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Now Blogging Afresh at Ad Orientem 西儒 - The Western Confucian



Monday, July 11, 2005

Malaysian Dhimmitude
Here is an article on the plight of Malaysian dhimmis (non-Muslims in Muslim lands):Having lived in the country, I witnessed Malaysian Dhimmitude first hand. In fact, I made my living off it.

Dhimmitude in Malaysia has a racial element as well. Malays, the majority, are the beneficiaries of an Affirmative Action program that discriminates against Malaysian Chinese and Indians, more economically successful races. Malays are called Bumiputras, "sons of the soil." Malays are by default Muslims, as it is impossible to convert from Islam. [The only non-Muslim Bumiputras are the small various tribes of Orang Asli, "indigenous people." Most of these are from East Malaysia (the Malaysian-administered part of Borneo). Some of them are Christian. Orang Asli constitute less that 1% of the population.] It is possible for a Chinese of Indian Malaysian to achieve Bumiputra status by converting to Islam, as did the ethnically Chinese family of my forner boss, Datuk Wan Ismail Wan Mahmood, father-in-law of disgraced Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

It is next to impossible for a non-Bumiputra to enter into a Malaysian college or university, such are the Affirmitive Action laws. Chinese and Indian Malayians have no other choice than to earn their degrees abroad. Meeting this educational need, "twinning programs" with foreign universities have sprung up in Malaysia. In these programs, like the one I worked for, students are able to earn Amwerican, British, or Australian university credits in Malaysia during two years of study, and then transfer overseas to complete their junior and sophomore years.

At the end of the day, this Affirmitive Action progranm backfires: Malays receive a sub-standard education at home, while Malaysian Chinese and Indians get a superior education abroad, only to return and continue their dominance of the economy, continuing to ask why "Malays" and "malaise" are homophones.

Mahathir bin Mohamad, thorn in the side of the West but a man I somewhat admire, examined the failings of his own race in his controversial work The Malay Dilemma.

For daily coverage of Dhimmitude in the Islamic world, see Dhimmi Watch.