The Chinese and Indians have to set aside their respective country of origin and start calling themselves Malaysians for the success of the 1Malaysia concept, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He called on the people to help realise the government's aspiration of strengthening racial unity and harmony in line with the 1Malaysia concept.
The 84-year-old former premier was speaking at a dinner function organised by the association of Muslim Kadayanallur in Penang
Elaborating, Mahathir said people in Thailand and Indonesia called themselves Thais and Indonesians but this is not the case here.
Muslim or Indian?
To a claim that the Indian Muslims in the country have been neglected, Mahathir said they should choose to either become a Muslim or an Indian.
"The country is very liberal and I think they (Indian Muslims) will be accepted by all if they can pick either to become a Muslim or Indian," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Mahathir said there was no difference between the various races as everyone is a Malaysian.
"The federal constitution also defines a Muslim very clearly. If they want to become a Muslim then just follow the constitution," he added.
The former premier said if Indian Muslims in the country still call themselves as such, others might think that they still have links to their country of origin.
"The problem of Indian Muslims will be resolved if they can decide and choose to become either a Muslim or an Indian," he added.
MahaKutty forgot his root?
ReplyDeleteReally?
Why then when he was in Pakistan he told the Pakis that he is a Paki?
And this appear on an MCA board just makes me wonder if MCA is going to produce more copies of Ridhuan Tee Abdullah.
R Tee does not even acknowledge his root as chinese and goes rambling about ridiculous kiasu episodes and misconception about our federal constitution - not human but beast concocted in Lab stemcell species.
ReplyDeleterIDUAN tee is an excellent example why 2012 should proceed.. waste of oxygen.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to understand TDM's opinion further. The news report isn't complete.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that TDM wanted us non-Malay Malaysians to identify ourselves as Malaysians first and foremost; not respectively as Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Babas, Malanaus, Kadazans...of Malaysia.
In general, I think this has happened. All non-Malay Malaysians have slept/talked/thought/lived as Malaysians.
But specifically, TDM (his context in Penang) spoke about the Indian Muslims who still wanted to be called "Indian" Muslims; and not Muslims and/or Malays.
TDM might be asking those Indian Muslims to emulate him: per Article 160 of the Federal Constitution.
Once they live as "Malays" (as defined therein: Muslim, speaks BM & practise Malay customs), there won't be such thing as "the woes of the Indian Muslims" no more....If there is any problem at all, that problem is "Malay problem", and the Govt will take care of that as a "matter-of-factly"....
Similar, Chinese Muslims like Dr. Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, the children of Tun Omar Ong Yoke-Lin etc may opt to become Malays under Article 160--in a sense, they "masuk Melayu" instead of "masuk Islam" alone....It is up to them.
There is a misconception among our Malay brothers & sisters, that those Chinese or Indians who attend SJKC/T are "more loyal" to their great-grandfathers' countries than to Malaysia. This is LAUGHABLE.
They seem to ignore the fact the all students in Malaysia from Std 1 to Form 5 are taught according Malaysian Syllabuses (Syllabi)--i.e. local contents.
We were not taught to praise Mao Tse Dong/Chou En Lai/Dr. Sun Yet Sin/Indira Chin Peng/Gandhi/Nehru....We were taught about how great Tunku Abdul Rahman/Onn Jaafar/Tun Razak/Hussein Onn/TDM/Mat Kilau/ Sarjan Jamil Mohd Shah (Bukit Kepong 1948)....
It appears that this (local content/loyalty among the non-Malays) is not enough to some....
We therefore need to interact more with our Malay brothers and sisters--to disseminate the correct info, so that misconception/misperseption etc could be corrected.
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHAYA
BODDHI LAI
So the MCA hath spoken:
ReplyDelete"We therefore need to interact more with our Malay brothers and sisters--to disseminate the correct info, so that misconception/misperseption etc could be corrected."
Translation: It's the Chinese fault, for we Chinese don't interact with our Malay brothers! We Chinese must kow tow to our Malay masters, like MCA has done for so long, to beg our Malay masters for mercy.
Syabas, MCA !
I do not know about mamaks but I am train from small not to forget about my roots
ReplyDeleteRotten Fishhead
Sdra ANON 01:09PM interpreted this,
ReplyDeleteTranslation: It's the Chinese fault, for we Chinese don't interact with our Malay brothers! We Chinese must kow tow to our Malay masters, like MCA has done for so long, to beg our Malay masters for mercy.
It is YOUR interpretation; not mine.
And you are at LIBERTY to kow-tow to YOUR "M/Masters"....It is Your choice.
When I talked about "interaction", it means the interactive parties are at par.
UNLESS your search thru Google for the meaning of "interaction" proves OTHERWISE....
Further, fault-finding is unwise and useless. We need to settle the "problems", at least for our the sake of our next generation....
Boddhi Lai
When was the LAST TIME MCA interact with arm no AT PAR ?
ReplyDeletePlease stop kid yourself !