A Participant’s Perspective Of Kursus Kenegaraan (BTN)... Letter By A Disappointed Civil Servant

A Participant’s Perspective Of Kursus Kenegaraan (BTN)

Letter
By A Disappointed Civil Servant

It amuses me to note the rapacious back and forth regarding the Kursus Kenegaraan organised by the Biro Tatanegara. However, i notice that remarks defending the program have so far been based on perspectives of certain Government officials, who may or may not have been subjected to the charms of the program. As a serving Government professional of non-Bumiputera descent, I feel it is pertinent that I share my experience of this program, so that some objectivity may be achieved in understanding the isssue at hand.

It is compulsory for all Govt. servants to attend this course once during service. I attended the program in 2006, in a group of 80-odd Malays and 9 non-Malays. We were a mix of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and teachers. On the first day, we had to listen to a series of 4 lectures, all delivered by lecturers from the local MARA University campus. I vividly remember the 1st lecture on Kerakyatan, for it was delivered with such fervour by an obviously inspired lecturer. At times he seemed to go off his script and made several references to ‘other’ races being ‘pendatangs’ and forgetting their ‘place’ in society, and not being grateful for the citizenship ‘awarded’ to them, and other remarks of a similar vein.

However what shocked me was when this lecturer, in a frenzied fit of rage, asked the audience whether they knew that ALL Indians who migrated here were from the PARIAH caste, and similarly all Chinese who came here were also from the lower classes in their country of origin. I was livid with rage that this supposed university lecturer had the unabashed temerity to tar all Indians and Chinese with the same brush, and make such an unsubstantiated sweeping statement that may have been lapped up by the ill-informed as the gospel truth. From that moment I was mentally tuned off from listening to further garbage being spewed by this obvious racist. After ranting and raving for a good forty minutes more, he mercifully concluded and invited questions from the floor.

I immediately got up and proceeded to enquire on what basis the lecturer made his sweeping statements, and if he was aware that aside from indentured labourers, the British had brought educated Indians and Ceylonese Tamils to serve in the civil service in pre-independence Malaya. I then informed him that I was a 3rd generation civil servant, and the last time I checked, I wasn’t a PARIAH. By this time the lecturer was squirming in discomfort, especially as the crowd assembled there started to cheer me on. I sternly told the lecturer to check his facts before he confuses others with blatant untruths.

The Chinese dentist that stood up after me was in no conciliatory mood however. She blasted the lecturer outright by saying ‘Saya berasa amat tersinggung dengan apa yang dikatakan oleh penceramah tadi (I am offended by the remarks made by the lecturer); ianya sangat tidak adil dan amat mengelirukan para hadirin di sini (it is an unfair statement and can confuse the others assembled here).’

Probably stung by the truth of those comments, the lecturer tried to weasel out of the messy situation by defending his statement which was made in a particular context. But none of us were fooled, and we realised that this course was an attempt to stereotype and racially profile the citizenry for the benefit of a certain group to assert its ‘ketuanan’ on others.

Suffice to say, i was least interested in the ensuing activities, especially the drill parade where we were forced to pray with arms outstretched to maintain ‘conformity’, despite my usual method being the traditional hands clasped in supplication.

Ultimately, the course made me despise the way the non-bumis were treated, and served to reinforce the belief shared by many that it is a brainwashing and indoctrination exercise to target the ill-informed and the gullible. I am sure my Malay friends would (mostly) have cringed in shame at the way their fellow citizens were humiliated and made a mockery of.

Bottom line is, stay away from this course. It does no good and can serve to divide the population.


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Good Comment

 

#1 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 17 October 2010 - 8:46 pm

It is natural and inevitable logic for BTN to indoctrinate Ketuanan precepts if it were to serve an effective tool to buttress and perpetuate UMNO’s political power.

In the communal structure of our politics, the raison de etre of UMNO, MCA & MIC is to fight for its/respective communal constituencies’ interest but owing to historical reasons UMNO is naturally the big brother whose agenda takes precedence over the rest.

To garner Malay votes it is important for UMNO to be viewed continuously as champion of Malay interest. To this end, it is necessary to keep Malays as original definitive people apart from immigrants both in the period immediately after independence – and in decades after, their respective descendants separate as well by the Bumi-Non Bumi dichotomy.

The rationale for keeping separate is to correct the injustices of colonial powers done to the definitive people and to honour the so called “Social Contract” between them and the original immigrants and their descendants..

The injustice is supposedly derived from Colonial powers bringing in the “pendatangs” in pre-independence times without the definitive people bing able to do anything about it. And when leaving, the colonialists make amends to immigrants by negotiating on their behalf citizenship based on “Jus soli” notion – ie the principle that the country of citizenship of a child is determined by its country of birth, irrespective of the nationality of its parents. Hence all who were born in the country as citizens without taking into account their ancestors, from where they came, will become citizens…In quid pro quo trade off and exchange for the “Jus soli “ concession, the definitive people are accorded special privileges enshrined in Article 153 of the Constitution, amended from 15 year reviewable to perpetual.

This constitutes the bases of thought of the famous “Social Contract” which the constitution mentions nothing about expressly but apologists for the concept and defenders of its perpetuity argue it’s implied.

For so long as the bumi/non bumi dichotomy – first class and rest of citizenry – remains relevant, so the reason of existence for a communal party like UMNO remains – to champion Malay interests to rectify historical anomalies and injustices and enforce compliance of the Social Contract!

