I was pretty troubled last night when I read a comment made in my article here and most disturbing is a fact that the person is a well-educated intellectual who traveled overseas to almost every country in this world but yet the mindset is indoctrinated with Umno-centric inequality of the unequals.
I felt compelled to post the Constitutional provisions of the various Articles which concerns many of us Malaysian citizens.
First and foremost, we Malaysian citizens in particular non-Malays were not given citizenship by Umno or Malays; the citizenship we had is by the operation of the law, of which it was then a precondition set by the British before they agree to grant Independence to Malaya based on the proposal submitted by the Alliance Party consisting of Umno-MCA-MIC, the 3 major races which forms the majority of the people of the country. The initial attempts by Umno failed because the British considered they did not have the majority support of the people in the country. Thus Umno seek the alliances of the other races to make up a some sort of majority consensus.
It surprised me that the intellectual had posed me this: "NOT ALL RACES HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS IN EVERYTHING". That's absolutely wrong and I hope he and all those who are so damn ignorant of the truth and the facts will read the Federal Constitution clearly.
Let me emphasized the facts of the Constitution here:
Article 3:
Islam is the religion of the Federation, but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.
(This Article deals with a religion and Islam is a universal religion, not just a religion that belongs to Malays. It first came from Arabs but it belongs to any person who would profess to accept that Allah is the only god; and that Muhammad was the messenger of Allah and the Quran is the teaching of Allah from his messenger. Tell me where is the inequality?)
Article 5:
No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.
Article 8(1):
All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.
(Tell me how can any citizen be unequal?)Article 8(2):
...there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishment or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.
...there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishment or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.
Article 8(4):
No public authority shall discriminate against any person on the ground that he is resident or carrying on business in any part of the Federation outside the jurisdiction of the authority.
No public authority shall discriminate against any person on the ground that he is resident or carrying on business in any part of the Federation outside the jurisdiction of the authority.
(Tell me where is the unequal rights?)
Article 14:
Subject to the provisions of this Part, the following persons are citizens by operation of law, that is to say:
Article 14 (1)(a):
every person born before Malaysia Day who is a citizen of the Federation by virtue of the provisions contained in Part 1 of the Second Schedule; and
Article 14 (1)(b):
every person born on or after Malaysia Day, and having any of the qualifications specified in Part II of the Second Schedule.
(Do you understand what is citizenship and how a person becomes a citizen by the operation of law, not from any others and please understand that the constitution was drafted and agreed upon by all the three major races composed within the Alliance Party and the British govt before Independence was granted and this is the basis of the social contract which is now our supreme constitution)
Article 4:
This constitution is the supreme law of the Federation and any law passed after Merdeka Day which is inconsistent with this Constitution SHALL, to the extent of the inconsistency, be VOID.
(Can you understand the covenant made? Any law made after Merdeka Day which is inconsistent with this constitution is void and evil law).
Article 153:
Reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits, etc, for Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak.
(1) It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the SPECIAL POSITION of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the LEGITIMATE INTERESTS OF OTHER COMMUNITIES in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
(2) ...the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall exercise his functions under this Constitution and Federal law in such manner as may be necessary to safeguard the SPECIAL POSITION of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak and to ensure the reservation for Malays and natives of such proportion as he may deem reasonable of positions in the public services and of scholarships, exhibitions and other similar educational or training privileges or special facilities given or accorded by the Federal Government ...
(4) In exercising his functions under this Constitution and Federal law the Yang di-Pertuan Agong SHALL NOT DEPRIVE ANY PERSON of any public office held by him or of the continuance of any scholarship, exhibition or other educational or training privileges or special facilities enjoyed by him.
(5): This Article does not derogate from the provisions of Article 136.
Article 136:
All persons of whatever race in the same grade in the service of the Federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be TREATED IMPARTIALLY.
All persons of whatever race in the same grade in the service of the Federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be TREATED IMPARTIALLY.
Please take note of Article 153(1) which mere states the power of Agong to safeguard the quota reserved for Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak for - Public Service, Scholarships, Education or Training privileges, Special Facilities such as permits or licence.
Equally, Article 153(4) also states that the Agong SHALL NOT DEPRIVE ANY PERSON of such public office or educational or training privileges or special facilities, and Article 153(5) states that this Article does not derogate from Article 136.
As such, reading Article 153(1) and 153(4), and together with Article 136, you can clearly see what is equality and inequality as professed by some.
Just because the other races have permitted the govt controlled by Umno to give certain privileges to the Malays on the understanding that the purpose and objective was to assist the many Malays who in general were poorer than the others, so as to permit them to catch up and enable themselves, through positive assistance, to be able to do partake in commerce and business activities, rather than just being farmers and fishermen; this goodwill and sacrifices should not be taken as granting special rights and special privileges which is rightfully owned and cannot be challenged by the other citizens who are now taken as having waived those rights as are enshrined in the Constitution.
I hope you will try to read these constitutional provisions and critically reflect on your dogmatism and illusory rights.
