So, am I alone in thinking that Malays should debunk ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy)? When challenging small, hate-filled groups we must be aware of the risks in talking up the threat they pose.
They may hope we would demonstrate or march to the police station and make reports (the police have better things to do) and give the group added gravitas.
Probably the more invectives that are hurled in retaliation, the happier they would be. No, we are not a hysterical lot.
Clamours for ketuanan Melayu are an insult to me and right-minded Malays. Malays today are knowledgable. Extremist views on race and religion are not our vision of Malaysia. We aim for solidarity by encouraging participation from all sections of society for a truly democratic nation.
Confident Malays are not threatened by other races. Nor do they feel inferior or undermined. They are not spiritually bankrupt and do not get confused when non-Muslims use words like Allah.
Too few benefit
The NEP made a few Malay millionaires into billionaires. It excluded the Malay majority and hence failed spectacularly in its objectives. The government must be more creative in helping Malays attain success. Why stick with a recipe for failure?
Last week’s histrionics demonstrate that you can take the boy out of the kampong but you cannot take the kampong out of the boy. Fortunately, not all Malays live under their tempurung (coconut shell). We don’t need men who profess to be leaders by espousing ketuanan Melayu but in reality are just sabre-rattlers.
Malaysians are aware of their surroundings – abuses of power, select Malays selfishly milking the NEP, endemic corruption, public institutions compromising their neutrality by becoming political stooges, no accountability in government bodies and politicians.
There are many disadvantaged people in Malaysia. Our urban and rural folk lead parallel lives, with little overlap. Our society consists of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. Racism, sexism and ageism are rife. It is little wonder there is a rise in cynicism. It is amusing to see the ‘1Malaysia’ concept in a mess because of these.
We are a young nation, and we attained independence through the collective effort of the peoples of Malaya: Ordinary Malayans – rubber tappers, tin coolies, jungle clearers, road builders, railway workers, teachers, policemen, port labourers.
They were Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, Orang Asli. Some made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of independence. Must we now forget their contributions and treat their children and grandchildren not as true Malaysians, but merely as immigrants? Are we not indebted to them?
My great-grandfather was a rubber-tapper and he encouraged his son (my grandfather) to study and lift them out of poverty. At night, he studied by the light of a kerosene lamp. During the day, he escaped being called out to play by the other boys, by hiding and reading in the middle of a patch of long grass.
The daily journey to secondary school in Ipoh was by train and on foot. He then entered the Malayan Civil Service (MCS), worked his way up and was sent to England for various courses and tests. He grabbed every opportunity and was a success.
He worked in the towns and villages, throughout Malaya, but complained that the Malay youth then were indisciplined, were bad at time-keeping and had an attitude problem. Many suffered from kais pagi, makan pagi (living from hand-to-mouth) and lacked motivation to work. The majority considered the bounties from the fruit trees or rivers sufficient for their daily needs.
This lack of incentive is deeply entrenched and will remain entrenched unless there is a brutal effort to exorcise it from the Malay psyche. We must give Malays a way out of poverty and halt their dependence on the NEP. The challenge is for them to break out of the spiral of underachievement and low expectation.
A crutch, not a panacea
The NEP, or its reincarnation, will not help the Malays or Malaysia. Instead of making Malays more competitive, it will make them more reliant on false hopes. It will make them idle and addicted to being the master, the supreme race, with little effort involved. It is a destructive ideology. It destroys their character and robs them of an identity. It is an admission of weakness. It relieves them of pride and dignity.
The Malays have had large amounts of money spent on them. No amount of money will elevate them unless it is put to good use to improve themselves. The desire to improve must come from within. They must understand that ambition and aspiration entails hard work and perseverance.
Malays have a strong cultural identity and family values but the NEP has helped institutionalise underachievement. So how can we offer security to our children if our adults lack ambition?
Education and a strong stable family life must be foremost in policy changes to make a difference. But politicians have messed up our education system. Government must create opportunities. We need investments, both locally and from abroad, but Malaysia’s negative image precludes that.
Those who champion ketuanan Melayu should concentrate on the Malay community and seek answers for the following:- Malays lacking aspiration; Malay girls outperforming boys; Malay men abrogating responsibilities towards their family, spending money on successively younger wives, leaving families severely disadvantaged; high divorce rates in Malay marriages;
Most drug addicts and HIV/AIDS sufferers are Malays; abandoned babies are primarily Malays; incest, rape and sexual crimes are committed mainly by Malays. Why not sort out your priorities, clean up your own house first and stop pointing fingers?
Sadly, few Malays are willing to admit the faults within them but would rather lay the blame on other races. And please stop brandishing the keris about. They are revered items, as any good Malay knows, and should never be used in a cheap publicity gimmick.
