Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a great-uncle of the current Sultan of Kelantan, has a great proposition. He wanted to revive an ancient idea made by Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy to create a “Malay nation” for everyone, irrespective of race and religion. Using Indonesia as an example, Razaleigh thinks Burhanuddin’s idea is the magic wand for solving conflicts and divisions among races in Malaysia.
Apparently the brilliant idea, first hatched by Buhanuddin when he opposed the British’s Malayan Union in 1946, was to classify all the people in the multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious British colony as the “Malays”. Like Indonesia, it would create a distinct national identity by forcing non-Malays to adopt the assimilation – regardless of one’s ancestry and race.
While the Kelantan prince’s intention to fix racial tension among Malaysians should be applauded, there’s one problem with his proposal – the creation of a new “Malay citizenship”. What’s so wrong and shameful about the existing “Malaysian” citizenship? Does Razaleigh also plan to erase a country that has existed since 1963 called Malaysia and rename it as “Malay”?
Malay is no different than ethnics Chinese and Indians, as well as other non-Malay minorities in Sabah and Sarawak – the natives Kadazans, Dusuns, Muruts, Bajaus, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus, Melanaus, Ibans, Dayaks and others. Essentially, Malay is a form of ethnicity, not nationality or citizenship. The only difference is Malay is the largest or majority ethnic in the country.
Therefore, for a UK-educated lawyer like Razaleigh to be confused between ethnicity and nationality is simply jaw-dropping. More importantly, why copies an idea from Burhanuddin al-Helmy’s but not Onn Jaafar, who had formed a Malay-based multi-ethnic political party in 1953 called “Parti Negara” (National Party) meant to unite everyone regardless of race and religion?
The difference between both individuals is that while Onn belonged to the right wing (UMNO), Burhanuddin belonged to the left wing or the anti-establishment. It’s puzzling that an UMNO veteran like Razaleigh ignores Onn Jaafar, the founder of UMNO, but chooses Burhanuddin, a radical Malay nationalist who was once the president of PAS Islamist party.
Depending on whom you spoke to, Burhanuddin could be a Malay hero or an Islamic extremist. Razaleigh should understand that Burhanuddin’s idea of creating Malay identify through bulldozing political assimilation among the non-Malays was shaped from his vision to unite then-Malaya with Indonesia. He wanted a political unification for all Malays in the “Malay World”.
Burhanuddin became the Members of Parliament in the House of Representatives under PAS’ ticket in the 1959 elections. Yet, his motion in the Parliament that all citizens and those who received the citizenship of Federated Malaya should be known as Malays was rejected by his own party – PAS. Heck, he had even tried to include the Philippine in his “Malay World” plan.
The current UMNO Malay nationalist party is not even willing to open its memberships to non-Malays for fear of competing with more capable non-Malays for top party leaderships. So, what are the chances that Razaleigh’s half-baked option is a genuine and sincere effort to eliminate discrimination, racism, suppression and oppression against the minorities?
The very fact that Mr Razaleigh insisted on having a new “Malay” citizenship is itself the clearest proof that the evil agenda could be to replicate Indonesia political system into Malaysia – converting non-Malays to Malays and possibly Islamizing the non-Muslims. But what’s so bad about the Indonesian system of having one identity for everyone, including the ethnic Chinese?
The problem is that the Chinese Indonesians, despite having lived in the Indonesian archipelago since at least the 13th century and giving up their language and culture and even their Chinese name, were still being seen as “immigrants and threats”. Like Malaysian Chinese, the Indonesian Chinese was blamed for native Indonesians’ inability to compete.
The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia were the primary victim in the 1998 Indonesia riots that saw at least 10,000 people killed and at least 168 cases of rape. Properties owned by Chinese Indonesians were looted, plundered and burned down. The Chinese were conveniently made the scapegoats when the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis saw the country’s economy and business disrupted.
The minorities in Malaysia have been treated as second class citizens for as long as one can remember. Even if the non-Malays agree to be converted to Malays, which they don’t as there a no benefits of doing so, what guarantee is there that they won’t still end up being treated as “second class Malays” in the country, the same way Chinese Indonesians were being mistreated?
In the same breath, Razaleigh did not explain if the Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli, and other natives of Sabah and Sarawak become “Malays” for the sake of cosmetic transformation, can these new Malays still go to churches and temples to pray. Can they still drink beer and enjoy pork, as well as celebrate their own festivals such as Christmas, Deepavali or Chinese New Year?
It would be incredibly dumb for the Malaysian Chinese to surrender quality education in SJKC vernacular schools, give up their language and culture and even their Chinese name only to be discriminated by racist UMNO Malays and bullied by radical PAS Malays once again. Heck, even among the UMNO, PAS and Bersatu Malays, they are fighting and killing each other.
