A Matter of "Race"

For 50 years, the issue of race has plagued Malaysia. What exactly is race? Anthropologically, there are only the Caucasoid, Mongoloid and the Negroid. Genetically, all human are of the same species i.e. homo sapien . The race that we are familiar with today is a mere social construct created to distinguish between people of different society with different customs and culture. Therefore any discrimination based on race is purely a case of power play which will eventually lead to violent competition for supremacy.

The term Bumiputra is obviously not a race. It was coined by the ruling party to score political points and to legitimise the act of discrimination against political opponents. It was never meant to protect the interest of the people. It was a farce and deception that culminated in the defeat of its creator in the recent election.

Granted that Bumiputras are given special rights by the constitution which defines the term as indigenous people of Malaysia including the Malays. But who are the Malays? Instead of all the scientific explanations and theories, simple common sense will suffice. People from Penang called themselves "orang Penang". People from Perak called themselves "orang Perak". Likewise, when Parameswara, an invader from the then Majapahit Empire founded the Malacca Sultanate, he and his followers were known as "orang Malayu" by the natives to differentiate between the rulers and the subjects. For the same reason Penangites called themselves "orang Pulau Pinang" because they are from Pulau Pinang, "orang Malayu" came from Malayu, a princedom in Palembang. Therefore, if anyone today who can unambiguosly claimed to be a Malay are the royalties and no one else.

However the distinction soon disappeared as new generation born after the invasion identified with the Sultanate and all the subjects called themselves the people of Malayu Kingdom which in the Malay language is "orang Malayu". The British colonial rulers called the Malayu, Malay from its original pronunciation. The spelling of Malayu was changed to Melayu when roman alphabets were introduced into the Malay language.Thus Melayu refers to a nationality not a race. Since Malay is a nationality and not a race, in today's context, all Malaysians are actually Malay.