Tun Dr Mahathir wrote 'Melayu Kemana' last Thursday to argue that since the Malays are politically divided, they have lost the power to rule their own country - in his own words:
Kita lihat di Perak umpamanya apabila Kerajaan yang diketuai oleh Melayu dijatuhkan, kaum tertentu menganggap bahawa sebuah Kerajaan milik kaum itu yang dijatuhkan. Mungkin di peringkat pusat juga akan ada ketua kepimpinan yang terdiri daripada Melayu tetapi duduk dibawah telunjuk orang lain. Dengan ini besar kemungkinan Melayu secara sebenar sudah menjadi puak minoriti yang tidak berkuasa di negara sendiri. (emphasis mine)
And on Friday he wrote a response to a rebuttal by a university professor. My first reaction towards Tun's article was to simply say, "What's the point of asking the Malays to unite, Tun?" Who is our enemy? Why are we discriminating people by their ethnicity - by claiming that 'we have lost power' and that 'they have stolen it from us'?
Fortunately for all of us, there are many people who also think that Tun was wrong about this 'issue'. Unfortunately though, some of them in their writing are badmouthing Tun, saying that he's senile, or that he must shut up since he's already retired, and so on - all of which I strongly disagree. Throwing personal attacks is not just wrong, it doesn't really help in any meaningful discussion.
Instead, let us argue our points of disagreement with him more eloquently, like what I wrote in a facebook discussion on this topic:
Too bad some people are acting as though we had intentionally chosen our ethnicity that we must suffer/enjoy the consequences of being part of a certain race. Why can't we all just get along?
(Mind you, I do realize that different ethnic groups have different cultures and belief system [of their majority]; Still, I strongly believe that these differences must not be exaggerated beyond the fact that they are only arbitrary and that we are all of the same primate species, Homo sapiens)
