melayu lwn malaysia?

entri berikut adalah debat yang berlaku antara saya dengan beberapa pengunjung sebagai respons terhadap artikel berjudul What is Malaysia? Merely a name oleh josh hong dalam web berita malaysiakini tempoh hari. (huruf tebal, saya)

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when one can't rise above one's own ugliness, then others must be ugly too to justify it. it seems to this writer that, in order for others (read: malaysia) to exist, the malays should cease to exist, when the real issue is all about democracy, justice, law, truth, values etc etc.
historically and legally a malay is 1. a muslim 2.speaks bahasa melayu 3.live by its normal culture 4.parentage thereof, and 5.citizen of malaysia. does one see any 'ethnicity' or 'color' in that?
thus, if one have any problem with the situation in malaysia today, can one just state the problem and those one deem responsible for it, minus his/her or their 'ethnicity' or 'race' or 'religion'? actually we will do malaysia a great service if we can do just that.
i am historically and legally a malay with arab, chinese and 'local' descent. i am proud and happy being one. i hate injustices that are being done in my name and abhor all chauvinists of all colors and origins. am i wrong still?

Obviously this piece is too sophisticated for Syed Putra Ahmad to comprehend. What is historically and legally Malay? Who is the "illegal" Malay? By using the word "legally", you already confess Malay is a man-made notion, right?
If you have Arab/Chinese/Local blood, why don't you call yourself "Arab-Chinese-Local", and why Malay? Not to say being Malay has negative connotation. But please, don't simply make rules that induce others to become "Malay" like Mahathir, Abdul Kadir, Zainuddin Maidin and Syed Hamid Albar!!! They are all now ashamed to acknowledge their foreign blood because being Malay gives them political power!

no cherio, obviously you are too sophisticated enough not to understand the history of this country nor its laws and constitution. guess that's the problem with some people, they just cant rise above one's own ethnicity and chauvinism to even understand basic issues like these.
have you ever heard of an american of indian descent or chinese or albanian or african or japanese or balinese etc etc etc etc? i think you should make peace with yourself and be happy that we are different.
the problem is not about one being malay or indian or bumiputera or not, but about bad things that people do and bad ideas that they propagate for their own selfish and misguided aims and desires. malaysia or any country at all will be better off without them. terima kasih.

In the US, every citizen is an American, regardless of race, creed and religion. Here in Malaysia, Malays are politically defined, to the extent that people like Mamak Mahathir cannot even publicly admit his forefathers came from India! Maybe Syed Putra Ahmad should enlighten us why this is so.

the local people became one people or nation under local kingdoms with the coming of islam and the spread of the malay language due to it and as the lingua franca of what was eventually became known as the malay archipelago and its people, the malays.
that happened long before the arrival of western powers and colonialism. islam and the malay language were the determining citizenship of that world regardless of the racial or ethnic backgrounds of its people.
with that, the muslims of arab, indian, chinese, turkish etc etc origins or converts of various backgrounds were too known as malays once they settle here, speak the malay language and adopt the local customs because they then became part of that nation, just like we see today in many countries. try understanding this first.
then came colonialism and big scale migration, esp from china and india, suddenly that malay world was turned into 'nation states' and the malay nation became race and ethnic groups.

as one can see, our merdeka constitution did take this historical and cultural facts into account and thus the definition of malays in it. then came the chauvinists, abusers, deniers, opportunists, parasites or just plain ignorant and ill-meaning people, thus we are here today looking at ourselves with so much hatred, problems and all.
we can try solving all those problems or we can continue hating each other, it is totally our choice. so peace be unto you, i am no hater nor chauvinist nor opportunist.
my late father, his father and his father's father have all been sent to detention camps, banished from their state or family homes for fighting against all of the above people for a just, moral and democratic homeland. i am proud of them and we are all malays.

What Syed Putra Ahmad has just written reveals the true nature of this country. Umno needs to create a Malay community to guard against the Chinese and Indians. The more people "change" to being Malay, the bigger this ethnic group is.
This has been going on for decades. One day the non-Malays will become so negligible that Umno can do whatever it wants with the country's resources. It is a numbers game, and even smart ppl like SPA has fallen into this trap by Umno.
BTW, Malaysia will never become like the US, because the privileges are only reserved for the Malays. The rich Malays in Umno will ensure their own dominance. So SPA please save me the lesson on how ppl become a nation. We will never be one so long as our constitution remains divisive.

