By P. Ramakrishnan
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Dr Mahathir’s ridiculous claim that Malaysian Indians are not completely loyal to the country as they still identify with their country of origin is preposterous. It is without any merit; it is without substance! This was his outlandish stand when he was interviewed by Indian satellite TV channel Thanthi TV.
How did he come to this conclusion of “complete loyalty” after the questionable notion of “complete loyalty”? What is the sociological notion of “complete loyalty”? Was a survey conducted? Was this the findings of such a survey?
As far as we are concerned there was no such survey. How then Mahathir came to this absurd conclusion?
Did the Malaysian Indians whisper into his ears that they “are not completely loyal to the country”? Is he sharing this confidential message with us?
Or is it his personal cock-eyed view?
To hog the lime light, Mahathir would do anything. Now he has come out with this outrageous claim. His contention that all Indians must convert and be Malays to become citizens of Malaysia is a lot of hogwash! It is an absurd claim by someone who doesn’t remember our history in which we journeyed together – the Malays, the Chinese and Indians – to obtain our Independence on 31 August 1957.
Without the joint struggle by the Chinese and the Indians, we wouldn’t have secured our Independence 67 years ago. It wasn’t the effort of any one community.
Mahathir is no respecter of the Federal Constitution. If he was, he won’t be talking nonsense!
His assertion that Indians must give up their culture and custom and religion and stop using the Indian language at home in order to be Malaysian citizens is nothing but balderdash!
I have known of quite a number of well-educated Malays who speak English at home and converse in English with their young children. Do they cease to be Malays? What does Mahathir say about this situation? He can’t say they are not Malays. Constitutionally they are Malays, irrespective of what he thinks.
There are also Indian Muslims who are bona fide Malays and they speak Tamil. Does this disqualify them as Malays, Mahathir? You can think whatever you want, that doesn’t change facts. That doesn’t nullify their constitutional provision.
If it is Mahathir’s contention that the non-Malays must give up their ethnic identity in order to be citizens of Malaysia, what is his take on the millions of Muslims who have migrated to the UK and Europe. Will he say they too must give up their religion, custom and culture to become citizens of Britain and the European countries? Will he dare? Will he be consistent in his stand?
How many Muslim mayors are there in Britain without renouncing their ethnic identity? How come this is possible elsewhere?
Take the Prime Minister of Britain, Rishi Sunak is a practising Hindu and a British citizen. In the US Congress, there are practising Hindus who are Americans.
In mature democracies, there are no such idiosyncrasies as stipulated by Mahathir.
In the same interview, Mahathir criticized that India started off as a secular country but it is no longer so. According to him, India has become a Hindu country discriminating against the Christians and Muslims.
Didn’t we start off as a secular country as testified by our beloved Tunku. What are we now? Isn’t there discrimination in Malaysia?
Mahathir’s problem lingers, it seems, when “immigrants” (Indians and Chinese) call the country their own while professing their own cultures and customs. This is our country, whether Mahathir likes it or not. We are born here and we expect to die here as Malaysians. This is our country of origin – this is beyond question!
But the bureaucracy does not allow us to identify ourselves as Malaysians. In all the forms that we have to fill, we are compelled to identify ourselves as Indians, Chinese, Kadazans, etc.
When my son was born in 1968, in applying for his birth certificate I wrote his race as Malaysian. It was rejected. I was told to state that he was an Indian.
We are categorized and isolated and never allowed to evolve into Malaysians. Keeping us apart has been the official policy.
When Mahathir was asked what he thought about the contribution of the non-Malays to nation-building and the country’s economy, he flippantly replied: “They have been ‘fairly compensated’ for it.”
Who compensated them, Mahathir? Nobody! They reaped the fruits of their labour. Not only that! They paid taxes which were used to develop the country and pay your salary as well!
In his warped reasoning, he did not acknowledge the contributions of the Chinese and Indians and blatantly dismissed their role in the development of Malaysia.
Malaysians may be tempted to ask, “Mahathir, what did you contribute?”
Don’t you forget that you were totally rejected by the Malays in the last general elections! It was a very humiliating defeat that you suffered. You came in fourth in a five- cornered fight losing your deposit!
To recapture Malay support, you have to pose yourself as an extremist. But it won’t work because you are becoming irrelevant!
Leaders who endure and last will know for sure that “loyalty lies in whether a leader is good at using talents.” If a leader uses the loyal wrongly, they will be disloyal. Even if he uses the disloyal correctly, they will be loyal. So it depends on the opportunity given to the follower selected.
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