For the past few months, the country seems to be polluted by irresponsible racist remarks. A young leader from a component party has consistently uttered views that seem selfish and narrow minded, whilst hurting the feeling of other communities.
Debates over communal issues such as language, religion, education and Malay special position were not something new in this country. Since the post war period and during our forefathers struggled toward independence, our nation had encountered numerous communal tension and serve political instability, such as the Emergency, riots, racial revenge and fighting. That was the worst period for ethnics of different background to talk about compromising their communal-based interest. Nevertheless, our forefathers had managed to move forward by striking out a balance and compromise Constitution, which provide a framework for a new born nation to walk her steps gradually toward the world stage.
The young generations would have known about this if they pay attention to their secondary school’s history. But our recent actual encounters did not seem to get with this perception. A young politician, who is in the third generation since the post war period, appears hunger in manipulating communal issue.
I would roughly classify the third generations are born in the 70s. They are technology savvy with little knowledge about human touch. They are pampered, ambitious and keen to show off. They experience identity crisis. As a result, they have yet to sufficiently expose to the insight of “give and take”, let only the delicacy of communal compromise. Of course, not all youngsters in the third generation possessed such characteristics, but some young politician fit squarely into the aforesaid descriptions. As a fellow Malaysian, in no way shall we marginalize them. Instead, we should assist them by giving clear and proper guidance.
A journalist recommends this third generation to read “The world is flat, a brief history of the 21st century” written by Thomas Friedman, to have an insight about the new globalize world. This book talks about how the world has changed in the past decade whilst the author was sleeping. I am for the idea because Malaysians cannot afford to slip away in this highly competitive world.
Realizing the changing environment is simply inadequate for a young politician. We have to provide them with proper political conscience. The provisions and spirit of the Federal Constitution will be and continue to be the conscience of our nation and aspired young politicians, since it is the social contract made between the early leaders of the new nation.
The making of the Federal Constitution
Many political scientists, historians and legal experts have written about Federal Constitution. But there is one book written by Mr. Joseph M Fernando, a history lecturer of University of Malaya, known as “The making of the Malayan Constitution” (published by the MBRAS, 2002) ought to be read by all politicians, especially the third generations. This book is the first historical work which traced the origin and formulation of the 1957 Constitution. In doing so, the author also examines in details the emergence of Alliance, which played a dominant role in the evolution of the Constitution.
What make this book different from other Constitution related material is, in addition to the public documents and newspaper clips, the author managed to access to declassified constitutional documents kept in Britain and some other private documents including the collection of Alliance Party papers kept at MCA headquarters. As such, the book provides an insight on the Alliance intra-party constitutional negotiations and its representation to the Reid Commission. The book further discusses the constitution debates within the Reid Commission, in the Working Party which reviewed the draft constitution and the London Conference May 1957 which was absence from other constitutional related books.
After reading this book, as a youngster who is interested in politics, I am touched by the aspiration, hopes and vision of the Alliance leaders, in particular, the manner in which they withstood tremendous pressure asserted by radicals in UMNO and MCA, and reached compromise on contentious communal issues during the intra-Alliance negotiations.
I learn form the book that the principle agreements and compromise enshrined in the Constitution does not drop from the sky. The agreements had their origin in the co-operation between UMNO and MCA leaders that in numerous municipal and state elections in 1952-53, the “confrontation” with the colonial administration in 1954 over the question of an elected majority in the federal legislature, and the federal election 1955. the author acknowledge that the pact between UMNO and MCA was vital to winning and maintaining general support for the Constitution in the face of opposite from several quarters.
The authors contends that toward the final stage of procuring Independence, UMNO has assumed the dominance role in the Alliance, leaving MCA and MIC somewhat less equal partners, contrary to the earlier stages of their partnership. From the vivid descriptions enumerated by the author, there are many lessons to be learnt from the inter-party negotiations. Nevertheless, it is fair to conclude that the various compromises between the Alliance were made in deference to a wider goal of inter-communal co-operation and consequently, national unity. These inter-communal compromises enshrined in the Constitution were intended to safeguard the rights and interests of all the communities.
The Federal Constitution serves as the conscience for the modern Malaysia. Thoroughly understand the making of the Constitution will always be the conscience of the third generation politicians who are aspired to lea our nation to a higher level of achievements.
