"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
This is a profound observation on the use and application of structural racism to maintain power, be it politically and or economically.
In Malaysia, politicians and the elite and educated convince the lowest Malay that they are in the shape that they are in because of the non Malays.
The elite and educated gave the poor and rural Malays a boogey man and then blame all the ills befitting them on the boogeyman.
And parallel to this, the elite and educated will pick the pockets of the poor and rural Malays.
Politicians made a career out of perfecting the same zero sum con.
They distracts struggling Malays with scapegoats e.g, non Malays disrespecting them and taking away jobs, while their policies and actions funnel money upward.
Hate is a drug.
And it could be addictive.
The 3R issues which the poor and rural Malays obsess over has blinded them to their own economic realities.
The politicians know how to make these poor and rural Malays feel powerful.
Give them an enemy for their struggles and they will overlook that while the elite and educated are emptying their pockets.
Corruption, mainly perpetrated by the elite and educated are generally downplayed while concerts, water festivals, animal husbandry practices were highlighted and amplified as disrespect.
Poor and rural Malays have endured political, cultural, and economic exploitation for the last 50 years.
When the country gained independence 60+ years ago, every Malaysian, including from those in East Malaysia, put their full faith in integration.
The Ketuanan cry ended the illusion that an atmosphere of genuine acceptance and respect across racial lines.
What went wrong?
Did we, as a nation jumped too fast, spread out too far and too thinly over too vast a terrain?
Malaysia was founded based on the idea that all Malaysians, regardless of their race or religious background can work together to make things better.
It has been a challenge 60+ years ago and it looks like it will continue for a long time in the future.
It is a challenge that constantly need to be renew.
FLK (leekhean.foo@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.