Which Malays?
Moderator’s note on 11/3/2012 at 11.45am : Commentator BaronVonchesto sent in this clarification by way of comment. I think it warrants highlighting here –
Haris, this book is from a secondary school Oxford-Fajar Sejarah practice tests book. They initially explained that the question when read out of context is easily misinterpreted. I say give them the benefit of the doubt because from the photograph you can clearly see that ts question 3(e). These types of questions usually have a passage briefly outlining the historical context relevant to the subsequent questions – since the photo only zooms in on the question it leaves out the passage at the top.
According to oxford-fajar the context of the question is supposedly during the era of the Malayan Union, where even I agree the malays had some legitimacy to their fears of giving the “pendatang” citizenship. A more pertinant issue is how the history syllabus is skewed to glorify and play up UMNO – only UMNO fought for the malays, bla bla. In the case of this question – the correct answer is for the pemimpin to do whatever it was that UMNO did at the time. No other answer is correct.
At any rate. Oxford-Fajar have appologised, offered a refund to anyone who wishes to return the book and promised to revise r remove the question from subsequent editions. No doubt someone complained to their head office in the UK!
_______________________________________________
The large numbers, impoverished in the kampungs?
Or that of the elite few in UMNO and their cronies, enriched beyond all imagination by the abuse of the New Economic Policy?
The few maintained by the people out of the Consolidated Fund, yet take the economic opportunities away from those most in need of them?
The many denied any self-esteem, raised to believe they can do nothing for themselves, and must forever be dependent on and grateful for governmental aid?
Or the few who enslave the minds of the majority, robbing them of self-belief?
The masses who, by law, are not permitted to hold views contrary to the edicts of men feigning piety?
Or the few who ply Islam for their sustenance, but sell, instead, lies and falsehood?
The many, totally uninformed, who think ketuanan Melayu is their lifeline?
Or UMNO which, unless stopped, will draw the last breath of every Malay, for the sake of a few?
The People's Parliament 
Bobby
March 10, 2012
So how does a Bumi 10% discount on a RM 2 million semi-D in PJ actually benefit the Malays in the kampungs?
And still 50% of MALAYSIANS do not own homes even with RM400k 100% financing.
WHY?
Because NO BANKS WILL LEND ANYONE THE MONEY
So who’s KILLING THE MALAYS?
ABU!
Hilmi
March 10, 2012
Exactly what I thought when I read this. What status do we need to maintain? The elite politicians? Limited monetary resources and stifled thinking of the masses? We need to improve not maintain what the BN government is perpetuating.
The way this is blown out of proportion stating the Malays are racists who wish to maintain their privileged standing is simply ridiculous. We who succeed do so on our own merits, not because we get any special support from the government. The so called Malay supremacy serves to enrich the select few who walk in the corridors of power and those who suck up to them.
najib manaukau
March 10, 2012
To begin with, these so called Malays are NOT I repeat are not the indigenous people of this land, Malaya belongs to the Orang Asli since time immemorial. That is why they are called Orang Asli, the Original People that is what they are and that is why they were appropriately called by the early Indonesians arrival who did not expect that would result negatively on their claims.
Because there was no border control then these Indonesians arrived in overwhelming numbers, for the same reasons of the Chinese immigrants and decided to call this land Malaya even though they were and a lot of them are still Indonesians such as the DPM.
Who has audaciously admitted that his parents are both from different parts of Indonesia and as such he is, like millions of the so called Malays, are Indonesians. And later because of the overwhelming numbers of these arrivals became political dominance and as a result there was nothing for these immigrants from Indonesia turned Malays, to change and amend everything in the constitution to suit them. There was nothing to stop the atrocities.
They even have legislation passed on how to become Malay, otherwise they will remain and still known as Indonesians. The Indonesian culture and history are so much better accepted and recorded in history and also how come they never claim to be Malays because there was no such place as Malaya or such people as Malays.
In Seremban the Indonesian immigrants erected a Menangkau house to remind them that was where they came from and until recently a lot of them would go back annually to visit their home land. No amounts of twisting and distorting of the history can change that.
The recorded history shows some of them came as pirates with the crews to take refuge and the captain became the Sultans of the state. Poor Orang Asli,
these Indonesian immigrants not only rob their land of birth away from them and now they even take away the only house you have and to add insults to the injuries the immigrants from Indonesia just to justify their actions they are calling you pseudo Malays ! May be that is why the Malays repeatedly call the Orang Asli and the Head Hunters from East Malaysia as Bumiputras and still call themselves as Malays !
