Umno can be closed down if the Bumiputera status is abolished
If the Malays feel they no longer need special status and the Chinese, Indians and others can be given equal status to the Malays, then there is no longer any need for Umno. Umno can be closed down and the special status of the Malays can be abolished. The term ‘Bumiputera’ and ‘non-Bumiputera’ can be abolished and everyone will be called ‘Malaysian’. The reason why the Malays need Umno no longer exists as well.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
To discuss whether Umno is still relevant and has any future left, we need to discuss why in the first place Umno was born.
Soon after World War II, the British Military Administration (BMA) decided to create the Malayan Union. As what happened in India, the Middle East, Africa, and so on, decisions regarding Britain’s overseas territories or colonies were made by civil servants in London who knew nothing about what was happening ‘on the ground’.
That is why India, Africa and the Middle East (until today) are in such a mess. Most of the plans were ill-conceived, as was the plan to create the Malayan Union. Unfortunately, the system was the rulers ‘shall’ take the ‘advice’ of the British Advisers so opposing the Malayan Union was not an option for the Raja-Raja Melayu.
Umno was created to prevent the Chinese and Indians from being given equal status to the Malays
When the Malays realised what had happened they became outraged. But by then it was a fait accompli. Some blamed the Raja-Raja Melayu for agreeing to the British plan. But most knew you just do not say no to the British and get away with it. Did the British Military Administration not remove the Sultans of Terengganu and Selangor in 1945?
The Malay associations, movements, organisations, etc., got together under an umbrella organisation called the United Malays National Organisation or Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu. Basically, it was a coalition of hundreds of Malay bodies from all over Malaya.
It was because of the British arrogance and stupidity that Umno was created. And it was created to unite hundreds of splinter associations, movements, organisations, and so on, to oppose the BMA plan to create the Malayan Union.
There were many things the Malays could not accept about the Malayan Union. And one of it was to grant the Chinese and Indians equal status to the Malays. The Malays must always be the Lords of the Land (Ketuanan Melayu) while the non-Malays must be second-class citizens. And the Malayan Union was opposite to this.
If the Chinese are going to be given Bumiputera status then Umno can be closed down next week
If the British had not tried to create the Malayan Union and grant the Chinese and Indians equal status to the Malays, Umno would have never been born and would have never existed. But because the Malays would have lost their special status and the non-Malays would be equal to the Malays under the new British plan, Umno came into being.
If the Malays feel they no longer need special status and the Chinese, Indians and others can be given equal status to the Malays, then there is no longer any need for Umno. Umno can be closed down and the special status of the Malays can be abolished. The term ‘Bumiputera’ and ‘non-Bumiputera’ can be abolished and everyone will be called ‘Malaysian’. The reason why the Malays need Umno no longer exists as well.
