SEPT 6 — Khairy Jamaluddin’s recent proposal for everyone to re-evaluate the Social Contract with an eye to creating a fresh start for all Malaysians is refreshing. We should all welcome this idea (albeit, perhaps, with some caution), especially since it’s coming from an Umno leader. However, we first need to ask Khairy what his understanding of the Social Contract is before we can move on to any discussion about crafting a new one.
In my view the only important element in our so-called Social Contract is the privileges given to the Malays under Article 153 in exchange for the granting of citizenship rights to non-Malays under the Reid Commission’s recommendations. It’s a quid pro quo arrangement, but the special privileges were intended to be temporary and not permanent.
Umno, however, has rejected this interpretation.
To the party, Article 153 conferred special rights to the Malays. The difference is not semantic but substantive.
Part of Umno believes in the concept of Ketuanan Melayu because special people have special rights. We need to ask Khairy if he stands by this interpretation. If he doesn’t, then what is his understanding of the Article?
Unless we can agree that we are referring to the same things when we speak of the Social Contract, then any discussion on the subject of re-working it is a waste of time. Any version of the Social Contract that comes out of such a discussion would in all likelihood be as confusing, convoluted and divisive as the old one.
It is also necessary to consider Sabah and Sarawak for they have their own version of the Social Contract. They joined Malaya to form Malaysia on the basis of the 20 Points Agreement, which encapsulated their vision of their state governments having more power over their respective states than what Umno ultimately gave them.
What Sabah and Sarawak wanted was a true Federation, not the political reality they live in today where PutraJaya maintains absolute control over them. Does Khairy want to revisit these issues as well or was he simply referring to the Merdeka Social Contract? It’s normal for politicians from Tanah Melayu to oversimplify the complex history of our past but we can do so no longer.
Khairy’s idea that education can bring about integration is typical of the many leaders who believe they can shape people’s thinking and values just by making some subjects compulsory, or by sending children to the same school.
A good national school system will help in the integration process for sure, but that should be education’s secondary purpose. Its primary aim must be to give our young the necessary skills to thrive in the modern world. Besides knowing to read and write, they must learn the ability to think critically. From these basic tools they can then articulate and defend their opinions while remaining open to the ideas of others, make sound and informed decisions, and navigate the sometimes tricky moral landscape we find ourselves in.
The problem with politicians like Khairy is that they want to do use education for the purpose of integrating the people, but I say integration comes naturally. We Malaysians are warm and friendly. We should be left to our own devices without interference from politicians who divide and scare us. It’s setting up a good school system that is difficult.
It’s equipping our schools with the right curriculum, one that doesn’t taint students with the “values” that Umno holds dear, that is difficult.
The more politicians push the agenda for integration, the worse it gets and at best, they will only get the artificial, flag-waving type of integration. Politicians have pre-set ideas: their ideologies require them to shape the education system to fit their ideology and values. This is why our education system fails so badly.
The process of politicising it has compromised it too deeply. Our Education Ministers and Prime Ministers have always expected teachers to receive them at the airport when they visit the states and to make up the numbers in the crowd during election campaigns.
This is why we do not have a good education system — because the teachers are so busy with political activities.
If we want integration then we must go back to the basics. That means removing politicians altogether from the education system. That means letting educationists set the curriculum, letting the children have good teachers regardless of their race, and choosing the best among them for higher learning, again regardless of race. That means removing the institutionalised discrimination that alienates our young. If the Malays go to universities via matriculation and the non-Malays through STPM, we cannot expect integration to happen, regardless of how many committees or national education blueprints we come up with.
When the education system is stable and credible, then we will start producing thinking Malaysians who share the same values and ideas. Friendship and understanding will be nurtured. This is the route to integration and assimilation. To strike out on this path, however, requires strong and fair leadership.
There is no need to revise history, form committees or spend money on McKinsey-type studies.
The Prime Minister can do it if he wants to.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
