A SHOPPING COMPLEX
1. I visited one of the newest shopping complexes in Kuala Lumpur.
2. I was impressed.
3. It is not a shopping complex.
4. It is a town, a fully air-conditioned town protected from the sun and rain.
5. There are streets lined with brand named shops, with products displayed beautifully.
6. There are restaurants and supermarkets.
7. Outside more streets, paved, lined by beautifully designed shops.
8. Then there are high rise condos.
9. It is a fantastic development and must have cost billions.
10. I toured the shopping area on a buggy. Too long to walk.
11. I am sure the project belong to Malaysian Chinese.
12. It is more grand than the shopping complexes in London, Tokyo or Seoul, Korea.
13. I feel proud.
14. Really the Malaysian Chinese have good ideas and the money to realisethese ideas.
15. Much of development in this country are by the Malaysian Chinese.
16. The Malays cannot do it.
17. They don’t have the money or the ideas.
18. Their shops are the stalls on the roadside, ramshackle affairs, with blue plastic roofs.
19. Yes, there are Malays who have made good, but there are so few of them.
20. The Malays accepted that the Chinese dominate the economy.
21. They are very good in business.
22. The Malays cannot compete against them.
23. But in the past the Malays dominate the political arena and the administration.
24. So there was a balance.
25. But not now. Now the Chinese are also politically powerful.
26. And they intend to be even more powerful.
27. If they dominate the political arena also, what is there left for the Malays.
28. Is it wrong for the Malays to try to regain a little of their former political dominance.
29. Yes, they are striving for Malay unity.
30. It is not against the Chinese.
31. For over 60 years the Malays dominated the Government.
32. But it was during that time that the Chinese of Malaysia greatly prospered.
33. If the Malays regains the political power, the Chinese would still be neededto prosper the nation.
34. The country would still be a Malay country. It had always been a Malay country.
35. The population may be multiracial.
36. But it does not mean that this country has ceased to be a Malay country.
37. In other countries where migrants settle, they become assimilated.
38. The Malays made a concession to accommodate Chinese and Indians migrants.
39. They need not be assimilated upon gaining citizenship.
40. But that does not mean that the identity of this country must change.
41. By all means make money in Malaysia.
42. Build your super shopping towns.
43. But do not deprive the Malays of their country and their history.
44. Allow the Malays to have their share.