Malaysian Sovereignty
Lunch hour was here. This is what I normally do:
- Have a power packed lunch plate. Today was rice + ulam paku masak lemak cili + ayam masak cili. BURP!
- Checkout the female community. They come in a flock of 3-4 people & it’s always interesting to watch what they will eat.
- Read the newspaper while dipping my chicken with super sambal belacan.
Multitasking at it’s finest.
But what I wanted to talk about is the newspaper reading thing. Today was rather interesting as I was reading an open letter written by Chandra Muzaffar, a former PKR “scientist”. The letter titled, “Malaysian Sovereignty“. He brought up the most misunderstood interpretation ever, ketuanan Melayu & kedaulatan Melayu.
You can read the letter here. I won’t be wasting my time re-typing the letter for the sake of my own discussion. But I’d like to highlight a few points from his open letter.
As a term “Ketuanan Melayu” has been used for decades and has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Malays as “masters” (of the land), “Malay dominance”, “Malay supremacy”, “Malays as the hosts” are among the interpretations that have been bandied about.
The Malay boss. Sheesh. That’s not what it suppose to mean. However, nobody wants to be anyone’s bitches.
… Malay sovereignty ceased to be the political slogan of the Umno-led government after Independance.
That’s because there’s no reason to be specific.
What this means in simple language is that it makes more sense to talk of Malaysian, rather than Malay, sovereignty.
I couldn’t agree more.
The subjects of the Malay monarchs are no longer from their own communities; non-Malays are also their subjects.
From what I’ve seen, the monarchs has been politically correct in their ruling. They know and (long time ago) realized that they are rulers to the people, not to the Malay. It just happen to be that they were the ones who (were here first) bled and died protecting the independence of their lands. It’s when the people stop recognizing them as rulers is when they become irrelevant. Then again, don’t forget, the monarch owns the land you’re standing on, which is legally undisputable.
A similar transformation will also have to take place in the way in which Malays and Muslims relate to Islam.
YES!
Instead of viewing the religion through an ethnic prism especially in matters pertaining to politics, economics and power, Malays and Muslims in Malaysia should put into practice an approach to Islam which reflects its universal, inclusive message of justice, equality and freedom.
Catch the key here: viewing the religion through an ethnic prism. If only the Malaysian people could understand that Malay is not Islam & Islam is not Malay. But NO! They too stupidly stubborn to change their perspective, which has been embodied in them since they were school kids. To most Malaysians, Malay is Islam and Islam is Malay. And to those people, IT’S NOT!
I had (and will have) many debate fights about this perspective, which I seriously undertake in order to make the people understand that Islam is a religion, not a type/brand/label of people.
I understand that within the Federal Constitution, it is already stated that Malays are Muslims. I can understand why it was stated that way during that time. Majority of Muslims were Malays at that time. But not now. I myself do not come from a pure Malay breed. And I have met more than one non-Malays friends who are Muslims where I shared dinner with, perform prayers with and make friends with.
I applaud Prof. Chandra’s letter of appeal to the Malaysian community, asking the people to think before they act.
Now, my biggest resentment is that 80% of Malaysians are educated people. BUT, they are still too smart to understand the simple facts of life.
Posted on May 21, 2008 @ 2:19 PM Filed under Colors Of Muhibbah. You can leave a comment or trackback from your website.
