The Social Contract

I read this interesting interview with Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, 75, who was involved in drafting some of the laws in the aftermath of the 1969 racial riots in Malaysia.

With his first-hand insight, there are a few things that are worth noting:

1 The term "Social Contract" was never used during the independence negotiations. The term merely describes the political relationship between the State and the people.

My take: The social contract ought to be an evolving agreement between the government and the electorate. When the people elect the government, they are in fact granting a new term for the government to rule based on the promises made during the elections. So I hope the BN government would stop bandying this term or heaven forbid, have it written down in our history textbooks as the truth of the agreement made between the races.

2 The term "Ketuanan Melayu" or "Malay Supremacy" is a term used to describe the privileges of the Rulers, not to signify the dominance of one race over another.

My take: This is an honest appraisal from a Malay. He is also honest in pinpointing that the main purpose of the NEP was to eradicate poverty for all races and its failure so far is due to the rampant corruption and cronyism that exist during implementation of the policies. We all know this, it is so blatantly done, and it is encouraging that there are more and more Malays who are coming out to say so.

3 Dr Abdul Aziz agrees with the privileges and special position given to the Malays "because they have always been there". He quotes Clause 19(1)(d) of the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948 which states that the British High Commissioner shall safeguard the special position of the Malays.

My take: Well, this is not 1948 and we are no longer under British rule. But I suppose we need to define what is this special position. Does it mean that the special position has to be protected even to the detriment of the other races? Although Dr Abdul Aziz vehemently denies the existence of a two-tier citizenship in the country, isn't this exactly what it means when we talk about the special position of any one race?

When YAB Datuk Abdullah Badawi says a member of any race can be PM in Malaysia, he is again showing how shallow his responses are to the real situation in the country. His counterpart in Singapore was more realistic when he told a Malay gathering that a non-Chinese PM in Singapore is unlikely in the near future. I would say that is what is called credibility - something we desperately need in our leaders.