I have nothing against one's holding to ethnic identity. It is a human rights. But SPA should also specify if he is in favour of privileges given to the rich Malays to convince me that he is a just and fair-minded Malay, tak macam Umno.

i have said it all cherio, ever since my first comment. remove your colored blinkers and you will see it clearly. if you have issues with umno, then say it out loud, but don't blame the malays. not all malays are umno or are agreeable with them.
blame the malays and i will feel insulted too. its just like blaming the chinese for the unscrupulous behavior of some businessmen of chinese background. it's wrong and not fair. get that?
the privileges in our constitution are meant to help deserving pribumi, including the malays, find their feet due to the prevailing situation then. as of today, it should include all deserving citizen for the same reasons.
bad people are just bad people, where ever they come from and they must be stopped. it is in the good people of this country that we must have faith in and move forward with.

lastly, as for the numbers game, the non-malays are negligible in kelantan, terengganu, kedah, pahang and perlis. during the may 13th tragedy, did any non-malays die in those states?
where did most deaths or bloodshed took place? in states where the non-malays are not negligible, right? why? because the non-malay chauvinists there played on the race game and got walloped by their malay chauvinists counterpart.
one can always play the race game, but don't blame the world if one get the same reaction too. its about values, principles, laws, moral, justice and what makes man honorable and cultured, not their skin colors or ethnicity or bloodlines. this is the only way forward. can we do that cherio?


Without Malaysia, would there be Malays?

oh darrel damian, no facts nor arguments can get into a chauvinistic head, can it? # kepulauan MELAYU > tanah MELAYU > negeri-negeri MELAYU > persekutuan tanah MELAYU > MALAYa > MALAYsia. see? go and read your form three history. #fyi - MALAY is english for MELAYU.

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Nota: Jika diteliti daripada hujah pihak-pihak yang kontra di atas, jelas dalam fikiran mereka bahawa orang melayu atau kata melayu itu hanya bermula dengan kedatangan penjajahan, sedangkan telah wujud sebuah dunia, peradaban dan bangsa melayu lama sebelum itu.

bagi mereka, melayu hanya wujud dengan bermulanya sejarah kedatangan mereka ke sini dan ia adalah setaraf dengan kumpulan etnik atau ras sedangkan melayu adalah nama bagi sebuah rupa bangsa seperti yang kita fahami hari ini sebagai 'american' atau 'indian' atau 'chinese' dll bagi warga sah negara-negara terbabit.

melayu dalam takrifan sejarah dan undang-undang adalah semua warga dunia itu yang beragama islam, bertutur dalam bahasa melayu dan menetap di dunia tersebut tanpa mengira latar belakang etnik atau ras masing-masing. dengan kata lain, melayu adalah nama kewarganegaraan penduduk sah dunia berkenaan.

ekoran tanggapan dan kepercayaan serong inilah, sama ada kerana kebodohan atau fikrah perkauman, nama atau orang melayu dilihat sebagai 'masalah' bagi pembentukan negara 'malaysia'.

keadaan ini ada persamaannya dengan bangsa sioux, cherokee atau apache dll di benua amerika. mereka semua adalah anggota dalam sebuah rupa bangsa amerika yang besar dan bebas sebelum kedatangan penjajahan. kini mereka hanyalah kumpulan-kumpulan etnik dalam sebuah rupa bangsa baru bernama 'american'. ironis sekali.

ini berlaku kerana mereka tewas sepenuhnya kepada penjajahan, lalu terpaksa lari dari tanah pertiwi mereka atau akur kepada syarat-syarat serah diri yang ditetapkan oleh pihak yang menang.

bezanya, bangsa melayu tidak tewas atau terpaksa menyerah diri seperti pribumi amerika itu, walaupun fakta-fakta baru yang datang bersama penjajahan dan sebagainya telah mengubah keadaan dunia asal mereka. lalu, dalam lautan baru itulah mereka harus berenang kini.

bagi saya, orang melayu harus memilih sama ada mahu menjadi melayu etnik seperti yang dibawa oleh umno, kelompok melayu liberal, kumpulan melayu samudera dan lain-lain yang sealiran, atau menjadi melayu rupabangsa seperti yang tergambar dalam gagasan pemikiran politik pas dalam merenangi lautan tersebut.