Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Ham and Bull of 'Ketuanan Melayu'

In my post Social contract - a vigorously implemented 'fantasy' I quoted a Malaysiakini news article where Royal Professor Dr Ungku Abdul Aziz said that there was no such thing as a social contract between Malaysia's diverse ethnic communities.

I also mentioned that the Professor’s declaration had buried (at least intellectually) the UMNO ketuanan Melayu propaganda.

Today, Malaysiakini reported that Academics debate the 'social contract'.

Essentially, the concept of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ was resoundingly dismissed, though Professor Shamsul Amri Baharudin of UKM's Institute of Ethnic Studies (Kita) retranslated that term to mean ‘Malay sovereignty’ as opposed to ‘Malay supremacy'.

Dr Azmi Sharom, associate professor, law faculty, Universiti Malaya was more blunt, stating in no uncertain terms that “The original constitution has elements of compromise but that compromise is from the layman’s perspective, the document does not suggest Malay supremacy or mastery.”

He averred: “Ketuanan Melayu is a fallacy. I just don’t see the justification for this. The so-called social contract is relevant only to racists and people who want Malaysians to continue to be divided along racial lines.”

He also added that he was “… uncomfortable with Ungku Aziz’s view that the social contract should be called an economic contract. The society made a compromise and it is not a contract which implies the people are bound to it for life. Citizenship is not about the economy but the society”, meaning at some stage the so-called ‘economic contract’ must also cease.

The other academicians said what Professor James Chin, head of arts, Monash University said articulately: “The context of the 'social contract' that it is being used now implies that non-Malays, in return for their citizenship, have to acknowledge that the Malays are politically supreme and cannot be challenged, ever.”

“Keeping the ‘social contract’ alive implies that non-Malays can never ask for equality. The implication is quite clear as it means that the current argument in having a more equal Malaysia will not succeed.”

Racial supremacy is a nasty ugly piece of bigotry. There are some societies who not only consider themselves as racially superior but actually believe their ethnic supremacy had been divinely preordained.

Of course we are aware that some Jews believe they are the Chosen People, asserting that God has picked them above others of His creation. Some Christians also supported this racist theory. On this fallacious fable, they (those Jews and Christians) would refer you to the Bible, which incidentally was written by Judeans (ancestors of Jews) held in Babylonian captivity around 580-ish BCE.

The other race who believe in their own special divine status are the Japanese. The Japanese believe that Japan is a divine land and their Emperors were/are descendants of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess.


Nippon or Japan means originating from the sun, or ‘source of the sun’, which incidentally and ironically has a 'cap* 3 kepala Tionghua' label, as the Nippon word can only be written in Kanji or Chinese language.

* 'cap' is a Malay word pronounced as 'charp', meaning 'brand'; 'cap tiga kepala' is a Malaysian joke

In years gone by, the English, and then the Americans believed that they were the true inheritors (or even descendants) of the ancient Hebrews, implying and believing they too were the Chosen. But these two ethnic groups weren't prepared to forego their bacon and ham ;-)

Once I saw on TV a white South African woman blatantly and unabashedly telling the TV interviewer that the blacks, being descendants of Ham, were born to serve as slaves to the whites. According to biblical scholars, Noah (yes, he of the Ark) had a son named Ham. The Bible said:

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. (Genesis 9:20-22)

Noah was pissed off with Ham for seeing him in his nakedness, but instead of taking his grievance up with Ham, cursed Ham's youngest son Canaan and his descendants to be slaves to his uncles and their descendants. Sheeesh, why punished the poor innocent kid, but mind you, it's bloody convenient for the Hebrews who liked to have slaves.

However, the biblical scholars explained why Noah was mad at his son Ham just for seeing him naked. Apparently ‘seeing the father naked’ was just a euphemism for having sex with the mother. The Bibles also tells us:

You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her. You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. (Leviticus 18:7-8)

According to Wikipedia: The curse of Ham had been used by some members of Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of Black African ancestry, who were believed to be descendants of Ham.

Well, I may like bacon and ham but I am not a descendant of Ham ;-) so bugger off to this 'ketuanan Melayu' bull.

10 comments:

  1. I wonder where were these scholars when the UMNO youth routinely threat to bath non Malays in blood whenever the racial temperature at the highest notch for discussing 'social contract'. Will they come with something substantial after this? And all the history text book for our children, will they move away from the axis of 'pendatang versus bumiputera'? We need more proactive scholars to come forward and rebut the whole myth in academic manner. It is also their task to provide an alternative paradigm. Are the scholars interviewed by Malaysiakini willing to move beyond the now fasionable game of being moderates?

