Compare Malaysia with Brunei, which gained independence 27 years after us. The Bruneian Proclamation declares Brunei "a sovereign, democratic and independent Malay Muslim monarchy". Our Proclamation, on the other hand, announces that we "shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people".
Our founding fathers were not too worried about things involving race. They did not declared officially as a Malay state or a Muslim state; they did not need to call for Malay unity or Muslim unity. But they did call for the all Malayan unity. Even if they did believe that in the short term, some authoritarianism was necessary to clamp down on ethnic tension, they knew that in the long run, all that matters is that the people of Malaysia are happy, that they have liberty and justice.
So what were some political parties talking about when they met over "Malay unity"? Was it about how to improve the lot of the Malays by lording it over other Malaysians with some ideology of ketuanan Melayu? Or they just purposely ignoring the non-Muslim which are almost 35% of the Malaysian citizen? We are facing a lot of crisis nowadays, including the hike of inflation rate, leadership crisis, worrying sports performance, drop of the Malaysian Universities in the world rankings and I have a long list of the problems. So, hope all Malaysian focus on those problems instead of racial issues.
Malays should believe multiracial liberalism concept, then only we able to form strong and competent Bangsa Malaysia. After 52 years of national independence we are still talking about unity among Malays, among Chinese, among Indians and among other races within ourselves. These should be the issues of the past and now as Malaysian we should emphasis on the nation's building and development for the betterment of our future generations! Lets together we struggle for this noble cause!
Malays should believe multiracial liberalism concept, then only we able to form strong and competent Bangsa Malaysia. After 52 years of national independence we are still talking about unity among Malays, among Chinese, among Indians and among other races within ourselves. These should be the issues of the past and now as Malaysian we should emphasis on the nation's building and development for the betterment of our future generations! Lets together we struggle for this noble cause!