Malaysiakini: The Federal Constitution says that the definition of Malay is that you have to be Muslim, and allowing for Malays to covert out of Islam would unravel the whole thing. What’s your point of view on this?
Mahathir: The thing is, if you are not a Muslim, then you are not a
Malay. That’s all. That’s what the constitution says. And that is
what some Malays are worried about. If you are prepared to give up
Islam, you must also be prepared to give up (the rights associated with) the
definition of a Malay. You must say that ‘I am not a Malay.’ Would
you agree to that? Why not? People would still be Malay, but
officially, he would not be a Malay. Being a Malay in this country has certain
privileges, so he wouldn’t enjoy those privileges. You’ve got no
problem with the definition of the Malay? At the moment, we’ve got
no reason to change the definition of a Malay. There are only two countries in
the world where the race is linked to the religion. You’ve go no
problem if a Malay actually renounces Islam? If he renounces Islam,
then he is not a Malay. That’s all. The other country is Maldives.
In Maldives, you must be a Muslim to be a Maldivian.
If a race can be definite as such, then what about the genes in the body called for. Perhaps, of his Pakistanis and Malay mixed genes, he could not clearly define what he should be, thus he classified as the culture and religion of which like his father gave up the Pakistanis culture.
It is out of my expectation, Dr M is a medical doctor, he should know well of what contstitute to the formation of a race. But, the UM graduate fails to uphold his medical knowledge. If one can take away his ancestry and could be coiled into another race, this is against the rules of nature.
Well, then i like to be a race of America, i acted everything like Americans, only brown in colour but i am not accepted as the whites of American or English.
If politics can alter the race, why we need to go for a further search of Malaysian identity--Malaysia truely ASIA.
But, let us take a look of the Definition of Race http://www.coatopa.com/documents/race.htm
http://www.uic.edu/sph/cade/amchp2001/ppt/session7/session7/tsld013.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race
Comments
I feel compelled to correct some mistakes in your piece.
1. Mahathir had never tried to "kill" Malaysiakini.com
2. Race is a socio-political construct and is not defined medically.
3. Mahathir is a Singapore graduate. Not UM.
3. Mahathir's father is from Kerala, India. Not Pakistan.
Your blog includes inaccuracies which gives us bloggers a bad name.
No offence.
Cheers!
Stepping down from power can be a truly liberating experience!
Well, if he searched the office of Malaysiakini and question the staff. what is that refer to ? Concern ? Ya, to some it might be.
The piece is not all wrong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahathir_bin_Mohamad