By Mohsin Abdullah

An old friend posted this on Facebook a few days ago: "RM100 million to help Malaysian Indians? How much does that work out to? RM16 each?"

That friend, needless to say, is a Malaysian of Indian descent. And he was being sarcastic, obviously, in commenting Budget 2021 tabled by the finance minister on Friday, Nov 6.

Also on social media we see figures, or rather Budget 2021 allocation for the Chinese community, i.e. RM177 million.

It is reported that the RM100 million is to "empower" the Indian community's socioeconomic development.

And the RM177 million allocation for the Chinese community is for education facilities and new villages.

Alongside the figures were allocations for Islamic affairs, bumiputra and bumiputra education etc. which run to billions of ringgit!

It's no surprise that the captions accompanying the figures are about disparity, inequality and discrimination. Whoever posted it is obviously angry, like many Chinese and Indian friends of mine. And you know what? I don't blame them.

Rather, I feel not only for them but their entire communities as well.

When one Chinese friend put the figures out on a WhatsApp chat group which I am in, a Malay friend remarked saying critics did not take into account the population of the country, i.e. the number of Malays and non-Malays. Hence, he said "it's stupid" to expect equal amount of money be allocated to all races. Obviously, the narrative was that the allocation for Malays is bigger simply because there are more Malays compared to Chinese, Indians and other races.

Looking at that point of view, yes, there is logic to what he said, but then there are more to it than meets the eye.

Non-Malays have always felt "discriminated" all this while, and this Budget allocation is just the latest among the grouses.

Anyway, if that remark by the Malay friend was meant to pacify or reason things out, another friend, incidentally also a Malay, aggravated matters.

He said the post about the difference in allocation for Malays and non Malays (together with the captions) is a "provocation".

So, here's the thing: for all its good intents and purposes, this is not a balanced budget which cuts across communities.

I agree with many analysts who opine that Budget allocations should not be race-based because this will be divisive. Instead, it should be income- or needs-based.

The generalization that all Malays are poor (therefore must be helped) and all Chinese are rich while Indians are mostly doctors and lawyers (therefore need not be helped) must be stopped once and for all.

There should not have been race-based allocations according to some economists. It goes against the spirit of national unity.

Indeed, help must be given to the deserved no matter what race or religion, color or creed.

But we have what we have now. Some observers see Budget 2021 as a "pre election one to keep key sections of the population happy so they will vote the government back into office". I won't get there for now.

Instead, I say this: despite the Budget perceived as giving advantages to the Malays, there are many in the community being disturbed with the "discriminatory elements".

I've read comments in news portal of Malays saying Muslims must be fair and must not take money from non-Muslims through taxes and unfairly allocate more to Malays and Muslim needs.

This, they say, is not condoned by Islam, which shows many Malays are speaking up.

More need to do it. As an analyst sees it, if more learned Malay-Muslims come forward and make their stand known, there is hope for a better, non-racial Malaysia. 

As it is, another Malay friend sadly notes that looking at the Budget, "we are drifting further and further away from the Malaysia our forefathers wanted the country to be." 

The irony is, the theme of Budget 2021 is, "We are strong when we are together." 

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)