‘Ketuanan Melayu’ vs ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’…or ‘Ketuanan Diri-Sendiri’ ???

I suppose some of you may have read this Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com) news item – Tengku Faris: Non-Malays should not seek equality.

And more recently, Anwar Ibrahim has somewhat countered that statement (about the Tengku Faris article – which is basically all about Ketuanan Melayu..) here – ‘Umno, not Malays, under threat’

He came up with the term: Ketuanan Rakyat:

Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said the ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ card increasing played up by Umno is to divert attention from the party’s internal problems following its unprecedented setback in last month’s general election.

The former Umno deputy president said this today at a hotel in Shah Alam when he was asked to comment on Utusan Malaysia’s ‘Ketuanan Melayu tercabar’ front-page headlines in the Umno-owned newspaper.

At a gathering organised by newly formed Barisan B Tengku Faris Petra told the crowd that it was not appropriate for other ethnic groups to seek equality and privileges accorded to Malays.

“We didn’t hear much about this (Malay rights) issue last month or before the elections. I believe their intentions are to divert the attention of everyone,” said Anwar.

He said that instead of the ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ concept, the more important cause is ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’.

“And when we say ‘rakyat’, it includes the Malays…especially the downtrodden ones and not the rich ones,” said Anwar, who is former finance minister.

“Our approach should be to help the people who are sidelined, denied their rights and opportunities. As such, it should include Malays, Chinese, Indians and other Malaysians,” he said.

 

Source – ‘Umno, not Malays, under threat’ @ Malaysiakini

This reminds me of the old adage: Rakyat Masih Bodoh.

This old adage originated from Indonesia… basically to justify colonial rule. When Suharto was in power, this old adage was also used to some extent to justify Suharto’s Orde Baru.

Of course, the Barisan Nasional and UMNO did not explicitly use this phrase. But if one were to look at how the mainstream news media potray the choice between Barisan Nasional and the opposition (now called Barisan Pakatan Rakyat), you can’t be blamed for thinking that Barisan Nasional and UMNO had implicitly and craftily used this phrase… especially in potraying who the voters should choose…

Of course, now things are different…

But perhaps the concept of “Ketuanan Rakyat” should be aggressively publicised as the alternative to “Ketuanan Melayu”. Especially in the rural areas… people in the rural areas do not enjoy access to alternative sources of media.

The shift to “ketuanan rakyat” can be seen as a symbol or manifestation of a paradigm shift amongst the people of Malaysia (of course, at this stage I think that the Malays esp in rural areas need more persuasion…)

But for some of us, we have enough of all forms of “ketuanan”…

I am one of these people…

As for me… I prefer the concept of… how shall I say it… “ketuanan diri-sendiri” or in English – I want to be my own Master…

I don’t like anybody… be it a Melayu or a bukan-Melayu or even anybody else to tell me what I should believe and do….

I prefer to be my own master!

 

Related Post:

What About… A Bill of Human Rights?

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