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1:55pm 20/02/2025
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Anti to the Anti-Racial Discrimination Act? Seriously?
By:Mohsin Abdullah

I tend to believe strongly that all Malaysians, I mean everybody, would support an act which is anti-racial discrimination. But not Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, PAS MP for Pengakalan Chepa. He is “anti” Anti-Racial Discrimination Act. If there is one, that is.

To be fair, he did not actually say “anti”, but “merely” raising “concerns” that the law would or could heighten racial tensions which would possibly lead to a repeat of the 13 May 1969 racial riots.

Now isn’t that baffling? Wait, there’s more.

Marzuk told the Dewan Rakyat that an Anti-Racial Discrimination Act “could serve as a backdoor for the abolition of Bumiputera rights and privileges. How? He did not say.

But that, he said, would disrupt Malaysia’s racial harmony – “we must remember that tensions like these could spark racial unrest and lead to a repeat of the May 13 incident”, he was quoted by FMT as saying.

I just don’t see the connection. How would Anti-Racial Discrimination Act lead to disharmony and in turn trigger race riots? If anything, I would say Anti-Racial Discrimination Act would preserve harmony. How could race riots erupt then?

That’s not all he said. Marzuk also questioned if the proposal (of the act) floated by DAP’s Lim Guan Eng went against Malaysia’s “social contract” and the foundation of the Federal Constitution.

“The special position of the Bumiputeras as agreed in the independence negotiations was a trade-off for granting citizenship to non-Bumiputeras,” said the PAS YB.

Again, I fail to see the connection. This is baffling as well as mind boggling.

OK, hang on. Is this all because of the law was suggested by the DAP chairman? Would it matter if someone else made the proposal?

Now this “social contract” thing Marzuk talked about.

As rightly pointed out by FMT, the “social contract” does not exist in the Federal Constitution but is often used by politicians to describe the negotiations and decisions made between the Malay and non-Malay communities before independence.

I read somewhere that the term “social contract” was coined by Umno man former MP for Kok Lanas Abdullah Ahmad. But according to political scientist Chandra Muzaffar in a 2019 report in FMT, the term was popularised by Abdullah in the 1980s.

Known as Dollah Kok Lanas, he was very influential during the Tun Razak and Dr Mahathir era.

Since the term (social contract) was void of any legal status, Muzaffar said Malaysians should instead be referring to the Federal Constitution when discussing the issues of citizenship, race, language, religion, and the position of the Malay Rulers.

Anyway, back to the Anti-Racial Discrimination Act, Lim proposed the enactment of such an act in the light of racial issues involving political figures and extremists, citing a recent incident involving a corn seller in Sepang.

The corn seller, as we know, had caused a furore by displaying a sign at his stall which contained the K word – a racist slur against Indians.

And the sign also “announced” his jagung was not for sale to Indians.

The corn seller later apologised, but has since been arrested by the police.

For the record, even Akmal Saleh the “famous” (or should it be “infamous”?) Umno Youth head said earlier an apology was not enough.

Lim, in making his proposal, said the law was necessary to prevent “extremist politicians or irresponsible individuals” from making hate speeches and provocative acts to divide Malaysians.

But national unity minister Aaron Ago Dagang shot down Lim’s proposal, saying an anti-racial discrimination law is unnecessary as there are existing laws adequate to tackle racial and religious offences.

Which brings me back to our PAS Yang Berhormat. If he had wanted to score some political points by playing the Melayu card, well, it did not work. Sorry-lah!

Ahmad Marzuk Shaary

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)

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