Malaysian Malaysia facts for kids

The phrase "Malaysian Malaysia" was a popular saying in the 1960s. It was the main idea of the Malaysian Solidarity Convention. This was a group of political parties led by Lee Kuan Yew from the People's Action Party (PAP). They were against the government at the time, which was the Alliance Party.

Lee Kuan Yew agreed that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution gave special rights to the Malays. This article allowed for special chances for Malays and other native peoples in jobs, scholarships, and education. However, he disagreed with the Alliance Party's way of helping Malays. He believed that special rights alone would not solve poverty for all Malays.

The idea behind these special rights was to help Malays and other native people. They had faced difficulties during British colonial rule in Malaya and Borneo. The British ruled parts of Malaysia from 1786 to 1957. During this time, the British did not encourage Malays to move from their traditional villages. Malays preferred to work in paddy fields and do artisanal fishing. They did not want to move to new settlements for tin mines or rubber plantations. So, the British brought in workers from China and India instead.

Both the Singapore government and the Malaysian government agreed that Malays needed economic help. But they had different ideas on how to do it. Lee Kuan Yew supported leaders like Tunku Abdul Rahman. These leaders wanted a slow move towards politics that didn't focus on race. However, Lee was worried about other leaders in UMNO. He thought they used Malay special rights to divide people by race.

Lee believed that special chances for licenses would only help rich Malay families. He thought that problems for Malay farmers could be solved through better education. He also wanted to improve farming methods to make them more profitable. He argued that focusing only on creating rich Malays would make the gap wider. This would cause problems between different communities.

Some Malay nationalists, called 'ultras' by Lee Kuan Yew, thought Malays were still the biggest group. They based this on old numbers from the Federation of Malaya. But after Malaysia was formed, Malays were about 40% of the population. Chinese were also 40%, and Indians, Eurasians, and others made up 20%. Also, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak had about 35% of the seats in Parliament. Because of this, Lee Kuan Yew brought together parties from Sabah and Sarawak. He also joined with parties in Malaya, like Penang and Malacca. They used 'Malaysian Malaysia' as their slogan. This was to fight against politics based on race.

Eventually, Singapore left Malaysia in 1965. Policies like the New Economic Policy then strengthened special rights for Malays. Some people say these policies are racial discrimination against other Malaysian citizens. They believe the goal is to create ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy). "Malaysian Malaysia" means that Malaysia should be fair to everyone. It means Malaysia should not treat people differently based on their ethnic background.

What is "Malaysian Malaysia"?

The phrase "Malaysian Malaysia" is strongly linked to Lee Kuan Yew. He was the leader of the People's Action Party (PAP) from Singapore. He was a main critic of policies based on race and economics.

Lee argued that focusing on race was not a good way to manage the economy. He agreed that Malays needed better economic standing. But he felt that a race-based approach would not help all Malays, especially those in rural areas. He pointed out that anyone could become a Malay by following Islam and Malay customs. This was true whether they were born in Malaya or not.

He said that some people who were considered Malay had only recently moved to Malaya. For example, the secretary-general of UMNO, Dato' Syed Ja'afar Albar, came from Indonesia before the war. Lee believed it was wrong for one ethnic group to think they were more Malaysian than others. He thought it was wrong to say others could only become Malaysian through their kindness.

Lee still supported helping Malays, as they were the native people. But he thought it was wrong to blame non-Malays to win Malay support. He believed that using special rights as a crutch could lead to problems. It could create a divide between races and classes. This would hurt Malaysia and only benefit rich Malay families.

Different Views on the Idea

The Malaysian government and the ruling Alliance (later Barisan Nasional) did not like the "Malaysian Malaysia" idea.

Those who were against it said that the British had slowly taken over Malaya. This happened from the mid-19th century until 1926. During this time, many Chinese and Indian workers came to Malaysia and Singapore. They argued that Malays had to accept other peoples during the colonial era. They felt that these immigrants and their families who stayed after independence were there by privilege, not by right. They believed that the arrival of immigrants had negatively affected Malay rights and resources.

However, both the Alliance and the PAP wanted to unite Malaysia. They just had different ideas about how fast and what to focus on. The Alliance focused on culture. They wanted non-Malays to adopt Malay customs and speak the national language. This would create a national identity. The PAP focused on economics. They wanted to help Malays compete with non-Malays through good economic policies. They focused on a new Malaysian identity for everyone. Neither group disagreed on the basics, like the national language or the special position of Malays. But they disagreed on the details and timing.

The political arguments upset some politicians in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). They felt "Malaysian Malaysia" threatened the Malays' special position. They saw Lee as a dangerous trouble-maker. One politician even called him a traitor. The more moderate Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, was also worried. He thought it would cause problems. He believed Malays were not ready to compete without their special privileges. Because of these tensions, Singapore was asked to leave Malaysia in 1965.

"Malaysian Malaysia" Today

The debate about "Malaysian Malaysia" came up again in 1999. Lim Kit Siang from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) called for a new campaign for it. The acting UMNO Youth Chief, Hishamuddin Hussein, responded angrily. He warned Lim not to "play with fire." He said the issue was settled when Malaysia became independent. Lim argued that "Malaysian Malaysia" was similar to the government's idea of Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian race or Malaysian nation). Some people noted that Hishamuddin's grandfather, Dato' Onn Ja'afar, who founded UMNO, had left the party. He left to form a new party based on removing special privileges for Malays.

In 2006, a chief minister, Abdul Ghani Othman, linked "Malaysian Malaysia" to Bangsa Malaysia. He suggested that Bangsa Malaysia was a threat to Malay privileges under Article 153 of the Constitution. However, others disagreed. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said that Bangsa Malaysia did not question Malay special rights or quotas.

In 2023, an UMNO leader, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, asked the DAP to remove the "Malaysian Malaysia" slogan from its rules. This happened while UMNO and DAP were part of the same government.

1Malaysia Concept

1Malaysia or One Malaysia (Malay: Satu Malaysia) is an idea started by Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak. It began on April 5, 2009. Its main slogan is "People First; Performance Now."

Najib Tun Razak explained 1Malaysia as: "We stand, we think and act as a Malaysia race. And we take actions based on the needs of all ethnic groups in our country." While 1Malaysia still keeps Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution, it also focuses on protecting the rights of non-Malays. This means 1Malaysia does not give completely equal rights to all citizens, unlike the 1960s "Malaysian Malaysia" idea. The 1Malaysia concept aims to bring harmony among citizens of all races. It does this without changing their racial identity.

1Malaysia is different from assimilation. Assimilation means wiping out different racial identities and replacing them with one common identity. Instead, 1Malaysia respects the Federal Constitution and the different ethnic identities in Malaysia. It sees these differences as a strength. 1Malaysia encourages people of different races to accept each other. This way, everyone can live together and respect each other as citizens of one country.