"Questioning the special position of Malays 'can lead to disunity and racial strife that can undermine the peace and harmony,' the state rulers said in a statement."
In other words, prevent strife by accepting injustice. Sharia Alert. "Malaysians warned not to question Islam," by Vijay Joshi for the Associated Press, October 17 (thanks to PRCS):
An influential council of Malaysia's state rulers has warned people not to question the supremacy of Islam or the special privileges enjoyed by the country's ethnic Malay majority.
Those privileges are known as the Bumiputra system. And the "supremacy of Islam" and that of the Malay majority are fundamentally interrelated, as Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution states that "'Malay' means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, [and] conforms to Malay custom."
Racial and religious tensions have increased in the past year as minorities have become more vocal in their complaints about an affirmative action program that they say unfairly favors Malays. They also complain that their religious rights are being ignored.
In an unprecedented comment on current affairs, the sultans of nine states did not directly accuse the Chinese and Indian minorities of stoking anti-Malay feelings, but said recent statements and forums "held by certain quarters" had "caused provocation and uneasiness among the people."
Questioning the special position of Malays "can lead to disunity and racial strife that can undermine the peace and harmony," the state rulers said in a statement.
The warning underscores the social tensions in Malaysia, where Muslim Malays are about 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people. Chinese and Indians, who are mostly non-Muslims, comprise a third of the population and friction among the three ethnic groups is always below the surface.
The lengthy statement issued Thursday night follows a two-day meeting of the sultans, known as the Conference of Rulers. The hereditary sultans, who are Muslim Malays, occupy ceremonial offices but wield considerable moral authority among Malays.
"It (the warning) is quite unprecedented and I think it is coming in response to what the country is facing — what the rulers perceive as the fracturing of racial harmony," said Tricia Yeoh of Center for Policy Research think-tank.
Last month, an ethnic Chinese opposition lawmaker was accused by a Malay newspaper of being anti-Islam. She was detained by police for a few days but no charges were filed. In August, lawyers were forced to abandon a conference on religious conversion after protesters stormed the forum.
The statement reiterates the supremacy of Islam, the special position of the Malays and the guarantee to protect minority rights — all enshrined in Malaysia's constitution.
"Non-Malays should not harbour any apprehension or worry over their genuine rights because these rights are guaranteed," the statement said.
At independence, Muslims were barely half the population. But they have managed to take control of things, put in place the disguised Jizyah of the Bumiputra system, and have consistenly had larger families than the non-Muslim Chinese and Indians, and the true "sons of the soil" who were supposed to be favored, the indigenous tribes, have been persecuted and discriminated against because they are pagan or Christian. And slowly, inexorably, Malaysia is becoming more and more Muslim, with all that that implies for the non-Muslims whose industry explains whatever economic success Malaysia has enjoyed. It sounds as if, finally, the Chinese and Indians and other non-Muslims have grasped the nature of the system that has been imposed on them, and the Jizyah-tax that, in the guise of the Bumiputra system, has been so disingenuously imposed. And they are fed up.
From one of many previous postings referring to the Bumiputra system:
"Muslim spokesmen and bully-boys like to refer to an "agreement among the races" (i.e., Muslim Malays, Chinese, Hindus) but that is hardly the same thing as laws based by the British. And that "agreement" is open to some questioning as well. But this is how it is referred to:
"According to UMNO deputy chairperson as quoted by Malaysiakini,
"He said the founding of Umno in 1946 coincided with an agreement by the main three races whereby citizenship would be granted to the minority groups in return for their acceptance of Malay special priveleges. "
“Fifty-eight years ago we had an agreement with the other races, in which we permitted them to ‘menumpang’ (temporarily reside) on this land. In the Federal Constitution, our rights as a race have been enshrined.
“Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land. Don’t question the religion because this is my right on this land."
Whether that was a real "agreement," or a diktat by some Muslim community leaders to a handful of Chinese and HIndu community leaders hardly matters -- it was not a law, and had nothing to do with the British. And the o'erweening sense of arrogant rule that comes out in the statement by the Muslim in the few paragraphs just quoted shows what Chinese and Hindus still face today in Malaysia.
