UMNO leaders used to shout Ketuanan Melayu, but, I think they have something to learn from the malays of Sabah and Sarawak. The peoples of Sabah and Sarawak had no racial conflict and the peoples of both states had been living in peace and harmony even before the states gained independence. This is because the malays in Sabah and Sarawak never had with them the slogan, “Ketuanan Melayu” in their political agenda. The malays in both states had always sought the common good for the people in these states and in seeking protection for the malays in both states, the malays here also never say they are "Tuan" or "Masters". In Sabah and Sarawak, it was common knowledge which formed an understanding among the races here that the malays in both states should play a very important role to develop these states in harmony with other races.
In West Malaysia, racist remarks by some UMNO leaders, the display of the kris and the shouts of Ketuanan Melayu had caused very much uneasiness to the non-malays Malaysians. It could not be denied that the May 13 incident could have been motivated by racialism and the fear for another May 13 has always been in the mind of all responsible and peace loving Malaysians.If the malays keep on shouting Ketuanan Melayu, then the Dayaks in Sarawak can along that line also shout Ketuanan Dayak and the Kadazans in Sabah can always shout Ketuanan Kadazan and in West Malaysia, the Orang Asli can also shout Ketuanan Orang Asli. Other ethnic races can also shout the same, then, the matter will have no end, but, chaos in the country.
Right or wrong, the Dayaks, Orang Asli and the Kadazans can also claim that the Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and the Malays are immigrants. Likewise, other ethnic races, like the Dusuns, Kelabits, Kenyahs etc can also claim the same. They can always, whether correct or not, argue that they were the original people in this land and other races are not. Then, what will happen? Racial tension will be the end result and racial riots will follow? Then who will lose? The answer is that all races will be the receiving end and Malaysia will be destroyed and maybe by blood shed and civil war.
What we should be looking forward is “Ketuanan Rakyat”, that is, the supremacy of the people by democratic process, to seek the common good for a Bangsa Malaysia. This Ketuanan Rakayat is to ensure that those given the power to rule this country will ensure progress for the people and the nation. Ketuanan Rakyat also is to ensure that those who were given the mandate to rule shall not be corrupt and shall not abuse their power because corruption and abuse of power in the end can bring untold sufferings to the people. The Ketuanan Rakyat will see the supremacy of the people over their elected representatives where the people should be supreme and that the people’s supremacy be used to decide the fate of their elected representatives by democratic process.
For the peace and common good of the nation, there is no point to fight against each other, but, there is a need to fight or compete against aliens to capture the global stage and to project Malaysia as a forerunner nation in business, art, education, science, social fields and all other developments.
Where the malays came from?
Encyclopedia of Malaysia pointed to three theories of the origins of the malays, namely, The Yunnan Theory, Mekong Migration published in 1889; The New Guinea Theory published in 1965 and the Taiwan Theory published in 1997. The malays who were also known as “Orang Laut” were said brave seafarers people who were good sea navigators, moved from island to island between New Zealand and Madagascar as navigation guides for early traders in this region some 2000 years ago.
Some historians suggested that the malays were descendants of Austronesian speakers who migrated from the Philippines and originated from Taiwan. It was also said that Taiwanese aborigines were genetically related to the malays and linguists classify their language as Austronesian. Malays were well documented as Ma-La-Yu by a Chinese monk, Yijing and this was also mentioned by the Ming Dynasty and has an independent kingdom from southern sea.
It was also recorded that Raja Parameswara, the founder of the Kingdom of Melaka came from Palembang in Indonesia in 1402 and the bloodline of the royalties of the Kingdom of Kedah, which civilization was traced to 4th Century and being the oldest in West Malaysia and also being the oldest malay kingdom in Malaya, which started in 1136 and ruled by Sultan Mudzafar Shah, as recorded in the Sejarah Melayu were decedents of Alexander the Great, a Greek from Macedonia.
Therefore, given the available records in history, where the malays came from? For the sake of Malaysia which was formed from the idea of Tunku it was only made possible after all races were assured that no one race shall dominate each other and that all races should be given equal opportunity to rule this country, Malaysia. Without such assurances, UMNO should realize that the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak may not be part of Malaysia today.
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