Bumiputeras in Malaysia
The bumiputera status in Malaysia. My views on this sensitive issue is like this: It used to be necessary, but its time that we start moving forward and consider doing away with this Bumiputera privilege. The arguments against the continuation of this policy includes the discrimination of non-Bumiputera citizens, the policy itself contributing to the bumiputeras feeling comfortable and lacking in incentive to work harder and the policy contributing to a feeling of race superiority of some and inferiority in others.
Do not get me wrong, I know full well that the Bumi/non-bumi status quo policy is enshrined in the Constitution and I support and uphold the Constitution as a loyal and law-abiding citizen of the country. However, laws and regulations can be amended and changed, subject to approval by the Malay rulers in this case, and in addressing changing times and situations, it is well within reasonable discussions that this change in policy becomes a matter of consideration.
Bumiputera policy and why it was necessary
Why this policy is there in the first place is a a matter that needs to be fully understood and appreciated, before criticizing or disagreeing with it. Present day West Malaysia historically has been inhabited by the orang aslis and the Malay people, but the majority has always been the Malays who have for hundreds of years established their own kingdoms and ruled the peninsular continuously. The orang aslis who were and still are a small minority, lived separately from the Malays and have never set up any functioning government and has always lived as subjects under the Malay rulers. East Malaysia has been inhabited by the various Bumiputera ethnics of Kadazan, Iban, Bajau, Melanau and others.
For Malaya in particular, throughout history, due to its location, the Malay peninsular have been a center of trading point by many people in the region including the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and people from the West. Though some came and intermarried with the locals, they have never formed a majority in the region we call the Malay peninsular.
The British who ruled Malaya changed this by opening up the area to immigrants mostly from India and mainland China. During the British rule, a change in demographic is observed for a period of 100-200 years, during which time Indian and Chinese immigrants came to work for the British in tin mines, rubber estates and quarries, among others. Many even started to set up business and shops and though most only considered working here for a period of time before planning to go back home with the money they had made, they eventually settled here indefinitely, calling this their new home.
How did the British encouraged immigration? They did this by promising a bright future to the Chinese in China for immigrating to Malaya. After the First Opium War between the British and the Chinese, which saw the Chinese army being defeated, the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842 which saw Hong Kong ceded to Britain, as well as the British were allowed to set up five ports in China, in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen. It is through these British ports in China did they bring the Chinese immigrants into Malaya.
India was also already a British colony for many years, and the British decided to also advertise and encourage as well as arrange for Indian immigrants to come and work in Malaya. The bulk of these immigrants who arrived to Malaya however, were the Chinese.
And thus, while in 1820 Malays constituted 80% of the population, after hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived, in 1912, Malays were only 50% of the population. This change in demographic would change Malaya forever as it is permanent. There were expectations that the immigrants would return back to their countries. Indeed, as mentioned, most of the immigrants themselves viewed themselves as nationals of their motherland, and did not have any attachments to Malaya.
Newspapers before Merdeka
Cartoons depicted in newspaper in pre-merdeka days clearly show the mood and attitude towards the Chinese and Indian migrants at the time from the perspective of the Malays, even if it is not all Malays, as can be seen in the few examples still existing. Below is an example of a cartoon from the 1940s Malay newspaper, Majlis.
The second cartoon above, also from the Majlis newspaper, shows a Malay man holding an Umno flag, while another man says the following:
"Malaya hak Melayu! Melayu takda negeri lain. Negeri China hak Cina, negeri India hak India. Kamu orang dagang bila-bila suka, ada negeri tempat kamu pindah".
Translates as:
"Malaya is the right of Malays, they do not have other lands. China is the rights of Chinese, India is the right of Indians. You traders, whenever you like you have a place to move to".
The Chinese said: "Gua tak suka fedilisyen, Fedilisyen atak, tentu Melayu sinang" (I don't like Federation, if there is Federation, the Malays will be happy".
Federation here refers to the 1948 Malayan Federation that was formed as a response to the Malayan Union proposal by the British. The 1948 Federation is seen as a major victory by the Malays opposing British move to further downgrade the powers of the Sultan, and relax citizenship laws, which will give more citizenship rights to Chinese and Indians. It is important to note that these cartoons were from before Merdeka, when the Chinese and Indian were not citizens of Malaya, and thus they are viewed as immigrants and foreign workers.
The effects of immigration
The British favoured the Chinese to work in the cities, while the Malays were left in the villages. Contact between the two communities remain very limited for a long time. The Chinese community became developed and started to hold a large share in the economy. They sent the money back to China whenever they could. This is the same in wherever the Chinese diaspora settled in other South East Asian countries, whether it is in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia or the Philippines. In those countries, the Chinese also has a highly disproportionate share in the private economy. Most of the Chinese immigrants in Malaya did return to China, however a large part stayed, for several reasons. Either they feel that the opportunities here promise them a better future, or they became used to their new home, or that they had difficulty returning. Either way, come Merdeka, the Chinese community were given citizenship en mass.
The demographics of Malaya is now permanently changed, never to be reversed.
