Malays unconvinced the Fed Constitution can forever safeguard Bumiputera privileges

 

A SEEMINGLY pro-Madani backer has chided Perikatan Nasional (PN) supporters that they have been taken for a ride by leaders of opposition parties due to their lack of basic statehood knowledge.

In a post on the X platform, the netizen Mohamad Yusof Bin Yahya (@MohamadYusofBi6) further claimed that due to their ignorance, it is little wonder that Malays “bark almost every other day that the Muslims-Malays are under threat”.

“There’re five matters that can’t be changed in the Federal Constitution even though they’ve received 100% votes from the 222 MPs unless consented by the Conference of Rulers,” revealed Mohamad Yusof.

“They’re (i) Islam as the official religion; (ii) special privileges of Malay rulers; (iii) special Bumiputera privileges; (iv) Bahasa Melayu (BM) as the national language; and (v) Declaration of Emergency.”

But Mohamad Yusof eventually found himself under fire with a netizen wondering “how is it that there’re Malaysians who can’t speak BM” despite its status as the national language.

This was when the poster tried to deflect the fault to “the previous administration” only for some commenters to tick him off as “being double standard” or unable to address “what is the role of the government of the day to dignify the national language”.

Another commenter opined that while the five stated privileges are safeguarded by the Federal Constitution, they nevertheless “can practically be eroded bit by bit’ over time.

One commenter even suggested that the status of BM as official language “is only on paper, fantasy and dream” as there are still many citizens who look down at BM while another said even with the privileges around, “the Malays still remain backward (in many aspects)”.

As some commenters pointed out, the privileges may not be permanent in that they “can be wiped out by force (war) as had happened in many countries when a coup d’état occurs”.

Some commenters even went to the extent of correcting the poster’s flaws, notably “ISLAM is the religion of Federation as per the Federal Constitution and NOT the OFFICIAL RELIGION”, and that there has been an amendment “to also grant the PM power to declare the state of Emergency”.

Thankfully, there are a few commenters who sided Mohamad Yusof by contending that his argument “carries weight” and can be used “to counter pro-PAS followers who harp on the five issues on Facebook, TikTok or X”.

- Focus Malaysia