when hand-ups lead to panhandling

My views on being a bumiputra, can be attributed to Rehman Rashid's views on the matter in his wonderful book, "A Malaysian Journey". I didn't find the book to be the best thing since sliced bread, but where I once did not have an opinion about who I was or were to become, I can easily say the book was iconic and life changing, and can be favourably seen in the same light as kerouac's "On the Road"... (well, that and easy rider... ).


simply put, it is a privilege and not a right. this is an absolute. there's only so much affirmative action one can be handed down with before one's natural instincts to excel and survive, diminish.


my politics on the matter's very simple. on an individual scale, preferential treatment should only go as far as education. after that, you're on your own. this is the way of the world. no extra discounts for bumi homes. no extra incentives, no preferential hiring of employees, etc. I take the middle path that while i feel such affirmative help is beneath me, there are rural folk who need it and there are many that need help.


the one thing great about being a professional is that you dictate your terms. that your work and the quality thereof remains the only benchmark that you are judged by. you are not beholden to or accountable to anyone but yourself and your client. you don't get the job or win the case in court because you are a bumi. justice remains untarnished by fraudulent and pseudo-nationalism.


with the Maybank and AmBank ruling on 50% Bumi equity now dealt with in public, i only feel disgust. For context read here. It's bad enough that it appears acceptable to receive handouts to no end, but to adopt a very suspect "if they are doing it, so can we", is a clear indication of polarisation and a lack of understanding as to what it means to be a professional.


historically perhaps, as a race, the malays were economically impeded , but as the pace of modernisation continues to accelerate and the way this glorious ship called earth becomes but small village, with an unimaginable level of connectivity and technology outstripping the way we deal with the world, such preferential treatment becomes a mere crutch.


it is very difficult not to walk on the streets of of every suburb, city or town and not see a sizeable number of savvy and middle income malays on the street. if the benchmark for development is severely held back by the rate of development or lack of it within the rural demographic, isn't it a case of lousy planning and ineffective delivery?


i'll tell you a simple fact, no single skin colour is unaffected by poverty or a lack of accesss to choices. to think in such a manner that it does, as the current model of the NEP condones, is simply an abdication of this country's leaders and a great hindrance to national unity.


hey brader... even chinese, indians and lain-lains can be poor and destitute. what compounds matters, is that these fellers share the same destiny and spill blood for this same nation and walk around with the same identity card. what makes the good intended of the NEP incapable of being colourless, is the influence of greed and selfishness and not merely vested interest (which is a nicer way of calling out the former).


this post is really about all these thoughts that there has to be limits as to how much help one can receive from privilege before inequity sets in and ruins the party for every one.


so you get an education, being a bumi you got no money or access to university, so you get a hand up... not a handout. so you work and earn your salary or daily wage and buy yourself a house. what makes a working bumi any different from a working non-bumi? some say housing discount, and i'd agree.


if a bumi and a non-bumi both get paid RM5,000 for their respective jobs and the bumi gets a housing discount, what little social balancing is there to be done to actually justify such a discount or preferential treatment?


if such help was for poor folk then that should be just it, because once you can walk on your own two feet and slog for your food does that mean you should still rely on crutches all your life?


if as a bumi you feel sufficiently empowered do join the human race and abolish such anti-competitve and unprofessional practices, and maybe, Rehman's wish that the bumi work output be granted the respect it deserves becomes a social reality.... until next time... kill the lights and pray you don't see daylight.....