THE National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) was set up two years ago on Nov 25, 2013 to draw up a blueprint of new measures intended to further foster national unity. Members of the NUCC, 29 of them, were appointed for a two-year term that has now expired; and from them has come a substantial report with 16 recommendations for the government. These, according to the minister responsible, have been studied and a National Unity Plan of Action will be tabled to the cabinet some time in February next year. To date, there has been one certainty: according to the minister, there is no need for new legislation relating to unity.
One peculiarity of the NUCC was their closed-door meetings. The aim was to enable a free discussion of highly sensitive issues that have clearly disrupted the harmony between communities, like the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, issues concerning Sabah and Sarawak, and constitutional matters, including Malay privileges. Other than convening these closed-door meetings, the council organised “Unity Dialogues” throughout the country, a platform where public opinion was gathered to be ultimately fed into the National Unity Blueprint. In these dialogues, one anomaly surfaced. These being dialogues on national unity, the Malay rights non-governmental organisation, Perkasa, never once participated, on the lame excuse that some members of the NUCC belonged to the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (Comango), which participates in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on the state of human rights in the country. How that is offensive is beyond anyone’s ken. Part of the blueprint is the Harmony Bill, intended to replace the Sedition Act (1948). However, given the surge of racial attacks and slurs on social media and elsewhere, and attacks on the institution of the Malay rulers, the government decided to retain the Sedition Act. That the Action Plan will not contain new legislation means the Harmony Bill is stillborn. Advocates of the bill argue that it will criminalise racial and religious hate crime. But, that the Sedition Act covers. However, unlike the Sedition Act, the Harmony Bill leaves room for questioning such constitutional provisions as Malay privileges and Islam.
Nonetheless, the proposed Action Plan will provide for Community Mediation and Conflict Resolution Centres. These will be found nationwide. But, unlike the Reconciliation Commission proposed by the Harmony Bill, there will be no punitive powers conferred on them. Anyway, as many have argued, one does not legislate for unity. That the NUCC was set up suggests that despite existing laws, fault lines exist between the ethnic communities. Issues, when politicised, cannot but come down to the Malay/non-Malay dichotomy, as happened in the confrontation between the Yellow T-shirt and Red T-shirt groups. That the silent majority remained unmoved by their posturing though suggests clearly that unity and harmony are cherished by most Malaysians. What is lacking is the political maturity to frame differences within the democratic construct. In this respect, the NUCC’s recommendation for “democratic” literacy is spot on. It is the political immaturity of Malaysians that is most destructive to national unity.