COMMENT We are being yet again regaled in various media on the issue of Malay special privileges. All this is being done without even an ounce of respect for the truth, the position of the genuine natives that constitute the territories that make up Malaysia, and the legitimate rights of other communities in the federation.

NONE We have, among the latest, one from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who has put a new spin on these issues through his comments in various media on the “hijacking of the social contract”.

If there’s a social contract , then it is the federal constitution. How could there be something in existence besides the supreme law of the law, and conveniently referred to as the social contract for reasons of political expediency and to suit a self-serving agenda?

A constitution by its very nature, whether written or unwritten, is colour-blind. It could not be any other way and if there are any exceptions anywhere that contradict this colour blindness, they would be restricted, within certain time limits and time-barred.

All university modules in the country for the compulsory Malaysian Studies course rightly refer to the federal constitution as the social contract, and there being no other social contract.

There’s no doubt that this sacred document, as the social contract, has been completely hijacked by Umno since it came to power more than 50 years ago when the departing colonial British handed them the country on a silver platter.

That’s why Umno continues to flog the dead horse of Malay special privileges in public even in the 21st century as globalisation sweeps the world and threatens to cast it into the dustbins of history.

Umno-Perkasa ‘wink wink’ ties

To maintain this fiction created by the hijacking, Umno has been shamelessly twisting and turning every issue in Malaysia into a racial and religious issue. Their hidden agenda is to mask the continuing theft by the ruling elite, their fat cats in tow, of the people’s sweat from the public treasury. Meanwhile, the great unwashed are kept entertained with sheer hype on Malay special privileges.

perkasa first agm 270310 bigger keris These days, in the wake of the political tsunami of March 8, 2008, Umno has outsourced/sub-contracted its racist rant to Perkasa, led by Kelantan MP Ibrahim Ali, and advised by Mahathir. This is an Umno-Perkasa ‘wink wink’ relationship to maintain its access to the gravy train in perpetuity.  

This hijacking of the social contract (the federal constitution) is the main point being hammered home repeatedly by Hindraf since it caught the public in the wake of the Nov 25, 2007 street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur. But many, like Mahathir, choose not to see the forest for the trees.

An impartial examination of Article 153 of the federation constitution, to be read in conjunction with Articles 160, 152, 40, 8 and 3, will show there is no mention of Malay special privileges, as hyped by Umno and Perkasa, in this sacred document.

Article 152 is the reference to the Malay language as the national and official language of Malaysia.  

This is only natural, and as it should be, since this beautiful and easy to learn and use language was the trading language and the language of communication and religion in the islands of southeast Asia some 500 years ago. Even Indonesia ditched Javanese, the most widely spoken language in the archipelago, in favour of Malay. The reason is that Javanese is a difficult language unlike Malay and not understood by the non-Javanese.

The colonial British used Malay as a blanket term, for convenience, for the small population already residing in the riverine stretches of Peninsular Malaysia.  

These people were the Kelantanese (Kelantan), Minang (Negeri Sembilan), Yunan (Terengganu), Aceh (Perak), Champa (Perak, Kedah and Kelantan), Mandailing (Perak), Jawa (Johor, Selangor), Bugis (Johor, Selangor), Rawa (Perak), Jambi (Johor, Selangor, Perak), Batak (Selangor, Johor), Banjar (Selangor, Johor), Kurinchi (Selangor) and various other trading trans-migrants from the neighbouring islands who sought refuge in the swamps of Peninsular Malaysia.

Later, during British colonial rule, the term Malay was also extended to other linguistic groups from the neighbouring islands who flocked to Peninsular Malaysia, much in the same way as they do even now.

Universiti Sains Malaysia has done a DNA study, ‘Menjejak Melayu’ (In Malay gootsteps), conducted by 20 researchers on the Malay population in Peninsular Malaysia.  

The study, published in Berita Minggu on July 23, 2006, traced the roots of the Malay language to Cambodia. Here, a Brahmin from India wed a local princess to start the royal line that exists even today and spawned the royal family of Brunei.

The Malay race is one of the enduring myths since the advent of British colonial rule and continued by Umno for self-serving reasons.

Hence, the Malay referred to in the federal constitution is that under the blanket term used by the colonial British authorities. This has been captured by the federal constitution under Article 160.

Constitutional Malays  

Malay under this Article means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay customs, and geographically refers to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. This is the Article under which people like Mahathir, of Malayalee Muslim origin (Kerala), claim to be constitutional Malays.   

Article 40 refers to how the king may exercise his functions.

Article 8 holds that “all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law”.

Article 3 holds that “Islam is the religion of the Federation, but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation”.  

The only reference to the word privilege in the federal constitution is to educational and training privileges in Article 153.  

The Article also mentions the special position of Malays and natives and special provision, but not as hyped by Umno and Perkasa for the general public. The Article also includes the legitimate interests of other communities.

The king has the power under Article 153 of the federal constitution to ensure that the Malay community is represented in intakes into state-owned institutions of learning. This is by no means a ‘sapu bersih’ (clean sweep) clause. Neither does it give the king a carte blanc on training privileges.

Intake into the civil service, the grant of government scholarships and a reasonable share and proportion of the opportunities from the government to do business are three other areas covered by Article 153.

The king has never, however, exercised the above powers. Umno, since independence, has hijacked the king’s powers under Article 153 and spun it out of control to embrace every facet of life in Malaysia.  

Umno has been able to get away with this hijacking and spin for so long now because of its complete control over the machinery of government propaganda and the mainstream media through the Publishing and Printing Presses Act.

It has also been able to carry out the hijacking and spinning unhindered because the non-Malay elites have been co-opted into the federal government under the fiction that they have a share of the political power, besides some crumbs now and then from the spoils of office.  

This hijacking and spin is Umno’s and Perkasa’s version of the social contract a la the ruling BN.

 

JOE FERNANDEZ is Malaysiakini's Sabah pointman who feels compelled to put pen to paper when something doesn’t quite jell with his ‘weltanschauung’ (worldview). He readily admits that there’s a demon in him at times, urging him on.