Good day Mariam,
If more malays think like u, our country Malaysia will be a better plc to be living in. Honestly, during my schooling yrs,
my closest buddy was a malay. We hv no issue with anything at all. We spoke malayglish. I am now near my retirement age.
Through out my working yrs, I hv made so many malay friends. Till now many still keep in touch with me and we still go out to mamak stalls at times.
Sad that the present situations are changing. I don’t think
our gov. is doing enough to make it better for the future generations to be ONE. Only time will tell. Hope that we will
not destroy by our ownself one day.
Thank you for your far sightedness. Hope more malaysians
will be like you. God bless you in all you do.
Thank you.
Salam,
Mariam Mokhtar! You are not alone in Penang. There are many other mamaks born as Muslims but are kafirs in feelings and spirits like you. Mariam, you are definitely not a Malay. You a proud to the point of arrogance in announcing that you do not have any feeling of diffences with non-Muslims. This is a perfect kafir attitude which makes you a sure munafik! You are also a munafik because you are consciously and intentionally slighting Islam and the Muslims.
A Malay is a Muslim. A Malay who is not a Muslim is not a Malay. A Malay who is not conscious of her Muslim identity is not a Muslim. Mariam Mokhtar! You stressed that you are not aware of the differences betweem you and other non-Muslims. It could only be one thing here – you have lost your Muslim identity. You are not a Muslim at all! Perhaps you think that you know fully well as to what is a Muslim. Actually you know next to nothing about Islam and Muslim. In all probabilities, you are not even performing your solat and other obligatory daily duties.
Islam is not merely confession and being born to Muslim parents. Islam is confession, feelings and practical life. If you do not feel any difference between you and other Chinese and Indian kafirs, Islam does not recognise your faith. A Muslim is a believer. A kafir is a non-believer. A believer is completely different from a non-believer. A believer who does not feel the difference between her and a non-believer, is not a believer. A believer is a brother and sister to another believer. On the other hand, a believer is not a brother and sister to a non-believer. A believer who feels brotherly and sisterly to a non-beliver is not a believer.
In the Quran there are many verses which command you to be starkly different and feel the vast differences between you and non-believers.
Mariam Mokhtar! You are not using the Quran as your guidance and yardstick as to your feelings and in your social life vis-a-vis your personal association with non-believers. Insofar as you are concerned, the Quran is out of date. You are using your own thoughts and feelings based on your unIslamic upbringing at home, your secular education and your unIslamic environment and experiences as the basis of your actions and attitudes in your everyday life and surely you must have completely discarded the Quran. You are not a murtad, but a munafik. This is getting very common in Malaysia especially among the mamaks in Penang.
To all the kafirs who adore you, I declare that Mariam Mokhtar is not a Muslim and not a Malay. Mariam! You are free from Islam and have absolutely nothing to do with Islam. You are just a filthy munafik from the mamak ancestry. I repeat – you are munafik mamak and not a Malay Muslim!
To a Muslim, the guiding principles in his life are the Quran and Hadis. Ketuanan Melayu means the “supremacy of Islam”, it is not the supremacy of the Malays. In the Quran there is no such a thing as the supremacy of the Malays. There is completely no ketuanan Melayu in Islam. Ketuanan Melayu is kafir, and any Malay who upholds and propagates the spirit of ketuanan Melayu is a kafir. UMNO is kafir in this sense. The Quran advocates the supremacy of Islam and the Muslims over others. If any Muslim does not agree to this or is not striving towards this end, he or she is not a Muslim.
Mariam Mokhtar! No ketuanan Melayu does not mean that there is no awareness of being a Muslim vis-a-vis a kafir. A Malay Muslim should always recognise and be aware of his or her vast differences with a Malay Kafir! On the other hand, there should be no awareness of diferences at all amongst Chinese, Indian and Malay Muslims! Do you manage to get to the bottom of the whole issue Mariam?
I am sincerely seeking the Jabatan Agama Islam Pulau Pinang’s help to counsel you and hopefully we could prevent you from becoming a complete murtad in the future.
Yours Sincerely
Wan Solehah al-Halbani
Lubuk Terua, Temerloh, PAHANG DM
The reply above seem to be directed to Mariam Mokhtar but since it appeared in my blog, I thought of making some comments. Firstly, I don’t see the connection between your comment and what MM has written above. She did not even mantion anything about Islam in her article. She was talking about Ketuanan Melayu and nothing more.
I wonder which verse in the Quran allows you to make insulting and derogatory remarks on someone that you do not know, including saying that she do not pray? It is a BIG sin in Islam to say something that is not proven.
What do you mean by “believers”? Isn’t a believer a person who believes in GOD and believes in what that has been brought down to Prophet Abraham till Prophet Muhamed p.b.u.h? So, is a Jew who believes in Torah and a Christian who believes in the Old Testament are believers as well? That is what that is said in the Quran.
