Conversations with people

MAY 5 — Pastor Sivin Kit is not an unknown name among Christians and Malaysians who engage in inter-faith discussions. I had heard his name before, bandied about among cultural activists, and we made contact on Twitter. His tweets on his thesis, congregation and family exhibit calm and a lot of love.

We finally met at Starbucks. To talk about our country, our faiths, our people.  A one-hour conversation over hot chocolate and a latte would not solve anything, but I wanted to know what he thought. From the cows’ head incident to Perkasa… what would a non-Muslim who would be considered a second-class citizen in the eyes of many think of Malaysia 2010?

“We do not know the real conversations outside, there must be more discussions on the ground,” Sivin said. “The good thing about such efforts is that there are people who want to engage, and to get to … the Malay heartland, we need to create a conversation with the imams, the penghulus… I do not want to assume that they, too, are not thinking about it.”

It was difficult to predict if Malaysia would “improve”, said Sivin, who added Malaysians needed to ask whether these debates were a fad. His thesis on Malaysian churches and social-political engagement was his own personal exploration of our motivations — what drove us to be who we are now?

“Our understanding of God should affect how we live with each other. If you take away hope, what do you have?”

**

At The Malaysian Insider’s inaugural dinner with its columnists — the lawyer and columnist Art Harun kicked off the series — I met another columnist, Datuk Jema Khan. Jema is known for his new movement, Agenda Liberal Melayu, and was once a Sabah Umno Youth leader.

He was excited, and deeply convinced that the middle to upper class Malays would support his movement. Based on his meetings with peers and acquaintances, he told me that this was what many Malays wanted. To be rid of the shackles of a fundamentalist idea of faith. To have that freedom to be who and what they wanted.

I was stumped. Because I am with The Malaysian Insider, and at that dinner, I had to make sure the food and drinks pleased our guests, I kept mum. Jema was not wrong to surmise that; but the reality is that, how many Malays thought the same?

My Malay friends, who ranged from working to upper-class backgrounds, viewed faith and culture conservatively. Those who sported a seemingly moderate and “liberal” outlook – clean shaven or not “hijabbed” for the women – did not drink and abstained from the haram.

Many support PAS and PKR. They had illustrious degrees from foreign universities and some come from established families, but did not sport a “liberal Malay mindset”. Modernity is one thing, but being a true Believer of Islam, and secondly, a Malay are what they hold true to themselves.

So all this talk about Malays wanting to plonk into a Western secular lifestyle — perhaps for a minority elite.  Or it could be that one behaved like a liberal Malay, but held fast and strong to non-liberal values secretly.

**

At another gathering, attended by middle class Malays, young professionals — good, salt of the earth types — the talk turned to Malay reserve land.

The NEM was going to destroy all their rights as Malays. So they advised each other to buy up as many plots of Malay reserve land as possible, because that was all they had left for the future generations of Malays.

I sat there quietly, wondering about the real estate value of Malay reserve land, because from the little I knew, its value was not as much as freehold or leasehold land. Malay reserve land is still prime land nevertheless but the complexities of owning such property when one is not Malay deems it as not worthwhile in ownership.

I did think of the Orang Asli: were they, too, privy to this? Were they considered Malay, too, in this respect, or because they are Dayaks/Kadazans/Senois/“tree-dwellers”, their rights to their land were not to be considered at all?

Sometimes being an observer can put you on a spot.  My discomfort about Malay reserve land may, in the eyes of ultra-nationalists, may deem me as a liberal. And yet my reservations about the liberal Malay agenda may place me as a moderate, fence sitter and certainly “… not one of them (sniff)…”

Would I say all Malays are like Perkasa? No. Many are decent people. Many have the view that all Malaysians should succeed on their own. And yet many too, still want quotas.

**

At an Awam forum which I participated in a few weeks ago, I was asked what I thought of the deputy prime minister’s remark that he was Malay first, Malaysian second. And I also thought of Datuk Ibrahim Ali. And all I had written above.

The truth is this: Perkasa may be extreme, but a lot of what they have spouted reflects what many Malays, especially the poor ones, feel. And many Malays feel exactly how the DPM feels.

Fifty over years of institutionalised racism is killing us. And frankly, all these talks and forums about race and everything else that’s wrong about this country target only the converted. Much as I enjoy listening and learning, this is beginning to wear me out. Will it really change? No, really. Will it?

When are we going to enjoy a friendship with a person for his or her goodness, instead of his race and faith?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.