The Malay Question in Malaysian Politics

 

I think many UMNO people miss an important point. Just as we( UMNO) say that Islam is not the exclusive province or PAS or any other party posturing on its religiosity, image and perception, people can also say, Malay-ism, is not the exclusive property of UMNO. Just because UMNO has fought on the basis of Malay nationalism and interests for so long, it is by no means its exclusive domain. It does not own the fight. Malay interests and Malay causes do not evaporate if today, UMNO disappears.

This is the biggest problem of UMNO. It thinks Malay causes and fight, are theirs by divine right. This kind of thinking breeds self conceit and arrogance which probably translate into the everyday behavior of its members. Look at for example, the smugness that comes along with labeling Malays as liberal Malays, just because we disagree on your methods. Hello kawan, lu ingat lu sorang sahaja Melayu ke? You ingat, your methods sahaja yang betul ke? If others are liberal Malays, what are you- Malay's Malay? The purest of the pure? Some of those championing this purest of the pure nationalism are not even UMNO members.

What is more damaging is, this kind of thinking destroys the awareness, that allegiance to its causes, must be earned and worked at. We have this kind of thinking- don't worry, in the end, people will come back to us no matter what. What will motivate them to do that? We seem to ignore the question.

It's the height of haughtiness and arrogance to have this idea that if UMNO dies, then the Malay is finished. We'd better get this into our heads quickly. Similarly, is also arrogance of the 1^st degree to say, that Islam is finished if PAS goes under. Both Islam and Malay are bigger than the political vehicles that carry them. once we become aware of this point, we commit ourselves to the reality that allegiance to our cause, must be earned over and over again. We should now realize that the original bright red fire that propels us initially, are turning into amber flashes. We are running on reserves.

The permanency of this political reality- that is, Malaysian politics will always have to come to terms with the Malay question, removes at once any conceited idea by anyone, including UMNO that it can forego having to accommodate Malay politics. In the case of UMNO, it has been taken as fore-granted. No one comes into power without embracing this reality- not UMNO, not PAS, not any other non Malay political parties.

I am an UMNO man. If possible I want all Malays to support UMNO. Malay support for UMNO has always been a qualified support. I know it has to be earned not expected to be had as of right. It was, is and will never be unquestioning support and a as- of- right property.

In the past, say between 1946 to the time of Tun Razak, Malay support for UMNO was founded and grounded on a general and deserved belief that UMNO was the best political vehicle to secure the community's objectives. But I say its delusional to state that its only UMNO who fights for Malay interests. It still does, but there appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way and methods they used for securing the community's loyalty to its causes. The slogans Melayu this and Melayu that have not been effective lately, signifying the need to re-engineer the foundation. Unless you can convince me otherwise, then I say UMNO cannot even stand up to say, they represent Malays.

We delude ourselves further by claiming that because UMNO has 78 parliamentary seats, therefore we have more Malay support. Dispute this then.

In the 2008 elections UMNO candidates got 2.38 million votes. Mind you, not all of that came from Malay voters. Take away 380,000 non Malay votes, you are left with 2 million Malay voters who elected UMNO candidates. In that year, there were 5.7 million Malay voters. This means 3.7 million Malay voters didn't vote for UMNO candidates. If more Malay voters( including UMNO members) didn't vote for UMNO candidates, how can UMNO say, they represent Malays? The 78 parliament seats won by UMNO therefore didn't reflect the true extent of Malay support for UMNO.

Which simply means, that UMNO people have to work harder to regain the trust and allegiance of Malay voters. You have done it the old way and style-raising the specter of Malay marginalization and all that. You raised this inspite of having article 153 of the Constitution and despite being numerically larger than any other races combined. How is that defensible?

That old way hasn't worked. Why has more Malays voted for non UMNO parties? Personal disaffection, animosities, vengefulness cannot fully explain lost confidence. After UMNO and the government lost badly in the 2008 elections, UMNO leaders went to a retreat and produce a laundry list of all shortcomings they could think of. What happened to these? They have not been acted upon. I see no rain, even though there was much thunder about it.

Maybe I have not made myself clear on this issue. Who fights for the Malay question in Malaysian politics is a non contentious issue. Every political party will embrace, define and manage it. They way they do will earn them trust and support of the Malays.

Since 1946, UMNO has built a mousetrap that has proven to be very good. It has continued to be the federal government for Malaysia. the party controls a number of state legislative assemblies. It's still the party to beat.

It would be foolhardy to discount the party as a has been. The fundamental causes upon which it built its struggle and eminence are very much ingrained in the majority of UMNO supporters. I hope they still are. Except that UMNO needs to realize, the approach to harness support is no longer through the traditional way. This includes the appeal to latent primal fears of the Malays of being swamped by other Malaysian ethnic groups. Wasn't UMNO formed to serve as bulwark to protect themselves from being marginalized by immigrant races? That fear has always been manipulated.

Since then Malays have made progress in many areas. We gained self government and independence in 1957. We developed the economy and brought much development for this country. the accomplishments were obtained not through the efforts of Malays only but by all Malaysian races that now call Malaysia home. With economic development comes liberated minds. The experience that came along with economic achievements, political awareness and national confidence resulted in new understanding, new expectations and ever emerging values.

What is probably happening, many UMNO fighters have not come to terms with these political realities.