Morpheus: It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you
from the truth.
Neo:
What truth?
Morpheus:That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into
bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your
mind.
Morpheus:This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You
take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe
whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland
and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (The Matrix)
Malaysians have taken the road of racism for 57 years because our
minds have been imprisoned. A leader may show us a path to a better tomorrow
but we will miss the turning if we cannot liberate ourselves from the prison of
our minds. Only by choosing good over evil can we see the true path. The time
for choosing has come.
After seven days hearing submissions from the defense and the
prosecution, the five Federal Court Judges will decide whether to acquit or
convict Anwar Ibrahim. If Anwar is convicted, he will be imprisoned for a term
that will end his political career. The opposition leader said this is his
final sacrifice, his last final service for Malaysians. He will not be
silenced. But will Malaysians grasp the opportunity he paid for with his
freedom?
Whether there are flying carpets, briyani suits and what happened to
the missing KY jelly is for the court to decide. The target audience for the
remake of the stage production of Sodomy I, updated by DNA forensic
investigation replacing the old fashion mattress prop, is not the court. It is
always the Malaysian public especially the Malay Muslims. The impresario,
whoever he or she may be, thought Malaysians are either gullible or easily
intimidated or both. Now Malaysians will show whether they are indeed a timid
and feeble-minded audience or they are bold and resolute judges firmly punishing
evil and rewarding the good. Malaysians will have to decide whether to take the
red pill or the blue pill.
The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill are popular culture
symbols representing the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth
of reality (the red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (the blue pill).
The term is popularized in the 1999 film, “The Matrix”, where the main
character Neo (Keanu Reeves) is offered the choice between a red pill and a
blue pill. The blue pill would allow him to remain living in the “ignorance of
illusion”, while the red pill would lead to living in the “truth of reality”
even though it is a harsher, more difficult life.
Americans chose the red pill when Martin Luther King Jr was shot. The
civil rights movement marched on because they knew oppressors would never give
up their privileges on their own. President Johnson in his speech before
Congress to pass the Voting Rights Bill allowing men and women to vote whatever
the colour of their skin said:
“The real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions
and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have
awakened the conscience of this Nation. His demonstrations have been designed
to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir
reform.”
In 2008, America
elected a president based not on the colour of his skin but on the content of
his character. They had overcome.
South Africans chose the red pill when Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
For the 27 years he was in jail, South Africans continued his struggle for
freedom and equal opportunity. They fought for the idea, which Nelson Mandela
in his statement from the dock said:
“Was one he cherished, he hoped to live for but if needs be which he
was prepared to die for.”
Internal resistance to apartheid came from organizations dedicated
to peaceful protests, passive resistance and armed insurrections. It came from
Steve Biko, Bishop Desmond Tutu, white activists like Harry Schwarz, Joe Slovo
and Trevor Huddleston. It came from the Black Sash, an organization of white
women against apartheid. It came from students and churches. In 1994 the long
walk for freedom was finally over, apartheid ended.
Anwar chose the red pill 16 years ago when he rejected the offer to
go away quietly and instead took the path of “reformasi”. It took him from the
heights of being the acting Prime Minister to the depth of being the lowest
convict. On his release from prison, he crafted the New Economic Agenda for
affirmative action based on needs and not on race and to restore the country’s
international competitiveness. On his qualification to stand for election, he
announced on 15 April 2008 at Kelab Sultan Sulaiman Kampong Baru, the venue where Malay nationalists
gathered to fight for independence, that while the constitutional rights of
Malays would be protected, it was time to change from “Ketuanan Melayu” to
“Ketuanan Rakyat”, The Eight of March
2008 General Election proved to be the birth of a new era where the mill
stone of race and religion which had been Malaysians’ burden to bear was
finally shattered and transformed the political landscape of the nation. In
2013, Pakatan Rakyat secured 89 parliament seats and won 52% of the popular
vote but was thwarted by gerrymandering, malapportionment and unfair electoral
practices from forming the government.
When Anwar chose to awaken Malaysians to give them hope that there
can be another Malaysia,
he was fully aware he would be challenging the twin pillars of UMNO politics, the
first is Malay unity must be maintained at all costs and the second is that
UMNO’s dominant political position must be maintained. Anwar was aware that
those who left UMNO would be ostracized and made an outcast of his community.
UMNO had accused Dato’ Onn Jaafar, the father of Malay nationalism and founder
of UMNO as having sold out Malay rights and his heritage when he formed the
multi-racial Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). Dato’ Haji Zainal Abidin bin
Haji Abas, who with Dato’ Onn was one of UMNO’s founders and its first General
Secretary became another example of UMNO’s punitive deterrence. He left UMNO to
join IMP and later became the chairman of the United Democratic Party. He was
completely alienated from the community. Aziz Ishak, once out of UMNO was hounded,
all kinds of charges were laid against him and he was later arrested under the
Internal Security Act. However, nothing prepared Anwar for what they did to
him, he was arrested, beaten, imprisoned, ridiculed and denigrated by
scurrilous attacks against him and his family, ostracized, made an outcast and
labeled a traitor to his own race. The rancorousness of the venom, the ferocity
of the hatred and the viciousness of the attacks were at levels never seen
before. He is now more prepared mentally but physically he is not as strong and
as young as he was one and a half decades ago.