Dr. Amir
March 10, 2012
Dear Readers,
All these maintaining Malay status quo, Ketuanan Melayu, Melayu didahulukan, are merely gimmick of UMNO as election nears. They are only out there to confuse and divide the Malays and isolate the chinese from the Malays but UMNOPUTRA will ‘kuda’ the chinese for everything. The former wins contract and sell it to the latter. The chinese know it too well that this project can get VO and if not ready can be abandoned forever. They work hands in gloves to plunder the nation, via UMNO and MCA party vehicles.
This time around it is not as easy as what UMNO is speculating, a 2/3 majority? Are they dreaming? or are they going all out with their dirty tactics to ‘beat up the voters’ turning out to vote? I am not at all surprised if this took place. With the chinese votes expected to swing to PR en masses and the Malays split in 3-ways, the UMNO can even be expected to lose this election. The Sabah & Sarawak will be their best bet, but this too is not fully guaranteed since DAP had made the inroad to Sarawak based on last election data.
This time around they are too many issues troubling UMNO and many issues are expected to remain there for a very long time and haunting them forever and ever. Many more issues are expected to be unearthed to the public and it is just a matter of right timing. UMNO will be in for more and many surprises. Please wait Sir.
Malaysianatheart
March 10, 2012
The problem is how many Malays realize this?? There are only so many stiff upper lipped, English speaking Malays of Haris’, Faridah’s and Hilmi’s (who commented above) ilk who, because of their privileged western education, can comprehend the underlying skulduggery in BN rhetoric. Which brings us full circle back to the importance of English in our education system and why it was so important for UMNO to deny knowledge of the language to the masses for all these years. The question is – how can we convince the Malay masses that they have been duped??
be strategic
March 11, 2012
this is what the so called english speaking urban middle class don’t understand. that includes all of you who are reading this comment.
if you want to get malay votes then you have to speak in their language! that means you have to speak in malay language!
get that in your thick skull!
what good is your speech or writings when you are speaking to the already converted english speaking urban middle class when 70% of parliamentary seats in malaysia is in rural and semi-rural area?
you guys have stayed in malaysia for more than 3 generations and you still don’t understand the malays. if you want to win their heart and their votes start talking and writing to them in their language!
fyi, i normally don’t write in english because i know its futile to speak to the already converted. i write in english because i know that despite you called yourself a malaysian but your command of our national language – SUCKS big time!
you damn know that only malays are kind enough to tolerate your incompetency in our national language. if you are in france, germany, britain or even aussie not only you will get a spit on your face but your citizenship will be revoked too!
i’m all for ABU but i totally abhor those who do not understand the rudimentary level of basic political strategies in malaysia.
kau nak menang hati orang melayu, tapi kau cakap orang putih. apa kau ingat malaysia ni australia ke?
Anwaar
March 11, 2012
Uncle Haris, which book did the pic above came from?
Adik Anwaar,
Uncle Haris is not sure. This surfaced on FB
be strategic
March 11, 2012
this is what the so called english speaking urban middle class don’t understand. that includes all of you who are reading this comment.
if you want to get malay votes then you have to speak in their language! that means you have to speak in malay language! and if you want to get the vote of the sabahan and sarawakian then you have to speak in malay or iban or kadazan-dusun language!
get that into your thick english speaking middle class skull!
what good is your speech or writings when you are speaking to the already converted english speaking urban middle class when 70% of parliamentary seats in malaysia is in rural and semi-rural area?
you guys have stayed in malaysia for more than 3 generations and you still don’t understand the malays and the indigenous people of sabah and sarawak. if you want to win their heart and their votes start talking and writing to them in their language!
fyi, i normally don’t write in english because i know its futile to speak to the already converted. i write in english because i know that despite you called yourself a malaysian but your command of our national language – SUCKS big time!
you damn know that only malays are kind enough to tolerate your incompetency in our national language. if you are in france, germany, britain or even aussie not only you will get a spit on your face but your citizenship will be revoked too!
i’m all for ABU but i totally abhor those who do not understand the rudimentary level of basic political strategies in malaysia.
kau nak menang hati orang melayu, orang sabah dan orang sarawak tapi kau cakap orang putih. apa kau ingat malaysia ni australia ke?
