KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's failure to kindle national unity is among reasons for the growing affinity towards individual states over the federation, said a Singapore-based analyst with the Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies).
Dr Ooi Kee Beng wrote in The Straits Times today that the “Bangsa Johor” issue, which was resurrected this week by the former prime minister's criticism, was an indictment of policies from Dr Mahathir's time that undid efforts to form social cohesion in Malaysia.
Ooi pointed out that Umno had fashioned itself as a race champion to such effect that the national interethnic compromise — and the federalism that depended on it — was skewed by a view that being Malay was of greater importance that being Malaysian.
“The Johor case is symptomatic of this process having gone too far, and occurs alongside other recent expressions of Malay opposition to Umno power and to its self- proclaimed mandate to champion Malayness and Malaysianness,” Ooi wrote in the piece titled “Seeking a new formula to unite Malaysia's diversity”.
He added that this was further evidenced by the formation of Dr Mahathir's new party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
Parti Pribumi openly states that its mission is to defend the positions of the Malay Bumiputra and Islam in the country, and operates a two-tier membership in which non-Bumiputra may not stand for internal elections.
Ooi further said that the renewed interest in “Bangsa Johor” was the manifestation of the country's deep spiral into communal politics that Dr Mahathir encouraged during the 1998 Umno leadership crisis as well as the financial crisis at the same time.
Dr Mahathir had introduced the so-called “Bangsa Malaysia” concept early in his administration, but moved away from the notion when faced with political and economic challenges.
“One can argue that the call for federal devolution, if not separation, by Johor's Crown Prince and others, including many in the eastern state of Sabah, is in fact evidence of the failure of Dr Mahathir's own Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian Nation), a popular concept that he championed in the 1990s alongside his vision of a mature Malaysia realised by 2020,” Ooi wrote.
Dr Mahathir's legacy in using communal politics to shore up support was one that lives on well into today's administration, he added.
Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar yesterday reproached Dr Mahathir who earlier criticised the “Bangsa Johor” concept as unhealthy for the federation, saying it was the former prime minister who was responsible for much of the divisiveness in the country.
The sultan pointed out that Dr Mahathir was again seeking to divide the Malay community by introducing yet another communal political party, whereas the “Bangsa Johor” concept was about uniting the state's people without regard to race.