If you choose the blue pill you will carry on in your blissful
ignorance of illusion.
You can choose to ignore and jettison the teachings of your
religion, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism or other faith and
ignore your conscience not to harm your fellow men or to help him because the
“common good” of your race demands that you disregard the needs of those of a
different colour or religion. But what are you going to say to Him on the Final
Day when he reminded you in the 179th verse of the 7th
Chapter:
“And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and
mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes
with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear.
Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who the
heedless.”
The illusion however, demands that your life as an individual
belongs not to you but to the group or society and in this case, to your race
of which you are merely a part, that you have no rights and must sacrifice your rights, your values and
goals for the greater good of your race.
The illusion further demands you are not to question why but to do
and die. You are not to question what is the greater good for the Malays for
one person to control Malakoff Corporation, Gas Malaysia, Aliran Ihsan
Resources (water utility), Port of Tanjong Pelepas, Johor Port, Senai Airpor
Terminal Services, SMART Tunnel, MMC-Gamuda, Proton Bhd, Edaran Otomobil
Nasional, MODENAS, Honda Malaysia, Bank Muamalat, PUSPAKOM, Alam Flora, POS
Malaysia, Defence Technologies, Tradewinds (M) Bhd which subsidiary BERNAS has
a monopoly of rice importation and distribution, Central Sugar Refinery and
smaller stakes in Malaysia Sugar Manufacturing which together holds a monopoly
for sugar, hotels and property development companies.
The illusion demands that the individual sacrifice you are called
upon to make is for the common good for the greatest number of your race. Your
income from 2009 has risen by only 8.1% while your household expenditure
increased by 12.1% and 88.6% from 1994. Your household expenditure for housing,
water, electricity has gone up by 102% since 1994, transport 94.6%, food and
drinks by 60.9% while your household debt has increased by 13%. It is difficult
to make ends meet with the increased price of petrol, the higher tolls for privatized
highways and bridges, the tariffs for the privatized water and electricity,
even your rubbish and sewage collection have been privatized. You have no idea
how to pay the increased school bus fares but you will be proud that you have
contributed to the many monopolies owned by Syed Mokthar Al-Bukhari, one of
you.
The illusion says your sacrifice in being unable to afford your own
home is for the greater good. While you are seeking to rent a house, the
rent-seeking elite buys luxury bungalows and condominiums. After payment of the
car installments, credit cards, food and other bills you have no money for
emergencies much less a holiday while the elites are flying first class and staying
in five star hotels.
The illusion says your government has provided your children with a
university education but they are not employable. The June 2014 World Bank Malaysian
Economic Monitor reports 60% of the unemployed are aged 20-24 and 25% are
graduates. Your children hold a university degree but employers find they lack
soft skills; 47% inability to work independently, 49% lack problem solving
skills, 51% lack analytical skills, 56% lack creative/critical thinking and 81%
lack communication skills. According to the Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) 2012 Malaysian students rank 52 out of 65 countries and the
bottom one-third among more than 70 countries in international assessments like
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMMS). The results show
the education standard of our 15 year olds are three years behind Singapore,
Korea, China, Japan and even Vietnam.
No matter how you seek to justify you cannot ignore that while a
responsible government builds a floor for the weakest students to stand, it
encourages the best and the brightest to fly as high as they can. It is wicked
to clip their wings because 150 years ago their great grand parents came to
work in the estates, railroads, tin mines or to seek a better life.
While all accept that the Malays and the natives of Sabah and
Sarawak are disadvantaged and neglected under colonial rule for more than 200
years and ought to be assisted what justification is there to allow Pakistanis,
Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Filipinos who came yesterday to enjoy these same privileges
so the elite can maintain power?
The blue pill unfortunately, will not be able to provide the answers
and will not save you from the rude awakening one day when Malaysia ends up like Rwanda,
Serbia, Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe.
If you choose the red pill, you will realize the painful truth that
you yourself are part of the oppressed and you must fight for your own freedom
and not that of the elites who can hardly claim to be identifiable with you.
Your life as an individual belongs to you and you have an inviolable
right to live it as you see fit, to act on your own judgment, to pursue the
values of your own choosing. The basic tenet is that each individual has an
inalienable right to the pursuit of his own happiness in a society where men
and women deal with one another as equals. The only happy society is one of
happy individuals. We cannot have a healthy forest made up of rotten trees.
You will recognize that no race holds a monopoly of beauty, of
intelligence, of strength and there is more than enough room for all in this
country. You will understand what Malcolm X said:
“I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the
oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash
between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who
want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that
kind of clash, but I don’t think it will be based on the colour of the skin”
Anwar has given Malaysians the keys to the door of change, if
Malaysians grab hold of them once opened the door cannot be shut but if
Malaysians do not use them once shut the door cannot be opened.
What will you choose reality or illusion?
William Leong Jee Keen
Member of Parliament Selayang
12 November 2014