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  2. The UMNO Malays should wake up to the reality around them. Your thoughts are no different from the civilizations from the dark ages whom lived constantly in fear and created myth around them and live in their hide outs to survive. What you are claiming to the globalized world is that you are inherently an inferior race not chosen by nature to survive. Therefore you need other races to work hard to contribute their material wealth, i.e the fruit of labour from sheer hardwork and discipline to your race and you take it and use it to bridge the gap to support your dysfunctional race. You are only street beggars in suits in my eyes. Your threats with kris and blood bath is the signs of your own fears; its the dance of the opposite. In short, you UMNO Malays, are barbarians in our eyes.
    Eat that!
    Every day, the non-bumis laugh and spit at your laziness and stupidity

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  3. In my post UMNO's Raison de tre, (http://oldfart50.blogspot.com) I have tried to explain the usefulness and the need for "ketuanan Melayu" for UMNO. Teh validity of my argument, I leave it to you the reader.

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  4. The Chinese are the greatest racial supremacists in the world. Westerners in the 18th century incorrectly translated Zhong Guo as the "Middle Kingdom". The correct operative translation is "Central Nation" or "Principal Nation". The Chinese concept of racial and cultural superiority would make a Nazi proud.

    DAP in Penang is giving an excellent showcase of "Ketuanan China". There, the Malay representation in the Penang state Exco has been reduced to 1, with the connivance of their PKR lapdogs.

    I shudder to think what will happen when PR steals itself into power. Anwar Ibrahim will be the tool of both foreign (American) controllers and the domineering DAP.

    I fear another May 13, 2009 coming.

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  5. One man, and one man alone, has been cursedly responsible for the evil visited upon the land and people of Malaysia. And that man is politician Mr Mahathir.

    It now with AAB'd legacy of freer speech which allows the wisdom and knowledge of our learned brethrens to blossom forth that the truths can no longer concealed.

    For this, I salute AAB for walking his talk in terms of Human Capital Development.

    He just might get back the landslide (well, maybe almost ..) electoral votes that he won in 2004, if he continues his course in refroming UMNO!

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  6. If these Malays, especially those UMNO scums of the earth Malays are so gung ho in being 'ketuanan' over other races in Malaysia, why don't they have the guts to strike out without the NEP cruthches? Although some Malays, and no less than the PM has spun the 'ketuanan' issue into not meaning to lord over other races, many non-Malays including myself do not believe the sincerity of their statements.
    In the world today there is no country where a race claims to be 'ketuanan' and yet need special assistance and favours to survive. What a laugh and shame. So much for maruah bangsa...what maruah? More like malu !! To be fair to many Malays in Malaysia that made it on their own and also do not favour the NEP, dare the rest of the Malays shout to the world that they can make it in life without the need for discriminatory policies like the NEP ? And many of these Malays will get emotional and even give vield threats of violence when somebody touches on Islam with a little bit of criticism but these very same Malays practice the very thing that Islam teaches about....no discrimination. Maybe these Malays who support the NEP don't understand the meaning of the word 'discrmination'.

    AND I WANT TO REITERATE THAT THERE ARE MANY MALAYS WHO MADE AND ARE CONTINUING TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN AND FEEL ASHAMED OF THE DISCRIMINATORY POLICIES OF THE RACIST UMNO GOVERNMENT. The only negative remark I have of these capable Malays is that they did not think to form a group and convince the government to see the discrimination of other Malaysians.

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  7. "Ketuanan Melayu" but with crutches. What a cruel imposition on everyone including themselves.

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  8. blamed that bigoted evil man who has nurtured the malay minds for umpteen years....... for he keeps saying "if we, the malays are weak, the non's will bully us, questioning us, like karpal singh did........ we are sons of the soil here, we are their masters."

    to me he should be the one that goes into sg buloh jail first for sedition....

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. We need public intellectuals from all walk of life and racial background to come forward to rebuild and heal the nation. Everyone of us have the responsibility as well.

    I also urge that bloggers come forward with their opinions on healing the nation. While its important to tender 'treatment' on the symptoms (May 13th, Altantuya, Sedition Act, ISA etc), focus should be in the cause of this disease, the 'social contract' version of 'Ketuanan Melayu'.

    If the fundamental problems are not solved, the symptoms will be a perpetual phenomenon in one form or other.

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