Citizenship given due to Reid panel as well as Tunku

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad must remember that his father was an immigrant from Kerala and was given citizenship together with Indians, Indian Muslims, Chinese and others because of the fair and just gesture by Tunku Abdul Rahman and the Reid Commission.

Thanks to the commission and Tunku, Mahathir is a citizen of Malaya then, and now Malaysia.

Yesterday, Mahathir suggested that a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) be set up to investigate the granting of citizenship to one million foreign immigrants in the Federation of Malaya, before Malaysia gained independence.

The Reid Commission was entrusted with drafting the constitution after taking into account the views of different groups. The tripartite working party, which included representatives from the Alliance, the Malay rulers and the British, met between Feb 22 and April 27, 1957 to go through each item in the draft constitution.

This was to ensure that the new constitution would be acceptable to the major communities. Some significant amendments were made at this final stage although the general structure of the draft constitution was retained, according to the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI), a think tank group.

“Articles in the constitution on citizenship, Malay special position, language, and religion were the most sensitive and were closely scrutinised and debated. Throughout these discussions, Umno and the non-Malay Alliance leaders had to contend with very communal demands from radical sections of their communities. 

“Over the years since then, these Articles in the constitution have continued to be major sources of disagreement and a bone of contention in inter-ethnic relations.

“Members of the Alliance agreed on the application of jus soli for citizenship so that those born in the federation after independence became citizens and non-residents could qualify by fulfilling residence, language and oath of loyalty requirements. This liberal citizenship requirement was a major concession from the Malays because with this agreement, a large number of non-Malays became citizens.

“The Alliance, which insisted on a single nationality, also eventually accepted the Reid Commission’s inclusion of modified dual-citizenship especially for those from the Straits Settlements who were British subjects.

“In exchange for liberalising citizenship requirements, non-Malay leaders in the Alliance accepted the special position of the Malays. Umno wanted to continue with Malay privileges as provided under the Federation of Malaya Agreement through provisions for Malay reservation land, operation of quotas within the public services, quotas for licences and permits for certain businesses, and quotas for public scholarship and education grants,” the CPI noted in its research.

Quid pro quo agreement

Together with this, Mahathir must recall vividly that the Malayan founding fathers agreed to a “social contract” on a quid pro quo agreement. It is a give and take agreement that provides Chinese and Indians citizenship by Tunku Abdul Rahman. It was done in return for the non-Malays granting special privileges to the Malays and indigenous people (bumiputra or sons of sons of the soil) of Malaya.

A higher education Malaysian studies textbook conforming to the government syllabus states, according states: “Since the Malay leaders agreed to relax the conditions for citizenship, the leaders of the Chinese and Indian communities accepted the special position of the Malays as indigenous people of Malaya.”

Another description of the social contract declares it to be an agreement that “Malay entitlement to political and administrative authority should be accepted unchallenged, at least for the time being, in return for non-interference in Chinese control of the economy”.

Therefore, the constitution granted the bumiputra reservations of land, quotas in the civil service, public scholarships and public education, quotas for trade licences, and the permission to monopolise certain industries if the government permits.

“Tunku never gave out citizenship to subvert the electoral process but  to ensure that in the run-up to Merdeka in 1957, non-Malays who resided in Malaya had a right to citizenship, which was agreed to by all including the Conference of Rulers - all done in an open and transparent manner,” said DAP party Supremo Lim Kit Siang.

Whereas, he added that Mahathir conducted the Project IC or Project M in secrecy unlike Tunku, who followed the Reid Commission’s findings and accepted its recommendations in an open and transparent process.

Mahathir added: “We should look back and remember, Tunku Abdul Rahman was worse than I. He gave out a million citizenships to those who were not qualified (to receive it).”

Consultation process

In March 1956 a commission chaired by Lord Reid was set up to formulate a draft and refine the constitution of the Federation of Malaya.

The commission sought the views of political parties, non-political organisations and individuals on the form of government and racial structure appropriate for this country. In the consultation process, a memorandum from the Alliance had gained precedence.

The memorandum, an inter-communal conciliation aimed at mutual interests and strengthening the nation’s democratic system of government, took into account five main factors namely the position of the Malay Rulers, Islam as the official religion of the federation, position of the Malay language, the special positions of the Malays and equal citizenship.

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M KRISHNAMOORTHY is a freelance journalist and local coordinator for CNN, BBC and several other foreign television networks. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and New Straits Times and has authored four books.