The Social Contract: The Alliance Memorandum (part 1)
Actually the document does exist. A real written document. It was submitted by the Alliance to the Reid Commission on the 25th September 1956. And the document is as attached below.
My late father always said, common sense is not common.
TheSunDaily today carried an article by one Lim Teck Ghee, claiming that the Social Contract is a myth. He then quoted Ungku Aziz, whom in a forum in 2008, claim this is so. You can read his article in full, at the link below.
https://www.thesundaily.my/
First off, Lim Teck Ghee fail to mention that at that same forum, Tun Dr Mahathir disagrees with Ungku Aziz claims, and state it does exist, though not in actual written form but as an understanding during Merdeka negotiations between the Alliance parties and other stakeholders, which was later imbedded in the Federal Constitution.
Second, Lim Teck Ghee seems to try to cast Abdullah Ahmad as just a mere nobody. He fails to mention that Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad has been Tun Razak’s special officer since 1962, and later become Tun Razak political secretary. He stayed on with him until Tun Razak’s untimely death in 1976. By that time, Abdullah Kok Lanas as he was well known, was already a Deputy Minister in the Prime Ministers Office.
Thus, Abdullah Ahmad is not just a nobody. He is a close associate of Tun Razak, Tunku Abdul Rahman and other big names who fought for Independence. He would have known if such social contract exist or not.
Third, though the term social contract was only coined by Abdullah Ahmad in 1980s, it doesnt means such contract does not exist. I and several others refer to it as the Merdeka Compact. Some historians refer to it as the Alliance Memorandum. The Alliance led by Tunku Abdul Rahman calls it the ‘Political Testament Of The Alliance’.
And that brings me to the crux of the issue. With all the terms used over the years, does it exist? Of course it does! With respect to Tun Dr Mahathir and Ungku Aziz, actually the document does exist. A real written document. It was submitted by the Alliance to the Reid Commission on the 25th September 1956. And the document is as attached below.
This is the Memorandum. This is the Merdeka Compact. This is the Social Contract.
It was drafted after intense discussions not just among the parties within the Alliance. But also with the Sultans. Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote about such matter, and if i remember correctly was included in the book Malaysia, Road To Independence. He talks about the trip to London to negotiate Independence, via the ship MV Asia from Singapore to Karachi in January 1956. From there they will take a flight to Cairo and on to London.
On board the ship however was also the representatives of the Sultans. And seeing that the whole trip will take two weeks, Tunku and other Alliance representative negotiated the terms with the Sultan’s representatives such as Dato Panglima Bukit Gantang Haji Abdul Wahab ( Perak), Dato Nik Ahmad Kamil (Kelantan), Dato Mohd Seth (Johor) and Encik Abdul Aziz (Selangor).
Of course this document will only become a reality months later. The trip to London however was a success, whereby the British agrees to Malaya’s Independence and a non partisan committee will be set up to study the proposals and advice on the new Constitution for an Independent Malaya. This committee is the Reid Commission, led by Lord Reid, hence the name. And it was at this committee, 9 months after the Alliance start negotiations among themselves and the Sultans, was where this document was submitted.
As one read the document, one will realised there are some areas where the Alliance have yet to come to a final decision, such as the name of the country. Malaya or Malaysia? But overall, most of the important issues, has been agreed upon. The Chinese and Indians gets their citizenship, and in return they agree to the Malay special positions as already included in the Constitution of Federation of Malaya 1948, Islam as the Federation Religion, Malay as the official language, accept the Sultans privileges and discretionary powers and so forth.
And this document, with the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya 1948, will be the basis of our current Federal Constitution. In fact the contents of this ‘Social Contract’, is the foundation of the Federal Constitution.
And that’s the whole point. Common sense will automatically tells you, that such documents surely must have existed, or at least there are verbal agreements of sorts as Mahathir claims. Because if it doesn’t, then it will not be imbedded in the Federal Constitution in the first place. But then again, as my late father always said, common sense is not common.
As for the claim that Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Tan Cheng Lok, Tun Sambanthan etc have never used such terms before, let me repeat myself by saying the term may be different now, in the past it was referred mostly as the Alliance Memorandum, but the definition is still the same. MCA should know better, especially after some of its members and senior leadership started to go against the Social Contract. This was before the 1959 GE, and it forced Tunku Abdul Rahman to proclaim that even if there is only one Chinese still abide by the Social Contract, UMNO will support that fella.
Now for the next installment of this The Social Contract article, i will provide transcripts of the discussion with the Reid Commission regarding this Social Contract. I will also provide documentation reports by the British regarding issues such as jus soli and the such. This is because some are claiming there are no jus soli at all, whereas actually there was, albeit with qualifications. Some are claiming there is a 15 year limit to the Malay special positions and so forth.
These issues have to be dealt with so that the people knows the real history, not just half truths and conjectures as is prevalent for the past few years in this age of social media. Such matters is also relevant to the topic at hand, regarding the social contract.
Of course, for those who have seen such documents, will know it will put certain parties, in quite an unfavourable position. But hell, the Pandora’s Box has been open. If they feel its too hot for them to handle, they should not have opened it in the first place.
So let us discuss this openly as Lim Teck Ghee challenge us to. With the spirit to learn from history for a better future, Pandora’s box be damn! Let us expose those who were against the Social Contract from the start, and was in fact also opposed the Merdeka and what was later agreed upon when Malaysia was formed. And how such people today manage to dupe the rakyat with lies such as ‘the social contract is a myth’, and now has a foot in Putrajaya.
So grab your favourite drink and be ready. Its gonna be a bumpy ride back to real history, the truth, with proper documentations and evidence included for reference. Not splice up documents showing half truths, while the other half was hide from public view. Like how they showed only the last part of a discussion transcript with Reid Commission, to prove their allegations that there was supposed to be a 15 year review of the Malay special positions, which they then erroneously define the term ‘review’ as abolished. While knowingly hides the page before the one that they published and viralled, showing Tun Razak said exactly otherwise.
Yup. Lets do this. Be patient and get ready. Don’t worry be happy. Sila duduk jangan lari…
