Tuesday, April 07, 2009

"OneMalaysia" vs "Ketuanan Melayu"

Will the new Prime Minister and UMNO reject “Ketuanan Melayu”, and adopt “One Malaysia”?

I'd like to congratulate Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's ascension as Malaysia's 6th Prime Minister, but welcome his call for a “One Malaysia” with more than a little dose of scepticism.

Even in the 1990s, under Datuk Seri Najib's mentor, Tun Dr Mahathir's regime, the concept of “Bangsa Malaysia” was mooted with much fanfare but it became purely an empty, meaningless slogan which ultimately met its demise at the hands of UMNO itself whose leaders ridiculed the concept.

Hence it is impossible not for ordinary Malaysians from all walks of life to look at the new clarion call for “One Malaysia” with any optimism or confidence. What makes the matter worse is that the new Prime Minister's call for a “One Malaysia” comes at the point when UMNO itself continues to assert its demands of political and government top leadership, government-link companies top management as well as public universities top academic positions be granted on the basis of race and party affiliation.

UMNO's persistent and virulent calls for and ideology of “Ketuanan Melayu” is completely antithetical to Datuk Seri Najib's call for “One Malaysia”, unless of course, he meant “One Malaysia” where all other races become unquestioning, whole-hearted followers of the supreme race.

DAP's principles of Malaysian First places one's citizenship above that of one's race, religion, creed or even political affiliation. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also mooted the concept of a New Economic Agenda (NEA) where Malaysian's policies will be based on needs, and not based on race. More importantly, despite being charged by UMNO's Malay nationalist as a traitor to the race, Datuk Seri Anwar took his programme and sold the concept of “ketuanan Rakyat” and NEA to all Malay villages across the country. It is through his sincere efforts of bringing about change and the consistency with DAP's Malaysian First that we now sit in the same Pakatan Rakyat platform to bring about a real change for Malaysia.

Therefore, for our new Prime Minister to have any credibility at all in his call for a “One Malaysia”, we want to see him convince his own party and go to all Malaysians in villages and cities to explain his concept of “One Malaysia” as well as the rejection of “Ketuanan Melayu”. Otherwise, it'll just be another beautiful slogan, created under Barisan Nasional's concept of divide and rule where “One Malaysia” will be preached to placate the minority races, while “Ketuanan Melayu” is sold to the Malays.

13 comments:

Jonas Lee said...

I agree that the two faces of the new BN leadership is one that is shown to all races, and another (Ketuanan Melayu) that is shown to the older generation of Malays who are fearful of change and the new order.

What the PM has to be careful about is the generational crisis that is developing in Msia with younger people across all races wishing to see more fairness, more self-dignity and more economic opportuntities.

Whether DAP and PR has tapped into this welllspring of young voters depends on the type of political language that you use. The old BN-bashing habits are getting a bit worn out if nothing new is being offered to the younger citizens (i.e. borned after 1970).

Anonymous said...

When those UMNO morons are in power they are very magnanimous and gracious in their mouthings. When their political status is threatened then you see their true colours. So what do I think of the 'one Malaysia' utterings of the new PM? (Middle finger !!!)

Donplaypuks® said...

I think what he means is that like China, we should have 1 M'sia, 2 Systems and 3 where Sarawak & Sabah are concerned.

I didn't hear him say UMNO is backing off from Ketuanan Melayu or the skewed interpretation of a Social Contract which Royal Prof Ungku Aziz said never existed; at least not the concept UMNO has in mind.

When they talk about 1 M'sia, 1Citizenship, 1 System, 1 People, then we should get up and cheer. Otw, it's all just hot air!!

Anonymous said...

UNMO and BN speak with forked tongue

Zaki said...

Dear Tony,

Below are the questions that should be forwarded to our new PM:

1. Apakah perbezaan antara konsep 'One Malaysia' dan konsep 'Malaysian Malaysia'?

2. Adakah konsep 'Ketuanan Melayu' selaras dengan konsep 'Satu Malaysia'?

3. Adakah konsep 'Satu Malaysia' membawa maksud persamaan taraf dan peluang dalam semua perkara (hakmilik tanah, biasiswa, perniagaan dll) bagi semua rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum, keturunan dan agama?

Anonymous said...

Remember the BIRO TATA NEGARA fiasco. Dont tell me our Mr Najib is not aware of it?

NEO said...

Najib Said: Malay have been marginalise for more than 400 years!

Still remember?

Anonymous said...

never trust a man with Dick Cheney forehead,,,,

Anonymous said...

ONE MALAYSIA sounds like something borrowed from LKY of Singapore ... our new PM and his team can do better than borrow something (or steal) which is so used and used .... it sounds like a sales pitch from a used car dealer ...

try harder ...

Anonymous said...

No need one Malaysia. w
What we need is Malaysia must be taken along the road to become for a start number one in South East Asia by the year 2015 and number one in Asia by the year 2025 Ramlax.

Anonymous said...

To stay in power now Mr Najib must kowtow to Sabah Sarawak demands. More cabinet posts for Sarawak Sabah?
More scholarships for Sabah Sarawak?
No ministers for irrelevant and defunct MCA MIC? Ayo...sure he scared now, cos UNMO in Malaya will get pissed. No more large big kris to intimidate?

Anonymous said...

The difference between 1Malaysia and the opposition stand is this: Najib is not committed to it.

Anyone who has led an organisation knows that if you want to make such big changes, the leaders need to commit to it first before anyone else. You have to set targets, set datelines and give an idea to the troops how to get there. 1Malaysia must mean the end of NEP with a dateline and an independent commission on corruption, and meritocracy in schools and civil service.

Without a full commitment to it, its like Islam Hadhari and Bangsa Malaysia, a wishlist meant to extract something from others and changes are incidental and the glorious goal never to be achieved.

Anonymous said...

Malay First umno NOW