前外交官丹尼斯•伊格纳修斯撰文:
慕尤丁内阁是一个
马来人主权的内阁
作者：丹尼斯•伊格纳修斯（ Dennis Ignatius ）
作者曾经长期担任国阵政府的外交官，退休后经常发表时局评论文章。他的这篇文章直指慕尤丁日前成立的内阁是一个“史无前例”的把非马来人(主要是华族、淡米尔印裔、伊班达雅族和杜顺卡大山族)视如无物的马来人主权的内阁。
读了作者的这篇文章，可以体会到：慕尤丁的“国民政府”对比过去的“联盟政府”、“国阵政府”以及短命的“马哈迪政府”，对非马来人来说，是更糟糕的政府。这是因为它将会（比巫统主导的时代）更全面、更彻底实施“马来人主权”的统治，从而给被统治被压迫者（尤其是非马来人，当然也包括生活在社会底层的马来劳苦大众）造成更巨大、更深重的灾难。
曾经长期为马来统治集团服务的作者，此时此刻亮出对慕尤丁内阁的这一立场和观点，是令人欣赏和赞许的。
作者是以英文撰写的。以下是<人民之友>安排自愿工作者所作的华文译稿，文内小标题为<人民之友>编者所加——
首相慕尤丁现在有了一个内阁。对非马来人（non-Malays）来说，它代表着我们未曾有过的最落后的内阁，这个内阁是建立在非马来人不计算在内、以及他们不应参与这个国家的政府施政的观念上。慕尤丁利用了他这次的政变，改变了非马来人的投票选举（组成的政府）。现在，他利用他成立的内阁消除非马来人的声音。
最大的“马来人主权”的内阁
他的内阁是最大的马来人主权的内阁。在70名部长和副部长中，只有2名非土著部长和5名副部长。这是我们见过的最低比例的代表性。我们看看过去的每个首相，无论他们有什么偏见，都必须考虑到以下事实：华人和印度人在马来西亚是少数族群，但必须接受他们（非马来人）在内阁中有足够的代表。慕尤丁现在对此完全不予理会。
右翼马来政客长期以来，对我国独立后跟马来西亚所有族群分享权力的结构感到不满。第14届全国大选之后，第一次出现了一个更加公平的政治代表的局面，右翼马来政客在这时候，决定停止迈向“共享治理”（shared governance）的任何步伐。
他们的说辞是，马来西亚是为马来人本身过着自己的生活，伊斯兰不容许非穆斯林担任政府高级职位。而且也出现绘影绘声传言，民主行动党正在控制政府，并破坏了联邦土地发展局和朝圣基金局之类的马来机构，以及基督徒正在试图改变这个国家的官方宗教，还有非马来人的恐怖组织如共产党和淡米尔之虎正在试图颠覆这个国家。当然，这全是胡说八道，但是，他们的目的达到了。
这讯息是很明确的：除了作为一个象征性代表之外，在国家治理中，非马来人没有政治的作用。他们是“闯入者”（interlopers）和“外来者”（pendatangs），他们因意外发生的一个历史事件而来到这里，他们（在马来西亚的地位）比马来人低。
慕尤丁曾按照特朗普式样描绘自己”马来人优先，马来西亚人次之”（Malay first, Malaysian second）——现在已经给了那群人一直想要的马来人主权的、一个由马来人压倒性地支配（其他族人）的内阁。
少数非马来人只是“窗厨人物”
当然，内阁成员中有像魏家祥、沙拉瓦南（Saravanan）和其他少数马华公会和国大党人，但是，让我们面对现实，这些人身在其中，只是“装门面措施”，是一种“策略和诡计”，让公众误以为这个内阁在一定程度上是一个多元种族内阁。
但是，马华公会和国大党，这两个政党在大选中已经被选民唾弃，怎么能为人民说话呢？
毫无疑问，马华公会和国大党希望他们重返内阁会迎来一个新的开始。或许他们设想他们凭借慕尤丁餐桌留下的残羹剩饭，可以重建他们的政治运气。他们不应该幻想自己多么遭人轻视。他们跟慕尤丁的虚假的多元种族政府合作，他们已经再次背叛马来西亚人的愿望。他们迟早会感受到人民的愤怒。
与此同时，不要对这个内阁寄予太大期望，尤其是我们现在面对巨大的经济不稳定——冠状病毒流行，石油价格（和政府收入）下降，国内投资减退以及全球经济持续放缓。我们从他们那里所能得到的，多是同样的失败的老政策，这些老政策已经促使我们掉进种族主义和宗教极端主义的陷阱之中。
他们的大部分政治精力都将花在防止对方变得太过强大。
毕竟，这是一个不神圣的、不虔诚的、邪恶的政客联盟。他们的联合（团结），不是基于一个共同议程或某个伟大愿景，而是基于他们本身的政治的权宜和便利。他们的忠诚是对他们自己和他们各自的政党的忠诚，而不是对一个空虚没有意义的实体即他们所谓的“国民联盟”（Perikatan Nasional）的忠诚。
悬空副首相职位，有特别用意
慕尤丁决定悬空副首相的职位，说明了一切。有人欢呼这是提高内阁效能的一项革新步骤。但事实上，这是慕尤丁的一项巧妙安排，以掩盖“国民联盟”的矛盾冲突，同时也防止伴随着慕尤丁、磨刀霍霍的野心人物的轻举妄动。
毕竟，如果他们甚至可以毫不思索地刺伤那个值得尊敬的年老的马来政治人物，一旦有机会，他们将对他做些什么呢？
尤其是阿兹敏已经被有效地围困着，他有了“高级部长”（跟其他3人一起）的美好头衔，但真实权力却很小。如果阿兹敏无法取得像马哈迪的经济沙皇时期的成效，那么可以肯定的是，他在国际贸易和工业部所作的工作甚至会更少。他将很快变成不安静的人，又再开始密谋。
我们唯一可以确定的是，当国家将会发生政治斗争之时，他们不会考虑国家的未来，相反的，他们只会想到下一次选举。这将是一场同族互杀的残酷战斗，你会看到一些人跨坐在马来人权力的架构上，收割这些政治权力所带来的经济利益。
国人不应灰心失望，要看未来
好的方面却是，慕尤丁执政了两三年之后，要求真正改革的呼声将更加强烈。一群不受旧包袱拖累、不受贪腐思想熏陶、对正义和善治充满热情的新一代的年轻领袖将崛起，并获得支持。这种情况已经发生。它可能要经历10年或更长岁月，但是，总有一天，我们将唤醒梦想中的那个更好的马来西亚。
以下是作者发表于其个人网页的全文（英文）内容——
A Ketuanan Melayu cabinet
Author: Dennis Ignatius
His cabinet is the ultimate Ketuanan Melayu cabinet. Out of 70 ministers and deputy ministers, there are only two non-bumiputra ministers and five deputy ministers, the lowest representation in terms of percentage we’ve ever seen. Every other prime minister, whatever their own prejudices, felt obliged to take into account the fact that Chinese and Indians are a significant minority in Malaysia and must be acknowledged via adequate representation in cabinet. Muhyiddin has now dispensed with this.
Right-wing Malay politicians have long been unhappy with the post-independence construct that shared power with all of Malaysia’s ethnic groups. After GE14, when for the first time, a fairer political representation emerged, they were determined to stop any move towards shared governance.
The narrative that Malaysia is for Malays and that Islam does not permit non-Muslims to hold senior positions in the administration of the country took on a life of its own. It also found expression in rumblings that the DAP was controlling the government and undermining Malay institutions like Felda and Tabong Haji, that Christians were trying to change the official religion of the country and that non-Malay terrorist groups like the communist and LTTE were trying to subvert the nation. It was all rubbish, of course, but it served its purpose.
The message was clear: other than a token representation, non-Malays should have no political role in the governance of the nation. They are interlopers and pendatangs, here by an accident of history, less Malaysian than Malays.
