Malaysia: Preparing for a Pogrom

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For all its practical success, Malaysia never really managed to overcome racial enmities. The Chinese and Indians resented Malay-backed plans favoring the majority, including one to make Malay the official school and government language. The poorer, more rural Malays became jealous of Chinese and Indian prosperity. Perhaps the Alliance's greatest failing was that it served to benefit primarily those at the top. It was not unheard of for a government official to discover a new car in his garage, its donor a mystery until a Chinese towkay (rich merchant) mentioned it offhandedly—and then perhaps asked for a favor. For a Chinese or Indian who was not well-off, or for a Malay who was not well-connected, there was little largesse in the system. Even for those who were favored, hard feelings persisted. One towkay recently told a Malay official: "If it weren't for the Chinese, you Malays would be sitting on the floor without tables and chairs." Replied the official: "If I knew I could get every damned Chinaman out of the country, I would willingly go back to sitting on the floor."

Lip Service. Malaysia's democracy has been suspended as a result of the riots. Three days after they began, both the Tunku and the constitutional monarch handed over all their powers to the ambitious Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak. He now presides over a state-of-emergency ruling group called the National Operations Council. Heavily dependent on the military and Malay extremists for support, the N.O.C. government today is run by men who believe that Malaysia's only hope is to find a solution to the minority "problem"—and are willing to accept a lower standard of living, or even shed the federation's non-Malay Borneo states to find it. This month Razak, who as a former Minister of National and Rural Development became committed to programs for Malay supremacy, announced a new economic program. Though he has not yet given militants free reign and still manages to pay lip service to the notion that "prosperity must be spread throughout the nation," his proposals for new government-run industry, rural development and industrial training courses all seem designed solely to benefit the Malay community.

Malays could not take over the economy within the foreseeable future. They simply do not have the capital or the know-how to manage it, especially in the field of rubber production, in which Malaysia is the world leader. However, they do have the power to wreck the economy—and seemingly the hatred that could make them use it. The majority of Chinese and Indians have come to believe, as a result of the riots, that they cannot expect government protection from Malay mobs.