Thank you Malaysia

I heaved a huge sigh when I saw the newspapers announcing the Malaysia 2008 election results.

Deep inside me, my admiration of MM Lee Kwan Yew went a few notches higher. Even though as a Singaporean, I may not always agree with him, I do hold his opinion and views in high regard. Even if I do not like the man, I do not see any value in denying the worth of what he has done for us or the advice he has for us. This being said, I do like MM Lee.

Singapore and Malaysia were once one.

On 16 September 1963, Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were formally merged and Malaysia was formed. For Singapore, the merger was thought to benefit the economy by creating a common free market, eliminating trade tariffs, and solving unemployment woes. The British government approved the merger, convinced that Singapore's security would be safeguarded within the much larger Malaysia.

The union was rocky from the start. During the 1963 Singapore state elections, a local branch of UMNO took part in the election despite an earlier UMNO's agreement with the PAP not to participate in the state's politics during Malaysia's formative years. Although UMNO lost all its bids, relations between PAP and UMNO worsened as the PAP, in a tit-for-tat, challenged UMNO candidates in the 1964 federal election as part of the Malaysian Solidarity Convention, winning one seat in Malaysian Parliament.

This union between the two countries as not a happy one. Malaysia was predominantly Malay whereas Singapore was predominantly Chinese. Lee Kuan Yew then had wanted equality for all races and build a Malaysian Malaysia. However, the UMNO leadership had wanted it to be a Malay Malaysia.

Racial tensions increased dramatically within a year and were fueled by Barisan Sosialis's tactics of stirring up communal sentiment to discredit the government of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia.[citation needed] In particular, the Chinese in Singapore disdained being discriminated against by the federal policies of affirmative action, which granted special privileges to the Malays guaranteed under Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia. There were also other financial and economic benefits that were preferentially given to Malays. Lee Kuan Yew and other political leaders began advocating for the fair and equal treatment of all races in Malaysia, with a rallying cry of "Malaysian Malaysia!".

The start of the racial riot on Muhammad's birthday, that would later injure hundreds and killed 23 people. Meanwhile, the Malays in Singapore were being increasingly incited by the federal government's accusations that the PAP was mistreating the Malays. The external political situation was also tense when Indonesian President Sukarno declared a state of Konfrontasi (Confrontation) against Malaysia and initiated military and other actions against the new nation, including the bombing of MacDonald House in Singapore in March 1965 by Indonesian commandos, killing three people. Indonesia also conducted sedition activities to provoke the Malays against the Chinese. Numerous racial riots resulted and curfews were frequently imposed to restore order. The most notorious riots were the 1964 Race Riots that first took place on Prophet Muhammad's birthday on 21 July with twenty three people killed and hundreds injured. During the unrest, the price of food skyrocketed when transport system was disrupted, causing further hardship for the people.

The state and federal governments also had conflicts on the economic front. UMNO leaders feared that the economic dominance of Singapore would inevitably shift political power away from Kuala Lumpur. Despite earlier agreement to establish a common market, Singapore continued to face restrictions when trading with the rest of Malaysia. In retaliation, Singapore refused to provide Sabah and Sarawak the full extent of the loans previously agreed to for the economic development of the two eastern states. The situation escalated to such intensity that talks soon broke down and abusive speeches and writings became rife on both sides. UMNO extremists called for the arrest of Lee Kuan Yew.

The divisive ideology was breaking up the union. The end of the merger was imminent.

Seeing no other alternative to avoid further bloodshed, the Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to expel Singapore from the federation. The Parliament of Malaysia voted 126-0 in favour of the expulsion on 9 August 1965. On that day, a tearful Lee Kuan Yew announced on a televised press conference that Singapore was a sovereign, independent nation. In a widely remembered quote, he uttered that: "For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I have believed in merger and unity of the two territories." The new state became the Republic of Singapore and Yusof bin Ishak was appointed the first President.

The merger then was discussed on win-win terms. Singapore got to enhance its economic and people's ties with Malaysia while Malaysia could get the support of the predominantly Chinese population as well as the non-Communist PAP to stave off Communist threats. It was after the 12 years of the Malayan Emergency (against Communism) and what happened after that would make or break both countries.

