Malaysia: Recent Trends and Challenges

3. Bangsa Malaysia: Vision or Spin?

47 3: Bangsa Malaysia: Vision or Spin? Bangsa Malaysia: Vision or Spin? o o i k e e b e n g Slogans as Initiators of Discourse Mahathir Mohamad was probably unwavering throughout his political life as far as his hopes for Malaysia were concerned. However, given the pragmatics of politics, one would expect the numerous slogans he forged over 22 years to direct the political focus of his countrymen to vary in efficacy, in seriousness, and in function. For them to rally the masses to directed discourse, these chosen phrases had to be loose yet suggestive. This form of policy promulgation characterised much of his image, and can be accredited for the impact his ideas had on the political consciousness of Malaysians. Where economic policies were concerned, Mahathir’s measures may have been varied, some working better than others, but the end he sought was always nationalistic. As noted by K.S. Jomo: [O]n the whole, it can be said that economic policies from the early 1980s seek to transform Malaysia into a newly industrialized country (NIC) like South Korea, less dependent on the developed industrial nations, and under genuine Bumiputera capitalist entrepreneurial leadership. Most of Mahathir’s economic policies seem to aim to achieve that end.1 Ooi Kee Beng 48 His policies were interestingly of a kind that needed to capture the imagination of the populace and pave the discursive path of the nation. For example, the Look East Policy announced in 1981 was an economic initiative insofar as it courted the governments and the businessmen of Japan and Korea to invest in Malaysia and in the process allow technical know-how to flow to Malaysia’s advantage. At the same time, it was also very much a socio-cultural programme “wherein the Malaysian government itself seeks to inculcate a supposed Japanese work ethic through various propaganda devices and through concrete promotion and implementation of the policy in the private and public sectors”.2 The propaganda of “Malaysia Inc.” was another conscious attempt to associate Malaysia with the example of Japan Inc., not only as an ideal where cooperation between the government and the private sector would make “greater contributions to national development”, but also, again, as a socio-cultural programme to foster strong links between the public and private sectors, and to connect government services to national profit: “More efficient and prompt government services would increase the companies’ prospects for profits. Larger profits in turn ensure more taxes for the government.”3 Incidentally, “Japan Incorporated” was initially a derogatory term connoting an overly materialistic culture concerned only with work and money, and not with the finer things in life. However, sustained growth has turned that culture into a developmental model considered worthy of emulation. The Mahathir regime was thus prone to sloganeer with a dual purpose. Slogans tended to provide a comprehensible idea about a wideranging policy, while reminding the populace that some major change was needed of them: “We are doing our bit, you must do yours.” The socio-political atmosphere in 1991 was generally optimistic:The New Economic Policy (NEP) (1971–1990) had ended, though not the general policy of preferential treatment for Malays, and had created an apprehensive atmosphere for what was to follow; Mahathir and Anwar had both recently secured their political position, while the economy boomed; the NEP had been successful to no mean extent, and there was growing confidence among Malays in their ability to develop and modernise; Malaysian international pride and influence was rising; and inter-ethnic tension was on the decline. 49 3: Bangsa Malaysia: Vision or Spin? What Did Mahathir Say? Alongside the Look East Policy, one may parade a few others that expressed Mahathir’s disapproval of the Eurocentrism he perceived in Malaysian cultural consciousness. The “Asian Values” debate later championed by Mahathir, among others, was, for example, an attack on the hegemony of Western presumptions of cultural superiority, just as the East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) initiative was an attempt to break Western control over Asia’s right to internal conference. On the global stage then, Malaysia under Mahathir developed a regionalistic profile that turned both eastwards towards the Confucian world, and westwards towards the Islamic world, even as he postured himself as a fearless spokesman for the non-Western world at large. On the domestic stage, his goals had been the raising of the status of the Malays in all areas...