Article 160(2) of our Federal Constitution defines various terms used in the Constitution including, amongst others, “Malay” which (to quote) “means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom and –

(a) was before Merdeka Day born in the Federation or in Singapore or born of parents one of whom was born in the Federation or in Singapore, or is on that day domiciled in the Federation or in Singapore; or

(b) is the issue of such a person;…”(unquote)

Please note that (a) and (b) merely cover additional requirement of the person to be also a Malaysian citizen or an issue (child) of a Malaysian citizen.

Kallawar, what are you talking about that “Malaysia belongs to Malays and whoever knows how to respect them” or “that you got rich because the Malays let you do so…”??????? Do you also consider yourself a Malay by article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution that I cited above or a “melayu celup” as Radical Scope said???

I stand corrected, if wrong, but what I think Kallawar is really talking about is that there is and will be peace and opportunity for all to make a living provided the realities of Malay majority rule and Malay-Muslim political hegemony (by preservation and perpetuation of special privileges) and primacy or supremacy of the Official religion are accepted with humility and sincerity.

..//…. If Rustum Ali’s opinion is accepted by UMNO, and if UMNO accepts the newly-defined Malays as their members, then they would potentially be more Malays comes the next population census…..If that definition is accepted, the basis for article 153 would cease…//… – Loh

I wonder how would that be so!

In the first place, Rustum Ali’s definition does not newly define Malays since article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution already defines Malays upon such terms. “Potentially more Malays” from expanded sources does not imply that non Malays do not still exist in substantial numbers.

For so long as that is so, if it were a valid assumption that the political objective of Rustum Ali’s definition was to use the carrot and incentive of the special privileges under article 153 to entice others to convert and masuk Islam/Melayu and to stay and remain as such, in continuous expansion of the Ummah (Muslim Brotherhood) and by this process of assimilation, resolve the long term problems of race and the differences in culture and religion amongst different communities in this country, there is no basis for article 153 to cease……….

If there were to come a time in the distant future if (theoretically) all non Malays have become Malay via constitutional definition in article 160(2), then, as what RadicalScope speculated in his post of June 11th, 2007 at 8:52 pm above, a distinction might be drawn between “melayu asal” and “melayu celup” wherein the former would be entitled to expanded privileges and the latter, either none or the abridged version. In either cases article 153 would not cease but perhaps expanded by amendment with articles 153(A) for “Melayu Asal” and 153(B) for “Melayu Celup”.