By Azly Rahman
Today is July 19, 2009, 40 years after the May 13, 1969 tragedy.
I dedicate these notes to Teo Beng Hock, a young Malaysian who ought to be an inspiration to many wishing to call Malaysia home.
Because we have agreed to become a country rooted in a social contract that ought to give equality, equity, and equal opportunity to all who have given up their natural rights in exchange for “citizenship” and the rights of the State to tax them (with or without representation), we must recognize that Malaysia is for Malaysians.
This will be the most humane perspective we ought to work towards in holding. What is needed is a system of check and balance that will ensure that each generation of Malaysians will progress without the trappings of mistrust, hatred, and institutionalized racism.
But first, we must all fight for the installation of this reality. Political will that will move this agenda of ethical liberalism must be harnessed and be made the driving force for social, cultural, educational, and psychological change.
The idea of “Tanah Melayu” must be reflected upon — of its relevancy and whether it is a kind of ideological thinking that will help develop a culture of peace or help nurture inter-racial hatred.
Communal politics is an old school thinking that cannot survive the wave of cosmopolitanism; just like the any idea that could not survive the inevitability of historical change propelled by changes in material condition and consciousness.
In Malaysia, the days of communal politics are numbered, however well it is packaged and propagandized. Multiculturalism, and in fact radical multiculturalism, or better still radical marhaenism is the next wave. Institutions that promote racism must be deconstructed and abolished; institutions that are funded by the ruling regime to ensure the hegemony of this or that race. Dismantle them before they become yet another layer of complexity in our consciousness; a layer that hides the structural violence inherent in a system of racism and false consciousness called “nationalistic history”.
The only permanent thing is change, as the Chinese philosopher and mystic Lao Tzu said. Man has no nature, what he has is history, said the Spanish philosopher Ortega Gasset.
And there will be beauty in this change if we know how to destroy the beast within.
I am reproducing an essay I wrote sometime ago on “Ketuanan Melayu”
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A Malay view of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’
Azly Rahman | Feb 4, 08 2:51pm‘O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person, except in piety. Indeed the noblest among you is the one who is deeply conscious of God.’ – a saying of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him)
‘Malaysia – to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian. This is the doubt that hangs over many minds, and … [once] emotions are set in motion, and men pitted against men along these unspoken lines, you will have the kind of warfare that will split the nation from top to bottom and undo Malaysia.’ – Lee Kuan Yew, now Senior Minister, Republic of Singapore
Instead of defining Ketuanan Melayu as ‘Malay superiority’ which is quite meaningless, philologically inaccurate, and philosophically arrogant, I think the word ‘dictatorship’ is closer in meaning. As you read this piece, please refrain from value judgment and from bring trapped in the prison-house of language pertaining to the word ‘dictatorship’.
To dictate connotes to tell, which connotes to narrate. To narrate means to weave a story based on an ideology. To ideologise means to encapsulate. To encapsulate means to be trap. Dictatorship, here might also mean an entrapment. Instead of acknowledging one’s freedom to rule, one is acknowledging being in an entrapment – and to rule out of that condition. This is a form of false consciousness.
Words, as a literary theorist Raymond Williams might say, must also be contextualised/situated within the economic condition they emerge in. Marx’s famous dictum that human beings’ existence is defined by the economic condition they are in and that this condition is already predetermined. This is a deterministic view of human history.
I first read heard the phrase Ketuanan Melayu in the mid-1980s from a book by one Malik Munip. I was reading his work, at the same time reading Lim Kit Siang’s ‘Malaysia in the dangerous 80s’, to get a sense of the argument. I was an undergraduate reading Literature, Education and International Politics.
I also heard that Malay students were discouraged from reading Kit Siang’s work and encouraged to read ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. I love banned books and books that others tell me not to read. There is a sense of intellectual challenge to be able to read banned books.
I read Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘The Malay Dilemma’ and Syed Husin Ali’s ‘Malays: Their Problems and their Future’ and Syed Hussein Alatas’ ‘The Myth of the Lazy Native’ at the same time. Again, to get a sense of balance.
