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Just When Nurul Izzah and Yin Happily Tied the Knot Tun M Talks About Malay-Chinese Race Riot
Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright August 2022
Tun M invoked a touchy issue about racial relationship almost at the same time when Nurul Izzah celebrated her marriage to Yin in a quiet ceremony.
Here's a couple from two different ethnic backgrounds drawn by love and Tun M drew our attention to a possible conflict between the two groups because of income differentials.
According to Tun M, poor Malays might be at loggerheads with wealthy Chinese leading to riots unless the issue is not carefully handled.
"Racist feelings are not liked by intellectuals. But the fact is that this feeling exists in all races in Malaysia. There is a possibility of inter-racial riots", Tun M on his Facebook page.
But is Tun M missing the point when he used examples of the French and Russian revolutions to make his case of the unhappy ending of struggles in those countries between the rich and the poor.
It was not the race, it was a class issue that led to the two revolutions. The working class revolted against the wealthy nobles because they were starving.
Marie Antoinette the Queen, asked the starving French peasants to eat cakes! The poor, hungry and angry crowd did not spare her at the guillotine.
Another point Tun M did not mention is that there are also wealthy Malays whose income does equal some of the non-Malays.
In fact, some of the super-rich in this country are Malays. The ones that flaunt their wealth and anger the populace are not necessarily non-Malays.
If there was going to be a possible breakout of conflict this time around, it might not be about race. We believe it'll be about class.
The current struggle on the ground is about the lower income who cannot afford to pay for groceries, chickens and fresh produce that keeps increasing. They are made of various ethnic groups. Not just Malays.
Ask any non-Malay about their dissatisfaction with Malaysian society they would say it is corruption, corruption and more corruption.
Corruption is one of the major contributors to the growth of the Middle and Upper Middle classes in this country. These people are not just from one ethnic group.
It is the class that separates the wealthy elites from the rest. It is not the race.
It is unwise of our elder statesmen to bring up this issue of racial conflict when the general election is in the air. It might create panic amongst various ethnic groups.
Our role as rational people Tun is to try and reduce the gap between the lower and the upper classes. Social class issue is here staring back right at us at every corner. The poor are feeling the pinch and getting edgy.
The rich are more than just comfortable and this divide is clearly seen during the recent pandemic where the wealthy stayed in the comforts of their own homes while the B40 delivers food to the rich for a pittance.
The ongoing dissatisfaction with Grab among their riders is a clear example of this increasing divide between the rich and the poor. Owners of Grab are perceived as exploiting the lower income group for their own ends.
It's not the race, it's class, which sets us apart. Race just happens to get in the way.
We wish Nurul and Yin a long and happy marriage and hopefully, the ethnic groups will continue to foster love and avoid inter-racial riots that Tun M, unfortunately, seems to think might happen in this country.
Also, let's work towards reducing the gap between the haves and the haves not to ensure a long-lasting peace in Malaysia.
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