Ng See Kiat
March 11, 2012
It will be interesting if there was one who dared to answer it this way “Saya tidak akan mempertahankan status quo yang memperkayakan kroni-kroni UMNO. Saya akan ABUkan agar Melayu pada amnya dibebaskan daripada status dibawah UMNO sekarang
BaronVonchesto
March 11, 2012
Haris, this book is from a secondary school Oxford-Fajar Sejarah practice tests book. They initially explained that the question when read out of context is easily misinterpreted. I say give them the benefit of the doubt because from the photograph you can clearly see that ts question 3(e). These types of questions usually have a passage briefly outlining the historical context relevant to the subsequent questions – since the photo only zooms in on the question it leaves out the passage at the top.
According to oxford-fajar the context of the question is supposedly during the era of the Malayan Union, where even I agree the malays had some legitimacy to their fears of giving the “pendatang” citizenship. A more pertinant issue is how the history syllabus is skewed to glorify and play up UMNO – only UMNO fought for the malays, bla bla. In the case of this question – the correct answer is for the pemimpin to do whatever it was that UMNO did at the time. No other answer is correct.
At any rate. Oxford-Fajar have appologised, offered a refund to anyone who wishes to return the book and promised to revise r remove the question from subsequent editions. No doubt someone complained to their head office in the UK!
be strategic
March 11, 2012
btw, i do know that haris have realised the problem of the so called english speaking urban middle class liberal, secular, human rights group and their NGOs. despite all their progressive ideals, views and aspiration for genuine change, they still fail to get their message across the masses that matters i.e. the majority of the malay masses and the sarawakian and sabahan indigenous people.
and this is because they speak and write in an elite minority language which totally not in sync with the majority of the masses. at the end of the day, they write, speak, engage in bantering and dialogue with their own converted crowd.
enough of this “syok sendiri” strategy. start to write, speak, engage and propogate in the language of the majority of the masses. since bumiputera (i hate to use this divisive terminology) is almost 75% of rakyat in this country, malay language is the most strategic language to be used to influence the rakyat from perlis to sabah!
remember! malaysia is not only comprised of klang valley english speaking urban middle class of penang, jb, ipoh, bangsar, sri hartamas, pj, subang jaya only.
be strategic! chinese votes 90% of it is in our bag already. it’s the malay votes, sabahan and sarawakian that is the most important. i know haris already know about this. have seen him speaks in various ABU function in OUR national language. good strategic effort. keep up the good work! but i still haven’t seen any of haris writings in OUR national language!
yes for ABU but we need to strengthen the secular, democratic and progressive forces as well. the way to strengthen the secular, democratic and progressive forces in malaysia is by start writing, speaking and propogating our ideals in whatever medium that is available in the most strategic language that can be access by majority of the masses from perlis to sabah and that language is OUR national language!
BaronVonchesto
March 11, 2012
be strategic said: “you damn know that only malays are kind enough to tolerate your incompetency in our national language. if you are in france, germany, britain or even aussie not only you will get a spit on your face but your citizenship will be revoked too!”
What a load of bullshit! Have you ever even stepped out of Malaya?? Even gone to Sabah and Sarawak let alone the France, Germany the United Kingdom or Australia??
They are far more welcoming than most Malaysians – especially arrogant people like you. UMNO has used BTN and the Ministry of Indoctrination (not education) to make the Malays think that the Malay culture and traditions is somehow superior because of their “budi-bahasa” and “sopan-santun” and filial piety to the elders etc. In reality this couldnt me further from the truth!
All you need to do is to step out to one of those countries you listed and see how they are generally such friendly, warm and sincere people (most of them anyways) Why do you suppose most people who go there dont want to come back?
Oh wait! You rather i speak in the National Language?
Isu kefasihan bahasa kebangsaan (ataupun Bahasa melayu? Atau Bahasa Malaysia? Hiah saya pun tak tau lah “pemimpin” kita selalu suka tukar namanya!) merupakan suatu isu yang berlainan dengan apa yang sedang dibincang. Untuk maklumat anda, saya menganggap BM sebagai bahasa kedua saya (selepas Bahasa Inggeris) dan saya rasa saya ketuturan dan penulisan saya cukup fasih.
