Moving Forward

The discourse on Malays in Malaysia is shifting in the 21st century. In this book, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the youngest elected representative in the 8 March, 2008 General Elections argues that Malays must move forward to survive and succeed in facing today’s challenges: the emerging new politics, forging a people’s economy, resolving the education question, the unravelling of the social fabric and the position of Islam in a multiracial society. While race will remain important as an identity, Moving Forward challenges the basis of the racial zero sum-game, as ultimately, the future of the Malays cannot be separated from that of Malaysians in general. “Malays need to wake up from the siege mentality of seeing everyone conspiring to keep them backwards. Similarly, the non-Malays need to stop seeing genuine moves to advance the national cause and national identity as insidious plots to destroy their cultural identities. It is attitudes like these that have constantly kept our people apart.”