UMNO Youth chief and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin dropped his usually-moderate posture on race relations and claimed that Malays faced an “onslaught” of insults and challenges to their special position in Malaysian society, and had been patient long enough.
He made this statement, unsurprisingly, during his speech at the UMNO Youth convention at the PWTC today, as part of the UMNO General Assembly happening this week.
Citing Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) move to rename nine major KL roads after past Yang di-Pertuan Agongs, and the internet backlash that followed, Khairy said, “Right after that I read that statement, I went on Twitter and immediately there are these posts questioning DBKL’s decision to rename several roads after our previous Yang Di-pertuan Agongs, who were the leaders of all Malaysians.”
He claimed that the incredulity of Malaysians following the roads being renamed were symptomatic of the lack of respect and due credit for the special position afforded to Malays, Islam and the Malay Rulers.
“In Penang they renamed a road to Jalan Karpal Singh, and nobody made any noise… when they say nobody is challenging, I open Twitter and I immediately see all this… this is proof that if we don’t rise and defend our race, religion and country, we will be ridiculed,” he said, as reported by Joseph Sipalan of The Malay Mail Online.
This is despite his tweet on Tuesday saying that there was no reason to link the renaming of those roads to the “Malay agenda”:
In another part of his policy speech, Khairy said since the Malay community had graciously honoured their side of the Malaysian “social contract” to recognise non-Malays as citizens, it was only fair that the non-Malays reciprocate by not questioning the special privileges of Malays, Islam and the Malay Rulers.
“We have endured this for so long. Beware, when our pride is challenged… Malays are not ones to be challenged or insulted. We take care of this country for all Malaysians, but don’t question our rights,” he said.
