Govt ‘too selective’ on Chinese in forces, say former army men

SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian Armed Forces Chinese Veterans Association (Macva) has accused the government of becoming “too selective” in recruiting Chinese who want to join the military and police.

Its president Maj (Rtd) Tan Pau Son said over a hundred Malaysian Chinese wanted to join the forces over the last two years but were turned down on the pretext that “they are not good enough.”

He said non-Malay officers outnumbered Malays in the military when he served there in the 1960s.

“You may not know that Umno MPs had in Parliament complained why non-Malays were more than Malays in the military,” he said, adding that the number of non-Malays was subsequently reduced.

“But later the Chinese were accused of refusing to join the service. Why weed them out in the first place?” he told a press conference at the Sungai Buloh army camp here today.

Tan said this when asked why Chinese and other non-Malays did not want to serve the country by participating in the security forces.

“It is not because we do not want to join, but the selection process is very strict on Chinese,” he said.

“This is something to our disadvantage,” he said.

In December last year, National Patriot Association president Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said that a distinctive division along ethnic lines had contributed to non-Malays shying away from joining the armed forces.

He said the government’s affirmative action policies of the 1980s had seeped into the military administration, with racial favouritism creeping into the minds of commanders.

“Slowly and surely, the commanders saw some of those under their command as half-brothers or stepsons, unlike all (being seen) as equal previously,” he said.

“Individuals were not made to feel important and desired. Instead, feeling as an ‘outsider’ made many feel unwelcome. Thus began an era of individualistic and selfish attitudes and behaviour among those in the military,” Arshad said.

He also said the military became more Muslim-centric over the years, causing non-Malays who did not practise the religion to feel alienated. Soldiers’ lives were also dictated by religious sensitivity.

Meanwhile, Tan said another factor discouraging non-Malays from joining the armed forces was the bullying culture in the military.

Citing the case of late navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain who was allegedly beaten to death in June last year, he said the bullying culture could likely be worse with more non-Malays around.

“This must be stopped. Not only for Malays but for everyone,” he said.

He said ragging was not allowed in the UK military college system where cadet officers would be expelled if caught ragging.

Zulfarhan, a Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) student, was found by his friends with burn marks and bruises in an apartment in Sepang around 8pm on June 1. He died the next day.

Five UPNM students were charged with murder while another student was accused of abetting. -FMT