If non-Malays expelled, Dr M wouldn’t be here
‘Non-Malays not expelled, so why are Rohingyas?’
Malaysia is what it is today because of its diverse people and culture, something we should all be proud of.
Pemerhati: Mahathir should get his facts right. While the British did bring in non-Malays (including Mahathir’s ancestors from the Indian subcontinent, who have now become constitutional Malays to take advantage of the special privileges given to the underdeveloped native Malays), many of them also came on their own from countries like Indonesia, China, India, etc.
It must be remembered that before the Malays and others who came to Malaya, the Orang Asli were already in Malaya and so no other community should say they allowed or granted a particular community the privilege of staying in Malaysia.
If at all, if any group wishes to make that sort of outrageous claim, it should rightfully be the Orang Asli.
David Dass: Mahathir is not right about the position of the Malays and Chinese. They were brought in by the Malay rulers on the advice of the British. The non-Malays in Malacca, Singapore, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak were brought in by the British as the rulers of their lands.
They were required to open up the forests, build infrastructure, establish the rubber plantations, the tin mines and the retail trade and services. They contributed substantially to the making of modern Malaysia along with the Malays and the bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak.
Take the Rohingyas Muslim refugees in but do not use an argument that is flawed. And always remember that we are a small country. Mahathir, you took in the Mindanao Muslims in large numbers. That resulted in the local people of Sabah being overwhelmed.
Bringing in too many Muslims from countries that do not share our tradition for peaceful multiracial and multireligious living and we could have problems. Problems we will not be able to manage.
Gggg: They have forgotten prior to 1957, all were under the rule of the British. The citizenship condition applied equally to all.
Oh Ya?: The racist in him is at work again. Why is he singling out the Chinese? Wasn’t his ancestor also granted citizenship? And he went on to become bumiputera just because of his mother’s lineage?
Of course, he would even shamelessly deny his father was a ‘pendatang’ from India. On the other hand, wasn’t citizenship a condition dictated by the British granting independence to Malaya?
Since it was accepted by the founding fathers, why is he continuously bringing up this as an issue to further his racist course?
Shouldn’t the Najib Razak administration invoke the recently-enhanced sedition law on Mahathir?
Chipmunk: I think Mahathir should just do the rakyat a favour by sticking to criticising just 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
I disagree with him as Malaya originally belonged to the indigenous people and the Malays, Indians and Chinese came in after that, so the Malays had not allowed the Indians and Chinese to stay, as it was a collective agreement among the three main races.
Mahathir should not forget that his roots are also from Kerala, India. Don’t start another racial issue here.
Takung: I think there are not that many similarities between the Chinese Malaysians and the Rohingya refugees beyond that their forefathers had migrated to Malaysia and Myanmar respectively.
The Chinese never asked a foreign country to annex part of Malaysia for the Chinese, while the Rohingyas had asked Pakistan to annex part of Myanmar in the 40s to 60s. When that failed, they took up arms to fight for a separate state.
Again, the Chinese Malaysians never took up arms to fight for a separate state for the Chinese.
To those who bring up case of the Emergency as comparison, the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) consists of people from different ethnic backgrounds and they were not fighting for a breakaway state, but for the entire country to be ruled under the communist ideology.
So, in my opinion, Dr M’s argument is flawed. Myanmar and the Rohingyas will have to figure out a solution for themselves.
Makcik Har: Asean is impotent. With the help of Mahathir and others, Myanmar was admitted into Asean despite the fact of what they had done to their own students who had protested against the junta.
Look at what they had done to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Now Myanmar has given boatloads of refugees to Malaysia as if we do not have enough problems.
You reap what you sow, old man.
Clearwater: Let’s see – if the non-Malays had been expelled by the British from Malaya, would a certain Indian from Kerala have had the opportunity to marry a local Malay woman, and would one of his male offspring then go on to champion the cause of the Malays?
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