Sovereignty Of The People Vs Sovereignty Of Race

Whatever you may think of Anwar Ibrahim, his platform of ketuanan rakyat (sovereignty of the people) as against ketuanan Melayu (sovereignty of the Malays) seems to resonate with many Malaysians, including fair minded Malays themselves, except perhaps with die-hard Umno supporters or those with vested interest to maintain the status quo.

Malay political leaders in the past who had tried to be more inclusive had all found themselves side-lined and ignored including the great Dato Onn Jaffar himself, the grandfather of present Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein who, when he (the latter) was the Umno Youth Chief, had brandished a keris and threatened to bathe it with the blood of the Chinese.

Anwar Ibrahim seems to have bucked the trend so far. Even current Pm Najib could only talk about 1Malaysia vision when he was quickly and famously contradicted by his deputy who proclaimed that he was first a Malay.

Perhaps the time is opportune now. Or perhaps the Malays themselves have wised up and are themselves fed up of Umno abusing the cry of ketuanan Melayu for their own selfish purpose and to perpetuate their hold on political power.

I don't know.

Here is an interesting post, although it does not discuss why Anwar so far seems to have bucked the trend and may be on the brink himself of becoming the next prime minister of Malaysia despite his ketuanan rakyat platform