KU LI HAS FORGOTTEN HIS SEMANGAT 46

For the sake of the Malays Dr Mahathir must be opposed, Ku Li said. And to do that Ku Li set up his new party, Semangat 46, which will continue to fight for the Malays and restore the spirit of 1946, the year when Umno was formed as the defender of the Malays. Has Ku Li now changed his mind?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

According to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah a.k.a. Ku Li 30 years ago back in the 1980s, he was opposing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad because of the Constitutional Crisis that would see the powers of the monarchy eroded.

This is very dangerous, explained Ku Li. We cannot assume that political power will always remain in the hands of the Malays. If one day a coalition dominated by the non-Malays, in particular by the Chinese, takes over the federal government, the Malays would be at risk, said Ku Li.

Ku Li explained that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s move to erode the powers of the monarchy, the last bastion and defence line of the Malays, would result in the Malays seeing their privileges, which are guaranteed by Article 153 in the Constitution, removed. It will also see Islam being removed as the religion of the Federation and Bahasa Melayu being removed as the National Language.

For the sake of the Malays Dr Mahathir must be opposed, Ku Li said. And to do that Ku Li set up his new party, Semangat 46, which will continue to fight for the Malays and restore the spirit of 1946, the year when Umno was formed as the defender of the Malays. Has Ku Li now changed his mind?

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Malays forget other communities contributed to Malaysia’s development, says Ku Li

(The Malaysian Insider) – The Malays have conveniently forgotten that other races in the country has contributed to the country’s development, said veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, just hours before the planned ‘red shirt’ rally is held to supposedly unite the community against threats.

In describing the Malays as having a “blinkered view” of other Malaysian communities, the Gua Musang MP said the community chose to forget that other Malaysians have accepted the Malay hierarchical stacking order with the ruler at the apex.

“In our desire to remain on top of things, we conveniently forget that our other Malaysians have contributed more than their fair share in the service of the country.

“We choose to forget that there are other Malaysians, who upon coming to these fair shores, adapted and assimilated themselves into the dominant native culture,” he said in his keynote address at a conference on national unity in Kuala Lumpur today.

“But the Malays, to my mind, are short on confidence and this makes us a scared lot, especially in our relationship and interaction with other Malaysians.”

In a harsh assessment of the community which formed 50% of the country’s 30 million population, Tengku Razaleigh, better known as Ku Li, said the Malays are given to jealousy and are not above harbouring ill will among themselves.

This, he said, had become a marked characteristic of the Malay psyche which had found its way into politics.

The Kelantan prince also said it was common for religion to be used in Malay politics in an effort to attract mass support.

However, he expressed sadness that religious issues are sometimes given different explanations by the ulama to suit their political leanings, and these often lead to confusion.

“It does not help that these religious scholars sometimes do not fully explain the backgrounds to such issues, which leaves those who are not familiar with the intricacy of the religion having wrong ideas about it,” he said.

As such, he said it is time that the ulama addressed issues of religious concern with clarity and avoid the confusion that befuddles the people.

“More importantly, these ulama, cannot willy-nilly make religious pronouncements which are in effect fatwas. Such an authoritative ruling of Islamic law can only be made with the assent of the Sultan who is the head of Islam for his state,” he added.