Memang ramai orang bukan melayu tidak fasih berbahasa melayu tetapi ia kerana perngunaan yang kurang. Seseorang yang belajar di sekolah cina tentunya akan bergaul lebih ramai dengan orang yang berbahasa cina (termasuklah orang melayu yang belajar di sekolah cina). ya saya sokong cadangan bahawa semua sistem sekolah di Malaysia diselaraskan – tetapi ia bukan bermakna sekolah cina dan tamil dan apa-apa jenis sekolah lain di tukar menjadi seperti sekolah “kebangsaan” yang sedia ada. Semua sekolah harus diberi kebebasan untuk menentukan bahasa yang diajar dan berapa jumlah jam pengajaran dan kebebasan menentukan darjah kepentingan sesuatu bahasa – asalkan Bahsa Malaysia dan Bahasa Inggeris diberi kepentingan yang sama taraf. Kalaulah suatu sekolah ingin memberi kepentingan kepada Bahasa eskimo-pun biarlah!
Tetapi itu tidak akan menukar hakikat bahawa Bahasa Inggeris merupakan bahasa antaraangsa dan juga ‘lingua-franca’ di Internet. The People’s Parliament merupakan suatu website yang berbahasa Inggeris dan memanglah kita akan berbahasa Inggeris di sini.
So because of that I will continue to use english. you can hold us educated middle class who prefer english in contempt all you want. But that only makes you a linguistic chauvinist. Malaysia is a plural society consisting of not just many communities, but also classes. In fact I always tell people that broadly speaking Malaysia is divided into people who fall under the category of malay, chinese, indian and the educated english speaking. So you see its not about race its about community background. The educated english speaking society consists of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, Siamese, Iban, Dayak, the Mat Sallehs and many many more. Often times we have more in common with each other from different “races” than we do with those “of our same race” who are from the malay, chinese or tamil speaking background.
shakuntala
March 11, 2012
The so-called benign affirmative action, touted throughout the world from here, to be rendering ‘help’ and in the process entrenching it for years on end, by the BN government.
Ought this policy be allowed to become, carelessly, part of the Malay culture?.So much so that the poorer Malays are generally seen to be a dependant, helpless group of persons.
Are the non-bumis then, being unfair or be blamed for thinking so of the Malay malaysians?
This policy has made one group of Malays definitely richer at the cost of a larger group, who it seems do not seem to mind? If not for the religious fear that keeps them feeling vulnerable and subjugated, they certainly would.
Today and now is the time for correction
The poor Malays need an open-minded education, which would teach them to enquire, to be skeptical, to offer constructive criticism and to take possession of their country.
Who else could tackle this job with better effect, now, than the Opposition.
be strategic
March 11, 2012
No bullshitting mate! Been there and I do know how the German treats their gastarbeiter and how the French treat their Arab descent Frenchman. From your name Baron Vonchesto I presume you are German or Hungarian. I do not wish to elaborate about German skin head and Eastern Europe racism to you. But one thing is clear from all this country either German or France is that if you are not proficient in their language no way they will accept you as their citizen. Pure and simple. In fact Malaysia could be the only country in the whole world that kind enough to accept those who are not proficient in OUR national language as their citizen.
My point is simple you can say what ever you want but if you really want Malay votes or Sabahan votes or Sarawakian votes you have to speak in their language. You might argue that English is the lingua franca of the internet (which is bull shit – just go to Japan or China or any European based website you wont find any English language there except for few who cater to international communities). But I do agree that English is an international language and a language of business, MNCs and TNCs but you are not going to get much votes from this MNCs and TNCs people simply because they are not the majority in this country.
You asked whether I’ve been to Sabah and Sarawak. Stayed in rumah panjai (thats how the iban called their long house) in various places in Sarawak and Sabah for months during my 3 years backpacking in Borneo. Even ngirup langkau with them until dead drunk. And you know what language that they communicate with me? It’s Malay language. Not even a single English word being used.
I’m not forcing you to use OUR national language. No force what so ever. You can use English for donkey’s years in whatever situation you want. Go ahead. Ain’t nobody stopping you. But remember this is about influencing the masses to side with us. As I said earlier majority of the masses are Malay and other bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak and 70% of them are in rural and semi-rural (small town). If we are serious in our struggle to get them to our side, then we need to use the most strategic language. And this strategic language is none other than OUR national language. This is political battle not economic battle. If it is economic battle I agree that English is more strategic. But in political battle those who can influence more masses will finally win. And majority of this masses speaks Malay. Get that into your thick English speaking middle class skull!
