KON 0861/84 VO"-UME IV: NO. 10 OCTOBER 1984 PRICE: $1.00 ISSN 0127-'- 5127 For Justice,Freedom,Solidarity • Our Future What will be the features ot the future? .What wi ll be t he pol itical , economic, And our government - whatever its cultural and so ci al characteristi cs of ou r count ry ten yea rs from now? Provided there is shortcomings -- is capabie of responding no sudden, unexpected domestic upheaval or some totally unpredictable global in its own way to public opinion. It is calamity, it is quite conceivabl e that so me of the present t rends in society will l~ d to partly because it has been accommodative certain future sce narios. of a certain degree of dissent that it has On the positive side, one could perh aps presage continued political stabil ity but managed to retain the confidence of a with more frequent episodes that portend instability. There will al so be economic significant segment of Malaysian society. growth but at a slower rate. More than the limited space available In contrast to this, there is every likelihood that serious poverty will persist and in our control led democracy for those of economic disparities will become even more pronounced. Corruption, ethnic and us striving for social change, it is the religious polarization, executive dominance and suppression of human rights are alt people's own growing consciousness of expected to become even more serious challenges in the next decade. (See box their rights that promises hope for the Balance Sheet, positive; negative) future. More and more groups in our When we compare the positive w ith society are now prepared to demand the negative features of our likely future, justice when they are treated unfairly. it is obvious that the situation is dismal. There is a ce rtain yearning for change 'Decl ine' and 'deterioration' threaten to among some of these groups. characterise the coming reality. There is At the moment, this consciousness is no doubt at all that the ruling elites from developing separately within the Malay Merdeka to the present are largely respon- and non-Malay communities. It is a sible - though other influential groups in consequence of dividing society along all the communities must also share part 6 ethnic lines. Within the Malay community of the blame. for instance there have been, over the Though the future is fraught with last 10 years or so , localised protests difficulties, there is no reason for despair. against the authorities centering around For there is still some freedom. We can economic and agrarian issues. There are still articulate ideas opposed to the beliefs of course other protest movements of the ruling elites. We can still dissemi- comprising more politically-conscious nate our views. We can still assemble and dissidents who believe that the future lies organise to a limited extent. in an Islamic state. Since the idea itself has yet to be transformed from slogan to Letters ............................ 4 substance, its usefulness remains limited. Outstanding Malaysian Award . 6 In any case, the quest for justice within Inside~:3. Report: Merdeka Dinner 1984 ............ 7 the Malay community has almost always 4. The Right To Dissent .......... ....... 8 had a strong religious basis. 5. Trade Unions - Their Role in Malaysia . 9 Among the non-Malays, the situation 6. College-General ...................... 10 is different. Largely secular in their 7. Etika dan Pelajar-Pelajar Universiti .......... 12 orientation, they have involved them- 8. Asian Women and Justice ................ 14 selves in a number of educational, 9. The Semai: A People Left Behind ......... 16 cultural, economic and environmental issues. As a whole, they have been far 10. Medical Education: Fundamental Changes more vocal and far more organised in Needed ............... ............ 18 their dissent. It is their critical conscious- 11. The BMF: A Royal Commission of Enquiry ness reflected in both their ideas and Now .............................. 20 actions which is mainly responsible for keeping certain democratic values alive. The Allran Monthly appears In the latter half of the month The Papan protest is an outstanding example. Unfortunately, in some of the other episodes, what began as non-ethnic The development of two issues have eventually been coloured by communal considerations. separate streams of critical The development of two separate streams of critical consciousness - one Malay, the other non-Malay - is not good consciousness - one Malay, for the country. Although they are not antagonistic to one another, it is quite the other non-Malay - is not possible that unscrupulous politicians could turn one against the other. This could happen especially since the streams good for the country. themselves contain potentially communal tendencies. More important, as long as they remain divergent, it is unlikely that they will be able to challenge successfully the existing order. For it is only a unified, inter-ethnic or multi-ethnic consciousness that can emerge as an alternative. Aliran's purpose is to create this mu lti- ethnic consciousness. It