Muhyiddin – who in Trumpian fashion once described himself as Malay first, Malaysian second – has now given the Ketuanan Melayu crowd what they’ve always wanted, a cabinet overwhelmingly dominated by Malays.
Of course, the likes of Wee Ka Siong and Saravanan and a small clutch of other MCA and MIC members are part of the cabinet but let’s face it, they are there as window-dressing, a ruse to mislead the public into believing that this is somehow a multiracial cabinet.
In any case, how can two political parties which were overwhelmingly rejected by the electorate speak for them?
No doubt the MCA and MIC are hoping that their return to cabinet would usher in a new beginning. With scraps from Muhyiddin’s table perhaps they think they can rebuild their political fortunes. They should have no illusions as to just how despised they are. By going along with Muhyiddin’s fake multiracial government, they have once again betrayed the aspirations of Malaysians; sooner or later they will feel the wrath of the people.
In the meantime, don’t expect much from this cabinet especially given the huge economic uncertainties we now face – the coronavirus pandemic, falling oil prices (and government revenue), declining investments, and a prolonged global slowdown. All we’ll get from them is more of the same failed old policies that have kept us trapped within the wells of racism and religious extremism.
Most of their political energy will be spent on keeping each other from becoming too powerful. This is, after all, an unholy alliance of politicians united not by a common agenda or some grand vision but by political expediency and convenience. Their loyalty is to themselves and their respective parties, not to the empty and meaningless entity they call Perikatan Nasional.
Muhyiddin’s decision to leave the DPM’s post vacant says it all. While some hail it as an innovative method of improving cabinet efficiency, it is, in fact, a clever way to hide the divisions with the coalition and stymie the ambitious men with sharp knives who keep company with Muhyiddin.
After all, if they could stab even the venerable old man of Malay politics without a second thought, what will they do to him given the chance.
Azmin, in particular, has been effectively hemmed in; he has the nice title of “senior minister” (along with three others) but with little power. And if he accomplished nothing of any significance as Mahathir’s economic tsar, you can be sure he’ll do even less at the international trade and industry ministry. He’ll quickly become restless and start plotting again.
About the only thing we can be sure of is that they will not be thinking about the future of the nation but the next election when the mother of all political battles will take place. It will be a fratricidal battle to see who will sit astride the Malay power structure and, of course, reap the economic benefits of power.
But Malaysians should not lose heart or hope. Muhyiddin’s government will, sooner or later, expose the utter bankruptcy of the Ketuanan Melayu ideology and its leaders. Bigotry and extremism will only get them so far. They had it easy before because they could blame everything on the DAP; now they have power, they will have to demonstrate that they can govern, that they have the capability to innovate and come up with new ideas to get the country moving again. They are not up to the task.
The good thing though is that after a couple of years of Muhyiddin’s government, the clamour for real change will grow exponentially. A new generation of younger leaders, unencumbered by the baggage of the past, untainted by corruption and with a passion for justice and good governance will rise and gain support. It is already happening. It might take ten years or more but one day, we will awake to that better Malaysia of our dreams.
Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur |10th March 2020]
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