I will meet the police in the next few days on my remarks to Malaysian students in Manchester at the end of last month.
I was accused of making provocative remarks when I said that the Malaysian Constitution provides that a non-Malay can be a Prime Minister.
There was no such intention.
The Malaysian Constitution is a non-provocative document, the basis on which Malaysian unity must be founded.
I believe one way for UMNO to establish its relevance to the Malay race and the Malaysian nation is to return to original nation-building principles as championed by the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia who were also UMNO Presidents, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein.
I believe that Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were not being provocative when they supported and provided in the Malayan and later the Malaysian Constitution that a non- Malay could be a Prime Minister of Malaysia.
I agree with commentators that at present, the statement that a non-Malay could be a Prime Minister of Malaysia is a “statement of fact” but not a “statement of reality”.
This is why I said In Manchester:
“In the United States, it took 230 years for a Black American to become the President of the United States.
“I hope that Malaysia will not take 230 years for a non-Malay to become a Prime Minister, but in the next 100 years, I do not expect this to happen.”
If in 1860s, Americans were asked whether a Black American can become the President of the United States, the answer will be a universal “No”.
But some 150 years later, a Black American Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States in 2009.
This was why I said in Manchester:
“I was accused of wanting to be a Prime Minister of Malaysia. This thought never entered my mind because under the present circumstances, it was not possible.
“We must have a situation where the majority of Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Dayaks, dream the Malaysian Dream and not a mono-ethnic dream.”
Why was it possible to provide in 1957 in the Malayan Constitution, and later in 1963 in the Malaysian Constitution, that a non-Malay could become a Prime Minister and not be regarded as “provocative”, but six decades later, it becomes “provocative” to explain what is in the Constitution?
Was it wrong to say that the Malaysian Constitution, the Rukun Negara and Vision 2020 with its nine strategic challenges provide for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysian Dream and not a mono-ethnic dream?
For the last five years, Malaysians have allowed themselves to be bamboozled into being obsessed with “2R” questions of race and religion, believing that a race or a religion is facing existential extinction.
No race or religion in Malaysia is facing existential threat or extinction.
As the Sultan of Selangor said in a recent interview, Malaysia is a melting pot of various cultures that has been preserved since Independence, and that the country must continue to defend its multi-cultural values and background which remains one of the strengths that unite country.
The Sultan of Selangor said there are no pendatangs in Malaysia as the Malay Rulers have accepted all, including the non-Malays, as citizens.
Malaysia has the qualifications to be a role model to the world in inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony, and let us all work for Malaysia to rise up again as a world-class nation and to be “Instant Asia”!