The Two Ways of ‘Memartabatkan Maruah Bangsa Melayu’
There are two ways of memertabatkan bangsa Melayu (bringing dignity and honour to the Malay race) – the UMNO-racist way and the Islamic way. The first way involves completely abandoning Islamic principles and adopting race as one’s primary identity. The second way involves abandoning one’s politically-charged racial identity and working as part of humankind in general.
I read about the Forum Memartabatkan Maruah Bangsa Melayu from Berita Harian online. The report didn’t say if there were any actual measures to restore the dignity of the Malays beyond ranting about how we’re the masters of the land. On the contrary the report mentions Mukhriz saying how BN component parties are now more daring as they perceive a weakened UMNO. Ah yes, and of course, no forum on bringing dignity and honour to the Malay race is complete without mentioning Anwar – this time to challenge him to produce a shadow cabinet.
How on earth are these things going to bring dignity and honour to the Malays, we might ask? It would appear that under this formula, the way to restore Malay dignity and honour is by suppressing the dignity and honour of other races. Ah yes, also by criticising Malay politicians from other parties.
This is the UMNO way. Lets now examine the Islamic way.
For a start, Islam does not acknowledge any kind of racial elevation over other races. For all the proud slogans by Muslims about how Islam rejects racism, UMNO and Malay nationlists embraces it. This is despite the fact that Quran has told us to have nothing to do with those who break up mankind (6/159). Even so, there are Muslims who preach Islam yet at the same time babble on about Malay rights, like this website here.
Islam also never segments humankind in any way when speaking about helping others. In the numerous verses in Quran about charity an bringing good to mankind, we can never find any kind of discrimination. Humankind must be helped no matter what their race or religion. This isn’t just part of our faith, it IS our faith. Not performing this equates to rejecting the religion (107/1-3)
So how does Islam bring dignity and honour to those who practise it’s principles? Well, there is no way to prove this on paper but why not practise it for yourself? Try throwing all racial consciousness out the window and see all human beings as parts of the same whole. Love one’s culture sure but acknowledge that other people have an equal value to their own culture. Forget the UMNO way of bringing dignity and honour to the Malay race. It hasn’t worked for 60 years and will not work ever.
Ends.