At the time, the Chinese were already holding all the major commercial sector and were the backbone to the economy. They were advanced in almost all sectors compared to the Malays, and even Indians, either commercially or education wise. To be fair to the Malays who had enjoyed majority status under their own Sultans and historical Malay states, now had their demographics severely and permanently changed, the Constitution had to include "special rights" to the Malays, ie. the Bumiputera policy to safeguard their interest. This policy favored the Malays in terms of job quotas in government positions, universities, housing and Islamic affairs.
The vast gap between the Chinese and Malays at the time, and Indians and Malays led to the necessity of this policy. It is not easy for any groups of people in the world to have their homeland be changed by mass immigration, because there will be push-back by the natives.
Bumiputera policy has outlived its life
Having said this, and after acknowledging history, the Bumiputera policy should be reviewed, as the policy itself is not sustainable. We can't have two separate policies for people who have the same citizenship status, as it amounts to discrimination, and also racism. The Chinese and Indians will definitely not be happy, even though they largely could accept it in the early years after Merdeka, due to the trade off with the Malays having consented citizenship rights to the huge number of immigrants. However, in the long run, especially when we are concerning fifth or sixth generation of those immigrants, what do these generations have anything to do with the Merdeka days?
The fact that citizenship is consented to these groups of people, should mean that they are conferred equal rights, anything other than that is racial discrimination. While this discrimination is considered "positive discrimination", it should be a thing of the past, as no citizen would accept continuous discrimination for many generations, and I'm referring to the Chinese and Indians here. It is simply not sustainable.
Moreover as I argued earlier, the policy itself is opposite to what it proposes to achieve for the Bumiputeras. It causes them to be lax and too dependent on the policy to favor them. The time has certainly come for the Malays to rely on their own ability and strength to move forward. History cannot be changed, and should not be denied, but what we can change is the current status. After 63 years of Merdeka, we should have passed that phase for affirmative policy, and we can observe that the policy's objectives to lift the Malays and Bumiputeras as a whole have not been met. Isn't it time to consider maybe the reason that the objectives have not been met is because of the policies themselves having outlived its relevance?
Do not get me wrong, I know full well that the Bumi/non-bumi status quo policy is enshrined in the Constitution and I support and uphold the Constitution as a loyal and law-abiding citizen of the country. However, laws and regulations can be amended and changed, subject to approval by the Malay rulers in this case, and in addressing changing times and situations, it is well within reasonable discussions that this change in policy becomes a matter of consideration.
Bumiputera policy and why it was necessary
Why this policy is there in the first place is a a matter that needs to be fully understood and appreciated, before criticizing or disagreeing with it. Present day West Malaysia historically has been inhabited by the orang aslis and the Malay people, but the majority has always been the Malays who have for hundreds of years established their own kingdoms and ruled the peninsular continuously. The orang aslis who were and still are a small minority, lived separately from the Malays and have never set up any functioning government and has always lived as subjects under the Malay rulers. East Malaysia has been inhabited by the various Bumiputera ethnics of Kadazan, Iban, Bajau, Melanau and others.
For Malaya in particular, throughout history, due to its location, the Malay peninsular have been a center of trading point by many people in the region including the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and people from the West. Though some came and intermarried with the locals, they have never formed a majority in the region we call the Malay peninsular.
The Malay Peninsular stretches from Southern Thai to the tip of Johor.
The British who ruled Malaya changed this by opening up the area to immigrants mostly from India and mainland China. During the British rule, a change in demographic is observed for a period of 100-200 years, during which time Indian and Chinese immigrants came to work for the British in tin mines, rubber estates and quarries, among others. Many even started to set up business and shops and though most only considered working here for a period of time before planning to go back home with the money they had made, they eventually settled here indefinitely, calling this their new home.
Indian immigrants' arrival at Penang
Chinese who came here to work at tin mines. In today's parlance, we would call them foreign workers.
How did the British encouraged immigration? They did this by promising a bright future to the Chinese in China for immigrating to Malaya. After the First Opium War between the British and the Chinese, which saw the Chinese army being defeated, the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842 which saw Hong Kong ceded to Britain, as well as the British were allowed to set up five ports in China, in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen. It is through these British ports in China did they bring the Chinese immigrants into Malaya.
After defeating the Chinese, the British opened ports at major Chinese cities.
India was also already a British colony for many years, and the British decided to also advertise and encourage as well as arrange for Indian immigrants to come and work in Malaya. The bulk of these immigrants who arrived to Malaya however, were the Chinese.
And thus, while in 1820 Malays constituted 80% of the population, after hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived, in 1912, Malays were only 50% of the population. This change in demographic would change Malaya forever as it is permanent. There were expectations that the immigrants would return back to their countries. Indeed, as mentioned, most of the immigrants themselves viewed themselves as nationals of their motherland, and did not have any attachments to Malaya.
Newspapers before Merdeka
Cartoons depicted in newspaper in pre-merdeka days clearly show the mood and attitude towards the Chinese and Indian migrants at the time from the perspective of the Malays, even if it is not all Malays, as can be seen in the few examples still existing. Below is an example of a cartoon from the 1940s Malay newspaper, Majlis.
