Malaysia is our only home, Sanusi
Recent statements by the leadership of PAS are not just politically tone-deaf but deeply wounding and fundamentally wrong.
By Parkaran Kutty
I am a second-generation Malaysian Indian. I was born here, in a government hospital in Ipoh, to parents who were also born here. My grandparents, who arrived on these shores generations ago, are buried in Malaysian soil. My children and grandchildren were also born here. I have no ancestral village in any part of India to visit. I have no relatives there whose names I know. My family tree has no roots in any other country; its entire canopy spreads only over Malaysia.
When I hear the word pendatang (immigrant) hurled in my direction, it does not just sting—it erases me. It denies the very reality of my existence. It suggests that I am a guest who has overstayed my welcome, a temporary fixture in a land that is not mine. But where, I ask, is the land that is mine? The only home I have ever known is Malaysia. The only flag I have ever saluted and teared when it is raised is Jalur Gemilang. This is not a matter of sentimentality; it is a matter of fact.
My father was a civil servant while I have served the Malaysian armed forces. I wore the uniform of this nation, stood guard over its sovereignty. I did not do so as a pendatang protecting a landlord’s property. I did so as a citizen, a son of the soil, fulfilling my duty to my country. Many of my uncles and cousins have done the same. The Malaysian armed forces has always been a tapestry of our nation’s diversity. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban—we have bled the same blood on the same battlefields.
To suggest that my family’s service is somehow less legitimate because of our ethnicity is an insult not just to us, but to every soldier who has ever worn that uniform. This is why the recent statements by Kedah Menteri Besar Sanusi Nor Sanusi defends ‘Tanah Melayu’ rand the leadership of PAS are not just politically tone-deaf; they are deeply wounding and fundamentally wrong.
To label Malaysian Chinese and Indians as pendatang who have an “ancestral land” to return to is a dangerous and revisionist narrative. It ignores the complex history of Malaya and Malaysia. It ignores the fact that the Chinese and Indian communities did not arrive as temporary sojourners. They came, often under the auspices of the British colonial administration, to work the tin mines, to build the railways, to tap the rubber trees.
They built the economic backbone of this country. They sweated and died in conditions that were often brutal. And when the colonial era ended, they did not leave. They stayed. They bought homes. They started businesses. They raised families. They became Malaysian. The term Bumiputera itself, meaning “sons of the soil,” was originally a political construct designed to address the economic imbalances of the post-colonial era.
It was never meant to be a permanent caste system that delegitimizes the citizenship of others. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia is clear: citizenship is a right, not a privilege granted by the goodwill of any political party. Article 153 itself, which provides for the special position of the Malays, also explicitly states that it must protect the legitimate interests of other communities. The Constitution does not recognize a hierarchy of belonging based on the date your ancestors arrived.
When Sanusi says that we have an “ancestral land” Sanusi is speaking from a place of profound ignorance or deliberate malice. For the vast majority of Malaysian Chinese and Indians, that “ancestral land” is a foreign country. It is a place we might visit as tourists, but it is not home. The language we speak at home is a mix of Bahasa Malaysia, English, and a dialect of our heritage. The food we eat is a fusion of all flavors found in this lovely country.
The culture we practice is a uniquely Malaysian hybrid. We are not Indians living in Malaysia; to suggest that we have our ancestral home is to suggest that we are a problem to be solved, a stain to be cleansed. It is the language of ethnic cleansing, even if it is wrapped in the rhetoric of political populism. It creates a dangerous “us versus them” dynamic that fractures the very foundation of our nation. Malaysia should not be a Malay nation that tolerates minorities.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation that was founded on a social contract of mutual respect and shared destiny. The bargain was clear - the special position of the Malays in exchange for the citizenship and rights of the non-Malays. That bargain is not a blank cheque for perpetual second-class status or for being labeled as perpetual foreigners. Sanusi and the leadership of PAS owe the Malaysian Chinese and Indian communities an apology. Not a half-hearted, political apology designed to calm the waters, but a sincere, unequivocal apology that acknowledges the hurt they have caused.
They need to understand that their words have consequences. They embolden extremists. They make children in school feel like they don’t belong. They tell a soldier’s son that his father’s sacrifice was for a country that doesn’t see him as a true son. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for what is rightfully ours: the simple, undeniable recognition that this is our home. We have no other. We have nowhere else to go.
Frankly, we don’t want to go anywhere else. This is our country. We built it. We defended it. We will continue to fight for it. But we will also fight for our right to be called, without qualification, Malaysian.
Parkaran Kutty (parkarank@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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