To maintain Malay support, UMNO’s secret recipe is “Ketuanan Melayu”, the ideology of Malay supremacy espoused by the corrupt and racist party. To do that, however, the minorities Chinese and Indians must constantly become the punching bags whenever UMNO-Malay politicians (which now included PAS extremists) wanted to rally Malay support behind them.
With the proposed conversion of ethnics Chinese and Indians and other minorities to Malays, exactly how does Razaleigh plan to hoodwink UMNO-Malays? Interestingly, he did not previously bother about Burhanuddin’s idea. It’s only after UMNO lost in the May 2018 General Election and is now playing second fiddle to Bersatu that he spoke about racial harmony.
Where was Tengku Razaleigh when his party UMNO ruled the land as a dominant party since independence in 1957? It appears he desperately wants the ethnic Chinese and Indian votes in preparation for a potential cooperation between UMNO and opposition Chinese-based DAP (Democratic Action Party) to face Bersatu-PAS in the next 15th General Election.
Yes, with PAS increasingly seen as abandoning – even betraying – ally UMNO and Muafakat Nasional alliance in favour of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s party (Bersatu or PPBM), Razaleigh is tasked to build a new bridge with the minorities, especially the Chinese community, of which up to 95% had voted for DAP in 2018.
Screaming a “Malay nation” for everyone was quite a clever way to rally for Malay supports without sounding too racist to the non-Malays. But after being bullied and discriminated for over 60 years, the minorities are smarter than another piece of UMNO propagandas. After all, it was the same UMNO that used divide-and-rule to create hatred and division between Malays and non-Malays.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Indonesia’s New 75,000 Rupiah – How A Boy Wearing Traditional Costume In The Banknote Invites Ugly Anti-Chinese Racism
- Malay Dignity Congress – PM Mahathir Pretends To Be Upset For Being Called A Racist
- Malays Dignity – Kling’s Silly Racist Statements Have Done More Damage Than Good To Mahathir
- Congrats Mahathir – Zakir Gets More Radical, Tells 7 Million Ethnic Chinese To Go Back To China
- Indonesia Riots – 6 Dead, 200 Injured, Anti-Chinese Fake News Spread As Sore Loser Prabowo Rejects Defeat
- Here’s Why Indonesia Desperately Wants To Spend $33 Billion Moving Its Capital Away From Jakarta
- Do Pro-UMNO Malays Realize They Will Be Bailing Out Tabung Haji To The Tune Of RM20 Billion For The Next 10 Years?
- 3 Bailouts Involving RM30 Billion – Here’s Why Malaysia Airlines Should Be Shut Down Or Sold Off
- Harder To Become An Instant Millionaire – Indonesia To Slash Zeroes Off Rupiah
- Jokowi’s Ambitious Plan – Taking Indonesia Into High-Tech Era
|
|
December 31st, 2020 by financetwitter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
Razaleigh actually has a good idea: if everyone turns into a “Malay” , then the whole country suddenly becomes intelligent.
The country will be “intelligent” if there’s no category of “bumiputera… supremacist… chosen race” ie it is assumed all are equal and “same”.
It is also assumed none or few of the intelligent would have to balik elsewhere to other infinitely better countries, staying here offers them the deal.
Unfortunately, the idea may not work in the long run if the demography changes. If the intelligence is not evenly divided and averages out nicely because those with lower or no intelligence tend to breed like horny rabbits on over-drive, and then we’d be back to the monkeys running the zoo again.
Hmmm… maybe the intelligent should save themselves, balik to the very many other countries, after all..! Those eleven short of a dozen can stay and play dumb longkang chickenshit “supremacists’, there’s always unwanted foreign garbage like Zakir Naik to keep you company…
Our monkeys – and the Indonesian ones are real sucker for the old colonial trick of their white massahs in their divide and conquer policy.
The angmohs are long gone but our monkeys are still possessed by the white ghosts and their racist ideology – like servile and loyal slave monkeys.
The “Malays”, if ever there was such a “race”, should really be called. Taiwanese, for the most widely-accepted theories all suggest the “Malays” migrated from Taiwan centuries ago.
Whatever the reality may be, there is actually no such thing as the “Malay race”, and the term “Malay” was invented by angmohs – every one native across a really wide region is a “Malay,” and no one actually knows what a “Malay” is.
Our “Malays” don’t know what a “Malay” is, over recent decades, a whole load of baseless nonsense had to be invented to convert rather limp and l’âme “feel good” garbage to race, supremacist, revisionist history – which collectively appear like utter tosh manufactured to disguise inferiority, inadequacy, and insecurity.
It is rather late in the day, but still a good time to shed old colonial ideas and still be loyal slave monkeys to them. Even monkeys should have independent and have their own original mind.