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| "For those who love and feel they owe undivided loyalty to this country, we will welcome them as Malayans. They must truly be Malayans, and they will have the same rights and privileges as the Malays." [1] — Tunku Abdul Rahman
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Ketuanan Melayu (Malay for Malay supremacy or Malay dominance) is the claim that the Malay people are the tuan (masters) of Malaysia, while the Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians who form a significant minority in Malaysia are considered beholden to the Malays for granting them citizenship in return for special privileges as set out in Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia. This quid pro quo "logic" is usually referenced by politicians from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as the so-called "Social Contract".
 Hishammuddin Hussein threatened the non-Malays not to question the social contract, ketuanan Melayu, or "Malay rights" at the UMNO Annual General Meeting in 2005, the first of three similar acts. He apologized on April 25, 2008 after the Barisan Nasional's dismal showing in the 2008 general election. |
2. Although the idea of ketuanan Melayu predates Malaysian independence, the term did not come into vogue until the early 2000s, nor does the term appear in the original Constitution that formed the social contract. According to Kua Kia Soong in his book, May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969, the portions of the Constitution relating to ketuanan Melayu were "entrenched" only after the racial riots of May 13, 1969 which had allegedly being intentionally started by the "ascendent state capitalist class" in UMNO as a coup d'etat to topple the then Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, from power.[1][1]
3. This period also saw the rise of "ultras" who advocated a one-party government led by UMNO, and an increased emphasis on the Malays being the "definitive people" of Malaysia — i.e. only a Malay could be a true Malaysian. The Tunku could barely contain his contempt for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's brash nationalism (i.e. Ketuanan Melayu) that went totally against the spirit of the Constitution and brought about serious racial segregation. However, during the 1990s, Mahathir rejected this approach with his Bangsa Malaysia policy, emphasising a Malaysian instead of a Malay identity for the country. Nevertheless, politicians under the Badawi administration began stressing ketuanan Melayu again during the 2000s.
4. Apart from Tunku Abdul Rahman, there were also some other UMNO politicians who went against the common view held within the party. As early as 1951, Onn Jaafar began to feel disgusted with what he considered to be UMNO's communalist policies. He called for party membership to be opened to all Malayans, and for UMNO to be renamed as the "United Malayans National Organisation". Defeated in an internal power struggle, he was succeeded by the Tunku who stated: "For those who love and feel they owe undivided loyalty to this country, we will welcome them as Malayans. They must truly be Malayans, and they will have the same rights and privileges as the Malays." [1] Ismail Abdul Rahman told Parliament that "both the Alliance and the People's Action Party (PAP) subscribe to the concept of a Malaysian Malaysia," but differed in their methods. He characterized the PAP's approach as "non-communalism straightaway," while the Alliance required "two steps. First, inter-racial harmony; second, and ultimate state of non-communalism." [1][1] more... at Wikipedia
