A Reporter’s Memoir: NO HARD FEELINGS

Another unpublished letter

I find your front-page Aug 20 report headlined, MM rebuts NMP’s notion of race equality, as confusing. It has left me wondering as to what was Lee’s main point.

The report said that Lee emphasized that the Constitution enjoins ‘’the government to give Malays a special position rather than to treat everybody as an equal,’’ and then added that he rebutted as false and flawed ‘’the arguments by NMP Viswa Sadasivan calling for equal treatment for all races.’’

The question then is what does the ‘’special position of the Malays’’ mean to the PAP government in theory and in practice – Are Malays more equal or less equal relative to the other ethnic groups?

I get the impression from the report that it means the latter and that to achieve the state of true equality as Lee was quoted as saying is going ‘’to take decades, if not centuries’’.

In pre-independence days, the special position of the Malays did not entitle them to special privileges, only to special arrangements on matters relating to customs and religion.

They were treated as equal to the other races and all sectors of government service were opened to them. They never felt discriminated in the public sector.

After independence in 1965, though the Malays continued to receive special attention, they were restricted from participating on an equal basis in the SAF and other security sectors without any corresponding compensation.

So the special position of the Malays changed from being ‘’slightly more equal’’ in pre-independence days to becoming ‘’less equal’’ than other racial groups including new immigrants in the post-independence period.

This is the crux of the issue.  How long more have they to wait – decades, centuries?  The reality is that no race felt discriminated in pre-independent Singapore as the British ruled with an even hand.

At the end of his address, Lee added: ‘’Today, 44 years later, we have a Malay community, I believe, at peace, convinced that we are not discriminating against them, convinced we are including them in our society.’’

I, and I think, the majority of Singapore Malays have no problem with that with the proviso that it does not include the SAF and the security services.

We are not asking for any special privileges, only equal treatment in all sectors of life.

Ismail Kassim

The front-page report in the ST (August 14) on MM Lee’s appeal to Singaporeans to accept new immigrants is unfortunate as it contains an uncharacteristic communal line.

According to the report headlined as MM: Foreign talent is vital, Lee said that the birth rate by race is 1.91 for Malays, 1.19 for Indians and 1.14 for Chinese.

He was then reported as saying: ‘’If we continue this way without the new immigrants and PRs and their children doing national service, the composition of our SAF will change. So please remember that.’’

To outsiders this seems like an innocent statement. They might even ask, so what is wrong?

Many Singaporeans, however, see it as a deliberate and – unnecessary – attempt to play the racial card on a peripheral issue.

Irrespective of race, many readers have read it as an attempt to get Singaporean Chinese to accept newcomers from mainland China otherwise there will be more Malays in the SAF.

I like to ask, what did MM mean by saying – ‘’please remember that’’.

Is it to remind Singapore Chinese that the SAF must remain overwhelmingly in their hands and that the restriction on Malay participation must continue?

On the same day, I sent a letter to the ST Editor making my observations and comments. It has yet to see the light of day and I do not think it ever will. 

Actually, as everyone knows, ever since Independence the PAP government has never allowed the SAF to reflect the racial composition of the country.

What is the necessity then of making that statement that could arouse communal feelings.

To Singapore Malays and Muslims, who have long suffered discrimination in National Service and in the security forces, MM’s statement is a huge disappointment.

What is even more regrettable is that his statement came during a speech he gave at the Tanjong Pagar 44^th National Day celebration dinner, one of whose objective was to bring Singaporeans of all races together.

Like many other Malays, I had earlier thought that that there had been progress on this issue but alas, I think, I had been too optimistic.

Ismail Kassim

The 2nd print of A Reporter’s Memoir is underway. It should be in the bookshops by end of August 09.

To distinguish it from the first print, the front cover will carry the words – 2nd Print – across the top left corner, while the back cover has been re-designed to accommodate three quotes:

‘’It is a fascinating read from cover to cover.’’

S.R. Nathan, President, Republic of Singapore

‘’A sensitive observer of politics on both sides of the Causeway, Ismail Kassim combines good values with good judgement.’’

Prof. Emeritus Datuk K.J. Ratnam, former dean of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Social Sciences Faculty

‘’Ismail is a very well regarded observer of the Malaysian scene. As a journalist, he was serious, he wrote well and he wrote with insight.’’

Cheong Yip Seng, former Editor of the New Nation and Straits Times

The write-up on the author will go into the inside page. There will also be one page of feedback from readers and extracts from the headlines of newspaper reports. They are as follows:

‘’I rate the book a ‘must read’ not so much because his life is interesting but the chapter he wrote on Malaysia is truly the best description of present-day Malaysian politics to be published in 2008’’.

James Chin, Malaysian Insider columnist and Lecturer at the Monash University Sunway campus

‘’You might have a best seller on your hands.’’

Imran Price, Deputy President of Darul Arqam and Deputy Director General of its Centre of Contemporary Islamic Studies

‘’This book is a page-turner. You tell a great, absorbing story about people and events that people of my vintage can relate.’’

Philip Lee, Straits Times journalist

He lets fly, no hard feelings

The New Paper

After decades of covering and observing Umno, Dr Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew, a veteran Singaporean journalist reveals what’s ‘between the lines’.

Sunday Star of Malaysia

He knows Malaysian politics better than most

Sunday Times Singapore

Taking controversy by the horns

Today

Usah berkecil hati apabila membaca memoir wartawan ini

Berita Harian Singapura

A political writer remembers and ponders on the past

The Edge, Singapore and Malaysia editions