.
In this time of reflection, we must be courageous and uninhibited in safeguarding and upholding the integrity, sovereignty and unity of our country. More specifically we have to applaud honesty, integrity, uprightness and a sense of accountability, balance and justice in any Malaysian, especially an aspirant for political leadership. By the same logic we should criticise in the strongest terms acts of corruption, cronyism, dishonesty, deceit, excess, extremism, nepotism and actions bordering on treason.
Enlightened Peninsular Malays
Within the peninsula there should be valid concerns about the growth of ethnic silos and extremism that can prove toxic to overall peace and harmony.
Fortunately there is a notable emerging trend of plain speaking peninsular Malays who question some of the actions and activities designed to further alarm and accentuate such extreme ethno-centric differences.
G25 has played a significant role as a moderating influence promoting integrity and fairness. There are others including at least one MP, Hassan Abdul Karim, two bloggers based abroad - Mariam Mokhtar and M.Bakri Musa - and others who have counselled balance and reasonableness. Two former chief justices- Tun Richard Malunjum and Tengku Tun Maimun Che Mat along with some of their distinguished colleagues- Tan Sri Mohd Ariff Mohd Yusof and Dato Hisamuddin Yunus - have spoken out on these issues and the supremacy of the constitution.
A former law minister, Zaid Ibrahim often offers enlightened perspectives on various issues. A former MP Tawfik Tun Dr Ismail, the inspiration behind the Malaysia-First project has been forthright on inclusiveness, mutual respect and integration. Professor Tajuddin Rasdi, Dr Kamsiah Haidar and the Patriots’ president Dato Zarazilah Mohd Ali have repeatedly affirmed that Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians.
Yet the perception remains that a certain segment of the peninsula’s population has failed to accept, embrace and empathise with Sabahans and Sarawakians as co-equal compatriots and partners.
This is borne out especially with regard to the prime minister’s post. There should be no impediment to someone from the Borneo regime assuming the prime ministership. Since April 2009 the country has had some rather mediocre leaders who have demonstrated convincingly that the peninsula has lost the high moral ground and integrity advantage it once had over Sabah and Sarawak. Indeed we seem to have had a few leaders from the peninsula who are somewhat comparable to two late bigwigs of the two Borneo regions. The latter are remembered for their legendary wealth accumulation, flashy lifestyles amongst other antics.
Six decades of Malaysia have not quite produced the harmonisation of social interaction and a shared sense of empathy, equality and equilibrium between the people of the peninsula and the Borneo region. We cannot expect equilibrium. mutual trust and confidence without a shared sense of some equality and equity.
Peninsular Overreach
The most egregious lack of empathy was demonstrated in the peninsula-directed effort to alter the demographic makeup of Sabah. The sharp unnatural and unnerving increase in the population of Sabah and the transfiguration of that region’s make up showed arbitrary and atrocious intervention in the innate identity of Sabah. It was an obnoxious manoeuvre orchestrated by powerful peninsula-based leaders and institutions to satisfy a narrow, narcissistic and nefarious policy objective. Needless to say, some high level officials of Sabah had been complicit in the project to ensure its success.
Justifiably the people of the resource-rich Borneo region also consider that they have not achieved parity with the peninsular region in terms of federal civil service participation, modern infrastructure, interconnectivity, internet access, state-of -the- art medical families and the abundance of iconic buildings that seem to sprout out in the Klang Valley.
Yet some of us chose to complain that both the Igan and Lubok Antu parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak have less than ten percent of the voters when compared to the peninsula’s Bangi constituency. Those much smaller voter bastions must be seen as a small sacrifice to provide political weightage to a large remote area with a dispersed population.
Heading
Our plantations, timber production, toll collection companies, fossil fuel sources, hotels and banks are today owned and managed argely by Malaysians. Our country does not have foreign soldiers on our soil. Small and medium industries owned and operated by Malaysians contribute almost two-fifths to our GDP.
Eighty percent of our population is currently classified as urban today which means the vast majority enjoy relatively easy access to norms of modernisation including better medical and health care facilities, schools and socioeconomic services. Public transport and recreational facilities can do with some improvements to provide for a lifestyle for some participation in diverse, including cultural activities. Climate change cannot also be ignored.
But the greatest achievement of the nation seems to be the concentration in almost all these urban areas of well managed mega malls and shopping complexes. Our malls depict the rich and diverse multiculturalism of our country more than our schools, universities and government establishments. The exception would be the hospitals, our stadiums and perhaps our prisons.
Our Proud Past
Sports, particularly football, was seen by our first prime minister, the Tunku from the early days as an important and integral component of Malayan life in fostering friendships, fellowship and a faithful culture of celebrating diversity.
There was an insurgency in the country led by the Malayan Communist Party but that threat which involved economic sabotage, killings, maiming, curfews and restricted movements was largely contained and cauterised by a multiethnic bureaucracy and the security forces including the Malayan Armed Forces and the police.
The Emergency declared in mid-June 1948 ended on July 31, 1960. The end of the Emergency signalled a more self-confident and self-assured democratic nation which had had a peaceful General Election in 1959.
The Federation of Malaya became a respected political entity as it excelled in governance, badminton and football but beyond that it had another positive feature. Its leadership was comfortable in its facility with the English language and its Anglo-Saxon and Commonwealth affiliation.
The Malayanisation programme saw the withdrawal of hundreds of Caucasian expatriates from the public and fairly large plantation and mining sector. Some Asians initially and Malayans succeeded to these positions and there was no shortage of qualified people to fill these posts. Some of our own people became school principals in prominent schools located in our major towns.
Some of the country’s high officials were asked to serve in Brunei and one was even entrusted to draw up the constitution.
Rubber and tin were the two commodities that put the nation initially on the world map and when the country showed early signs of promise with political stability, growth and pockets of economic prosperity it became one of the exemplary newly independent countries.
The British, victorious with the help of their Allies in the Second World War, were a weakened power and were coming round to the reality that that their earnings from the sterling area were declining. They could not keep their bases in Asia with the rising cost of maintaining their security presence.
Malaya was a well governed nation under the Tunku and the Tunku inspired much trust, confidence and trusteeship. Those three attributes however failed to attract Brunei and did not, after some time fully satisfy Singapore
Yet, in spite of such early unsettling developments and misgivings about the peninsula’s leadership Sabah and Sarawak came to be included and integrated in a sustained, symbiotic and solid partnership. But increasingly it was becoming obvious that while the peninsula was fairly open and orthodox about good governance the two Borneo regions were being stripped of their tremendous timber resources by largely local potentates.
Today’s Challenges
Today the major threats to the whole country stem from pockets of extremism, widespread corruption, cronyism, concealed and crude corporate capture where business interests undermine larger community interests. There is also the well grounded perception that elected politicians and civil service administrators enjoy far higher compensation than long serving public servants and private sector workers in the education, health and other essential services.
Let us accept that the Borneo region is not at all a burden but a backbone, bonanza and bonus to the peninsula. We should accept and embrace their people as our coequal friends, compatriots and siblings.
Malaysia must move on and progress as a united, inclusive and integrated nation.
Happy Malaysia Day!
M Santhananaban
MALAYSIA DAY, 2025
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