CHINA investments ishould not come at the expense of Malaysia’s culture and heritage, civil society group Institut Kesedaran Rakyat (IKR) said today. 

Wading into the controversy on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday, which was slammed for its little display of Malaysian culture, IKR chairman Abdul Rahman Maidin said although the Malaysian heritage was relatively new, the government should still be proud of it.

“Malaysia is still an independent country, a sovereign nation.

“Although our country is still new, the heritage and culture have been sown among the people since the country’s independence 60 years ago.

“We don’t reject other languages such as Mandarin but the launch was held in Malaysia, but it was as if the people no longer had their own identity,” the former president of Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM) told The Malaysian Insight. 

Rahman, who is also former Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) executive chairman, said the people should have shown their displeasure at such an insult to the country.

“The government should be the guardian of Malaysian culture and civilisation.” 

Malay rights group Perkasa has also accused Putrajaya of pawning race and dignity for foreign investments, decrying the Kuantan event for being “too Chinese”. 

“We see flags along the road in Chinese. There is not even a single Malaysian flag. Was the Malaysian flag not allowed at the ceremony?

“It is even more unfortunate that the emcee of the event spoke Mandarin. Perhaps the person was brought from China. This is the start of denying Bahasa Melayu as the national language,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali had said.

Malay intellectual Kassim Ahmad said the Malaysian culture should have been featured even in an event that involved foreign investors. 

“The event should have used Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Melayu. It is even better if we can highlight other languages such as Mandarin and Tamil. 

“Only then will it reflect the Malaysian culture,” Kassim said, while criticising the ‘bahasa rojak’ of local television dramas. 

“We have to use our language correctly, unlike in Malay dramas where they always mix Malay and English,” he said. 

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who launched ECRL, described it as a “game changer” and “mindset changer” for Malaysia as it will significantly cut travel time to and from the east coast of the peninsula.

China state council vice-premier Wang Yang, China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC) executive director and chairman Liu Qitao, and Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) chairman Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were present at the groundbreaking. – August 2, 2017.11