I read Malaysian official publications on economic outlook, juxtaposing them with a close reading of analyses on the political-economy of the Malaysian capitalist state.
I read the work of Freud and Marx to see where some of the major authors of the Frankfurt School of Social Research are going with their arguments on totalitarianism. I read the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata to see where the arguments on race superiority lie and what the fate of humankind will be.
The idea of social dominance and racial superiority might all be primarily about economics, if we are to read the history of the development of ideologies of superiority. But my question is – who has the right to claim that this or that land belongs to this or that group of people. At what point does culture and citizenship meet and negotiate the issue of egalitarianism? When does ‘the truth of one’s culture’ reach its limit and the question of ‘the truth of citizenship’ dominate?
This is a very complex question Malaysians must answer after 50 years of Independence. We must open up the dialogue on this issue.
Lyrical propaganda
Let us look at how the idea of ketuanan Melayu is disseminated to the young. One way is through indoctrination camps in which songs are used.
Over the decades, perhaps millions of Malay students like me were taught the dangerous propaganda song, ‘Anak Kecil Main Api’(A Child Plays with Fire). One verse concerns the power of the Malays::
… kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
yang akan menentukan bangsa
hasil mengalir, ke tangan yang lain
pribumi merintih sendiri…
My loose translation of this 1980s propaganda song by the Biro Tata Negara reads:
… political power is what we are only left with
one that will determine the fate of our nation
wealth of this nation flows into the hands of others
sons and daughters of the soil suffer in solace…
I do not think we have a clear understanding of what the lyrics mean. I doubt if the songwriter even understand what a ‘people’s history of Malaya’ means. It is a song based on racist intents; its lyrics penned by one who does not have a good grasp of the political-economy of Malaysian history, let alone the latest advances in the field of psychology of consciousness.
The training programes that encapsulate the theme of this song are meant to instill fear of the Malays, not of others but of themselves, and to project hatred onto other ethnic groups without realising who the enemy of the Malays really are.
Using relaxation techniques to bring the brain waves in the alpha and state (conducive for suggestive and subliminal messages), trainees were put under ‘half-asleep’ conditions to get the ketuanan Melayu message to colonise the consciousness. The technique pioneered by Russian brain scientists Barzakov and Lozanov in the1970s, called ‘suggestopedia’, is used to instill the deep sense of fear for oneself and hatred of others.
History is a complex syntagmatic pattern of interplay between technology, ideology, culture, inscription and institutionalisation not easily reduced to simplistic lyrics as such sung to the tune of pre-war German-nationalistic-sounding compositions.
History is about the complex evolution of the ruling class which owns the technologies of control. As Marx would say, at every epoch it is the history of those who own the means of production that will be written and rewritten. The winners write history, the losers write poetry or study anthropology, some would lament.
Back to the lyrics. After 50 years of independence, who is suffering in Malaysia? Who has become wealthy? Who has evolved into robber barons? What has become of our judiciary system, our universities, our city streets, our sense of public safety and security, our schools, our youth, and our entire socio-economic arrangements at the eve of the 12th general election. How has the idea of ketuanan Melayu contributed to this state of affairs?
Language of power and ideology is at play in those lyrics. The definition of ‘bumiputera’ is at play. It has become a problematic word in this age of deconstructionism; an age wherein as the poet WB Yeats said, “the centre cannot hold”.
Rock musicians will recall the Scorpions’ famous song ‘Winds of Change’ to serenade the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the breakdown of the Soviet Empire. We have to face the ‘wrath’ of the word.
Put an end to Ketuanan Melayu
For Muslims in Malaysia, this saying by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is familiar: ‘Your descent is nothing to be proud of. Nor does it bring you superiority. O people! All of you are the children of Adam. You are like equal wheat grains in a bowl … No one has any superiority over anyone else, except in religion and heedfulness. In order to consider someone a wicked person, it suffices that he humiliates other people, is mean with money, bad-tempered and exceeds the limits…’
I would say that ketuanan Melayu is a dangerous concept that is threatening race relations. It is an arrogant interpretation of selective history; of a history that is largely benefiting those who profits from the ideology.
