I am a Malaysian first, second, and last


Letters
by Dr Kamal Amzan

We are a nation that defines race in our constitution. Well, there is nothing wrong with that. But we should know that we are in the league with countries like South Africa and Israel.

Other countries have their own definition of race, but very few take pride enshrining it in their constitution.

Whatever your stand on that, let us admit one thing, we are not in the best of companies.

Religion teaches us that God created us as equals, and some even say that we are all related (albeit distantly). Say what you want, twist and cite all the verses in every holy scriptures you can, but the crux of the matter is that we are all the same before Him, we are all related even.

Yes people, that makes us brothers, sisters, first cousins, second cousins and distant cousins if you must.

In my opinion, 1Malaysia was a long and overdue call. A battle cry, after years of trouble. However, being a sceptic that I am, it was a call that sounded too good to be true.

And i didn’t wait long to be proven right. The first crack was when the government ministers hesitated to declare themselves a Malaysian first vis a vis their race. I assure you their silence (elegant or not) speak volumes, and is more deafening with each passing day in the eye of the Malaysian public.

Second was when an independent member of parliament from Pasir Mas (who later had a heart attack) started ranting on and on about a topic that would have landed anyone else into ISA. Surprisingly a statesman followed suit. Mind you, this statesman was the first to introduce the term ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ in the 90’s and the idol to millions including myself at one point or another.

Third was when government servants, I repeat ‘servants’ made seditious, racial remarks in school, and in government run camps. They seem to forget they are paid by the Malaysian public – brown, yellow, green, red and black people combined. Worse was when our leaders said they didn’t have the power to do anything about it. I couldn’t believe my ears because if they don’t, who does?

Fourth was when they called a rapper to give his statement for voicing out his anger, due to the fore-mentioned injustices online. A hint, this rapper was first famous for his one-hit ‘negarakuku’.

I pity him. I really do and my heart goes to him, his family and friends for speaking up. They cannot be blamed for emulating and taking cues from the MP of Pasir Mas.

But that was the last straw for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I am proud to be a Malay and all that it entails, but being Malaysian is always first, and everything else comes second.

It is always about putting the national interest before oneself, before society and community. And when you do that, you automatically become a Malaysian first.

People look hard for reasons to disunite, even when there’s none. At the end, the winner will be a powerless master in a broken country from disunity.

It is not wrong to say that we would fare better without politicians fanning the flames. As far as i’m concerned, most of them are hypocrites. They demand one thing and request another. They speak like they own the world and preach us to sacrifice what we have, when they themselves are reluctant to sacrifice an iota of their common sense for the benefit of the masses.

Not to say they have a lot of common sense to begin with.

To all my brothers, sisters, cousins, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you are, we are all Malaysians in the eyes of the world, and we are a sight and strength to be reckoned with, together.

Similar to a combination of colors forming a rainbow or pieces of jigsaw puzzle that is priceless together, but worthless apart.

Let us not tear this magnificent rainbow away.

As we move towards the year end, our resolution must be to put this country first before any man, woman or child. That our differences should and must be our strength, not weakness and that we should build the future by graduating from the past.

Our children should thrive in an environment that promotes respect, tolerance, and celebration of each other’s differences, not antagonize, suspect and oppress one another. They should stand equally tall, speak equally loud and strive equally hard to realize each and every one of our dreams.

They should all be Malaysian first,second and third and none else in between.

Then and only then will we truly live the spirit and virtue of 1Malaysia.

I offer no apology for saying all this and more.

  1. #1 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Saturday, 6 November 2010 - 9:52 pm

    I would condemn apartheid, be it in South Africa or elsewhere.

    I condemn the KKK, be it in USA or the skinhead Nazis, be they in Germany.

    I condemn racists everywhere, of whatever ilk or colour.

    Why should I not condemn Perkasa or Tun M? He is no statesman who shelter behind a cloak of racist hooliganism to achieve his inglorious purposes.

    So I condemn Tun’s moves, manoeuvres and counter-moves. He thinks he is smart. I beg to differ. I believe wholeheartedly now he is Machiavellian. And I make no apology for that.