From what you had mentioned, a Muslim should not mix around with a non-muslim aka kafir. So, can I ask you to stop using the laptop/computer that you are typing this comment, fly to Mecca with boieng/airbus or even wear the clothes that you are wearing since all these are made by kafirs?
Ketuanan Melayu and Islam is 2 different thing. It is not the same as you have metioned. By equating this 2, you are already commiting a sin.
There are fundamentalist in ALL religion and you are one of them. Please open up your mind and look around. The muslims are going backwards and most muslim countries are going down the drain. Please wake up!
Mariam Mokhtar’s article was a considered discourse about problems and potential solutions about her own community. But of course in Bolehland, no one is allowed to think in this fashion without being branded ‘un-Malay’ and/or ‘un-Islamic’ and/or seditious.
Wan Solehah must be so deeply concerned for the spiritual wellbeing of her Malay sister that she saw fit to write an entire discourse (? diatribe) about being kafir rather than concern herself the bigger and more important issues which were raised in the original article.
Ah well, I guess if Mariam Mokthtar saw Wan Solehah’s response, she would simply say “I rest my case”!
Dear Pagalavan Letchumanan,
1. Ketuanan Melayu is a major Islamic issue.
2. A believer and a non believer are clearly defined in the Quran.
3. We are using our Quranic definition – not yours.
4. Saudi Arabia is a kafir country according to the Quran.
5. We are not going anywhere except here – Malaysia is always ours.
6. We intend to bring Malaysia back to us.
7. In Islam, no issue is more crucial than ‘Muslim and kafir’.
8. Islam is coming back to rule over you!
9. Islam today is the same as Islam 1400 years ago.
10. I am using this opportunity to educate fellow Muslims.
11. Thus far, this blogg is already educating us Muslims.
12. We are already awakened by MM and you!
13. Hopefully more kafirs would response.
14. These responses serve to educate us stupid Muslims.
15. Fundamentalism is a Christian concept – not Islamic.
16. I am merely a Muslim adhering strictly to the Quran and Hadis – not a fundamentalist
17. Big favour from you MM, Pagalavan and Jon J – thanks!
Yours Sincerely
Wan Solehah al-Halbani
Lubuk Terua, Temerloh, PAHANG DM
I seriously think you need psychiatric help. And you still have not answered my questions.
Wan Solehah al-Halbani decreed:
1. Ketuanan Melayu is a major Islamic issue.
Whatever you say ma’am. You’re evidently the master race.
2. A believer and a non believer are clearly defined in the Quran.
Ok.
3. We are using our Quranic definition – not yours.
Oh dear, you’re using your Quranic definition. Shouldn’t you be using the Quranic defintion instead?
4. Saudi Arabia is a kafir country according to the Quran.
Wow! Is this fact expressly stated in the Quran, too?
5. We are not going anywhere except here – Malaysia is always ours.
It must be such a blow to you that this is not expressly stated in the Quran.
6. We intend to bring Malaysia back to us.
I wasn’t aware it had left you?
7. In Islam, no issue is more crucial than ‘Muslim and kafir’.
This really does explain a lot!!
8. Islam is coming back to rule over you!
I don’t lose sleep over this. I don’t suffer from ‘siege’ mentality.
9. Islam today is the same as Islam 1400 years ago.
Your ramblings and behaviour are testament to this fact.
10. I am using this opportunity to educate fellow Muslims.
Wrong forum.
11. Thus far, this blogg is already educating us Muslims.
Surely there are far better religious forums than this for the education of Muslims?
12. We are already awakened by MM and you!
MM would be proud to hear this. But I wasn’t aware you were sleeping anyway.
13. Hopefully more kafirs would response.
I tried to get my friends and colleagues interested, but they were too busy saving lives.
14. These responses serve to educate us stupid Muslims.
Why do you think Muslims are stupid? That’s rather unreasonable isn’t it?
15. Fundamentalism is a Christian concept – not Islamic.
Ok, I’ll try to remember that there is no such thing as an ‘Islamic Fundamentalist’.
16. I am merely a Muslim adhering strictly to the Quran and Hadis – not a fundamentalist.
As per Chambers dictionary fundamentalism noun in religion, politics, etc: strict adherence to the traditional teachings of a particular religion or political doctrine.
Oh wait.. I forgot. There’s no such thing as an Islamic Fundamentalist. Thousand apologies.
Ok, ok.. I’ll stop giving Wan Solehah more airtime.
😉
Dear Jon J,
1. Thanks to whatever you have sincerely expressed.
2. You are immensely helping to educate us.
3. Still calling more kafirs to response.
4. I would say no more as per your command.
Yours Sincerely
Wan Solehah al-Halbani
People like Wan Solehah should go and join the IS
She is writing to tell people how fucked up malays are to non-malay audience.. Zz