Those promoting this concept are not well-versed in the matters of philosophy of history. I do not think thinking Malays these days subscribe to the idea of ‘Malay dominance and dictatorship’. If there is a ketuanan of one race, then the rest are ‘slaves’ and ‘serfs’ and ‘sub-citizens’, if we are to analyse it from the point of view of ‘Master-Slave’ narrative?
As a Malay wishing to see the withering of and an end to the concept of ketuanan Melayu and the birth of a new consciousness that will respect the dignity of all races and the humility of all ethnic groups, I call upon Malaysians to continue to be critical of any attempt by any race to project their own sense of false superiority that would only breed dangerous ethnocentrism bordering on xenophobia.
We should work together to deconstruct all forms of race-based political arrangement and work towards establishing a new order based on a more egalitarian economic design that takes into consideration the basic needs and dignity of all races.
We should teach our schoolchildren how to deconstruct such sense of racial superiority, through the teaching of not only tolerance but social egalitarianism – via peace education strategies. We will have a lot to gain for generations to come.
What about Kereta Api Tanah Melayu?? Askar Melayu.
There is hope as far we have people like Azly Rahman. It is my believe too there are many people like him who recognised history of Malaysia.
We are sad that we still have people like Zainun that share the narrowness in that old mindset and still use race as a tools to his means.
We have to work together for the betterment of all Malaysian and mankind.
“I love banned books and books that others tell me not to read. There is a sense of intellectual challenge to be able to read banned books.”
That’s what I thought so myself. Until I read “The Malay Dilemma”
Azly is a pinhead in a pinstriped suit delivering his sermon from a minaret.
Whatever you say, the Umnoputras and the Utusans do not care a damn of it.
You must be more persistent than them to defeat them.
It is a long march and a social engineering project to throw out these scums.
Well said Azly Rahman.The future of a united malaysians living in harmonary and advancing to a well developed Malaysian society is not impossible.The stumbling blocks are many and the creator (Umno/Bn) are using whatever means it takes to consolidate these blocks to safeguard its interests.I agreed,Azly that Malaysia is no longer “Tanah Melayu “.It’s inappropriate now and our country should be known”Tanah Malaysian “.The lagacy of ” Kereta Api Tanah Melayu ” and ” Uskar Melayu ” should be done with and renamed “Kereta Api Malaysian “and “Uskar Malaysian”. Will Umno willing to do away with these “Melayu terms” ?.Will Umno especially those powerful umnoputras and warlords want to let simply go all those self interest and greed for King,and Country ?.Hence as long as these barriers are not wiling to cooperate,do you think it’s possible to break these walls which have been built to protect them(Umno) for more than five decades ?.I think the only option we(rakyat/voters)should take is to consolidate,strengthen,unite to dismantle these great walls through the next general election by voting PR. This is our only hope now. Can we do it ?.
I read this article with the deepest regret and upset. I will say Encik Azly is truly a traitor of the Malay. He is asking us not to call our self Tuan of this country, by asking us to succumb to other races. What a ridiculous statement I have ever heard!
Encik Azly, please, it has been very clear that Lim Kit Siang is trying to use the word “Malaysian” to dilute the notion of Ketuanan Melayu, an important concept of this country in the past 50 years. The concept of Ketuanan melayu has served to gain stability of the country for so long, and it serves to give us what we deserved in this land. DAP is using the word Malaysia, which sounds a very nice word, to deny the special rights that were given to us. DAP is trying to make Chinese to be “level” with the Malay so these special rights enjoyed by the Malay will be vanished over the time gradually. I wish to remind you that by allowing other races to have the same rights, this is equivalent of killing our own race. For our future, we should not let this happen as long as UMNO is in charge, unless all the Malay, who are majority race of the country, agree to be deferential to the minority races, the consequence of which will be disastrous. Please think about it carefully. All we want is what we deserved in our own land.
“Askar Melayu” must be disbanded. Raja raja Melayu??
It is imperative for the Malaysians to destroy and deconstruct all the Malay racist elements which reside in the Government Departments and Government Offices.
