A warning to Kadir and Syed: watch your words
If Najib is to be disparaged because of his Bugis ancestry, or Dr Mahathir because of his Indian roots, then not a single Malay would be exempted from that same treatment because there is no longer any ‘pure’ Malay in Malaysia, just like there is no longer any ‘pure’ Englishman.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
A. Kadir Jasin a.k.a. The Scribe and Syed Akbar Ali a.k.a. OutSyed The Box (and some others as well) have this propensity for making disparaging remarks regarding the Bugis in their criticism of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
I would caution them to be very careful because the Bugis are not that tolerant when it comes to anyone running down their race. And Sabahans can tell you what the Bugis are like. The Bugis in Sabah are ‘quick on the draw’ when insulted and their keris is never far from their waist.
I used to oppose Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad back in the 1980s and 1990s, especially at the height of the Reformasi Movement from 1999 to 2003. But I never once called Dr Mahathir Mamak Bendehara.
Mamak Bendehara was actually coined by Anwar Ibrahim (who is himself a Mamak) and that basically means he is a traitor to the Malay race. It refers to the downfall of the Melaka Sultanate due to enemies in the blanket becoming running dogs of the Portuguese.
Mamak Bendehara is a very insulting term to use on any Malay, even though Anwar does not regard Dr Mahathir as Malay but as an Indian with a Malay mother (just like himself). You can disagree with a person based on doctrine or ideology but not because of his or her race.
Anyway, allow me to digress a bit and relate a joke that was making its rounds in the 1980s.
MCA was not happy that both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were from Umno so they demanded that a post of DPM II be created and that the DPM II should be a Chinese.
When Samy Vellu heard about this he, too, went to meet Dr Mahathir and demanded that the post of DPM III also be created and that the DPM III should be an Indian.
Dr Mahathir replied, “Aiyah, Samy! Let MCA have the DPM II post. Why do you want an Indian as DPM III when we already have an Indian as the Prime Minister?”
I never once said I oppose Dr Mahathir because he is an Indian or Mamak. I also did not oppose Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi because he is of Bedouin blood (considered a lower caste in Arab culture just like the pariahs of India). I also do not oppose Muhyiddin Yassin because he is Javanese.
By the way, we also had jokes about the Javanese back in the 1970s, which was as follows:
A Javanese bought a new car and proudly told his friends about it.
“Kereta apa Wak beli?” they asked.
“Wak segan,” he replied.
“Janganlah segan Wak. Bagitahulah kereta apa.”
He then pointed to the car.
“Oh! Volkswagen. Bagus ke kereta ini, Wak?”
“Wak kena tipu,” he replied. “ Takde injin. Nasib baik ada injin spare kat belakang.”
Anyway, Kadir and Syed Akbar just show their poor upbringing. After all, what is a Malay? It is just like asking what is an Englishman?
The Englishman no longer exists. Over 2,000 years the English blood has been diluted and there no longer exists an Englishman. And if you went back in time you would never be able to speak to an Englishman because what we speak today is not ‘English’. It is more a European language with many other words borrowed from as far as China, India and the Middle East (with amok and orang utan borrowed from the Malays).
The same applies to Malays. The pure Malay no longer exists. What we have is the diluted Malay just like what an Englishman is today. And we have to accept that fact.
If Najib is to be disparaged because of his Bugis ancestry, or Dr Mahathir because of his Indian roots, then not a single Malay would be exempted from that same treatment because there is no longer any ‘pure’ Malay in Malaysia, just like there is no longer any ‘pure’ Englishman.
