Malay Unity is as real as the Tooth Fairy
For 1,000 years Malays have been fighting Malays and for 1,400 years Muslims have been fighting Muslims. And the fight is not about Islam or Malay interests. It is about power and wealth. So, if Mahathir wants all the Malays to join PPBM for the sake of Malay unity then Mahathir must really be senile. Malays, like any normal human being, are selfish and inconsiderate. That is what makes us human. Only animals in the wild unite. Humans, unlike animals, kill for sport and for fun.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s appeal for all Malays to join PPBM for the sake of ‘Malay Unity’ is a fallacy. Malay unity has never existed and can never exist. It would be easier to get China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to all merge under ‘one-country-one system’ (or for North Korea and South Korea to unite like North Vietnam and South Vietnam).
Malays and Muslims can never unite. Look at the Middle East. They are all followers of Prophet Muhammad. They all pray to Allah. They all regard the Qur’an as Allah’s Holy Book. And they all agree that all Muslims are brothers-sisters of the same ummah. But is there unity in the Middle East? The Muslims became divided and quarrelled with one another the day Prophet Muhammad died. And they are still fighting and killing each other until today.
Why was Umno formed in 1946? Umno was formed to protest the British plan to create the Malayan Union. In 1948, the British relented and the Federation of Malaya was formed. After that Umno embarked on the fight for Merdeka or independence.
But Umno was not the only group. There were many Malay groups that opposed the British. Hence the Malays were not all united under one party. Umno, a Nationalist party, was just one of many. There were also the Republican Malays, the Socialist Malays, the Communist Malays, the Islamists Malays, etc.
This is the true nature of the Malays and Mahathir knows it: refer to his book “The Malay Dilemma”
In 1951, Umno split over Islam. The Islamists in Umno were not too happy with the agenda of the Nationalists. So, they left to form their own party — and that was when PAS was born. In essence, PAS was a splinter of Umno. Since then PAS has split three times and Umno has split five times. Hence Umno and PAS combined have seen eight splits.
Yes, in 65 years Umno/PAS have seen eight splits, an average of a split every eight years. Tak sampai 10 tahun sekali berpecah. Jadi, apa hairan?
Today, Mahathir is concerned about Malay disunity. Why today? The Malays have never been united. Even when the Bugis attacked Dutch Melaka there were Malays working with the Dutch opposed to the Bugis. The same when the Portuguese attacked Melaka. It was the Malays in Melaka who collaborated with the Portuguese that resulted in the downfall of Melaka.
For 1,000 years Malays have been fighting Malays and for 1,400 years Muslims have been fighting Muslims. And the fight is not about Islam or Malay interests. It is about power and wealth. So, if Mahathir wants all the Malays to join PPBM for the sake of Malay unity then Mahathir must really be senile. Malays, like any normal human being, are selfish and inconsiderate. That is what makes us human. Only animals in the wild unite. Humans, unlike animals, kill for sport and for fun.