Let’s give due honour and respect to the Symbol of the Malay Privilege, namely the Yang Dipertuan Agong, the Sultan, the Raja, the Yamtuan and no one else! Let’s not continue to allow Umnoputras any chances to rob the Malaysian people of their fair share of the national wealth in the racist tone of Ketuanan Melayu. Let’s abandone Umnoputras by abandoning Umno thoroughly!
Well Azly Rahman,just read what Kasim Amat has said agaisnt you .This is exactly the example of barriers you need to overcome b4 we can talk about a united malaysian society.
Lets us all finger Tuan Rempit McBully and the associated rights and privileges. Remember to use the longest finger on your hand. Hold it upright with the rest of the fingers clenched in a fist.
Let us also erase the idea of Hamba deBully from our memory and our future and from our country.
Why it is called “Tanah Melayu”?
Why it is not called “Tanah Asli”?
Orang Asli lives earlier in Malaya/West Malaysia long before Malay came here.
So Why it is not called “Tanah Asli” in correct term.
Azly Rahman – like Bakri Musa, Art Harun, Farish A. Noor, Salleh Ben Joned, Syed Husin Ali, Anwar Ibrahim, Nizar Jamaluddin, Husam Musa, Wan Zawawi, Lat and many, many more (thank heaven!) – is a Mutant Malay. That simply means he has properly integrated his education and exposure to a variety of cultures by transcending his own ethnocultural tempurung. Once free of the narrow confines of intellectual and ideological tempurungism, any of us – whether we are considered Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, Iban, Kadazan, Caucasian or some exotic hybrid of multiple genetic strands – stands a far better chance of becoming ENLIGHTENED and LIBERATED. These are two conditions that are absolute anathema to Umno and that’s why they will fight fang and claw to stamp out any idea or movement that will genuinely upgrade people’s software and free them from the mental enslavement of traditional feudalism with its rigid herarchical dogmatism camouflaging the most disgusting form of parasitism – the type that feeds on people’s vitality (their semangat) in the name of nationalism.
This is a brief quote from a long essay I wrote last year:
Contrary to Umno propaganda, Malaya wasn’t named for the fictitious Malay race, but was inspired by the Tamil word for mountain, malai. Interestingly, the Sanskrit name “Himalaya” comes from hima (snow) and alaya (abode) – but it could also mean “snowcapped mountains.” In other words, the fact that my country of birth was once called Malaya doesn’t actually mean it belongs to the Malays, whom the Orang Asli regard as pendatang or dagang (migrants or itinerant traders). Indeed, a thorough study of history reveals extensive Hindu and Buddhist influence when it was part of the Srivijaya – and later the Majapahit – empires.
My love and blessings upon you and your family, dear Kit Siang.
Thank you for being such a durable and enduring tower of clarity, strength and vision!
Malaysia no longer “Tanah Melayu”.
Mahathir, the big one, laments the loss of “Tanah Melayu” in his latest posting today “Kaki dalam Kasut”.
My forefathers came to the Malay States many generations ago as a Sepoy. Some of them laid their lives for this land. Yet today we are still labelled as “pendatangs”.
Mahathir’s father came from India too but he is a “Bumiputra” who laments the loss of “Tanah Melayu”. He complains that “others” are in control of this land we call Malaysia especially after the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
Perhaps he seeks to revert back to the seperate Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo entities. And Malaya back to the Federated and Unfederated Malay States and the Straits Settlements. And then back to the various Malay territorial entities. And then back to the kindoms of Majapahit, Langkasuka and Funan.
He’ll be satisfied then.
So much for NAJIS’ ONE MALAYSIA! If this racial issue cannot be settled, how the hell can he achieve 1 MALAYSIA?
Sebuah artikel menarik. Curahan buah fikiran yang bernas, namun tidak mecerminkan keadaan sebenar budaya dan sejarah semua kaum dalam Malaysia.
Penulis mengutarakan bahawa ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ adalah bersifat perkauman dan merosakkan ‘KeMalaysian’ di mana , tiada ruang untuk warga Malaysia bukan keturunan Melayu berkembang dan hidup dengan selesa. Lebih kurang begitulah.
