Good ethnic relations and national unity are closely linked to economic prosperity and progress of the nation. It has been observed, for example, that Malaysians put aside their lingual, cultural, regional, racial, and religious difference during good or “rich times”.
However, in times of economic and political stress or crises, these differences raise their ugly heads and feed misunderstanding, social tension, skirmishes and conflicts in our diverse population.
Leaders running the government from Putrajaya to the village levels must be able to grasp the socio-economic voices and grouses of the majority. Their demanding voices often proclaim their favourite buzzwords ̶ welfare, social justice and inclusivity.
Obviously, their basic need for food, education, employment, transportation, housing, access to public amenities, politics, governance, and development as distributed according to generations, genders, and groups (such as urban-rural and rich-poor groups) must be managed.
Failure to do this would make them restless and develop a culture of anti-establishment and rejection of government of the day. Voters in May 9 last year chose Pakatan Harapan (PH) and rejected the Barisan Nasional (BN) which they believed had failed to look after their welfare needs.
Now the onus is on the PH government to ensure that the social deficits affecting the majority would turn into surplus so as to regain normalcy, harmony and stability.
Pakatan Harapan is facing insurmountable hurdles as their manifesto is too ambitious and difficult to fulfill because the economy was left in shambles by the previous government and the nation appears to be moving towards recession. These factors are not on the side of a stable and robust economy.
As social deficits grow wider and more intense some segments of the population might resort to ethnic, religious and even constitutional provisions to mobilise their bread and butter frustrations.
Campaigns during the by-elections (the coming one being Semenyih state by-election on March 2 are coloured by ethnic sentiments and religious interpretations as a means to capture the votes.
Social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Wechat, Facebook and others are often used to viral ethnic and religious sensitivities and raise inflammatory issues pertaining to citizenship, loyalty to the nation and provisions of the Constitution.
Studies show that economic problems have caused groups to compete vigorously with one another but they were not sufficient to explain why people put their lives on the line. Humans are motivated by economic gains but irrational acts of sacrificing one’s life is the realm of emotion. Economic differences among ethnic and religious groups may produce smoke but emotion is the spark can turn the smoke into fire.
We are a progressive, cosmopolitan and middle-class nation but the national cohesion is a product of how governance and development are managed.
Failures of governance and development can create a group of socio-economic “losers” which, if unmanaged, could lead to conflicts with primordial ethnic and religious sentiments as the basis.
The initial triggers could be as simple as a car parking misunderstanding, a court order to relocate a house of worship or allocation of funds to a vernacular school. Past examples have shown that these seemingly harmless events had managed to spark and escalate ethnic and religious strife.
The government of the day must return to the DNA of the nation’s political culture where in times of social, political and economic crises, political elites and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representing various social strata must be mobilised for negotiations, bargaining, dialogues and mediation to search for some consensus or compromise.
We did this when the Malayan Union was rejected through the Committee Liaison Community. The May 13, 1969 racial conflict was mitigated with an enlargement of a united political front from Alliance to Barisan Nasional (BN), and last year’s May 9 regime change occurred due to a formidable and united political front put up by Pakatan Harapan.
Over-politicising of the bread and butter issues of the nation is not the solution as it creates ethnic tension rather social cohesion in our diverse society.
Prof Dr Mansor Mohd Noor is a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
