Dewan debate: Tanah Melayu, role models and kleptocrats

PARLIAMENT | The Dewan Rakyat debate today ventured into touchy territory with Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) emphasising on "Tanah Melayu" and bumiputera privileges while Maszlee Malik (IND-Simpang Renggam) countered that such rights come with the responsibility of being good role models.

Tajuddin, when debating the royal address, said while the rights of non-Malays should be protected, everyone must acknowledge that they live in "Tanah Melayu" and bumiputeras have special privileges.

"Like it or not, people who came from the outside must accept this is Tanah Melayu. The Malays are the original inhabitants of our country.

"Malays are the bumiputera and have certain privileges which must be defended by the government and all of us. The non-Malays are also citizens of this country, and we must accept their rights as citizens.

"But there is a difference between the rights of a bumiputera and non-bumiputera," he said.

Maszlee then interjected, acknowledging Tajuddin's argument but said they also came with responsibility.

"I would like to ask Pasir Salak (Tajuddin) if he agrees that it also comes with great responsibility. With great rights comes great responsibility to be good role models by not being oppressive or engaging in corruption, kleptocracy and wrongdoing," he said.

Tajuddin then argued that there was nothing oppressive about claiming one's own rights.

"Why would people who claim their own rights be considered oppressive? They are only oppressive if they take the rights of others.

"Do not suggest that Malays defending their own rights and privileges mean that they are being oppressive to other races. That is not right," he said.

However, Maszlee clarified that that was not what he meant and repeated his question if Tajuddin agreed about the need to show a good example by not being "oppressive, stealing and robbing".

Tajuddin replied by saying that such things happen anywhere.

"Such cases happen anywhere. It happens among Malays, among non-Malays, among Caucasians and among Africans.

"It is not an issue that we can raise as being the problem among Malays," he said.

After Umno's defeat in the 2018 general election, Tajuddin had adopted a more hardline ethnonationalist position, including organising a rally where he declared Malays had lost power.

However, he had also been critical of the 1MDB scandal, which was attributed as one of the factors that contributed to Umno and its BN allies' defeat in the general election.

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