Mahathir Mohamad
1. Ramasamy is annoyed that I still distinguish the descendants of migrants from China and India as “orang asing” or people of foreign origins.
2. It is not me but they themselves who wish to identify themselves as of foreign origin. It is they who identify themselves as Malaysian Chinese or Malaysian Indians. Malays identify themselves with this country Malaysian.
3. Yes, my ancestors came from India. But I don’t call myself a Malaysian Indian.
4. I am a Malay in the sense that my home language is Malay and my culture is Malay.
5. The constitution says that a Malay is a person who habitually speaks Malay and practices the Malay adat and is a Muslim.
6. I comply with all these qualifications. And so do hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkiye and Afghanistan who are accepted as Malays by everyone in this country. They do not call themselves Malaysian Arabs, or Malaysian Pakistanis etc.
7. But the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia insist on speaking in Chinese and Indian languages. They use to speak in the dialects of their provinces in their countries of origin. But when China decided on making Mandarin their national language, the Chinese in Malaysia also switch to Mandarin. Even the names are changed to follow those of the China Chinese.
8. The Indians in India refuse to have a national language. They speak the languages of their provinces. And the Indians in Malaysia also retain the languages of their provinces in India.
9. But the Chinese and Indians insist on their own schools, using Mandarin and Indian languages as media of instruction. They refuse to go to national schools where the medium is Malay, the official language of Malaysia.
10. Even the idea of having all the three schools on one campus is rejected.
11. The cultures of the Chinese and Indians are those of China and India.
12. The celebration of New Year are also those of China and India.
13. We don’t insist on changing religions. But surely language and culture must be those of Malaysia i.e. Malay.
14. In Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand the Chinese became Indonesian, Philippinos and Thais. Their home languages are the languages of these countries.
15. They don’t have schools teaching in the languages of their countries of origin.
16. There are a lot of people of foreign origins in the United States of America. But they all call themselves Americans, speak American English and fight for America.
17. Eisenhower is of German origin. But he fought against Germany as an American. He of course did not habitually speak German. He spoke American English.
18. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations of migrants in America cannot speak the languages of their countries of origin. They all speak American English. They all attend American schools and universities.
19. It is the same with migrants who settle in the countries of South America. They only speak Spanish or Portuguese. There are no ethnic schools.
20. But in Malaysia Chinese Malaysians habitually speak Mandarin and Indians speak in the Indian provincial dialects. Only Chinese live in the urban area. The Malays cannot – too expensive.
21. When Malays speak about Malays they are not being racist. They are the nationals of this country. Anywhere in the world when nationals speak about themselves, they are not being racist. The British people talk about their problems and are not accused of being racist.
22. Rishi Sunak is of Indian origin but in speaking and behavior he is totally British. Thaksin Shinawatra is of Chinese origin but he habitually speak Thai and behaves like a Thai. So is Corazon Aquino of the Philippines. In all other ASEAN countries there are no Government aided Chinese schools. In fact I have not seen any Chinese schools in these countries.
23. But in Malaysia there are Chinese primary schools, secondary schools and universities.
24. The business sector of Malaysia is dominated by the Chinese. Non-Chinese cannot find good jobs there. If the Government do not take Malays they will be jobless.
25. I would admit that much of the wealth of Malaysia is due to the Chinese. Most of the taxes are probably from Chinese businesses. But they are amply compensated in Malaysia. The top billionaires are Chinese.
26. I do not like to talk about the Malaysian Chinese and the Malaysian Indian and their split personalities. But Ramasamy keeps on accusing me of being racist. As I said I am not racist. I am a national of the country called Malaysia. I have a right to a fair share of the wealth of this my country.
27. Multiracialism in Malaysia mean everything goes to the most capable, the most financially strong, the most wide business network, the best trained and experience.
28. Only non-Malays qualify.
29. Malays get nothing from multiracialism.
30. The real racist is Ramasamy. He is against Malays and does not want them to even have a small share of this country.
31. In the name of multiracialism he wants everything for the other races.
