Article 153 misused, bullying and contradicting

Malay extremist group Perkasa reminded today that Article 153 helped keep the country peaceful and that it should not be questioned after a Christian leader said it should be inclusive of all groups.

The extremist group was responding to National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) chairman Reverend Dr Eu Hong Seng who said yesterday that the Federal Constitution’s Article 153 is akin to “bullying” if it only protects the rights of one group.

Dr Eu statement was indeed accurate to the fact that till today the Article 153 has been widely and blatantly misused and used against the others in order to protect the personal interests and political power of a particular political party, namely Umno. What Umno had always being saying is without Umno there will be no Malay and if Umno loses the Malays will cease to exist and so on.

Same goes to Perkasa, they misused Article 153 in order to promote the supremacy of one race and one religion over the other. Did Article 153 ever mention that Malay and Islam rule over other races? The answer is clearly No to the fact that it only mentioned the preservation of the Malays and the other natives because of their origins.

In fact, Umno and Perkasa are both also blatantly misusing the Article 153 against the other bumiputras like the Dayaks, Ibans, Kadazans, Muruts and so on. To reaffirm Dr Eu's statement, we would repeat that Article 153 now is akin of bullying not only to the non-Malays but to the other bumiputras as well.

The other fact is Article 153 also proves to be contradicting with Article 8 (1), (2), (3); Article 12 and Article 13 and we are now wondering how can these contradicting Articles be existing in the Federal Constitution side by side and there is no clear interpretation on how to define these Articles should any disputes arise, which Article is going to overrule the other and the other indications with its effectiveness.

Furthermore, a Perkasa leader Syed Hasan Syed Ali also said that the deadly race riots happened in 13 May 1969 because the Article 153 was not exercised properly. What does Syed Hasan means by Article 153 not exercised properly? It looks like Syed Hasan himself was unclear of what really had happened at that time or he is just simply denying it, a diehard racist indeed.

Actually, in 13 May 1969, the only thing happened was the opposition parties won a lot of seats in that year's general election. Umno, fearing that they might lose power, created the riots and then declared an emergency rule so that they could disqualify the results of the elections in order to prevent the opposition parties from taking up their democratically elected roles in the parliament and state legislative assemblies.

The other thing was based on Syed Hasan's statement on the Article 153 was not exercised properly, by whom? Is Perkasa now trying to push the blame onto someone else? In the Article 153 it states that it is the responsibility of the Yang Dipertuan Agong to safeguard the special positions of the Malays and the other natives in this country.

In this case, is Perkasa blaming the Yang Dipertuan Agong for riots in 13 May 1969? Syed Hasan said "not exercised properly" which defines the person responsible of safeguarding, that is the Yang Dipertuan Agong. Who else?

Therefore, Syed Hasan and his Perkasa cohorts' action itself had already demonstrated their kind of bullying. Come on, be a man and don't hide behind the Article 153! You don't have back bones?