IN principle I do not support demonstrations and rallies, although I am told they allow the voiceless to be heard. Which is what the 812 rally did last Saturday.
An estimated 55,000 people cried their hearts out in solidarity for the soveregnity of Malaysia to be respected and for the integrity of its Constitution to be protected.
They cried out in gratitude to be blessed with a government that sincerely listened and cared by taking an anti-ICERD position.
The congregational prayer of the groups preceded their wordly concerns as they supplicated in unison to a merciful God.
Watching it on TV, I thought “What a beautifully peaceful jihad! The Muslims of Malaysia are truly enlightened”.
The turnout was enormous, much lower than the promised 500,000, but still rather impressive at more than 50,000 as it was made up almost entirely of one ethnic group – Malay-Muslim.
Naysayers and sceptics have chosen to highlight the ignorance of those interviewed who had no inkling what ICERD is or why they were there.
That they were inarticulate and seemed unsure, confirmed the suspicion that these were supporters of the previous government who had been paid to attend.
Perhaps some were! Perhaps the perception that Umno and PAS will at last collaborate politically to form a united front in the run up to the 15th general election is a development for some to savour and for the leaders to consolidate.
Syukur for the Malay crowd that in the last seven months have had their spirits diminished, their leaders disgraced and their dignity trampled upon daily by allegations of wrongdoing.
In the midst of the rhetoric, the hope of the disadvantaged Malays was once more aroused by the promise of a return to power of a government that truly believed in levelling their playing field.
Urban diehards find it difficult to see that despite the NEP and other policies that are biased towards the majority community despite the fact that Malays have benefited much from the props and privileges accrued by virtue of their special position defined in the Constitution, in spite of the surge in the number of better educated and exposed Malay professionals, economic and educational arguments persist that the socio-economic gaps and disparities seem to be growing wider.
Is this really possible, the unsympathetic ask?
In a discussion on education, I argued that, paradoxically, as the country’s economic and technological development surges forward, the educational gaps between urban and rural students will grow wider as resources remain unequal.
As urban schools get the best resources, rural schools will be left behind and their students will become dropouts. Unless the Education Ministry comes up with miraculous solutions.
The minister should announce an expansive Bilingual Education Policy to produce students who speak, read and write equally well in Bahasa Malaysia and English.
Much has been said about a new needs-based affirmation action policy as if the NEP was not.
Accept that the main recipients will still be the poor deprived Malays and do not begrudge this fact.
The poor and disadvantaged of other ethnic groups will be part of the quota as their income status and employment opportunities are ascertained in impressive data.
However, the bottom line must be that Malaysians really care about one another to extend help and support when and where necessary.
Datuk Halimah Mohd Said
President
Association of Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason
