COMMENT | It was Hang Tuah, in “Sejarah Melayu”, otherwise known as "Sulalatus Salatin", chronicled by Tun Seri Lanang, who said, "Tak akan Melayu hilang dari dunia" (No Malays will disappear from the world).

True enough, when the Sultanate of Malacca was defeated by the Portuguese in 1511, some made their way to Johore to create a new Kingdom. Others, sadly, were nabbed by the colonial masters and sent packing to faraway lands as far as South Africa. To this day, there are Malays in South Africa who trace their bloodline to Malaysia.

Now, in comes Umno in 1946. While it was formed by a disparate collection of ardent Malay writers, teachers, poets and thinkers, invariably mixed with Malays of royal descent, the facts show that Umno was a sociopolitical force before it was a partisan body.

In fact when Umno launched the "hartal" or boycott against the Federation of Malayan Union that would do away with the rights and privileges of the sultans and Malays, the effort cut across all party lines. Umno was in it, as were leftist and other religious Malay organisations...