Who are the reluctant Malaysians? Why are they reluctant? Why do they see challenges and failures as reasons enough to be sceptical, blemish and betray the nation?
I was born in a rural village. When I was younger in the 1960s we often played house and cooked rice to eat with barbequed salted fish. When we got tired we would adjourn to a nearby fast-flowing river in which we could not only swim, but the water was clean enough to drink directly. My mum also washed our clothes in it.
When I first entered school, I made new friends and met people from other ethnic groups. They spoke different dialects and languages but we still managed to communicate with one another in Malay. We studied, shared novels, played marble games, and occasionally fought during football time.
During the monsoon seasons we had fun in the floods, then when the water had subsided our laterite road became muddy and we developed sores on our legs, hands and heads.
I saw my nation undergoing physical, economic and social changes. A macadamised trunk road five kilometres from my village was constructed and electricity began to be supplied from the power grid. But as for water, we have been depending on wells until today.
As the nation continued to change, I entered a newly built school where I made new diverse friends again. We were taught by locally and Kirkby-trained teachers. For those too young to remember, Kirkby College in Liverpool, England (even referred to as Kampung Kirkby) was where many students were sent by the government to meet the acute shortage of qualified teachers in a rapidly growing Malaya.
My father, who used to cycle to work, one day bought a Vespa, and in the later part of his life, acquired a used car. I remember our house got bigger as he added more rooms to accommodate our growing family.
After I finished school, I entered local universities and went for post-graduate studies overseas. On finishing, I joined the academia, started as a tutor and now I am a professor.
In my academic carrier, white, yellow, brown and tanned skin complexions have been my teachers and so too were my peers. We were taught to read, discuss, and worked together to search for the truth justly. I have talked about this with my
students.
I have faced difficulties in my life including failures in school exams and failure to get into a university that I aspired to enter.
In the academic world, getting your promotion, articles and research grant rejected are the norms. I do not blame others or other ethnic groups for my failures because I worked together with them as a team.
I have seen others buying branded cars, shirts and bungalows, while some frequently take overseas holidays.
I contented myself with a used car, buy my shirts from the local malls operated by Malaysians, live in a double-storey house, and occasionally go overseas for conferences and meetings.
I never feel pressured by the rising cost of living because I just balance my family budget accordingly and adapt to it. I do not question the speed of my promotion but instead padded my curriculum vitae (CV) with my academic works.
I do not blame others as I am in control of my destiny. And I have friends who share my life which has been fruitful and blessed.
I do not understand why we are not sincere with ourselves. We tend to blame others, especially other ethnic and religious groups, for our failures to manage the challenges that are
synonymous with life.
Concerning the middle 40 percent (M40), bottom 40 percent (B40) and the poor Malaysians, I agree that they are not lazy but are structurally determined by our own society.
One would expect the sons and daughters of the rubber tapper to do well in school and eventually in life. We also expect the same for the children of farmers, fishermen and those living away from public and modern amenities.
Their cultures are not imbued with modernity and plurality. Parents in those kinds of societies are not good nurturers as they are poor. They are not good teachers as they cannot read, and they can’t manage their children’s mental stress as they are not counsellors.
Hence, I hail the present government for its more focused social policy that prioritises their needs.
The government should also redistribute economic growth. In this, GLCs must help manage the socially disadvantaged and vulnerable to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
The strong and powerful must be ready to do philanthropic work among the voiceless and powerless.
One should be on guard against ethically and integrity deficient leaders who have lost their moral compass while managing governance and development which are the thrust of our diverse nation’s stability and progress.
Back to being a reluctant Malaysian, why am I so?
You see, I love my family, my diverse friends and, most of all, my nation.
• Prof Mansor Mohd Noor is the Principal Fellow Institute of Ethnic studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
