Hope

In a week of UMNO stone age feudal warlords are "letting of steam", in the words of the Prime Minister, by threatening to run "amok" and "risk lives and bathe in blood", (and shrinking journalist's brains to the size of a pea), it is great to hear the voice of reason amongst young intelligent and educated Malays.

Wan Mohd Aimran is a final year physicist in Imperial College, London. I've not ever met or spoken to him, I've only read his blog. I certainly hope to meet him one of these days when he's back in Malaysia. But it is through his blog, that I find 'hope' for the country.

In his post with regards to the recent debate and controversy over the Never Ending Policy, he argued that the NEP "which has been reincarnated under different guises over the years - has been vulgarized, its original aims have long been betrayed. It is now nothing more than a facade, a pretense to generate wealth rather than to redistribute it."

The act of questioning the validity of the NEP has long been a taboo for both the Malays and non-Malays - the non-Malays risk being labeled as opponents or threats to the integrity of the Malay race while the Malays risk being branded as traitors to their own race for doing so.

In the view of the UMNO politicians, only they - the so-called UMNOputras - have the wisdom, skills and determination to tinker, oversee and make statements about the NEP; it is perceived to be purely their exclusive domain.

And these UMNOputras clearly do not have the interest of the country at heart:

It does not matter to them that the NEP which originally seeks to address the economic imbalance between the Malays and non-Malays and in the process becomes an instrument for national unity has now become one of the dangerous divisive factor among Malaysians each time it is discussed.

It does not matter to them that the NEP is seriously compromising the competitiveness of the country as a global economic player and threatening to reduce Malaysia's attractive to foreign investors in the long run - the damage of which is considered to be worthwhile in the name of protecting the integrity and status quo of the Malay race.

It does not matter to them that the long dependence of the Malays on the perks and quotas provided for by the NEP has left the Malays wanting for more, complacent and under-performing besides feeding their own bloated sense of supremacy, behaving like little sultans in their own private fiefdom.

But he also wants us to know that all is not lost, and that he probably isn't alone in his views among his peers.

...the more UMNO and the Government in general tries to push for and justify the continuation of the NEP - which has degenerated into something totally different and passed its expiry date - the more hypocritical they will look and the stronger the backlash they will get from the rakyat - both from the Malays and non-Malays.

When that fateful time comes, when the tipping point is reached, the fallacy of this whole thing will be revealed and hopefully then, a new chapter in our country's history will begin.

I hope strongly for the glorious day to come, I hope it's not wishful thinking and I hope that I will live to see the day it happens. ;)