Posted by Samora
in Tuesday, May 4, 2010
It's nearly 41 years ago to the day, Malaysia witnessed a landmark event in its history. The event is known as the May the 13th Incident or the Sino-Malay Sectarian violence of Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia after getting its independence in 1963, Kenyans keep note of that year, saw increasing economic inequality between the Chinese and the indigenous Malay people. The newly formed Malaysia included Malaya (the Malaysian Peninsular), Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak. However in 1964, race riots brought about by the perceived inequality between the wealthy Chinese and the poorer Malay. Most Malay were angered by the fact that the government was willing to look the other side placating Chinese interests at the expense of the indigenous Malay. These issues persisted up till the elections of 1969.
In the run up to the elections, there was a great deal of racial rhetoric being fanned by the political parties. The elections saw the Alliance party gain majority in the national parliament. This was all well and good but the key thing was that there was a tie with the Democratic Action Party that was predominantly Chinese for control over the State Legislature for Selangor. Selangor is the richest province in Malaysia. The DAP in a sense claimed victory and on 12th May arranged a procession through Kuala Lumpur to celebrate. The rowdy processions went well up till the point where the procession path diverted into Kampung Baru, a predominantly Malay area. The Chinese while passing through this area were carrying brooms in a sense suggesting that they would sweep the Malay off the face of Malaysia. This invariably stirred the existing tensions. On May 13th individual incidents between the two races lead to an all out race war. Many deaths were reported and a State of emergency was called by the government. The National Operations Council intervened to run the country and it is worth mentioning that Parliament didn't intervene till 1971.
The government that took over from here saw that they could no longer placate Chinese interest at the expense of the Malays and they responded by implementing affirmative action policies that were referred to as the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1969. Some saw this measure to be draconian as it further entrenched very strong Malay priviledges into the constitution. Years on the affirmative action measures have failed to bear any tangible benefits for the Malay as the inequality still exists. It is so bad that the national statisitcs office does not release official income statistics due to their sensitivity. This has lead to the government lead by the prime minister Najib Razak unveiling a
New Economic Model.
What has this got to do with Kenya, you may ask yourself. Well, if the similarities are not yet apparent yet, you may need to look at recent events in Kenya. The Post-election violence would be a good place to start. You see, regardless of the efficacy of the steps that Malaysia took after 1969 to reduce economic tensions, the fact is that they responded to a crisis and averted the break down of a Nation. The social cohesion present in the country has lead to the country being a middle income country and it is now planning to be a developed country by 2020. 10 years earlier than 2030 where we plan on being a middle income nation. The Malaysian authorities can be credited for responding rather than just sweeping their issues under the carpet.
In Kenya, we face the similar situation. We have the choice of staying on the current path and facing similar tensions in 2012 or we have the chance at least to take the monumental leap and create a new constitution. However, there is a great deal of noise over this process and as each day passes the chances of getting a new contitution gets slimmer and slimmer as the noise gets louder and louder.
I am really angered by the Church's position on both the Kadhi courts and the abortion debate. They completely lack perspective and someone can serioulsy question their collective memory and compassion for the country. In terms of Kadhi courts, I really don't get how for people who begin their National anthem by 'Oh God of all creation" can refer to the kadhi situation as something that will favour Islam over Christianity. Clearly the anthem already shows a national acceptance of biblical creationism and yet the church conveniently overlooks this fact when arguing against the kadhi courts issue. On the note of abortion, the constitution clearly states that abortion would only be legal, if a medical practitioner deems it to be necessary if the mothers life is in danger. I really don't understand what is wrong with this, would they rather a wife, sister, mother or daughter lose their life in order to uphold biblical teachings? If their relatives were in the same situation, would they rather lose their relatives and maybe also lose the child just to uphold the bible?.
For me the church for too long has gotten away with spiritual blackmail to further their ends. They use this same blackmail to get concessions with their schools, universities, construction permits and so on. It is a sense of "if you deny us this, then curses be upon you". I think it is about time for common sense to prevail and a utilitarian sense of doing for the greater good prevail. Let us learn like the Malaysians did and not drive our country into deep problems. The difference between progress and stagnation is adapting and learning rather than sweeping stuff under the carpet. The new constitution is our chance to adapt and learn and hopefully undo a sense of perceived inequalities. We should not look back and regret that we had a chance to change but we didn't.
You do realize that the Chinese are considered amongst the most hard-working groups in Malaysia...
The Malay Union kicked out 'poor' Chinese Singapore which then became more prosperous (on per capita basis) coz of enlightened leadership & hard work...
Yeah, they are. Trust me I realised this. They are even considered to be the most hard working in the world. However, in a country unless you're in Japan, the general population is never that logical. Then you add leaders who inflame this perceived inequalities with falsehoods. However, the same cannot be said of Kenya, I take a stand where the inequalities are not borne out of some groups being more hard working than others.
I have a number of responses:
1. The constitution is supposed to be a reflection of the will of the people. If a large cross-section of the Kenyan public, i.e. the church in this case, has a problem with various clauses and provisions in the constitution then they have a right to be heard and to have those issues addressed. That is the right of every Kenyan citizen, so why should people be upset that the church chooses to exercise this democratic right? Let them have their say!
2. As far as Kadhi courts are concerned, all religions have rules and have dispute resolution bodies to deal with breach of those rules. What possible justification could there be in elevating one religion over all the others by establishing their dispute resolution bodies in the constitution? Why this unequal treatment of religions? Do you think it's right for our taxes to be used to maintain courts for dealing with religious matters of only ONE special religion? We are a secular state and as such there is no place for Kadhi courts in our constitution. At best they should be established as an avenue for alternative dispute resolution similar to arbitration, which parties are free to opt in or out of and which will not be paid for by the entire tax-paying population. This can be done by ordinary legislation! It need not be a constitutional matter.
