"If you want to abolish the rights of one race then you have to also do away with the rights of others"
Tun Dr. Mahathir
I just have to post this article as I agree wholeheartedly on what Tun Dr. Mahathir had to say on race relations in our blessed country, and yes unless you are leaving in some caves somewhere we are now polarized more than ever with almost every one wanting to defend the rights of their race:
BY SYED JAYMAL ZAHIID
MARCH 14, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 – Tun Dr Mahathir argued today that non-Malay complaints of discrimination stemming from policies favouring the Malays are without “basis” as the country’s minorities too enjoy special rights including the freedom to speak their native languages and practice their own religion.
“Each race enjoys special rights in their own way,” the longest-serving former prime minister (picture) told a forum at University Malaya here, when asked to comment on the opposition’s push for “Malaysian Malaysia” carried by the DAP’s predecessor, the People’s Action Party (PAP), in 1964.
Dr Mahathir said while the country’s ethnic majority do enjoy a special position under the Constitution, the same law guarantees the minorities the right to self-identity through the freedom to practice their respective religion, language and mother-tongue education.
He added that only in Malaysia, the minorities identify themselves according to their root “nationality” like “Chinese Malaysian” and “Indian Malaysian”, a phenomena that reflects the freedom and rights enjoyed by the non-Malays.
“This idea is not practised anywhere else. In Indonesia the Chinese don’t call themselves Indonesian Chinese, they call themselves Indonesians and speak Indonesian.
“Here, we agreed to maintain their rights,” Dr Mahathir said.
...The federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) argued that such policies and the Malay-rights debate are used to enrich only a selected few Malays. Its pledge to dismantle race-based policies and put in place an economic model based on merits have won the support of the non-Malays.
But while PR leaders maintained that this does not mean the abolition of Malay rights, Dr Mahathir alleged voting the opposition would erode the positions of the Malays who would end up being “slaves in their own country”.
The former prime minister argued today that it would not be possible to abolish Malay privileges without doing away with the rights of the minorities.
“If you want to abolish the rights of one race then you have to also do away with the rights of others. Of course none of the races would want this,” he said.
Dr Mahathir had also suggested that the growing opposition to Malay rights reflected a deepening racial strife. He argued that this showed Malaysians are now more racially-conscious.
This has led to stronger racial identification including the birth of more vernacular schools and poorer integration among Malaysia’s different races.
“In other countries there is assimilation but here we are happy with integration. There is even little integration now. The different races are not coming together,” he said.
Read in full in MI here.
I have read and listened with dismay about other minorities questioning the rights of the Malays and Bumiputras as written in our Perlembagaan, and yes I also observed that the same critiques refused to discuss about vernacular schoosl and referring to any body touching negatively on the subject as racists.
PR is talking rubbish if they think they can easily do away with Malay/Bumi rights, they are just telling the non Malays what they want to hear before the General Elections. They are not telling the Non Malays that there will be a backlash from the majority who have been taking a tak apa attitude all this while.
Actually, Tun Mahathir is reflecting the majority views that if you want to take away Malay/Bumiputra rights then you have to give away your rights too. Fair is fair. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
4 comments:
Is it a question of rights, or is it a question of them wanting even more power?
The NEP's target is 30% Bumiputra equity.
30%.
Who controls the 70%?
We are left behind, and they want to step down on us more?
Thanks for bringing this to light, eddy. It is logical reasoning, and yet because it came from Tun M, the anti-BN types will not heed it.
Thanks and Yes BC something that many people do not want to say but must be spoken.
Yes anon 12:36, pity some Malaysians just refuse to see the goodness of sharing with other Malaysians.
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