TUN ABDUL HAMID MOHAMAD
Former Chief Justice of Malaysia
RESPONSE TO ALL MY CRITICS
RESPONSE TO ALL MY CRITICS
By
Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad
On 12 07 2018, I wrote “Should the posts of Attorney General and Public Prosecutor be separated?”. In that article I discussed the constitutional, legal and historical position and pros and cons of either case.
Then, on 9 September 2018, I wrote “First three months of Tommy Thomas as Attorney General”.
On the same day, Yiswaree Palansami wrote a spun news article in the Malay Mail online under the title “Ex-CJ roasts Tommy Thomas over Guan Eng’s acquittal.”
That article of mine attracted so many bloggers, in English dan Malay. (I do not know about other languages.) Many published in full. Others published the part on a particular topic. The Malay bloggers even took the trouble to translate the parts they choose to publish. Surprisingly I could not find the kind of comments similar to those published by Malaysiakini regarding other articles. So, there is nothing to respond.
At this juncture, perhaps it is suitable to pause and read an article “Malay-Muslims are victims of reverse discrimination” written by Jae Senn, a Chinese whom I do not know, published by Ragggie Jessi of the Third Force on 7 December 2018:
“When blacks in America say they’re proud of Black Panther, people cheer that as a sign of empowerment and diversity. But if the whites cheer a macho white male hero these days, they will be slammed for supporting “toxic masculinity”, “white privilege”, and they will be called racists, rednecks, etc.
This is an example of reverse discrimination.
Similarly, when the non-Malays gather in large groups for rallies, when they openly curse and swear at the Sultans and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, when they demand for “equal rights” with them being more equal than the majority, they say this is part of civil rights; it’s freedom of speech; it’s fighting for rights and justice.
When the Malays get spooked with every area of their dominance taken away from them; when they exhibit anxiety upon seeing their culture, religion and race being belittled and insulted; and when they gather as a sign of solidarity with one another, or if they gather to show support for their preferred leaders who are not favored by the non-Malays; they will be labeled as racists, as narrow-minded, as village bumpkins, backwards, etc.
This, too, is an example of reverse discrimination.
When the Malays are worried about affirmative action being stopped and their special rights being taken away from them due to the urban-rural gap which is still quite large, some non-Malays will say that they’re supporting Apartheid.
That’s wrong. Apartheid, in the South African sense, was when the small minority of Whites dominated over the majority native population of Blacks.
When the non-Malays dominate the political arena, after we have already dominated the education and economic arenas, and have enough political power to decide what happens to the Malays, that’s when something resembling Apartheid comes into fruition.
……………….
In Malaysia, non-Malays have opportunities and rights that our diaspora hardly have anywhere else in the world besides Malaysia and Singapore. Vernacular education schools, vernacular-language radio and TV stations, vernacular-language prime time news and programs on national TV.. these are privileges that we can’t find anywhere else. The private sector is dominated by non-Malays to the point where some companies can refuse hiring Malays. There are non-Malays who can live cradle to the grave in their tiny little ghetto without ever learning to speak the national language or mingling with another race besides their own.
But still, we complain about being “second-class citizens” and that we have no rights. Some have gone as far as perpetuating the myth that we have to embrace Islam and “become Malay” in order to get a shot to rise and excel in this country.
This is Malaysia’s version of victim mentality. We, the non-Malays, have it extremely good in this country compared to most other places in the world, but we complain that we’re second-class citizens with no rights.
So, who are the racists, really? And who are the victims?”
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