The force behind BTN

• The BTN controversy

2009-12-10 15:22

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The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) controversy has been debated for long. Clearly, the training modules are spreading extreme racism but many people have come forward to defend it. It shows that it is hard to change the thought of many people and it is indeed very difficult to carry out a reform in the country.

In fact, the question is very simple. Since it has been proven that the training modules are not meeting the “1Malaysia” concept, it must be reformed. They must remove extreme and outdated content and introduce new elements so that it is consistent with globalisation. If they find BTN is unable to raise patriotic spirit or bring any benefit after the reform, it has no value of existence any more and must be shut down immediately to avoid wasting the people's money.

The 28-year-old BTN represents a negative force that is against democracy and freedom. It has also brought a tremendous damage to the society. UMNO has been using the same political education, particularly the emphasis on Malay supremacy, over the past 30 years. We can see that the UMNO political education, which has been started since the rule of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has cultivated a lot of party members, whose ways of thinking are actually not consistence with a multi-racial society. As a result, UMNO is difficult to change today.

"If they can't even touch the BTN, how is Najib going to promote his reform agenda?"

Dr M's “contribution” to the country included depleting resources and cultivating many followers of the same kind.

It is worrying that millions of party members have been instilling the wrong values into the people, allowing racism to be deep rooted in the Malay community.

Over a hundred UMNO Youth members launched a protest in front of the Penang state assembly building on 30 Nov and some of them even burned a portrait of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. But so far, no one apologies for the incident. The twelve defendants of the “cow-head” case did not carry out any reflection upon the protest either. Instead, they kicked and stepped on a banner depicting caricatures of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang and Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming with cows' bodies outside the Shah Alam courts.

More shockingly, someone even said that the government should revoke DAP Vice-Chairman M. Kulasegaran's citizenship. It is now the 21st century and citizenship should never be used as a tool for intimidation and it is not a gift for UMNO either. Such remarks have proved that racism has deeply poisoned some people.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who argued with Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz over the BTN training modules, admitted that he is a racist and UMNO is a racial political party. Even if they are racists, they still have to accept that Malaysia belongs to the whole people. Unless UMNO leaders and members are able to abandon the Malay supremacy concept, otherwise, how are they going to realise Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's concept of “1Malaysia”?

The country has been independent for 52 years but its competitiveness is gradually declining. From having rich natural resources, we are now in a plight of having budget deficit for the continuous 13 years and bearing national debt of up to RM260 billion. It shows that racism no longer works. The government and UMNO must change their courses.

Restructuring or shutting down the BTN can be a starting point for reform to prevent further spread of extreme racism, so that the next generation is able to retain a pure heart. If they can't even touch the BTN, how is Najib going to promote his reform agenda? (By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)