3. The clause on abortion allows 'licensed health practitioners' (thus widening the category of people allowed to perform abortions beyond only medical doctors) to perform abortions where the life OR HEALTH of the mother is at risk, which also expands the situations under which an abortion would be legal. 'Health' could mean anything from high blood pressure to varicose veins to depression! The effect of this clause is basically to create a right to abortion on demand. It is wrong to deny that fact and try to sneak such a drastic change in the law past Kenyans. If the yes people come clean on the true effect of this clause and Kenyans are still willing to vote yes then that's fine. But we should not allow ourselves to be misled about such an important issue.
The whole point behind the no campaign is that as much as we want a new constitution we should not settle for a sub-standard document that does not truly meet our needs. Change is not always better, it can actually make things worse. The affirmative action in Malaysia is a perfect example of this as you have pointed out the fact that despite all the advantages the Malays were given they are still lagging behind. I dare say not only did the changes fail to improve the situation of the Malays, but they actually made the situation of all young Malaysians, including the Indians and Chinese much worse. Look at how their education system is setting them up for failure. Look at the institutionalized racism directed against non-Malays and the religious oppression of Malays entrenched in their constitution. Change, when it's the wrong type of change, can actually make things worse.
Instead of getting mad at the church for exercising their democratic rights you might wanna consider redirecting your anger at a government that has put us in a lose-lose situation by forcing us to vote on a defective constitution so that whether the yes or no side carries the day all Kenyans inevitably lose. What we really need is to address the concerns that have been raised and carry out proper civic education programs rather than rushing to vote when there is widespread dissatisfaction and lack of understanding about the issues.
Faith, well said and thanks for the comments. My post is not so much a validation of the new constitution, in fact I had previously dedicated a whole post some time last year to discussing my disapproval towards some issues in the draft law http://futurecapitalkenya.blogspot.com/2009/11/vs-it-has-been-about-two-weeks-since.html
My main problem is that the church cannot be and should not be counted as a source of impartial and reasonable opinion towards the formation of a new constitution. Their incentives are clear and should not be ignored. I do not want a country where there is no clear seperation between church and state, and the ubiquitous influence of the church in Kenyan society and ever more so in the constitutional process is worrying. That is my main issue and not the no camp.
On the same note, the Malay case indeed was a failed case of law making, but by no means should we deem it as a complete failure. The aversion of the racial tensions all those years back lead to some calm and stability that has seen Malaysia progress. If you read my blog, I clearly come out as anti big government and pro freedom so that people can pursue their happiness, but sometimes you have to do unpopular things to avert crises. It is human nature. Their bigger failure was for them to stick to the same path even after years of clear and constant results pointing to the inefficiency of their system.
Furthermore, at the time of them making the New Economic Policy, global politics was kind to them as the cold war helped countries all over the world implement inefficient policies as they played the ideological divide. The same case happened in very many other countries. Malaysia's failure was for them to stick with such policies even after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In a nutshell faith, sometimes imperfect legislation is better than none at all. Law according to many intellectuals should reflect the Nation's learning process and this applies to Kenya as well. At least let's have a platform to learn together and the new constitution offers this. Secondly I am not against the church's NO stance, I am against their massive influence over a spiritually vulnerable Nation often with the goal of achieving their objectives (in God's Name).
I hear you but I don't see it the same way. At this point I guess I'm not too worried about the church's influence coz from what I can see there are more people who are pissed off and totally against the church's stance than those actually likely to be influenced by what church leaders have to say. I really don't get why people are so mad at the church and act like it's some powerful, oppressive force, like some sort of mafia... As I said, I just don't see it. I think the real danger comes from our politicians, a lot of whom have NO PRINCIPLES, NO INTEGRITY, NO BRAINS and NO CONCERN FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD. They simply seek to influence the public based on what they think will serve their own interests come 2012. They have failed to conduct useful civic education programs and thus left the public vulnerable to the influence of whoever shows up claiming to have answers. In fact they shamelessly feed off the ignorance of the masses for their own benefit. This is why I can't for the life of me understand why people have chosen to direct their anger at the church. I feel that they MUST speak, and speak just as loud as the politicians coz if they don't they leave this knowledge gap in the public's minds to be filled with nonsense by our unscrupulous politicians. The way I see it at least the church has no hidden agenda and is taking a stand on things they really believe in and trying to educate Kenyans.
As for imperfect legislation, I wouldn't mind if it was any run of the mill statute. But the constitution is the highest law of the land and I think settling for less has the potential for dire repercussions in ther future. Why can't we have high standards and just do this thing properly once and for all and be done with it already!!? If they leave the problematic provisions in a lot of people are gonna vote no and we won't get a new constitution. If it passes we'll have a new constitution with new problems and then a few years from now we end up crying for reform again?!! If the government was genuine about this reform process they would address the NO people's issues and delay the referendum until we have a constitution we're happy to vote yes on!!!!!
Anyway, I know I'm now just ranting aimlessly. Maybe you can tell I'm fed up? I generally pride myself on being a realist, so yes, I can see your point about nation's learning process and I'm aware that this constitutional reform process has gone on forever and needs to come to a conclusion so that we can see some progress. And I understand that there are grave concerns about more death and violence and destruction come 2012. The realist in me understands all these things but the idealist is bitter and pissed off and glad I won't get to vote coz I want THE BEST for Kenya but at this point I don't see that either a YES or NO vote will achieve that.
End of rant! Lol