Global InformationMalaysian Malaysia information
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The phrase "Malaysian Malaysia" was originally used in the mid-1960s as the rallying motto of the Malaysian Solidarity Convention, a coalition of political parties led by Lee Kuan Yew of the People's Action Party (PAP) that served as an Opposition bloc to the Government of Malaysia, the Alliance Party.
Although Lee Kuan Yew did not object to the special rights of the Malays as accorded in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution (which allows for special quotas to be allocated to the Malays and other indigenous peoples of Malaysia in admission to the public service, awarding of public scholarships, admission to public education institutions and the awarding of trade licences), he disagreed with the approach of the Alliance Party on the basis that Malay special rights alone could not solve the problem of Malay poverty. This difference in approach can be seen in Article 89 of the State Constitution of Singapore (now Article 153 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore) which states that the Malays are in a special position as the indigenous people of Singapore and that the Government of Singapore has a duty to safeguard their interests. Although special rights with respect to certain quotas are not specifically spelled out, free education was still given to all Malays, from primary education up until university by the government.
The rationale for affirmative action was due to the Malays and other indigenous people in Malaysia being marginalised by the British, throughout British colonial rule of Malaya and Borneo. Britain colonised the predecessor entities of Malaysia gradually throughout a period from 1786 to 1957 after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. During these years, the British declined to employ and resettle Malay Indonesians and Malay Malaysians away from their traditional villages, as the latter groups preferred to harvest nearby paddy fields and engage in artisanal fishing; the latter groups were reluctant to work and move to new settlements around the then-newly formed tin mines and rubber plantations. As a result, the British preferred to import and employ Chinese and Indian emigrants instead, thus preventing any relocation or lifestyle disturbances to the Malays and other aborigines.[1]
The State Government of Singapore and the Federal Government of Malaysia both agreed that the economic status of the Malays had to be alleviated, but disagreed on the approach. Although Lee Kuan Yew supported Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein and other primary leaders of UMNO who wanted a gradual transition to non-communal politics, he was wary of the secondary leaders of UMNO, whom he believed used Malay special rights as a red herring to divide the population along racial lines. He believed that special quotas allocated to Malays concerning licenses and the creation of a "Malay capitalist class" alone would only benefit the aristocrats from elite Malay families. Lee believed that the problems of Malay farmers could be solved by education and by raising the standards of Malay farms, such that the profession could be considered lucrative like in Australia and New Zealand. He also argued that if the focus was solely on creating a Malay capitalist class, it would only lead to a widening of the economic gap both within the Malay community and with other communities, which would lead to non-Malays being used as scapegoats.
The ultra Malay nationalists, or 'ultras' as coined by Lee Kuan Yew were operating based on the old demographics of the Federation of Malaya, where Malays made up 65% of the vote, when in fact the demographics after the formation of Malaysia were roughly 40% Malays, 40% Chinese, 20% Indians, Eurasians and others. Additionally, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak constituted about 35% of the seats in Parliament. Due to this state of affairs, Lee Kuan Yew decided to rally the parties from the Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak along with like-minded parties in the States of Malaya like Penang and Malacca under the Malaysian Solidarity Convention using 'Malaysian Malaysia' as a slogan to counter the communal politics of the ultras.
Eventually, Singapore was ejected from Malaysia and affirmative action for Malays was strengthed in policies such as the New Economic Policy. Critics have called such affirmative action for the Malays racial discrimination against other Malaysian citizens, with the goal of creating ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy). "Malaysian Malaysia" is not a mere tautology, because it distinguishes between nationality and ethnic classification. The complaint was that Malaysia was not being "Malaysian" and egalitarian (by discriminating against non-Malays) and was instead being an ethnocentric "Malay Malaysia".
- ^ Hirschman, Charles (1986). "The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya: Political Economy and Racial Ideology". Sociological Forum. 1 (2): 330–361. ISSN 0884-8971.