Ku Li: Wrong Perception of Ketuanan

Ku Li: Umno is here to stay

By M. Veera Pandiyan

Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who has been busy rallying the party’s grassroots for change, shares his views on a range of issues, including Malay supremacy, the NEP and the future of Umno and Barisan Nasional.

This is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: On the question of ketuanan Melayu that is premised upon the social contract agreed to by the nation’s founding fathers, Malays agreed to citizenship for non-Malays in exchange for recognition of their special rights. Should non-Malays born after Merdeka still be bound by this? Do they not have equal standing with Malays by virtue of being citizens?

A: Actually, it is a fallacious way of looking at the term because the concept of ketuanan Melayu is more historical than anything else. As Tunku Abdul Rahman used to tell all of us then, this is Malay land. The Malays are from this country, not from any other, unlike the Chinese or the Indians who are from elsewhere.

But since then they have become loyal citizens of the country and those who are born here are automatically citizens having equal rights as the Malays. But because the Malays were the original people of the land, they have these special rights and special privileges. These were not negotiated; they were already there in the 1948 Federation of Malaya agreement before independence.

When the British negotiated with the Malay Rulers and Umno to do away with the Malayan Union proposal, form the Federation of Malaya and introduce a new constitution, these special rights were entrenched in it. Similarly, the position of Islam, the position of the Rulers and all the other things were carried forward into the constitution.

It was never intended to impose the views of the Malays over the rest. The Malays are not dominant. Even though we won 53 seats in Parliament in 1953 with the majority of 38 Malay MPs, we never exercised that. And after that, even when we had two-thirds in a series of elections, we never imposed our will on others. But the problem is that the term is being bandied about loosely.

Secondly, it is being seen that the Malays are arrogantly abusing their positions in government. Generally, not all leaders but some leaders and this gives rise to the impression that Malays want to dominate. But I have not seen the leaders of Umno, all the prime ministers from the time of Tunku right down to (Datuk Seri) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, trying to show that they are dominant or domineering over the rest. Have you seen it?

Q. But after the elections, haven’t there been more groups clamouring for reinstatement of ketuanan Melayu?

A: Yes lah, because the Opposition has won big and whoever wins will talk big. But Abdullah, after winning big in 2004, he talked of the big mandate but then did not flex his muscles and penalise anybody.

As for MCA vice-president Datuk Ong Tee Keat who came out with a statement that ketuanan Melayu should be dropped, he is fighting for MCA leadership. It happens lah. But you will hear more from the Umno side when we come closer to the date of the Umno election in December.

(Source: TheStar - Focus F26 & F27)


No hard and fast rule on supremacy
By Suhaini Aznam

Excerpts from the article:

In battling for Malay supremacy, are its champions defending a concept whose origins are blurred in the annals of history? As for those pushing for a Malaysian identity, did the country only begin post-Merdeka?

KETUANAN Melayu (Malay supremacy) is a delicate subject, bringing with it connotations of supremacy of one race over another.

Historically, the more confident the Malays are, the more generous they will be [is this true?]. But after the March 8 election they feel threatened, and so are not in a giving mood to their Chinese and Indian fellow countrymen. Thus talk of Malay unity and nationalism has cropped up with increasing frequency over the past two months, the latest being the three-day Congress on Malay Solidarity in Johor Baru last weekend. There, 2,000 representatives from 180 Malay non-governmental organisations got together to discuss the need to form a lobby group to protect Malay interests, due to the failure of Malay political parties to champion the Malay agenda.

Nationalist Malays want Malaysian Chinese and Indians to absorb and demonstrate more Malay traits. The latter do not want to be Malays; they want to be Malaysians.

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun criticised the Congress “50 years after Merdeka” as a regressive step. “Today we are living in a globalised world, with an open policy. “If you want to hold a convention for uniting Malaysians, then that would be suitable. But if you go for racialism, it’s a step back.”

Without missing a beat, Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek responded that the ketuanan referred to the raja raja Melayu of whom all races were subjects.

The die-hard Malay nationalists insist that the non-Malays must first understand the country’s history.

“The younger generation Chinese and Indians have to stand tall and appreciate that the country called Malaysia was founded on the Malacca sultanate,” said Muar MP Razali Ibrahim.

“All who are Malaysians must accept this as the country that we have built together.

“Is it enough to sing the Negara Ku and be able to recite the Rukun Negara by heart to call yourself a citizen?”

“We cannot build this nation overnight. What we are asking for (from the non-Malays) is a willingness to contribute, a willingness to sacrifice.”

"This includes a willingness to wear the songkok, not fighting for mother-tongue classes, and thinking of oneself as Malaysian (first and only) without any reference to China or India," explained the Johor Umno Youth chief.

“Without this, it’s too much for the Malays to sacrifice that (element of) language,” he said, adding that he was not trying to promote racial tension but nation building.

But the current debate does have race as its political genesis. Umno, by its failure to protect Malay supremacy in politics, has disappointed, even frightened, the Malays. Malay polity is now trying hard to separate religion from culture from their envisioned ideals of “bangsa Melayu” and, of course, from politics.

Umno is caught in the middle. It has to placate the intellectuals and cultural activists who still form the opinion leaders among its grassroots. At the same time, it has to evolve into a Malaysian party because that is its only option in the face of Pakatan Rakyat’s multi-racial appeal.

[Note: emphasis added]

(Source: TheStar - Focus)

It is getting scarier and scarier as days gets nearer and nearer to the Umno General Convention. Opportunists and their protagonists are cooking the meals and since Umno is a race-based political institution opportunists must cast fears and create a common enemy externally to gather the lots who are paranoids and exacerbate the tempo of rhetorics such as Ketuanan and Kedaulatan.

What is it about? What are the fears? What had they not being Tuan? They had all the political powers; the absolute and total control of all the various uniform forces, the Internal Security Act, the Official Secret Act, the Sedition Act; the full control of all the government services and departments, the full control of Petronas, the full control of Khazanah, the full control of the Banks including Bank Negara, the full control of almost all the public universities, and most of all, the Federal Constitution, the highest law in the nation to ensure them all the supremacy and protections of all the rights and privileges enshrined within.

What is not yet Tuan? Why pick on the minorities and the weak and make them devils in your mind and hearts, and cast spells in them? They had made you rich (asked your rich Bumis); sacrifices their own, receiving no hand-outs, no special privileges, no scholarships, no discounts, no MARA loans, no to almost anything that gives easy money, fast bucks and not a need to sweat and toil. They suffered in protracted silence, no altercation, perhaps having only disdain feelings. What more do you want?

Why don't you conduct a survey of all the Malay businessmen and in particular Umno businessmen and find out how they seduces the Chinese with imaginary projects, surreal, trying to sell them letters written to the PM, DPM and Ministers, promising to get them L.O.I.s and making them pay upfront monies, paying for all their expenses and overseas trips, paying political contributions and treating them as Tuans and semi-gods.

Why don't you also conduct a survey of all the consulting and design engineers who forwards proposals of surreal projects to the government and find out who were their clients, who they were connected with, and what is the prize and prices? Go to the EPU and the ministries and get those letters asking for direct-nego projects with support letters from Umno ministers and PM and DPM.

What else have they not being Tuans and the absolute supremes?

What is asked for is: respect for the Federal Constitution; Respects for everyone in accordance with the exact provisions of the Constitution; no more, no less! Is this not what everyone agreed?