East Malaysia Just Got a Lot More Bumiputeras
I guess the timing of all this talk about ancestry and Bumiputera status couldn’t have been better. In the comments to my recent post about ‘official’ ancestry and the new birth certificates, there was some mention of the differences between West Malaysia and East Malaysia, particularly with regards to Bumiputera status. Basically, while someone born in West Malaysia need only have one Bumiputera parent in order to enjoy Bumiputera satus, in Sabah and Sarawak things have been different. In Sabah, the Bumiputera had to specifically be the father of the child; in Sarawak, both parents had to be Bumiputera. The most obvious effect of this was to deny Bumiputera status to children of mixed marriages where the father was not Bumiputera, and in Sarawak’s case, any mixed Bumiputera/non-Bumiputera marriage.
Notice I switched to past tense there. That’s because the Government of Malaysia recently decided that children in Sabah and Sarawak with at least one Bumiputera parent (mother or father) will now enjoy Bumiputera status. A big hat tip to Bin Gregory, who alerted me to a memo from the Ministry of Higher Education to all institutions of higher education in Sabah and Sarawak, which basically says exactly what I’ve stated above.
This is definitely good news. I’m not sure whether they did it because it was the right thing to do, or because the bestowal of Bumiputera status on the mixed children of a certain East Malaysian politician with staggering wealth and power was seen as a way to keep him, his children, and the BN government firmly entrenched there. Whatever the government’s reason, this change to the rules is good for the people of Sabah and Sarawak, and for the country as a whole.
UPDATE: Following is the text of the memo, which can be downloaded here.
23 November 2009
SENARAI SEPERTI LAMPIRAN I
Y.Bhg. Tan Sri/Datuk/Dato’/Prof.,
PENGIKTIRAFAN SECARA PENTADBIRAN STATUS BUMIPUTERA KEPADA RAKYAT DI SABAH DAN SARAWAK YANG SALAH SEORANG IBU ATAU BAPA ADALAH BUMIPUTERA
Dengan hormatnya, saya merujuk kepada perkara di atas.
Dimaklumkan bahawa Kerajaan telah bersetuju untuk mengiktiraf secara pentadbiran taraf Bumiputera kepada rakyat di Sabah dan Sarawak, iaitu bagi anak-anak yang salah seorang ibu atau bapanya adalah Bumiputera. Kerajaan juga memutuskan supaya semua kementerian, jabatan dan agensi Kerajaan melaksanakan keputusan tersebut.
Sekian, terima kasih.
“BERKHIDMAT UNTUK NEGARA”
Saya yang menurut perintah,
(DATUK DR. ZULKEFLI A. HASSAN)
You can read more about this in Bin Gregory’s reaction to the news.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
My Fiance recently declared that he will not wear the traditional Malay “tanjak” and “keris” for our wedding reception. His reason was this: “They didn’t recognise me as a Malay when I applied to UiTM, why should I be a Malay during my wedding?”
FYI, he is Indian Muslim.
Although it’s good that they have extended this privilege to more people in East Malaysia, the fact of the matter is, Bumiputra status has continued to alienate those who miss the cut. The result, they become bitter, and let’s face it, they get denied the most basic right for human kind : education. I paid RM400 per semester at UiTM, while my non-Malay counterparts forked our three times as much a semester in other institutions.
There needs to be better ways to implement the Bumiputra status. Differentiating people when it comes to education is not one of them. Tanah Rezab Melayu for instance, is where this can be implemented.
Meanwhile, there remains a big question mark over our children’s status once we have them. Are they Indians? Are they Malays? To declare them as one, would be to deny them of another. Sigh…
December 30th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I have chinese father and malay mother. In my identification card (IC) my name is malay name without even chinese sir name. Im a Muslim and speak malay, but because i was born in Sarawak, I am not considered as Bumiputera. This is very frustating… I cannot enter IPTA and cannot inherit bumiputera land from my mother. In the other hand, people in Semenanjung will never face the same problem as me… How could government let this happen? This is double standard!