“Ketuanan Melayu’ bagi si penulis, ianya adalah cerminan gambar kerakusan, kezaliman dan ketidakadilan kepada warga Malaysia bukan berketurunan Melayu.
Saya memetik 1 perenggan daripada si penulis, yang pada pendapat saya isu utama yang mahu diketengahkah oleh si penulis :-
“The idea of social dominance and racial superiority might all be primarily about economics, if we are to read the history of the development of ideologies of superiority. But my question is – who has the right to claim that this or that land belongs to this or that group of people. At what point does culture and citizenship meet and negotiate the issue of egalitarianism? When does ‘the truth of one’s culture’ reach its limit and the question of ‘the truth of citizenship’ dominate? ”
Soalan cepumas. Siapakah yg berhak untuk menuntut tanah ini atau tanah itu dimiliki oleh sekelompok manusia ?
Konsep ‘Malaysia untuk warga Malaysia ‘ tidakkah ini juga sama seperti ‘Ketuanan Melayu ?” dan tidakkah konsep ini juga bermakna bahawa warga Malaysia , sekelompok manusia , membuat tuntutan hak pemilikan ke atas tanah ini ? Maka atas dasar apakah hak itu ?
Persoalan seterusnya, apakah sebenarnya erti ” Malaysia untuk warga Malaysia ?” Hakikatnya, tiada siapa pun yang benar-benar memberi 1 erti menyeluruh mengenainya. Pengertian yang diberikan terlalu umum sehinggakan memberi ruang kepada pelbagai andaian untuk di isi oleh sesapa pun jua.
Apakah jika “Malaysia untuk warga Malaysia’ ini benar-benar dilaksanakan , ianya merupakan pemangkin kepada kemajuan negara ? Atau ianya juga sekadar retorik yang sama seperti ‘Ketuanan Melayu?’ Apakah benar-benar kesemua kaum tidak dikesampingkan ? Atau tetap saja ada kepentingan kaum yang tertentu diutamakan ? sudah tentu. Kerana sifat manusia itu tetap sama.
Oleh itu, jika hendak menilai sesuatu itu buruk atau baik, mari kita lihat apakah yang telah berlaku sejak 50 tahun yang dahulu di Malaysia dan di Singapura.
Walaupun, ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ itu ada sejak 50 tahun yang lalu, apakah kita melihat berlakunya kezaliman ketara terhadap kaum-kaum lain sehingga mereka begitu tersiksa dan tertindas oleh UMNO-BN ? Atau budaya dan agama kaum-kaum lain di tekan sebegitu rupa sehingga menyukarkan mereka mengamalkan budaya dan agama mereka?
Kita lihat di Singapura, ternyata jelas terang bahawa kaum yang dominan adalah kaum Cina. Kita tidak lihat langsung budaya penduduk asal iaitu Melayu diketengahkan dan diperlihatkan sebagai budaya kebangsaan mereka. tetapi di Malaysia, walaupun budaya Melayu diketengahkan dan diutarakan sebagai budaya kebangsaan, kita lihat juga bahawa budak kecil Melayu umur 2 tahun pun apa dia tarian Singa dan Kong Hee Fatt Choy , Deepavali dan budaya-budaya kaum lain.
Biarlah saya jelaskan di sini mengenai ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ walaupun saya tahu akan menerima pelbagai kritikan.
“Ketuanan Melayu’ bukanlah atas dasar :-
1. SIFAT PERKAUMAN MENEBAL SEPERTI APARTHEID.
2. KEZALIMAN SECARA HALUS ATAU TERANG TERHADAP KAUM-KAUM LAIN.
3. APA JUA DASAR YANG DI REKACIPTA OLEH PENENTANG-PENENTANG NYA.
” Ketuanan Melayu ‘ adalah atas dasar :-
1. JATIDIRI MELAYU yang sememangnya mempunyai budaya TOLAK ANSUR YANG AMAT TINGGI dengan orang lain.
2. SEJARAH MELAYU yang sememangnya di rantau ini amat lama sejak 1 000 tahun yang lalu malah sejak zaman besi lagi – PERAK MAN.
