THE topic of this article is based on my points at a forum entitled “The Dilemmas of Malay Political Leadership” organised by the Jeffrey Cheah Institute of Southeast Asia (JCI) at Sunway University on June 17.

I have divided the topic into three components. The first component is world view: some Malays are still struggling to find a position or standpoint between contested ideas and to understand them.

One is the question of identity and relating to “the others” — the non-Malays. Who is a Malay? The term “Malay” is a social construct. The Federal Constitution defines Malay in a certain way, for example a Malay is a Muslim. But Umno, the dominant Malay party in the country, accepts Christians in Sabah as its members.

How does a Malay understand, respect and cooperate with the non-Malays? Do the Malays, as Muslims, still put the non-Muslims into two categories — kafir harbi (belligerent infidels who wage war against Islam) and kafir zimmi (friends of Islam)? Or are the Malays able to look at them as equal citizens?

How do Malays resolve between traditional values and new realities? In the debates during the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis, it was obvious that the top leadership of Pas was not able to practise modern democratic values.

Some Malays are still not able to leave their comfort zones to embrace the dynamics of globalisation despite the fact that their leaders have participated actively in the UN, which is an inter-governmental organisation that promotes international cooperation.

While Malays are elected by all Malaysians to positions of leadership and their rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and complemented by many laws and policies, unfortunately, some sections of the community still suffer from a siege mentality — believing that the non-Malays will undermine them in some (imagined) way. So, it is not surprising that some right-wing Malays are calling for more laws and policies to protect the community.

Some do not even understand that every individual has a right to political choice — that one is free to support any political party, and that it has no relevance to the question of unity among the Malays.                 

The second component is on the way forward. To me, it is not Malay supremacy but the supremacy of the Constitution that should be complemented by genuinely inclusive policies and programmes.

There are three areas of concern here.

First, we must ensure the right interpretation of the Constitution; we cannot make it do more or less. All laws or enactments must be constitutional; abolish the gaps between the Constitution and laws/enactments, if any; and amend laws/enactments that are unconstitutional. Herein lies the relevance of the call for the formation of the Law Reform Commission.

And we must prevent the rewriting of the Constitution through the back door. This occurs when one puts his own interpretation on the Constitution with impunity; worse if laws and policies are made in accordance with the wrong interpretation.

The third component is the dire need for a new and proper multiracial political thought. Barisan Nasional (BN) was born as an umbrella multiracial party, but all its affiliates are either race-based or controlled by a certain race. With the exception of some, most of the activities are not really in the name of BN but more in the name of the affiliates.

The structure of BN makes it seem like a Malay/Umno-dominated umbrella multiracial party. Today, if Umno works with opposition Pas and if the MCA, MIC and other component parties in Sabah and Sarawak fail to regain their support, BN will look more Malay-bumiputera than a multiracial party.

On the other side of the house, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is trying hard to be colour-blind. PKR is the real multiracial party. DAP is working hard to be seen as a multiracial party. But, of late, Pas seems to be moving to the right, especially in its  promotion of hudud, which makes the non-Malays unsure of their position in the country. Today, PR seems to be dead.

Neither political coalition has been able to progressively form a solid thought on multiracial politics. Therefore, now is the time for us to establish more thoughtful multiracial politics, either through a new political party, a non-governmental organisation, or through conversation.

This will provide the people — especially a new middle ground of students and youths, indies, teachers and members of the academia, professionals, entrepreneurs, civil society, the urban and middle classes — with a third choice.

A proper multiracial political thought must work on both developmental and democratic values and principles as envisioned by our founding forebears and enshrined in the Constitution and Rukunegara. These values and principles are to be translated into policies and programmes based on integrity, new governance framework, innovations and progressive thoughts.

It so happened that on the same day of the forum, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak made a statement that he has started a conversation with like-minded friends, including me, on the current sociopolitical situation in the country, which is impacting the economy. And we are forming an NGO as a platform for the moderate voices.

I ended my presentation at the forum by stating that the new NGO will try and work on the more thoughtful multiracial aspirations.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah is CEO of Global Movement of Moderates Foundation and former Deputy Minister of Higher Education. He is active on twitter: @saifuddinabd.

This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 29 - July 5 , 2015.

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