    Like Dr Kamal Amzan, I am also a Malaysian first, second and last.

    • #2 by vsp on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 9:24 am

      Why should I not condemn Perkasa or Tun M? ENDANGERED HORNBILL

      ——
      Mahathir is the person who had benefited the most from being a Malaysian. If Malaysia is a “Ketuanan Melayu” country no pendatang commoner would ever be a prime minister. By race he is Indian and his father is a pendatang from Kerala but he pretends to be a pure Malay. When he was the Prime Minister for 22 long years, he said that he was the prime minister for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians and others. He came out with the “Bangsa Malaysia” ideology, which was very statesmanlike of him.

      But he ruled the country for the benefit of certain sections of society: the anachronistic Ketuanan Melayu cliques and the rich non-Malays supercronies. When he ran the country to ruin with his megaprojects he had to cut short his reign of terror. In parting he lashed out at the Malays, calling them ungrateful. He was so vindictive that he make every effort in his evil mind to destroy the fabric of the country.

      He held his successor prime ministers to ransom. He deposed off one successor because he refused to continue one of his pet projects: the Crooked Bridge. When another successor came out with the “1Malaysia” plan he felt threatened because it would surpass everything that he had ever done. So he sponsored a ragtag group called Perkasa which came out with the “Malay first, Malaysian second” and the anachronistic “Ketuanan Melayu” slogans.

      I might be wrong with my prognosis, but Mahathir can help me. Can Mahathir confirm that he is Malaysian first, and Indian second?

  2. #3 by waterfrontcoolie on Saturday, 6 November 2010 - 10:51 pm

    After so many years of being made 2nd CLASS, the power that be should understand the caustious approach taken by those most affected. We all instinctly love to proclaim ” I am Malaysian 1st; but could look stupid by some because you have been treated otherwise! during our sojourn overseas, no one would declare that he is otherwise; though it takes some glups of saliva to do so!!

  3. #4 by miaj on Saturday, 6 November 2010 - 10:57 pm

    Too many politicians have jumped on the race card bandwagon and have destroyed much of whatever unity that we had once. And we the people are also to be blamed…. we let it happen.

    We were 1Malaysia long before ANY politician coined that phrase. This present incarnation is just a political gimmick. I don’t need a politician (whoever he/she is) to tell me about being 1Malaysia. Because, for people like me, who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s we saw, heard, and breathed it. We lived it.
    This is simply NOT it. Sorry.

  4. #5 by cintanegara on Saturday, 6 November 2010 - 11:18 pm

    LKS should ask PAS to declare they are Malaysian first, second and last…

  5. #6 by tak tahan on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 12:03 am

    cintanegara,what do u declare urself as?Here,obviously,we(almost >2/3 of PR) admit to be malaysian first.You,no play play ok,as ur recent selves-claimed- bugis,turkish,p.kis,iblis ,tanjong rambutan tre..es n >two third of BN ,still cannot decide ur true self declaration to nation!Ur much worst than Pas as u claimed!

  6. #7 by boh-liao on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 12:45 am

    Malaysian first, just words, words, words
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JECTUQVrvzE
    Not much meaning at dis moment until voters get rid of UmnoB/BN

  7. #8 by yhsiew on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 5:02 am

    I am Malaysian anytime anywhere.

  8. #9 by DAP man on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 8:38 am

    Dr Kamal,
    I will be elated just to shake your hands. Its refreshing to read such a piece from a Malay – who sees all human beings as equal in the eyes of God.
    We need more people like you to rebuild this country. Yes, rebuild.
    The oneness, the unity that we cherish is being shredded to smithereens by UMNO and Perkasa.

    Najib has been fooling the people with his 1Malaysia concept and Malaysiasn who ‘knows not he knows not’ are being led by the nose to the slaughter house.
    Little wonder “pendatangs”, “prostitutes” and ” beggars” are returning to BN.

    And the worry is such Malaysians seem to be in the majority. I just saw them in Galas and Batu Sapi.

  9. #10 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 9:26 am

    This emphasis on race first and Malaysian second, with politicians fanning the flames, is foolish. It is causing the country to become a failed state and making everyone of all races – but the politicians in power and their cronies- poor.

