The recent headlines in the local Malay newspaper Berita
Harian came into the limelight after being alleged by its readers as being
derisive and inappropriate when it audaciously claimed that the Malaysian
badminton mixed duo "sekadar meraih pingat perak"(settled for winning
silver medal). While the intention of the editor is not made known, it is a
polemical blunder that strikes at the heart of the already precarious social
fabric of our multi-racial society(Harmony not guaranteed!). On the outset, the
headline seems as innocuous as it gets, perhaps the editorial will not have
anticipated a ripple this great. To be fair, anyone who had watched the game
would have agreed that Chan/Goh had not have a good game, eventually falling to
a weak 2-0 defeat against the Indonesian duo after a lacklustre display. Never
seemed to have adapted to the flow of the game, they were forced to defend
against a barrage of smashes after smashes and inevitably succumbing to
offensive pressure, hardly what we would have expected of a finalist pair.
Their facial expressions and body languages told as much. Therefore, it will
not be too farfetched for the local news media to question their commitments to
make history by winning our first ever Gold medal.
Yet racism must to come into play. If Azizul, a Bumiputra
Malaysian athlete representing the cycling event, was to settle for a Bronze, why
not portray the same image for his Chinese counterparts? Egos will not be hurt,
pride will be saved, truly a veritable win-win solution. Consider this, the main
readers and target audience of BH are composed of the Malays(quite a
shame since it is a phenomenon contrary to the utopic endgame of the exalted "1
Malaysia" ideals). Downplaying the Chinese achievements in part comes from
the pragmatic need to increase patronage by placating the readers and feeding
the right things and possibly to a less overt extent, political pressure.
Just recently, another controversy had made its way to the
national headline, pertinent to the prize-giving ceremony for the local film
industry. Several indigenous directors and associations had threatened to
boycott the event after the criteria for "Best Film" had been
modified to accommodate "non-local films" through repealing the
70-percent-of-the-movie-dialogue-must-be-in-Bahasa-Malaysia requirement. In a
last-ditch attempt to save the grace, the committee made concessions and introduced
a new category, "Best Picture in the National Language" for the
"local films". Before anyone starts proposing implications, the
committee specifically states that this award trumps its predecessor, that is,
"Best Picture in the National Language" is the highest ranked and
most prestigious accolade amongst the others. If you cannot deduce the crux of
it, it simply means that films with heavy Malay conversations are more superior
than those of other languages, in terms of recognitions. Truly a dubious and
invidious attempt to maximise the feel-good factor of the mass. So much for the
proverbial adage "Greatest happiness for the greatest numbers".
In hindsight, Chan/Goh duo is hardly among the favourites to
win medals for Malaysia whereas Azizul is poised to win at least a Bronze, as
accordance to the expectation meted out by the Olympic Council of Malaysia. This is
aptly captured when the Minister of Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin acknowledged
the duo's feat as being "inspirational" in his Twitter page after
they had exceeded expectation, starkly juxtaposed by the brusque headline
"hampakan jutaan rakyat Malaysia"(Let millions of Malaysians down) in
yet another local Malay newspaper Kosmo!. Exercising the rights of freedom of
press is one thing, but ensuring a degree of political correctness is equally
paramount to avoid estrangement of skin colours. In the grand scheme of things,
journalism has to be intertwined with tactfulness towards political correctness
especially where race is concerned.
This type of incident is no stranger to us, in fact rather a
tip of the iceberg, potentially a harbinger of the anti-Bumiputra sentiments
buried but waiting to be uncovered. The question then, becomes whether
non-Bumis are simply being priggish towards Malay establishments. A
well-informed mass will hold nothing back to carp at the slightest innuendos,
having long been repressed by the inundation of national policies which are not
fully intended to be partial but have been indeed in reality towards any races.
And when racial pride is at stake here, the ramification is far greater. The
magnification and amplification of the ramifications evoked by the newspaper
could have been attributed to the interminable efforts by the non-Bumis to seek
psychological one-upmanship against their Bumi counterparts, essentially disseminating
the message that "we don't need a headstart and will still fare better
than you ". When the two badminton pairs Chan/Goh and later Tan Wee
Kiong/Goh V Shem received their silver medals, one could not help but wonder at
this juncture, are the Chinese viewers proud to be Chinese Malaysians or
Malaysian Chinese?
Perhaps it is a careless and guileless blunder of the Berita Harian and Kosmo! editorial to spur such
hapless backlash, nevertheless it palpably embodies the invisible but
impermissible barrier between the races(You hardly see any Chinese on the
street these days buying Malay papers and vice-versa). It is a matter of time
to determine if the barrier will prevail or be supered.
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