I WAS one of Universiti Malaya’s May 13^th 1969 students at the First Residential College. The same year too, I was probably the only freshman ever elected into office of the Joint Common Room Committee or JCRC. I served one very honourable Chair, and, in my third year at the college, I stood and became the president of the same residential college.

In that same year, our now jailed transformative leader, the indomitable Anwar Ibrahim was also contesting and speaking in the Speaker’s Corner. I did not get involved in Student Union politics as I was already involved in residential and activities at the Faculty of Economics.

One former UM graduate and now President of Persatuan Alumni University Malaya (PAUM) was very active in student politics of those years. He, and all others involved then, were involved with early and older ideas about Malay Supremacy and becoming active in Malay politics. They did well too; in life and in asset accumulation.

But from being a premier university, UM is today found to be driven by half-baked ideas, with equally half-baked individuals extolled as leaders.

Rather unfortunately, our Forum Perdana last week on “Supremacy of Parliament versus Supremacy of Constitution,” a small group of narrow-minded individuals, on full behalf of UM, ruled that it was an “event that trespasses into political, religious, and racial sensitivities”.

Can anyone in any faculty of UM or any other Malaysian universities, or even the Vice Chancellor of UM, or even the Patron of PAUM, please let me know how this topic trespasses and does not transcend only such blinded bigotry?

New politics of knowledge

Far too many of us do not realise that the world has significantly and fundamentally changed with the inception of internet and social media; and that we can never really return to the same older business model and ways of life.

Likewise, today’s politics can never be about race or religious ideals. That is politics of divisiveness. The nation needs policies and the politics of ideas which clearly and specifically address policy gaps of “failures in empathy,” by either our politicians, or public policy analysts.

We therefore need a newer culture of “non-partisan national politics,” which stops speaking along racial or ethnic lines but instead addresses policy-driven gaps based on real needs on the ground.

For example, I wish to ask one core question of the so-called promoters or defenders of the Malaysian Indians, or “MyIndians”, as I call them. Who and where are the truly marginalised community members in Malaysia, by ethnicity? The current bottom 40% (B40) language does not seek to answer this question either. Can we identify and locate these truly and seriously marginalised ethnic communities?

Any serious and clear study of our Parliamentary Democratic system of Governance must be able to address such a noticeable marginalisation of all Malaysian communities. And any definition of 2020 Vision must be able to address very specifically and precisely this problem set or definition.

We must understand and identify the level of real but relative poverty in Malaysia and we must do it by communities and geographies, and not just simply with global statements. For example the bottom 40% of society is both a weak and poor definition in terms of a developmental agenda.

In my lexicon of development and progress; any such abject poverty of means, whether in terms of food, shelter, and clothing will constitute basic needs. These are basic human physiological needs and no human can enjoy normal development and progress without them.

Therefore, whoever wants the privilege of governance at the Federal, State, and local government levels must speak in a language of clarity with an unconditional hatred for abject poverty. That plan must begin to be executed by 2020, so all three generations believe it is possible by 2050. – March 19, 2018.

* KJ John worked in public service for 32 years, retired, and started a civil group for which he is chairman of the board. He writes to inform and educate, arguing for integration with integrity in Malaysia. He believes such a transformation has to start with the mind before it sinks into the heart!

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.