The cartoon shows how the immigrant Chinese/Indian is torn apart in giving their loyalty. The person in the middle is pointing to two texts, on the left says "hak kerakyatan Malaya" (Malayan Citizenship rights), while on the right it says "Taat setia pada tanah air" (Loyalty to home country).
The caption above reads:
"Bangsa Dagang yang di Malaya,
yang lidahnya cakap Gua dan Caya,
Kononnya mengaku taat setia
supaya berhak sama sebaya"
"Tetapi bila mereka banyak wang
Ke China ke India tentu dia pulang
Di negerinya dia tak lepaskan peluang
Sana dan sini dia tak tuang"
In English:
"The Trading races in Malaya
Whose tongues say "Gua" and "Caya"
They claim as though they are loyal,
to get the same rights"
"But when they have a lot of money
Back to China and India they will go
In their countries, they will not let go of opportunities
There and here, they will not let go(?)"
The last sentence I'm not sure if I translate it correctly, because the word tuang in the sentence is not clear in meaning.
The second cartoon above, also from the Majlis newspaper, shows a Malay man holding an Umno flag, while another man says the following:
"Malaya hak Melayu! Melayu takda negeri lain. Negeri China hak Cina, negeri India hak India. Kamu orang dagang bila-bila suka, ada negeri tempat kamu pindah".
Translates as:
"Malaya is the right of Malays, they do not have other lands. China is the rights of Chinese, India is the right of Indians. You traders, whenever you like you have a place to move to".
The Chinese said: "Gua tak suka fedilisyen, Fedilisyen atak, tentu Melayu sinang" (I don't like Federation, if there is Federation, the Malays will be happy".
Federation here refers to the 1948 Malayan Federation that was formed as a response to the Malayan Union proposal by the British. The 1948 Federation is seen as a major victory by the Malays opposing British move to further downgrade the powers of the Sultan, and relax citizenship laws, which will give more citizenship rights to Chinese and Indians. It is important to note that these cartoons were from before Merdeka, when the Chinese and Indian were not citizens of Malaya, and thus they are viewed as immigrants and foreign workers.
The effects of immigration
The British favoured the Chinese to work in the cities, while the Malays were left in the villages. Contact between the two communities remain very limited for a long time. The Chinese community became developed and started to hold a large share in the economy. They sent the money back to China whenever they could. This is the same in wherever the Chinese diaspora settled in other South East Asian countries, whether it is in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia or the Philippines. In those countries, the Chinese also has a highly disproportionate share in the private economy. Most of the Chinese immigrants in Malaya did return to China, however a large part stayed, for several reasons. Either they feel that the opportunities here promise them a better future, or they became used to their new home, or that they had difficulty returning. Either way, come Merdeka, the Chinese community were given citizenship en mass.
The demographics of Malaya is now permanently changed, never to be reversed.
At the time, the Chinese were already holding all the major commercial sector and were the backbone to the economy. They were advanced in almost all sectors compared to the Malays, and even Indians, either commercially or education wise. To be fair to the Malays who had enjoyed majority status under their own Sultans and historical Malay states, now had their demographics severely and permanently changed, the Constitution had to include "special rights" to the Malays, ie. the Bumiputera policy to safeguard their interest. This policy favored the Malays in terms of job quotas in government positions, universities, housing and Islamic affairs.
The vast gap between the Chinese and Malays at the time, and Indians and Malays led to the necessity of this policy. It is not easy for any groups of people in the world to have their homeland be changed by mass immigration, because there will be push-back by the natives.
Bumiputera policy has outlived its life
Having said this, and after acknowledging history, the Bumiputera policy should be reviewed, as the policy itself is not sustainable. We can't have two separate policies for people who have the same citizenship status, as it amounts to discrimination, and also racism. The Chinese and Indians will definitely not be happy, even though they largely could accept it in the early years after Merdeka, due to the trade off with the Malays having consented citizenship rights to the huge number of immigrants. However, in the long run, especially when we are concerning fifth or sixth generation of those immigrants, what do these generations have anything to do with the Merdeka days?
The fact that citizenship is consented to these groups of people, should mean that they are conferred equal rights, anything other than that is racial discrimination. While this discrimination is considered "positive discrimination", it should be a thing of the past, as no citizen would accept continuous discrimination for many generations, and I'm referring to the Chinese and Indians here. It is simply not sustainable.
Moreover as I argued earlier, the policy itself is opposite to what it proposes to achieve for the Bumiputeras. It causes them to be lax and too dependent on the policy to favor them. The time has certainly come for the Malays to rely on their own ability and strength to move forward. History cannot be changed, and should not be denied, but what we can change is the current status. After 63 years of Merdeka, we should have passed that phase for affirmative policy, and we can observe that the policy's objectives to lift the Malays and Bumiputeras as a whole have not been met. Isn't it time to consider maybe the reason that the objectives have not been met is because of the policies themselves having outlived its relevance?
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