18 comments:
UHMno had been poisoning the Malays with the rhetorics of the ketuanan Melayu and unfortunately, a lot of Malays were blinded by that and this will not do the community good (not only Malay, non-Malay too - gosh, I hate to use all these race words). And while doing that, UHMno bred a group of selected elitist to enjoy the benefits of this special rights which should be shared by the community as a whole.
in a nutshell, if you want to enjoy "special" treatment, you can't compete in the world out there and i'm sad that educated and well-travelled fella like ur commentator still plagued by the "u can't seek equality" mind set.
thanks mave for listing the related articles in the constitution.
no need to explain, the world is flat, so "you tak suka, you keluar", itu saje......
And what is your problem here? You think you and I are equals? You are no more equal to me than the next Malay guy.
Fair treatment is the ultimate objectives. If the Chinese like Vincent Tan, Lim Goh Thong, Yeoh Tiong Lay etc made it even though they are '2nd class citizen,' then I also won't mind being one.
You talk of oppression of the non-Malays, then show us the proof. And since we are talking groups of people (races) don't bother with individual cases, proof must come from demographic statistics.
You'd be surprised that the so called 'second-class' citizens own the majority of the wealth in Malaysia. What? You not one of them? Oh, then that is why you bitch about it while your other fellow Chinese are basking in opulence from their hard earned wealth.
I'm going to repeat this again... Melayu ka , Cina ka , India ka atau apa-apa bangsa dalam malaysia , ALL OF US ARE MALAYSIANS !
CK,
I agree with your hypothesis.
Denzook,
Referring to your response to Anon, please do not be upset over certain statements that were made without the use of brains. We don't respond to bigotry and of those who lacks the ability to critically reflect on issues in an intellectual way as to enhance knowledge and understand them.
Muda,
You are absolutely right and this is what the whole article is about; that we are Malaysians and that we need to prosper each other in every ways that promotes harmony, peace and prosperity.
As I suspected, real Malaysia democracy just kick start from 8 March 2008.
hi mav - thanks for the clear writings. and u r right - there's no way one can hold a decent intellectual discussions with morons
enlightenment can only come from within and only with great will power and then only wisdom follow.
if one have lived so long in darkness and chose to continue to live in darkness - a single ray of light from a small candle will blind them - they need time to get accustomed to the new way.
You sure that "intellectual" is not a certain piggy/khinzir by the name of Napoleon from Animal Farm?
actually do u really think chinese control 70% of the economy? in the colonial days, i believe so, but 50 years after independence? doubt so.
i find it a bit absurb, and think it's a propaganda, to keep saying that the discrimitation against other races has to continue cos, 'see they still monopoly the economy'.
maybe in older days, it's not like this, cos the govt don' do business, not nowadays, cos those in power directly control the economy. you can see this in singapore or every other nation. the govt control the tender, projects, mining, timber, gas/oil and all things that is profitable under the sun.
people like Vincent Tan, Lim Goh Thong, Yeoh Tiong Lay are nothing but cronies of those currupted in power. if anyone wants to prosecute them for corruption, i give u all the support.
Many, could be thousands, of this type of 'intellect' around... product from umno & their 'ketuanan' thing.
...beeranyone
beer anyone? yes please.
well... if they don't look like intellectual now, try saying that again after 2 cans of beer.
Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for the info.
Equality, Justice, Opportunity for all regardless of colour or creed is enshrined in the Federal Constitution as per your quotes - however, many people choose to mis-interprete the Constitution for their own misguided convenience.
I think you just burst the bubble of a certain royalty who has spoken that we (nons) are citizens of this country at a certain group's pleasure.
Moo_t,
I rather think that awareness of democracy had only begin; not real democracy. We still have discrimination to deal with and mediocrity rules.
Agnos,
I don't think these people live in darkness; it's rather the privileges given had now being construed as special rights that's deemed concrete and irreversible.
Beeranyone,
You may be right but I think it is important for the government to promote confidence and maturity and to ensure that the whole Malays were enabled and assisted in a positive manner which brings actual and evidential benefit to the community so that they have the confidence to face the global competition and opportunities, and at such, they would not remain paranoid.
Helen,
You are welcome.
Gan,
It is the political selfishness of Barisan Nasional that built this problem and caused the nation immense pain and mistrust.
There's equality & there's EQUALITY. What kind of equality are we talking about here? One promoted by the west? Wud appreciate it if someone could enlighten my poor ignorant self which country in the world that actually practice what they preach with regards to EQUALITY. They would allow you to practice your religion, lifestyle, work etc but they put their foot down when you want to step into the country's administrative position. No matter that you are 3rd, 4th etc generation born in the country. But if you are the wrong colour, different features....you are only tolerated. My apologies if anyone find my observation offensive. none intended. Merely an observation.
Obama is going to be the president of US sooner or later. recently an aide to Ms.Clinton presidency was sacked and she has to apologies for a racial statement made by her. In singapore, last year a chinese posted a racial hatred comment in a forum and landed 2 weeks in jail.
on contratry in malaysia, people talk incite hatred openly, take out a keris, call others ousider and etc. and they are still not in jail. strange right?
saf, sorry pal, your observation is wrong. this is a multi-racial country, we live equally here, and we don't need any toleration from anybody.
what about mutual respect, that's a more rational approach.
In harry's life, at some time, our inner foment goes out. It is then break asunder into enthusiasm beside an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner inspiration
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