by Ganesh Sahathevan
Melbourne University's Asialink is regarded as one of Australia's leading think tanks on matters concerning Asia. To educate Australians about what foreigners, especially Asians, might think if Australians vote down a proposal to amend via referendum their Constitution to "recognise" their Aboriginals, Asialink published an article by John Dowd, who was among other things High Commissioner to Malaysia. Dowd has said:
While it is doubtful if the Australian referendum matters to most if not all citizens in this region, former NST Managing Editor Brendan Pereira has written how the Australian proposal is not unlike Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution and is likely to cause in Australia the types of problems Malaysians have had to grapple with for over 60 years. His article was published in The Spectator ,is freely available, but Asialink seems uninterested in that Asian view.
Why I am voting ‘No’: an Asian perspective
On October 14, 2023, Australians will go to the polls to vote on enshrining the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in our Constitution. There will be many perspectives articulated on the issue from both sides of the debate from now until then, but I have yet to see an Asian perspective on the subject matter, even though Asians make up just under 18 per cent of the Australian population according to a 2021 census.
One thing is clear: there is a universal consensus among Australians, irrespective of race, that more needs to be done to uplift the Indigenous community, especially in regional and remote areas. It is a terrible stain on the soul of the nation to see our fellow Australians of Indigenous descent living in the horrible conditions that they are currently experiencing.
A country’s Constitution is a set of principles which the country is founded upon. The issue here isn’t about recognising Indigenous people in our Constitution, which many people would not have a problem with, instead it is the request to enshrine the body known as ‘The Voice’ in our Constitution, which is essentially enshrining special rights to people based on their ethnicity in perpetuity. Once enshrined, there is no point of return. In the 4,000 years or so of recorded history of humanity, countries that have implemented special rights based on race and or religion have a poor track record of success and most inevitably fail. This is the reason why I am voting ‘No’ to The Voice and I am guided by the fact that Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the First Prime Minister of Singapore and one of the greatest nation builders in history, would have done the same.
On August 31, 1957, the Federation of Malay States (Malaya) was granted independence from the British Empire. Soon thereafter, on September 16, 1963, the four British territories Malaya, North Borneo, Singapore, and Sarawak federated to form the country now known as Malaysia. In less than two years, on August 9, 1965, Singapore was expelled from Malaysia. There were many reasons why Singapore was expelled from the Federation, chief among them was the disagreement on the inclusion and adoption of Article 153 within the Malaysian Constitution between the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and the Leader of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution notes the special position of the Malays in Malaysia and their entitlement to special rights under the guise of affirmative action policies. The Malay community, post-independence, was mainly uneducated, poor, and living in regional areas compared to the better-educated, wealthy Chinese and Indian communities, which were urbanised, had greater wealth, and controlled a significant portion of the economy of Malaysia.
The intent of Article 153 was to close the gap and uplift the Malay community, as well as give them a greater share of the economy. Mr Lee Kuan Yew had vociferously opposed the inclusion of Article 153 in the Malaysian Constitution and advocated for a Malaysian Malaysia, where meritocracy rules and all races are treated equally under the Constitution. Mr Lee was adamant and proven right many years later that Article 153 would divide the nation and create a parallel class of citizenship based on race. It is worth noting the near identical similarities between ‘The Voice’ being proposed by the Albanese government and Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution.
In an article in Foreign Affairs magazine published on July 1, 1965, Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman proudly proclaimed that Malaysia had the second highest living standards in the East, compared only to Japan and its economy was sound and stable.
Today, the country is more divided along racial and religious lines than ever before, living, and educational standards have dropped significantly, and the economy is on shaky ground when compared to other countries within the ASEAN region. Meritocracy is non-existent and corruption is endemic in day-to-day life. Most urban and educated non-Malay families, like my own, have emigrated abroad to seek a better life and many more will do so in the coming years.
The majority of the Malay community is still poor and poorly educated, albeit for a few ultra-wealthy, foreign-educated Malay families who now control a significant portion of the economy. Article 153 has been an abysmal failure and to this day, Malaysia is still grappling with its legacy more than 60 years later.
There is an ancient saying that goes, ‘When an elder dies, an entire library burns to the ground.’ Mr Lee Kuan Yew may no longer be with us, but his prescient foresight, knowledge, and legacy still live on with many of those who grew up in Malaysia. For me to vote anything other than a ‘No’ would be utterly ignorant of my history and the sacrifices made by those before me.
The choice is yours to vote on in this referendum. You can choose to learn the wisdom imparted by one of the greatest leaders of our time, or you can choose to wilfully ignore it, but please do understand the repercussions of your decision should you decide to vote ‘Yes’, and always remember it was a Labor government that adopted a White Australia policy in 1905, and now it is trying to implement an Indigenous-only Australia. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme; so, said the famous American author, Mark Twain.
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