3. KESINAMBUNGAN , penerusan sejarah, budaya , agama dan jatidiri Melayu di tanah ini tanpa memprejudiskan dan menafikan hak-hak kewarganegaraan warga Malaysia lain.
4. PENGIKTIRAFAN, bahawa kaum Melayu telah bermastautin lama di tanah ini.
5. KEPASTIAN, kepastian bahawa apa jua yang berlaku di tanah ini, semua warga Malaysia sedar bahawa apa yg mereka nikmati adalah hasil persetujuan orang Melayu untuk hidup berkongsi tanah ini dengan mereka , samada mereka suka atau tidak dengan fakta itu , dan bukan bermakna mereka diketepikan atau dizalimi. Mereka adalah di terima ke dalam ruanglitup budaya Melayu.
Terpulanglah kepada mereka samada untuk mencela nya dan/atau memuji nya.
Menerima atau menolak.
Hakikatnya jelas dan natijah pilihan mereka juga jelas.
TDM in his article “Kaki Dalam Kasut” at CheDet.co.cc argues that Pendatang should not have equal rights. He did not specify more or less right; and it would appear that he agreed that the whites in USA from European countries should have more rights than the native. That is also why the Pendatang from Indonesia Archipelago to Malaya should have more rights than Orang Asli.
TDM’s grandfather, the father of Iskandar Kutty was from India, which is outside the Indonesia Archipelago, How can the descendent of a Pendatang outside the privileged region be given right more than Orang Asli? Kerismuddin’s great grandmother was from Turkey, and he is also a descendent of a Pendatang outside the privileged region, Why should he be given right more than Orang Asli?
If TDM sincerely believes in what he wrote, then he should accept that he is not entitled to the special privilege, because he cannot claim to be native of Malaya. The people in Malaya before independence in 1957 were second class residents of Malaya, and they were equal; though the Royal Households existed at that time. The Independence granted by the British provided equal rights for all residents, though the citizens had the right to vote in general elections. There were specific provisions in the constitution to help Malays participate in economic functions; that did not constitute special rights granted to Malays.
It would have been bad for him, as a former Prime Minister, to have harboured such views sitting in his post, and that too he should have keep it to himself, to the grave. He has chosen to reveal it and to embarrass his cabinet colleagues as well. It is unthinkable that he should now choose to campaign partition of the citizens into different ancestries. He has revealed his vicious motives.
Azly Rahman,
Please do a point by point comments on TDM’s article ‘kakai dalam Kasut’.
the comments made by kasim amat leads me to give these comments and questions for him to refer back.
1) where the hell did azly comment about
telling the malays not to call themselves Tuan of this country & asking them to succumb to other races !!!
azly meant well that malaysia is for all malaysians and all is subject to equal tax!!!
2) i don’t understand that by allowing other races to have the same rights, this is equivalent of killing malay own race. common, you are still here and so are we!!! your race birth-rate is doubling so don’t worry.
however, if you fear so much as like bn, why don’t you recommend all identities cards plus birth certificates issued to non-malays be revoke or down-grade to second class citizenship!!! as long as we are having malaysian m-kads, WE ARE MALAYSIANS even if our skin color don’t match!!! ACCEPT THIS, KASIM !!!
its rather very very funny that though umno protects the malays , until today some malays still feel very threaten just like our dear kasim or are still poor with the exception of bn croonies!!! why??? kasim has been left out so unfortunately by umno???
i feel kasim’s very anti-dap and will call malays who stand up for fairness to all as traitors!!! i’m sure he will have a very special name for the pas spiritual leader because he’s ‘sleeping’ with the devils!!!
since kasim’s so malayish, i hope he will boycott all things made not by other races which includes using foreign cars like toyota or honda or even going to kfc which is NOT MALAY ORIGINAL !!!
kasim’s obcession of malays disappearing is unfounded as there will all diasppearing if the concept of kasim materalise. mind you, other racers are HUMANS TOO unless you think you are the only one!!!