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YOUR OPINION | “The problem should be the Malaysian citizenship, not the Malaysian citizenship.”
Ku Li wants Burhanuddin Helmy’s ‘Malaysian citizenship’ to be considered
Hmmmmmmmm: The Malay is a breed. How can Chinese, Indians, Dayak, etc., call themselves Malays?
If you really want to unite the country, everyone should call themselves a Malaysian. And all Malaysians should be treated equally. True unity can only be achieved when everyone knows they have something at stake in this country.
A New Zealander asked me once many years ago why people here like to call themselves Chinese Malaysians, Indian Malaysians, etc. It had never occurred to me because we had always been asked about our race when filling out forms, etc.
He told me he is of Irish descent, but it has never crossed his mind to call himself an Irish New Zealander. He automatically calls himself a New Zealander.
That was the day my mind was suddenly opened and I began to think more deeply about the problems of our country. I suddenly realized that this country does not treat all its citizens equally.
FairMalaysian: You can achieve anything without all these silly labels and suggestions, if the Malaysian politicians want it. It is the result of Malaysian politicians pushing the race and religion factor to gather votes.
There is a much simpler logical / rational way to do this: ban all singular racial / religious parties. Make it mandatory for all political parties to be made up of members of all racial / religious denominations.
By turning all Malaysians into Malays, we will be doomed. This will help Malaysians further incarcerate non-Malays.
I would have thought Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was smarter and more realistic, considering what was suggested in 1947 was a take at a different point in time.
With the voices of “oath” we hear from Malaysians opposing the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), we are living in a country where Malaysians have been “educated” by their political leaders to raise up before each case this thing of race and religion.
Unless recalcitrant Malaysian leaders realize that the acrimony facing this country will continue unless they accept reality and agree to share power with non-Malays, this country cannot and will not move forward as one nation.
The only reason the non-Malays rejected BN and Umno was Umno’s “harassment” and arrogance. Nothing seems to have changed much in Umno in this position.
For the PAS to hold on to its outdated “vision”, but asking fringe non-Malaysian parties to join a “grand coalition” is not going to get much traction from non-Malays. Camels have to search for more tents to drive out their Arab masters.
William Tell: Razaleigh must realize that this suggestion is too late. That suggestion may have been possible in 1947 at the time it was proposed by the Putera-AMCJA coalition.
Today, with the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak in the establishment of Malaysia, the suggestion that Malays should be the nationality is not tenable.
It would make more sense to promote Malay nationality.
Partner from Malaysia: “Malaysian citizenship was proposed during the British government, but the government at the time rejected it because it was felt that the people would not accept the proposal.”
What makes Ku Li, 70 years later, think that this idea is becoming more acceptable now?
It is false on their part to cajole the Chinese and Indians into accepting the idea of Malay citizenship when in reality they are selling their race and dignity. I am sure that no Chinese or Indian will accept this offer.
Just a Malay: Everything is in the mind. If Malays are confident enough to accept non-Malays as Malays and treat them as equals, there is no need to change the names.
If we change our names, there will be a Chinese with a Malay name and a Malay with a Chinese name. There will be a Muslim with a Malay name and a non-Muslim with a Malay name. We will be more divided than before.
Ku Li, his intention is noble, but he is not addressing the key issue.
The key issue here is that the Malaysian elites refused to share this country with the rest of the population, claiming a higher right over others. Changing Ah Chong into Ahmad will solve nothing.
BluePanther4725: In fact, the correct term should be Malay citizenship and not Malay citizenship.
The focus should be on nationality, not race. American citizens comprise many races, but all identify as American. Also, what unites Singapore is the Singaporeans and not the differences in their races.
However, our politicians here choose to mislead people using race and promote racism, they don’t want to focus on nationality and Malaysians.
Different races have the right to practice and preserve their own unique cultures, and yet they can come together under the Malaysian umbrella. It is a simple concept, but our politicians choose to confuse us in order to benefit.
Anonymous_15897060865429524: Malaysians (or rather, Malaysian politicians) will simply think of a new way to segregate and set the “real” Malays apart from others to win votes.
The “us versus them” narrative will just manifest in a different way with different labels: first class Malays vs second class Malays, Melayu sejati vs pendatang etc.
You see this in the concept of bumiputera. Are all bumiputeras the same? Are the Orang Asal, or the Sabah and Sarawak tribes, or even the Kristang treated as bumiputera just as bumiputera as the Malays? No, clearly they are not.
Assimilating culture is not the way to achieve equality before the law. Races can be equal before the law without erasing cultural differences.
Look at Indonesia, where the Chinese are culturally assimilated. Despite the fact that Chinese Indonesians have largely renounced their cultural identity and assimilated into Indonesian culture (adopting Indonesian names, languages, and cultural norms), ethnic Indonesians remain racist against Chinese Indonesians and anti-Indonesian sentiment. Chinese is still common.
Ku Li proposes a flawed and obsolete concept.
Iphonezours: It would be easier for everyone to be called Malaysian first, no more racial background of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazan, etc. Have a Malay, Chinese, Indian name, Iban, etc. or of any religion should not be seen as an obstacle to national unity and identity.
The strange thing is that we are abroad, we easily identify as Malaysians but when we return home it is the opposite. In fact, it’s time to go ahead and call ourselves just Malaysians.
Vijay47: A rose by any other name unfortunately does not thrive in the Malaysian garden.
A change in the way we are labeled is not going to make this country a paradise if we continue to practice the discrimination that is now becoming even more pervasive. Thanks, Umno and PAS.
Instead of trying to come up with a better mousetrap, there is that little piece of paper that we could fairly apply to all the citizens of this nation. I think it used to be called the Constitution. Otherwise, we could also call ourselves Martians.
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