My country of origin, Tun? Malaysia-lah — Shannon Teoh

Frankly, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed is a confusing man.

Yesterday, he told non-Malays that they must stop identifying themselves according to their country of origin because that is an admission that they are immigrants in Malaysia.

But how do millions of non-Malays become less of an immigrant in Malaysia by NOT identifying ourselves as Malaysian?

Whether Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, or even Orang Asli, they were born here, raised here and know no other country to call home.

Nor do most call themselves anything but Malaysian when a taxi driver overseas asks them if they are Chinese/Indian, etc.

Maybe this message had some relevance when Dr Mahathir had just become prime minister in the 1980s, or when he was cast into the political wilderness by our founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early 1970s.

But today? The bloodlines of Chinese, Indians, and other “immigrants” who were born here stretch back to before Malaysia even was formed.

To call any of them anything other than Malaysian is to say that they are practically stateless.

More confusing is that if Dr Mahathir really wanted non-Malays to take heed to his call, why then were non-Malay journalists barred from reporting on his speech yesterday?

Maybe he did not give the order himself, but what happened was certainly counter-productive.

But never mind that. The point is that young — well, most parties define youth as 40 years old and below — Indians and Chinese consider themselves Malaysian, vote in Malaysia and sing “Negaraku” but are still being told by the likes of Dr Mahathir that this is not their country.

Strange, then, that after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking as deputy prime minister, Dr Mahathir courted the non-Malay vote, and the Chinese community was most welcome in “Tanah Melayu” ahead of the 1999 general election.

Perhaps the fact that in 1999, Barisan Nasional (BN) lost 70 per cent of seats with more than 80 per cent Malay voters might have something to do with it.

Now that about 70 per cent of Chinese voters could not give BN the time of day, it seems Dr Mahathir thinks it’s time to take the country back.

Well, Tun, looking around the country at most non-Malays, it does not seem like they’re about to give it back.

* Shannon Teoh is s senior reporter with The Malaysian Insider.