With hindsight, it was easy to ridicule the marriage of convenience and condemn it to fail. However, who in the right mind would not have approached the marriage with the positive hope that it could just work out? Again, while it is easy now to say how the differences would have doomed the merger from the start, it might not be easy to reconcile the willingness then to make the differences work.

Still, when Singapore was unceremoniously kicked out, then-PM Lee was choked with emotions. I've seen the video footage. This was a man with a dream. The dream would have led to a major overhaul of both Singapore and Malaysia and jointly, these two countries might have produced an economic miracle much earlier. But the dream was not brought to bear.

Singapore became independent and moved in the direction of a Singaporean Singapore. Our pledge said it all:

We, the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.
- S Rajaratnam in 1966
(For the uninitiated, the late Mr Rajaratnam is a Singaporean of Sri Lankan descent. His pledge said it all - Singapore was to be a meritocracy.)

Malaysia also went on its way to create its identity. Critically, Tunku Abdul Rahman implemented the bumiputra policy. Among other things, aspects of the bumiputra policy are means of affirmative action for the Malays. Such policies include quotas for the following: admission to government educational institutions, qualification for public scholarships, positions in government and ownership in business. Most of them were established in the Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP). Many of them focus on establishing a Bumiputra share of corporate equity comprising at least 30% of the total.

Consequentially, as a result of these policies, many Bumiputera millionaires were born at the stroke of a pen due to their connections.

In addition to the above economic advantages, Bumiputras previously received other privileges in public tertiary education, such as ethnic quotas. In 2004, Dr. Shafie Salleh, the newly appointed Higher Education Minister, stated that he "will ensure the quota of Malay students' entry into universities is always higher". This was demonstrated in 2004 when Non-Bumiputra students who scored 5As in the STPM (the highest possible grade) were denied admission to their first choice of study in public universities while Bumiputra students with lesser grades were nonetheless admitted.

Since 2000, the Government has discussed phasing out certain discriminatory practises, and reinstating "meritocracy". The eventual result was the system of "Malaysian model meritocracy" begun in 2003. In the implementation, admission to public universities was not based upon a common examination like the SAT or A-Levels but rather upon two parallel systems of a one-year matriculation course and a two-year STPM (literally translated as "Malaysian Higher School Certificate") programme. Bumiputras compose an overwhelming majority of entrants to the matriculation programme, leading to some complaints from the public, as the public university entry requirements are suggested to be easier for matriculation students.

For a long time, Malaysia has been ruled by the Barisan Nasional coalition of UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, and other smaller parties. It may be an open secret who are the abangs (elder brothers) and who are the adiks (younger brothers) when you see how the gravy train tracks run. For a long time, the coalition thought that the masses' needs are well-taken care of and addressed. But has it really been the case?

Political awakening

Given the recent spate of events, it was without a doubt that the minority Chinese and Indians in Malaysia are seething with anger after suffering so much injustice for so many years. Singapore, especially, has been a happy recipient country of many talented Malaysian Chinese and Indians who come here for studies and then settle down and contribute to our growth. But those who were not able to leave suffered in silence.

Until recently, the deafening silence became too loud to bear. The recent election results suggest that the ruling coalition and the masses probably have different hearing ranges. The government still heard nothing while the masses already have their ear drums blown out by the screams of anger and misery.

Political awakening has arrived.

This election outcome was not unexpected. It was a matter of time - albeit almost 50 years too late - that it arrived. Political systems, like many systems, have the ability to correct themselves and restore balance. The current system is skewed system and the election hopefully would restore it from its tipping point.

It is easy to blame PM Abdullah. It is also easy to credit Anwar or the other opposition leaders for making inroads. But the seeds of decay were planted much earlier. It is merely harvest time during Abdullah's watch.

BN may or may not know what to do next. But certainly, Malaysia needs to start healing itself and addressing the grievances, perceived or real. Malaysia knows it. Given this political pit-stop, Malaysia will invariably need to slow itself down and re-examine its options. It might set the overall development landscape back by a decade or so but I believe that Malaysia boleh.

While Singapore gleefully could stand beside a self-pronounced abang brought to its knees, Singapore knows that to do so is also to its detriment. Apart or as one, Singapore and Malaysia are more inter-twined that anyone could imagine. As a Singaporean, however, I cannot help but feel so very thankful to Malaysia and Tunku Abdul Rahman for kicking us out.