Thomas: M'sia's obsession with race, religion an obstacle to unity

Thomas: M'sia's obsession with race, religion an obstacle to unity

Ili Aqilah
Published: Nov 2, 2024 10:37 PM


Malaysia’s obsession with race and religion is an obstacle to unifying Malaysians as a united people, according to former attorney-general Tommy Thomas.

However, he argued this has not always been the case.

Thomas claimed that Malaysia’s transformation from Merdeka into the “unrecognisable” state it is today took many small steps over the decades, which raises questions about what the “social contract” still means.

“When the supremacy of one ethnic group in a plural society (supported by the fact that it is the majority racial grouping in that society) is part of the national staple diet on state-controlled or influenced media, it has a demoralising effect on minorities.

“The obsession with race and religion is a huge deleterious obstacle to unifying Malaysia as a united people,” he said at the launch of the book “Revisiting the Social Contract: the Malaysia Borneo Perspectives” in Petaling Jaya today.

He praised the book’s author, Joe Samad, for enlightening how Sabahans and Sarawakians feel “by being treated as little brothers or poor cousins”.

A different Malaysia

Elaborating, Thomas argued that events over the last 70 years have altered the original social contract envisioned by Malaysia’s founding fathers.

He pointed to several key events that have shaped today’s Malaysia, making it very different from Malaya in 1957 or Malaysia in 1963.


These include the May 1969 riots, Umno’s increased emphasis on religion in the 1980s to outdo PAS in gaining community support, Anwar Ibrahim’s entry into Umno and the push for Islamisation in 1982, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s “ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy) rhetoric in 1986, and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 2001 declaration that “Malaysia is an Islamic country.”

“It shows that the original meaning of a social contract is so divorced from contemporary times to render it meaningless,” he noted.

“Indeed, it is legitimate to ask whether the term ‘social contract’ can mean anything today.”

Additionally, Thomas also expressed concerns about the narrowing of democratic space and the threat to free speech.


“The measures taken and promises made by the Pakatan Harapan government when elected in 2018 have been disregarded. Reformasi has evaporated,” he remarked.

Thomas acknowledged the outlook is bleak but reminded the people that history’s challenges are often cyclical.

“Thus, Malaysia will once again, in the future, have sunny days of freedom and space for the minorities, with less emphasis on ethnicity and religion. That must remain our hope and aspiration,” he concluded.