Pakatan MPs slam don over racial formula
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders lashed out today at prominent Utusan Malaysia columnist Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah for suggesting that Malay-Muslims have more rights because they form the majority in Malaysia.
PR leaders from PAS, PKR and DAP also took issue with the National Defence University lecturer, who is a prominent Muslim convert, for accusing non-Muslims of putting their own interests above that of the country’s.
They accused him of acting in the interests of Umno and for living in a world that no longer exists.
In his regular column in Mingguan Malaysia today, Ridhuan also put forward a formula based on the racial and religious breakdown of the country’s 27 million population, to apportion the share of what is due to each community in terms of rights, festivities and celebrations, adding that no one should question the “social contract.”
“What he is doing is not right. As a Muslim, we want to emphasise that Islam teaches justice. Everyone has rights. We do not accept a rule where only one race’s rights are protected simply because they are the majority. We cannot deny the minority,” said Khalid Samad who is the PAS Shah Alam MP.
The PAS man said that the problem with how democracy in Malaysia is understood is that it tends toward the majority rule, instead of being based on principles of justice.
“Even if there was one Buddhist in a village, he must be allowed to celebrate and practice his faith because it is his right. Just because the Malays are the majority, Islam does not say we can go around and oppress others,” stated Khalid, who sounded upset when told about the arguments made in Ridhuan’s latest article.
He added that while the original social contract of the country did provide some form of protection for Malays so that they would not be left trailing behind, that was in the past and even then that did not mean that other races were not considered as equal citizens of the country.
“It is disappointing that Ridhuan Tee is becoming more Umno than Muslim. As a Muslim convert, he should be concentrating his efforts in trying to show the truth and justice within Islam, and not trying to win acceptance from the Malay-Muslims minorities who buy into this racist sentiment.”
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