Go for multiracial politics and civil service

Malaysiakini reported that Ong Tee Keat has called for a multiracial approach for MCA.

Immediately after the March 8 result, I have written a short article: MCA please disband and show the way. I am glad that one of my favourite politicians in MCA, Ong, are of similar views.

This is what is reported in Malaysiakini :

The main Chinese-based component party in the ruling coalition government must adopt a multiracial approach to survive in the new political landscape, said one of its top leaders.

The call by Ong Tee Keat, a vice-president of the MCA, comes after the Barisan Nasional’s worst losses in the March polls, with voters backing a more multiracial opposition alliance.

The BN government coalition lost its two-thirds majority in parliament and control of five states to the opposition, with component parties such as the MCA, Gerakan and Indian-led MIC suffering major losses.

“We need to project a multiracial outlook and multiracial approach to handle the people’s concerns,” Ong told state news agency Bernama.

Ong is one of the more sensible politicians from MCA, and I have mentioned before in one of earlier posts that he is the only one within the BN parties to admit tacitly when Lee Kuan Yew famously said that Chinese Malaysians are marginalised in 2006. He is the one who said the now famous phrase: those who drink water will know whether it is warm or cold.

In fact many MCA grassroots have expressed the same view. I remembered a few months ago, a former MCA candidate for Cheras, Lee Boon Kok, had told me the same thing when we chanced upon each other . He said that the only way forward in Malaysian politics is to adopt the multiracial approach.

I told them this is what i believe along, and that is what drawn me to Gerakan. Racial politics will only segregate the people and not unifying them. Unfortunately, Gerakan, as admitted by its leaders, have failed to change the mindsets of BN leaders to go for multiracialism.

Perhaps, now that MCA has voiced this , and from no less a person than their vice president Ong Tee keat, it is time that all the non UMNO members of BN should seriously consider merging their parties into a single multiracial one. There will still be problems, such as one race can still dominate , but it would certainly be less divisive than now. In a multiracial party, no one would openly make racial slur at least. (though whether they will make it privately, i do not know).

Another area is the civil service. In a multiracial country such as ours, it is really bad to have civil service dominated by just one race. Practical aspect wise, every Raya, you cann see the whole machinery being totally shut down. If it is multiracial, then at least during festivals, there will still be members of other races manning the fort. Socially, it would be good for better integration of races. Nothing is like working with people of another race together. You will find that they are also human, and by working together, you can actually blur the racial divide and learn first hand about their culture and belief.

I hope the next step the government will take is to make sure that at least 30 % of civil service intake is from other races.  That would be a real good start for multiracialism.