Debates over communal issues such as language, religion, education and Malay special position were not something new in this country. Since the post war period and during our forefathers struggled toward independence, our nation had encountered numerous communal tension and serve political instability, such as the Emergency, riots, racial revenge and fighting. That was the worst period for ethnics of different background to talk about compromising their communal-based interest. Nevertheless, our forefathers had managed to move forward by striking out a balance and compromise Constitution, which provide a framework for a new born nation to walk her steps gradually toward the world stage.
The young generations would have known about this if they pay attention to their secondary school’s history. But our recent actual encounters did not seem to get with this perception. A young politician, who is in the third generation since the post war period, appears hunger in manipulating communal issue.
I would roughly classify the third generations are born in the 70s. They are technology savvy with little knowledge about human touch. They are pampered, ambitious and keen to show off. They experience identity crisis. As a result, they have yet to sufficiently expose to the insight of “give and take”, let only the delicacy of communal compromise. Of course, not all youngsters in the third generation possessed such characteristics, but some young politician fit squarely into the aforesaid descriptions. As a fellow Malaysian, in no way shall we marginalize them. Instead, we should assist them by giving clear and proper guidance.
A journalist recommends this third generation to read “The world is flat, a brief history of the 21st century” written by Thomas Friedman, to have an insight about the new globalize world. This book talks about how the world has changed in the past decade whilst the author was sleeping. I am for the idea because Malaysians cannot afford to slip away in this highly competitive world.
Realizing the changing environment is simply inadequate for a young politician. We have to provide them with proper political conscience. The provisions and spirit of the Federal Constitution will be and continue to be the conscience of our nation and aspired young politicians, since it is the social contract made between the early leaders of the new nation.
The making of the Federal Constitution
Many political scientists, historians and legal experts have written about Federal Constitution. But there is one book written by Mr. Joseph M Fernando, a history lecturer of University of Malaya, known as “The making of the Malayan Constitution” (published by the MBRAS, 2002) ought to be read by all politicians, especially the third generations. This book is the first historical work which traced the origin and formulation of the 1957 Constitution. In doing so, the author also examines in details the emergence of Alliance, which played a dominant role in the evolution of the Constitution.
What make this book different from other Constitution related material is, in addition to the public documents and newspaper clips, the author managed to access to declassified constitutional documents kept in Britain and some other private documents including the collection of Alliance Party papers kept at MCA headquarters. As such, the book provides an insight on the Alliance intra-party constitutional negotiations and its representation to the Reid Commission. The book further discusses the constitution debates within the Reid Commission, in the Working Party which reviewed the draft constitution and the London Conference May 1957 which was absence from other constitutional related books.
After reading this book, as a youngster who is interested in politics, I am touched by the aspiration, hopes and vision of the Alliance leaders, in particular, the manner in which they withstood tremendous pressure asserted by radicals in UMNO and MCA, and reached compromise on contentious communal issues during the intra-Alliance negotiations.
I learn form the book that the principle agreements and compromise enshrined in the Constitution does not drop from the sky. The agreements had their origin in the co-operation between UMNO and MCA leaders that in numerous municipal and state elections in 1952-53, the “confrontation” with the colonial administration in 1954 over the question of an elected majority in the federal legislature, and the federal election 1955. the author acknowledge that the pact between UMNO and MCA was vital to winning and maintaining general support for the Constitution in the face of opposite from several quarters.
The authors contends that toward the final stage of procuring Independence, UMNO has assumed the dominance role in the Alliance, leaving MCA and MIC somewhat less equal partners, contrary to the earlier stages of their partnership. From the vivid descriptions enumerated by the author, there are many lessons to be learnt from the inter-party negotiations. Nevertheless, it is fair to conclude that the various compromises between the Alliance were made in deference to a wider goal of inter-communal co-operation and consequently, national unity. These inter-communal compromises enshrined in the Constitution were intended to safeguard the rights and interests of all the communities.
The Federal Constitution serves as the conscience for the modern Malaysia. Thoroughly understand the making of the Constitution will always be the conscience of the third generation politicians who are aspired to lea our nation to a higher level of achievements.
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