The "Bumiputra" system is talked of, by Muslims, as being about race. It is not. It is about preferential treatment for Muslims, at the expense of non-Muslims. And that is it. Non-Muslim Malays are not given its benefits; Muslim non-Malays, including those from India or Pakistan, per contra, do receive its benefits. In other words, the Umma al-islamiyya is to be rewarded.
The whole idea was phony to begin with, because it consisted of persuading people to forget the history of the area. Hinduism and Buddhism preceed by at least a thousand years the mere appearance of Islam in the world, and by 1400 years the establishment of Islam, first through Muslim merchants (especially Hadramis) in the East Indies. The Hindu kingdom of Bali, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivaja based in Sumatra, long predate the fateful appearance -- fateful for the political, economic, intellectual, and social development of the East Indies -- of Islam.
The real Malays, who are called the indigenous tribes, are entirely Christian or pagan -- but they, of course, do not benefit at all from the "Sons of the Soil" or "Bumiputra" system. It is simply a disguised Jizyah and has to be understood, and talked about, as such.
As for the elements that make up the Bumiputra system, it is Affirmative Action Plus, for it not only affects admission to schooling, but it requires businesses to make sure that Muslims own at least 30% of each company -- and that of course often leads to payoffs to those who do no real work, but take their government-mandated cut because they are Muslims. No Muslim objects to this on moral grounds; perhaps a handful think it unwise only because it helps drive away foreign investment, and causes local Chinese and Indians (non-Muslim geese with their golden eggs) to leave Malaysia altogether.
[Posted by: Hugh at March 26, 2005]
I'd love to see just one Western nation adopt this mentality toward its Koranists. Just one.
The high pitched shrieks of "islamophobia" would be quite amusing to hear and for once they might actually have some truth to them.
Malaysia is a case study on much of a threat Islamisation can be to non-Muslim countries. It demonstrates how Muslims can gain supremacy from what was originally a non-Muslim country, and ultimately dominate and subjugate it under the banner of Islam. Malaysia wasn't militarily conquered by Muslims, so the only possible explanation for the high Muslim population, is Islamisation.
In the West, people often scoff at the idea that Islamisation is a threat, yet as we see with Malaysia, it shows how it can demographically conquer entire non-Muslim nations.
Islamisation is a far greater threat than Jihadism, because Islamic terrorism (Jihadism) can only ever damage a non-Muslim country, whereas Islamisation can conquer it completely, through the metaphorical 'back-door' of demography and heavy-proselytisation.
@Rogster: "Islamisation is a far greater threat than Jihadism, because Islamic terrorism (Jihadism) can only ever damage a non-Muslim country, whereas Islamisation can conquer it completely, through the metaphorical 'back-door' of demography and heavy-proselytisation."
Rogster,
Jihad is more than just warfare and violence. Jihad includes "any means available," including demographic warfare, proselytization (dawa), legal assault (like bumiputra), etc. Therefore, jihad--total war on non-Muslim society--is the mechanism for Islamization. That is why, I am certtain, this site is called Jihad Watch and not Islamization Watch. That is why the bumper sticker (on my car) says "Defeat Jihad."
From post above: "Islamisation is a far greater threat than Jihadism,
They are one and the same...
Isn't that why Malaysia threw Singapore out at independence - fear that the Chinese dominated city would overwhelm the "native" Moslems?
They banned the Hindu rights movement. This is precisely why we should only allow non-Muslims into the free world. Not just so that we don't have to pay the $250,000 it costs us to have each of them here as opposed to collecting tax dollars from the gainfully employed, but so that Muslims can understand just exactly how truly inferior and unacceptable they are to decent, upwardly mobile people. I love Chinese and Indian non-Muslims (especially Bengalis, who I always seem to get along with famously because they like to eat and argue like Italians and Jews!). They've never been anything but fantastic and a benefit to their host nations.
The good news is that the supremacist aspects of Islam are on full display in the AP. They're doing the same thing in the Maldives. They're going to nullify the citizenship of anyone who isn't Muslim and their family members. The kicker is that they had the nerve to sign onto the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but to just not ratify Article 18, which would have been inconvenient, proving once again that the word of a Muslim is meaningless and that Muslims actually have zero honor. Plus Malaysia has major Sunni/Shi'ite issues. They're a hot mess.
I'd love to see just one Western nation adopt this mentality toward its Koranists. Just one.
