UiTM KKK drag show reflects 'don't spook Malays' politics
S Thayaparan
Published: Apr 19, 2025 7:09 AM
Updated: 9:09 AM
“We can see that this only became an issue recently. Why was such an issue never raised over the years? So the Indian community suspects that there is a mastermind behind this. We will know who that is when the time comes.”
COMMENT | Be warned, I am going to make a few false equivalencies in this piece, but when you dress up in KKK drag to “help increase their understanding and perceptiveness towards the topic, and to give an overall picture from global and historical perspectives”, you are begging for it.
Cut off all the fancy talk, I gather from the words of UiTM, this was supposed to be an anti-racism project. Let us unpack this a bit.
In 2008, the then-Selangor menteri besar got into trouble because he suggested that UiTM be open to non-bumiputera students. The small quota of 10 percent he suggested was met with much discontent. Why did he make this suggestion?
According to the late Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, “The state government proposed this because we want to increase our competency in higher education.”
The former menteri besar said, “It was a sincere suggestion by someone who has the best interests of the Malays and Malaysian community at heart (and) at times it is good for us to accept advice because it will help in global development.”
Fast forward to 2024, students dressed in black (which, to this writer, gives a bad name to goth culture) because there was some talk emanating from Putrajaya or at least there were rumours that UiTM was going to be opened up to non-bumis.
Published: Apr 19, 2025 7:09 AM
Updated: 9:09 AM
“We can see that this only became an issue recently. Why was such an issue never raised over the years? So the Indian community suspects that there is a mastermind behind this. We will know who that is when the time comes.”
- MIC deputy president M Saravanan
begging the Indian community.
COMMENT | Be warned, I am going to make a few false equivalencies in this piece, but when you dress up in KKK drag to “help increase their understanding and perceptiveness towards the topic, and to give an overall picture from global and historical perspectives”, you are begging for it.
Cut off all the fancy talk, I gather from the words of UiTM, this was supposed to be an anti-racism project. Let us unpack this a bit.
In 2008, the then-Selangor menteri besar got into trouble because he suggested that UiTM be open to non-bumiputera students. The small quota of 10 percent he suggested was met with much discontent. Why did he make this suggestion?
According to the late Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, “The state government proposed this because we want to increase our competency in higher education.”
The former menteri besar said, “It was a sincere suggestion by someone who has the best interests of the Malays and Malaysian community at heart (and) at times it is good for us to accept advice because it will help in global development.”
Fast forward to 2024, students dressed in black (which, to this writer, gives a bad name to goth culture) because there was some talk emanating from Putrajaya or at least there were rumours that UiTM was going to be opened up to non-bumis.
As one student said, “We may be seen as racist, but it has nothing to do with that. Some people think that we are selfish by fighting for the university’s enrolment policy to remain as it is, but they must remember, this was how it started back in the day when the university was set up.”
When the KKK blew up empty buses to oppose school integration, they justified their actions because they wanted to keep things as it was back in the day. Did this come up in the UiTM KKK drag show?
Apologies to former MP Kasthuri Patto, but what do you think the response would be from these 587th QS World University Ranked students if a non-bumi did a Rosa Parks and was determined to have an education in Uitm? What would be the response of Madani?
I did say I was going to make a few false equivalencies, but when you have the gall to defend students dressing up as a terrorist organisation with the excuse of teaching them about racism and where your university and its student body justifies exclusion in the name of bangsa (race), then you deserve all the mockery you get.
But do these students know any better? Actually, they do. The system enables and encourages them to think this way. Take the Biro Tata Negara (BTN or National Civics Bureau) for instance. I have no idea what the status of this organisation is now, but it was created to mould a certain segment of society into thinking that, by race, they were superior and endangered.
Do not take my word for it. Take the former ambassador to the United States, former government official in various capacities, and Umno veteran Nazri Aziz. He laid it out clearly when he feuded with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2009.
From reportage, Nazri did not deny that the programmes encouraged antagonism towards the other races. “You want me to lie? You (will) make people laugh. I mean there are people who attended the courses who came out very angry.
Former ambassador to the United States Nazri Abdul Aziz
“There were many instances when words like ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ (were uttered and it) is ridiculous. So I want them to tell me where did I go wrong in not supporting the revamping of the BTN syllabus. Tell me where I went wrong?
Should I lie and say we all get along? Or maybe the state does not want us to get along.
Remember in 2018 when the G25 got into trouble because they suggested that Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) were unconstitutional? As reported in the press, “As we are not sure what they are doing, but maligning other Muslims as apostates and liberals.”
Real patriotism
Forget about UiTM’s KKK drag show. Let us talk about the Jalur Gemilang. I despise all this faux reverence for the national flag from the political class, and of course, thoroughly spooked non-Malays on social media platforms.
I spent a good part of my life serving this country. The men and women I served with came mostly from underprivileged backgrounds.
Let me tell you something. Most of them did not know the significance of the colours or symbols on the national flag. Some of them did not even know the words to the national anthem. What they did learn was genuine patriotism.
They learnt that patriotism meant that we were all in the same boat together because we all bleed red. They learnt that loving your country meant loving the person beside you, regardless of race or religion.
That is patriotism, not something these politicians and pencil-pushers tell us we should feel aggrieved about the desecration of the national flag. But that is part of the social contract.
Minorities have to genuflect because we are apparently not patriotic enough. Mistakes are weaponised. Apologies are never enough, and there should always be retribution. But when we are maligned, insulted, demeaned, and vilified, we should - what did MIC deputy president M Saravanan beg us to do? - just ignore it.
You know what ketuanism (supremacy) really does and which is reflected in the action of these UiTM students and the mainstream political class? It encourages its adherents to see the mote in another’s eyes but ignore the beam in theirs.
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”