The BTN issue

THE FUROR ABOUT BTN.

The PM should not be goaded into dismantling the BTN. Generations of participants (students, government officers) have gone through various BTN courses without adopting the bigotry decried by many.

I have attended talks and ceramahs carried out by BTN speakers. I didn't think they were hate speeches. If at all, I found them to be informative and instructive.

Many have also benefited from some of the social programs funded by BTN. The outward bound modules teach team building and group think. I have never heard of non Malays being referred as to as Jews or derisively as a Golem.

The PM shouldn't be cornered into making a hasty decision on account of a polished and made-for-movie presentation by a cabinet minister. A reasoned white paper is a better alternative source on which to decide.

Exception rather than a rule.

Let's accept that some facilitator did say that Chinese are the Jews of Malaysia or the East or something. Has that kind of indoctrination created a sea wave of general resentment towards the Chinese?

It's also interesting to note that Kelantanese are also referred sometimes as the Malay Jews as a result of their business acumen and sharp business practices. I think they are called that more so because of their industriousness in general. Do other non- Kelantanese carry on with life burdened with hate and resentment towards Kelantanese?

One meets with the same negative answer with the referral of the Chinese as a Malaysian Jew. The test is has the person who has heard that blatant and racist bigoted statement continued in life with that 'germ of divisiveness'? Obviously he/she is repulsed by such bigotry leading that person to now denounce BTN.

The further point is- the BTN which was set up in 1974 shouldn't be dismantled on account of this particular and localized narrow-mindedness. The reason is that such a chauvinism in not sustainable in light of rising social consciousness.

Let's not be petty minded on account of a localized and isolated incident of bigotry. Let us also not be petty minded and nit picking on a song meant more to jolt the Malays into heightened social consciousness. More animosity and contempt are stirred up by insensitive policies adopted by political parties than what BTN does.

The Selangor government thinks the worse of course participants. They think these people are malleable putty, easily contorted and brainwashed. What has the recent General Elections showed? No amount of brainwashing can conceal your weaknesses and the people have shown this during the GE12. That, despite of so many having been 'brainwashed' by BTN.

So when people say be done with BTN, please identify which aspects of the BTN they find revolting and abusive?

What tactics do you employ to persuade a liberal-minded PM? It's a shameless flattery in trying to knock off BTN by comparing it with the concept of 1 Malaysia when the 1Malaysia concept has not yet been accepted in the first place. 1 Malaysia itself is contentious and one would be fooled into believing that if BTN is abolished, that means 1 Malaysia is accepted. That's an old trick used by Lim Kit Siang.

BTN stands for Biro Tata Negara. It was formed way back in 1974 and was probably thought as a means to instill a mental revolution especially among Malays to awaken from their slumber. To wake people up from centuries of mental subjugation, would require some shock tactics. None more shocking than to dramatize our past.

It's a government department responsible for instilling civic consciousness among Malaysians. It has also financed many programs conducted by NGOs. Normally, when it finances these programs, BTN officers will be given a slot to speak on a number of issues.

BTN has recently come under severe criticisms. It is accused of planting the seeds of divisiveness incompatible to the new national slogan of 1 Malaysia. Many websites and writers have joined in the widespread condemnation of BTN.

One website carried a video of the initiation song of BTN participants. Generations of ITM students were also serenaded with this particular song- Anak Kecil Main Api. I have listened to the songs many times and truth be told, couldn't decipher what's the fuss is all about.

People are moved by this song according to their understanding level. You make out the song according to your level of understanding capacity. You walk out with a Pollyannaish attitude or you come out with extreme pessimism and paranoia seeing enemies around every corner. Has that song created the latter?

It tells about the lot of the Malays falling behind other races. It doesn't blame other races for the Malay predicament. It tells how once upon a time Malays achieved glory. Reading in between the lines one can immediately understand the message. That Malays can achieve the prominence once achieved by their ancestors by working hard.

It's an uplifting song with no sinister motive. It's not a KKK song or Mary Phagan Anthem exhorting Malays to kill Chinese or other non Malays. Mary Phagan was a Caucasian girl allegedly murdered by a Jewish American named Leo Frank. Her murder led to the emergence of an organization known as Knights of Mary Phagan which later became the KKK.

The BTN was set up to instill passion in the spirit of Malays. It owns up to the fact, that the lot by which the Malays now find themselves, is the result of their own efforts or lack thereof.

No, it doesn't not teach participants that Chinese are Jews. BTN does not instill hatred. Perhaps for the Selangor government, the chickens have come home to roost. BTN becomes a convenient scapegoat.