A judge who deserves our contempt

By admin-s On Sep 22, 2014

The Malays would not cease to exist, if Malays were to reject racial and religious indoctrination. On the other hand, parties like Umno-Baru and PAS, and extremist NGOs like Perkasa and Pekida are the ones whose futures are at risk.

Mariam Mokhtar, The Ant Daily

In his latest attack on the non-Malays, former Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad disputed the role of the non-Malays in gaining independence for Malaya. He alleged that the Malays were the only people who demanded, and truly fought for the country’s independence.

Why did Hamid encapsulate centuries of history into one sentence and denigrate the non-Malays? What is his real reason for making this remark?

Perhaps, the answer lies in the Malay youth. Forget the thuggish Mat Rempits or the pampered offspring of royalty, including the children of the nouveau royalty – the Umno-Baruputra élite. They only demand more of the excesses to which they have been accustomed. They have no boundaries in life. They are not like ordinary people, who have to work for a living.

Ordinary young Malays are distancing themselves from the ideology of “Ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy). They are not afraid to make a stand and unfortunately, many students now face arrest and charges for sedition.

When young Malays think and behave like Malaysians, it is our racist leaders, and the extremists within society, who feel threatened. Our leaders do not want to forge a united and enduring Malaysia, by engaging and communicating with all Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity and religious background.

All over the world, governments are struggling to contain pockets of violence and intolerance, yet Hamid feels compelled to erode the rakyat’s sense of national identity. Each and every ethnic group has contributed towards our place in history. Despite the NEP and other affirmative action policies, the Malays feature prominently in the lists of the poor, the uneducated, the homeless, those addicted to drugs, those suffering from HIV/AIDS and the single mothers. People know that the NEP has failed.

Hamid’s allegations were made at Universiti Selangor (Unisel), during a seminar called “Islam and Tajdid (adherence to Prophet Muhammad’s teachings).

He also claimed that the Malays were opposed to the Malayan Union, that members of the community had sacrificed their lives fighting the communists during the Emergency, and that the motivation for the non-Malays to seek independence was the protection of their own interests.

Hamid is correct about Malay opposition to the Malayan Union, but he failed to mention the reasons for this. He also omitted to say that more ordinary Chinese died at the hands of the communists, because they refused to help the guerrillas.

It is also a bit rich to say that “non-Malays only wanted independence to protect their own interests.”

Similarly, in modern Malaysia, Umno-Baru politicians will cheat and bribe their way at elections, “to protect their own interests”.

Hamid forgets that Malaysia was built by the blood, sweat and toil of all the races, in the mines, the estates, the railways, and in defence of the nation. Hamid’s failure is to reveal only the tip of the iceberg, of the history of Malaya’s independence.

Why did he not mention that the early Malay nationalists, in 1900 – 1910, were promoted by people who were hardly Malay, as they were from Acheh, Singapore, Minangkabau or of Arab-Malay descent?

He forgot to say that 20th century Malays were parochial and were loyal only to the sultan, of their state. These Malays did not see themselves as citizens of a nation.