    In the name and under the banner of race monopoly rights on trade, distribution and production of goods and services important to the economy are given again and again to certain cronies and relatives upon justification of race.

    Even though they couldn’t run these enterprises competitively, they are allowed to reap massive profits above what otherwise fair competition would have created.

    Such patronage breeds corruption and add costs inefficiencies and leakages into the economy making the country not competitive as a whole and eventually a strain on our currency making it slide in value and making every Ringgit we earn worth less and less against other currencies and everyone eventually poorer and poorer due to lack of financial discipline ….

    Of course there are also state backed entrepreneurs and cronies in (say) South Korea Japan and Singapore but the leaders of these countries – Korea’s Park Chung Hee, Japan’s Noburu Takeshita and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and their respective MITI’s held the chosen cronies for their industrialization program to standards of performance that TDM’s and Suharto’s did not do. The difference is that the state and politician’s intervention in the economies in these countries is fueled by national and merit than parochial/racial considerations as a mask camouflaging cronyism and its abuses.

    Thus Park’s Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) succeeded where Eric Chia’s Perwaja failed; and Japan produced their successful Honda Civic, Datsun Nissan and Toyota’s Corrolla conquered the world’s market where our Proton floundered; their Free Trade Zone flourished whilst our PKFZ incurred RM12 billion losses; their entrepreneurs become innovative and enhanced shareholder values in their enterprises driven by zeal to improve their country’s economy whilst ours, under the cover of improving their race’s economic position adopt quick rich schemes, reap massive gains for sharing with their political patrons leaving losses to be bailed out from public funds!

    If this folly of ours – a national scourge -keeps repeating itself unabated due to the excuse of necessity to achieve race parity, the spectre of what Idris Jala said – about the state becoming bankrupt – looms real and imminent.

  10. #11 by boh-liao on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 10:13 am

    Descendants of pendatang, prostitutes n beggars r rushing 2 d embrace n big fat juicy bosom of our she-PM lah
    4 a few $ more, they don’t mind being branded descendants of pendatang, prostitutes n beggars, n asked 2 balik Cina or India
    Yeah, For A Few Dollars More
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXQltR7vUQ

  11. #12 by wanderer on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 10:42 am

    WE ARE ALL MALAYSIANS!….only some are lesser Malaysians, like the kerbau head UMNO Dpm. I need not have to shout my head off to oblige UMNO goons who I am.

  12. #13 by Comrade on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 1:50 pm

    To all of God’s people who believe
    We all have the same first ancestors
    All descendants of Adam and Eve
    Making us all brothers and sisters

    I also want to honestly declare
    Like any right-thinking person
    I am Malaysian first anytime anywhere
    Irrespective of race, color or religion

    Alas, BN is an undemocratic regime
    To their evil intentions, do not bow
    We have a good alternative team
    Vote PR in every election from now

  13. #14 by born in Malaya on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 3:58 pm

    Since BN has enshrined the special privileges and rights in the federal constitution for just one race and made the rest as second or third class citizens, those second class citizens who still vote and choose them as government are really -really stupid.
    To date, in such an advance and modern world , blood shed incident like May 13 is still used by BN leaders to deter people from choosing another government.
    Please wake up, to all the naive Chinese and Indians , give your future generation a chance and stop voting a goverment who are race base. Don’t let people say you slap your own face by choosing a government who categorise you as non-bumi, we all humans live in just one planet called : Earth.

  14. #15 by cintanegara on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 4:04 pm

    A true Malaysian will always send his/her clildern to the national school…ability to speak the national language well… Ideally the national language should be our mother tongue ..Otherwise, Malaysia first, second and last is just a meaningless declaration…

  15. #16 by tak tahan on Sunday, 7 November 2010 - 11:34 pm

    How to send to racist national school and civil sector with low quality standard but quantity output preferred n manipulated for certain race.A TRUE MALAYSIAN IS THE EFFECT OF TRUE GOVERMENT POLCY;TOTALLY FAIR DEMOCRATIC AND EGALITARIANISM ARE A MUST FOR TRUE MALAYSIAN AND EVERY PART OF THE WORLD PEOPLE

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