An excellent piece of writing by Haris Ibrahim, the co-defence lawyer for Jeff Ooi and civil movement leader, on the provision of special position of Malays in our Constitution. I quote an excerpt:
...look forward to a time not too remote when it will become possible to eliminate Communalism as a force in the political and economic life of the countryReading it reminds me of Tun Dr Ismail's reminder to the Malays at that time that the clause is nothing but a handicap (to borrow from golf) for the Malays (at that time disadvantaged vis-a-vis the minorities), to provide better opportunities for them to catch up, and not to be treated as a permanent "privilege" or "right" (nowhere in the Constitution would you see such words). He even ventured to predict that when more Malays are educated, they will decide for themselves the need to remove this handicap which he considered an insult to the abilities of the Malays.
Perhaps our fellow Malay countrymen really have to think hard and long again on this, and whether they really do understand the social contract which is the Constitution as how our founding fathers understand it. It's already 50 years since Merdeka. It's time for all of us to see through the lies which are being perpetrated by Umno to extend such "tongkats", for no other reasons but to further entrench their personal interests to the detriment of all Malaysians. It's only then will the shouts of Merdeka every year be truly reflective of the shouts on that day Aug 31st, 1957.
1 comment:
Oops he is half malay and half indian no wonder he is biased. maybe he was taunted as mamak in his young days that he is now bitter. Or maybe it is good business for him to side the opposition so he gcan charge high fees as pointedout by another blogger. Whatever he cannot be believed and trusted to do things for common good
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