Najib Razak dangled a carrot at the Umno general assembly.

Quoting Usman Awang, the prime minister recited the national laureate’s poem on who are Malay - the original Melayu are the Javanese, Bugis, Banjar, Minangkabau, Acehnese, Jakun and Sakai.

Arabs and Pakistanis “ semua Melayu” too. The mamak and Malbari have been absorbed to become Melayu, and even ‘ mualaf ’ (converts) have Malay status, he continued.