The high pitched shrieks of "islamophobia" would be quite amusing to hear and for once they might actually have some truth to them.
That's evil and wrong. They should simply not be admitted, not be allowed to practice Islam, should not be shown ridiculous preferential treament in job placement and academic admissions, and not be pandered to. We should just be sane about it, rather than crazy like we are now, or evil, like you're proposing.
Hugh:
Well how unsurprising that the sultans issue such a pompous patronizing statement. I guess all the Malays are getting very nervous ever since the Hindu rights foundation stuck up and gave the regime a familiar.
Worse is that by bombastically prohibiting any discussion of the Malay's special rights, the regime has effectively destroyed Malaysia in its present geographical expression. The Chinese and Indians have finally realized that they were suckered and any possibility for reforms is a mirage.
Consequently, the non-Malays will revolt and an ugly civil war will ensue. The 1969 and 1997 race riots will finally be resolved by the Chinese and Indians taking Johor Baru (the relatively wealthy and developed part of the country) out of the union.
And then the non-Malays will prosper.
xavier
Xavier: hello, I live here, dude. JB relatively wealthy and developed? Well, maybe.
The Bumiputra policy is not quite a jizya just yet - non-Malays and non-Muslims do 'benefit' from it, insofar as you can 'benefit' from an affirmative action policy. Being a conservative, I think it does more damage than good for the very people it was supposed to help.
The jizya is a far more subtle thing than the sledgehammer of the NEP (NDP now, but who's checking?). The Zakat (Islamic tithe or tax, I think - Mr Spencer, perhaps you can explain better than I what it really is) is a tax-reducible amount. I think they call it a tax relief - instead of reducing your taxable income, it is a direct contra against the taxes you pay to the IRS (IRBoard, really). Hence, Muslims can effectively get away with paying NO civil government taxes.
Not only that, but because Islam is the official religion, our taxes go in part to fund the building of mosques, and other [ahem] things.
Yup, we're paying jizya, all right. Just not in the form of the NEP.
Gkong3:
Thanks for the additional insight. I should've put the relatively well developed in quotes to highlight that it is 'developed' when compared to other parts of Malaysia but not say on the level of Kuala Lampur
Problem with the bumiputra is that it's the Malays who sorta benefit. Kinda cool to have 30% of a company's position set aside for the, but affirmative action is extremely toxic. It destroys whatever self esteem the intended beneficiaries had and aggravates the non-beneficiaries 'cause they get shut out. The result is entrenched mediocrity.
Look at how unhappy everyone is.
If you're not paying jiyza through the NEP; then how are you paying the former?
I'm also curious about your reading of the situation.Are the non-Moslem Malays latently seething or has it become more overt?
xavier
I believe all Malays are defined as Moslems by the state. If they openly try to leave the religion, they get subjected to what Lena Joy went through. IIRC her application to have 'islam' struck from her ID was ultimately refered to the islamic religous court that refused to approve it, of course. She also received harrassment and death threats. On top of that they can expect ostracism from family and community, etc. Ah, such a religion of tolerance.
For non malays who become moslems, they also make it near impossible to leave the religion. Brings to mind the Hotel California song...
Well... here's the way I see it.
I pay taxes. My Muslim neighbour pays taxes.
I tithe (well, not so much, although I guess I should). My Muslim neighbour tithes (pays the Zakat, whatever).
My tithe is NOT tax deductible. However, my Muslim neighbour gets a tax refund equal to the amount he pays in Zakat. If he pays his full amount in taxes to Zakat, then he effectively pays no taxes.
That's close enough to a jizya for government work, I'd think.
Now, you figure that I as an individual don't pay a whole lot of taxes, being a low-wage earner (well, lower-middle-class, really). However, some portion of that tax I (and every other non-Muslim) pay gets appropriated by the Department of Islamic Religion to further the cause of Islam in whatever form, whereas other religions don't even get a look-in, just a tax-exemption. I'd call that jizya-like too.
Yeah, there ain't no such thing as a non-Muslim Malay... not officially, anyways. We do have some undercover types who sneak into churches every now and then, whenever they can account for it.
Non-Malay Muslims can exit Islam. After 30 days intervention, brainwashing attempts and [ahem] other persuasion techniques.