"MALAY" in MALAYSIA.

Malay in Malaysia = Melayu in Tanah Melayu

The question of whether you are a Malaysian first or not are being tossed around again.

The first time such an argument came into light was when Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was posed with the question during the last Parliament sitting.

The primary aim of the loaded question from DAP’s Lim Kit Siang was far from noble though.

Kit Siang and the other Opposition party members had been working overtime to cast aspersions on the 1Malaysia concept and the Malay first or Malaysian first question became a convenient point which could be spun into a national controversy.

Their ‘arrows’ were actually aimed at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia and to drive a wedge between the many races in our country.

While it’s a fact that the 1Malaysia concept is very much misunderstood, Kit Siang’s ulterior motive was nothing more than to diminish the status of the Malays and in Malaysia.

We are all Malaysians and I doubt anyone in the right frame of mind would argue on that (unless of course the National Language is alien to you), so what is the issue here?

When Muhyiddin responded in Parliament that he was a Malay first and a Malaysian second, Kit Siang gleamed like a hunter whose prey had walked into the trap.

Some unassuming non-Malay politicians from the Government too fell into Kit Siang’s racist trap when they started making unsolicited pledges upon prodding by the DAP hounds in and outside Parliament.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was the first to jump to into Kit Siang’s bag, followed by Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon.

Both Soi Lek and Tsu Koon proclaimed that they were Malaysian first and Chinese second.

The issue sort of died down then because Kit Siang realised that the Umno deputy president and the presidents of MCA and Gerakan were all telling the truth.

Kit Siang knew that the non-Malays in TANAH MELAYU would naturally have to re-emphasise that they are Malaysian first and Chinese or Indian later.

There is a constant need to re-emphasise because the Chinese are linked to China and Indians to India but where are the Malays linked to if not MALAYSIA?

So Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was absolutely right and precise when he proclaimed in Parliament, without a second thought, that he was Malay first and a Malaysian then.

But, this ‘non-issue that became an issue and later died down’ is now out of the bin again following Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s ill-conceived proclamation.

Nazri now says that he is a Malaysian first and Malay next, and went further to brand those not in agreement as bigots.

I doubt that Nazri has the guts to call Muhyiddin, the UMNO Deputy President, a bigot but that is exactly what it seems to many who is following this issue closely.

Read SAGA MERAH to find out more on why Muhyiddin is absolutely right when he said that he is MALAY FIRST and MALAYSIAN NEXT.