With each other communal parties like MCA & MIC also fighting for their respective communal interest, the theory is that any tendency on UMNO’s part towards extremity of Malay agenda when pursued by it will be balanced & moderated by competing claims of and bargaining by the other component parties (MCA & MIC) having so called power sharing with UMNO within the BN. This is only theory. In practice, UMNO controls political appointments in govt and the patronage strings/goodies in gravy train and soon, consistent with ketuanan, all the component parties defer to its leadership and dominance, thereby causing them to underpresent if not neglect their respective communities’ interest thereby driving their traditional supporters to switch support for the more inclusive and non communal platforms of the Opposition. BTN is therefore another face of UMNO serving to further its political agenda of perpetuating hold on power based on the precepts of Ketuanan and Social Contract.

Bottom line, to criticise BTN’s lecturers as racist and to ask UMNO dominant govt. to disband BTN for indoctrinating race based ideologies amongst civil servants contrary to 1 Malaysia, it is, as usual, putting UMNO on the spot of being unable to reconcile its 1 Malaysia platform with that of BTN’s work, which is basically to serve as tool to advance UMNO’s traditional raison de etre of keeping races separate and apart in order to play champion to the majority one whose voting support is considered pivotal and decisive. It’s like asking it to shoot its own foot, a very painful task.

“Biro Tata Negara: An Incubator of Bigotry and Intolerance”... by Din Merican

I recommend Din Merican’s blog entitled “Biro Tata Negara: An Incubator or Bigotry and Intolerance” for reading:

The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) or National Civics Bureau has been hogging the limelight lately for all the wrong reasons. Ostensbily created for the purpose of fostering patriotism and “commitment to excellence”, the BTN has become an incubator of bigotry and intolerance. It turned out to be nothing more than “communal brainwashing” and is anything but civic.

It started off as an obscure agency in 1974 with an innocuous-sounding name: Youth Research Unit. It mutated into BTN at the time when Mahathir Mohamad had just assumed power. And unbeknownst to the public, the devils in the BTN had been subtlely and at times blatantly poisoning the minds of scholars, public servants, university students and youths sent there for training over the past quarter of a century.

For decades, BTN had been training and producing “graduates” to become future leaders who would come out well-rounded intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. The courses they studied had noble objectives: enhancing patriotism, strengthening self-reliance, building character and discipline, promoting excellent work ethics, and fostering a spirit of camaraderie “regardless of race”.

The goals were fine on paper but it appears they were not put into practice or had become totally irrelevant. Once shut up within the four walls of BTN, it is a fact that the “students” were subjected to racial and political indoctrination.

The products of the BTN system were there for all to see: A school principal in Johor reportedly said “Chinese students should go back to China” and likened Indian prayer strings to dog leashes. A special officer openly said that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese, especially women, came to sell their bodies”. A high-ranking BTN officer shocked the nation when he allegedly called Chinese “slitty eyed” and Indians “alcoholic”. These are the tip of the iceberg: more muck will float when incendiary remarks made in public or in private functions see the light of day.

The courses were also political in nature, emphasising Malay supremacy and loyalty to national leaders. According to one BTN alumnus, a song was taught with the lyrics: “the land that you walk upon is owned by others”, insinuating that the non-Malays have grabbed all the land and that it was time the Malays asserted their rights and reclaimed lost ground.

Another alumnus was put off when the trainers tarred the Chinese as the “Jews of Asia” who were engaged in a conspiracy to topple the government. Yet another participant was shocked when one lecturer blatantly declared that the Malays “were the most supreme race in the world… while the others were insignificant”. The opposition was mercilessly flayed to bring home the message that it did not pay to vote for the other side.

The BTN continues to exist in its monstrous form. Apologists like Ahmad Maslan, deputy minister in the prime minister’s department, and Mahathir were quick to defend the ogre. Maslan dismissed the whole hullabaloo as a mere slip-up by one lecturer, while Mahathir had nothing but high praise for the BTN for “inculcating the values of discipline and hard work in public servants and scholars”. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin came out from the dark to say BTN programmes “inculcate nationalism and unity… in line with the 1Malaysia concept”. These are weak responses. Even the recent directive to all heads of government departments to check their officers from making sensitive statements is an exercise in futility. It does not address the glaring abuses in the system.

Undoubtedly, BTN has failed to discharge its duty responsibly. It has created at taxpayers’ expense and released hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bigots into the civil service and other sectors, who will continue to spew racial slurs and undermine the very concept of patriotism.

Love of country cannot exist in a cauldron of hate and spite. Moral and ethics cannot take root when public servants themselves do not show exemplary conduct. Team spirit cannot be built on the mucky soil of racism. Unity in diversity is a lost cause when the doctrine of Malay supremacy is worshipped as a national ideology. BTN is an antithesis of everything that is good, unifying, principled, decent.

BTN was recast largely in the image of Mahathir. When the aging doctor took it under his wings in the Prime Minister’s Department, the creature underwent a series of operation. Drastic changes were introduced to ensure that all who attended the courses would come out with the look of the devil in their eyes.

BTN had turned into a Frankenstein that has gone berserk and done harm to millions of people who call Malaysia their one and only home. There is only way to strap down the monster and put it to sleep: abolish the detested BTN. This calls for firm, decisive action. BTN aka Frankenstein must be consigned with all haste to the dung heap of history.