seeks to establish points of convergence in the divergent streams of critical consciousness. To do this at the level of ideas, we have to show that issues taken up separately by Ma lay and non-Malay groups respectively are in fact part of the same whole. They are al I re lated to the philosophy and strategy of deve lopment pursued by our government. If rubber pr ices fal l and Ma lay smal lholders su ffer it is partly because of the dependent character of our economy which in turn is a reflection of the type of deve lopment · we are committed to. If Chinese saw i modern man himself is farmers are cheated by midd le-men it is because of the present structure of our beginning to see how economy susta ined by a capita list approach to deve lopment. Similarl y , poor Malays protesting against inadequate important it is to have a housing should realise that t he problem itself is due to distorted deve lopment just spiritual view of life .. Balance Sheet Positive Negative 8 ) The perpetuation of the 'dependent' character of the economy reflected 1) Continued political stability with 1) Persistence of serious poverty in both through technology, trade, aid, UMNO as the dominant partner in an rural and urban areas. investments, consultancies and the inter-ethnic coalition held together 2) The adverse impact of recession like. by the glue of power. accompanied by immense balance of 9) The growing power of Japanese, and 2) Continued economic growth though payments difficulties and increasing perhaps Korean, investments, com- at a slower rate in the midst of all foreign debts. merce and technology in certain sorts of domestic and global uncer- 3) Rising prices of goods and services. sectors of the economy. tainties. 4) Deterioration in the quality of vital 10) The dominant control of the 3) An expanding industrial sector which public services. economy by small, affluent, groups may also lead to the development of 5) Depletion of natural resources. li nked directly or indirectly to the certain crucial technical skills. 6) Further destruction of the physical ru ling elites. 4) More significant Malay participation environment. 11) The rapid expansion and consolida- in the professions, commerce and 7) The absence of a sound scientific tion of a Malay capitalist class industry. base to facilitate autonomous indus- created largely by the state to 5) The emergence of a non-Malay gene- trialisation and self-reliant develop- parallel the existing non-Malay ration fluent in Bahasa Malaysia. ment. capitalist class. Aliran Monthly October 1984 2 When individuals and groups from different commun·ities are conscious that they share certain fundamental values, I the bond between them becomes stronger. as non-Malays should know that it is also empathy for common issues. For the reason why they have to fight so hard instance, if both Malays and non-Malays such a vision must have a clear spiritual to save the environment from rapacious work together on an issue like political basis. After all, modern man himself is profiteers. Even those non-Malays who detainees under the ISA or organise a beginning to see how important it is to are concerned about their language and common campaign on the BMF scandal, have a spiritual view of life. This is why culture should try to see the link between they can be made to realise that freedom Aliran regards belief in God as its· first assimilative tendencies and the prevailing and integrity are sacred values in all our principle. To believe in God is to realise concept of development. Development spiritual traditions. When indivi'!!uals and our humanity. It is to create a social that centralises power including groups from different communities are order which will bring forth the humanity cultural power - is bound to deny conscious that they share certain funda- in each and everyone of us. This will of autonomy to sub-cultural groups. By the mental values, the bond between them course require a determination to liberate same token, Malay dissidents who becomes stronger. the human being from all the structures bemoan the materialistic threat to Islam It becomes even stronger when they that dominate him and distort his should not lose sight of the fact that it is develop a common vision of man and humanity. the entire development ethos that society. Aliran has been trying to do this This conception of God, man and promotes acquisitiveness and private in its own small way. We are convinced society is the essence of every great accumulation. that meaninQful social change that spiritual tradition. For us in Malaysia, it Making Malays and non-Malays aware transcends ethnic boundaries will be is perhaps the only basis for forging a that many of their separate concerns are possible only if a sufficient number of truly multi-ethnic movement for genuine inter-related and arise from a certain type Malays and non-Malays are deeply change - change that will enable each of distorted development is perhaps one committed to a common vision of a and every human being to live like a of the most effective ways of promoting desirable future.