But please go ahead and use your English language – tak ada orang kisah pun kalau anda menggunakan bahasa Inggeris. Saya tidak kisah langsung. Saya cuma bercakap tentang strategi yang lebih berkesan untuk mempengaruhi massa Melayu dan bumiputera Sabah dan Sarawak. Saya tidak menghalang kalau anda mahu terus menggunakan bahasa Inggeris – teruskan. Tapi anda hanya melancap bersama kumpulan anda sahaja. You are only masturbating with your own group who already know how much sperm you have. Probably a mere 0.007 ml ! But then you are the Baron – with all the fine food and wine that you consumed, probably you will have 0.5 ml ! Congratulation!
Ng See Kiat
March 11, 2012
As is highlighted at the top by the Moderator’s note on 11/3/2012 at 11.45am that the Commentator BaronVonchesto sent in this clarification by way of comment that ” ….the question when read out of context is easily misinterpreted. ” and that “According to oxford-fajar the context of the question is supposedly during the era of the Malayan Union”. So it is really meant for your reader TO MISINTEPRET IT AND TAKE IT OUT OF CONTEXT?
bigjoe
March 11, 2012
Word is out that Najib is ready to leave BN component parties out to hang on their own – the end of power sharing formula. Its as good as the end of Malaysia by BN and the founding of UMNOputraland. So its official that GE-13 is the last chance to save the idea called Malaysia. IF UMNO wins, then we have to call ourselves UMNOlanders?
be strategic
March 11, 2012
I’m wondering why my respond to Baron Vonchesto have not yet published? Is People’s Parliament practice censorship? It’s cool. I have no qualms with censorship after all this is your blog not mine. As an owner of a private entity you can do what ever you want with your own blog. Thanks.
be strategic
March 14, 2012
Opppsss! My rather premature suspicion of censorship by people’s parliament. Hihihi. Thanks for publishing my respond. I’m not picking fight with anyone. Just want to engage wth these English speaking urban middle class people and to invite them to get out from their English speaking comfort zone and try to look at Malaysia beyond their small English speaking circle who can never be a true representative of the diversity of Malaysian people from Kaki Bukit Perlis to Tanjung Labian Sabah.
I myself coming from PJ middle class family whose main language is English, reading English newspapers, books, magazines, listening to mostly English songs, watching English TV programmes and movies and socialising with mostly English speaking colleagues, I used to think that the whole Malaysia revolved around English language until my enlightened back packing trip to Sabah and Sarawak which opened up my eyes to the reality on the ground where the lingua franca of such diverse communities in Borneo is actually the Malay language.
That’s why I strongly believed that the most strategic language to raise the consciousness of the majority of Malaysian masses is through OUR national language. Having been in Sabah and Sarawak as well as various other states in Semenanjung, my conviction grew stronger that English is only strategic within the so called English speaking urban middle class, and it is not even strategic for urban Malay working class whose number is getting bigger and bigger. Please remember that majority of Malaysian voters are Malays and bumiputera Sabah and Sarawak who used Malay as their language of communication.
To confine ourselves within our own comfort zone of English speaking class will only limits our influence. At the end of the day you need a common language to reach majority of Malaysians from all walks of life from Kaki Bukit to Tanjung Labian. And this language is none other than OUR national language!
Ivy
March 21, 2012
Haris is ok….he walks the talk. He believes in freedom. Good man! Over at “Free Malaysia Today” is where the mighty censoring is. None of my comments have ever seen the light of day..he..he… I don’t really care, I still give my comments because they the censors of FMT will have to read my piece before they censor mine or any other readers comment that disagree the garbage articles they put up written by garbage people!
Anyway..if you carefully scrutinize their website you know that they are Abang-Adik with RPK’s Malaysia Today blog…most article same-same….
Deep
March 20, 2012
Be Strategic is right. We need to engage in the main language for practical reasons
shakuntala
March 21, 2012
Our national language is ok, good for cementing with our Malay neighbours. I think we do a not too bad job trying to be friendly and we do get responses, bazar Malay although it is in some cases, or even survival Malay.
The thing is not so much being so bloody profficient in any language, the thing is having the Spirit to engage with persons and you need heart also in order to make the person you’re talling to feel that he or she is needed and loved.
English is rather more interesting, because one can engage freely and not get hemmned in by sensitivity and fear. You will notice, that a conversation carried out in English is rather more spontaneous. Strangely enough, Malaysians are natural with English…..we’ve grown into it.
It does not mean to say that we do not regard the National Language as being important. It is serving its purpose. We give it due respect Some of my relatives, children in particular can speak it almost perfectly,they are almost Malay in it, so we are all accustomed to being bi-lingual.
Don’t spoil this scenario lah…..t