DISTRUST and fear were the main drivers for protestors to rally today against an anti-discrimination treaty Malaysia had wanted to sign but had put off after severe backlash from Malay-Muslim groups.

Coming to Kuala Lumpur from across Peninsular Malaysia, protestors against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) said they could not trust Putrajaya’s announcement that it would not sign the treaty in the future.

They said acceding to the treaty would erode the special position of Malays and Islam as guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, even when told that other Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, have ratified ICERD.

Malaysia is one of two Muslim countries in the world, the other being Brunei, which has not acceded to the treaty.

Many protestors cited the need to “defend Malay rights” when asked why they had come to the protest, but few could articulate exactly how these rights would be affected. 

Those who could, said an anti-discrimination treaty meant that Malays and Islam would no longer have special status in Malaysia and they be made equal with other races and religions. They said this was against everything the country was built on.

One man said ICERD was unnecessary to ensure equality as despite Malays holding a special position, they were not in control of the economy and as such, still needed constitutional provisions that granted them privileges.

Underlying the fear of losing this position were complaints of other things that had gone wrong since Pakatan Harapan took over the federal government after the May 9 general election, such as economic woes and PH’s failure to keep its election promises.

The Malaysian Insight spoke to several protesters to find out what motivated them to join the rally:

* Syed Malek Syed Iman, 59, PAS member from Klang:

Today, Dr Mahathir said we will defer (signing ICERD), then he says we will contemplate doing it in the future. There’s no consistent stand from them (the government. Even the next prime minister in waiting (Anwar Ibrahim), he said, defer.

But we want no, absolutely no, definitely no. This is just the first round. If they continue (to make unclear statements), we’ll have another round.

Whatever was signed earlier at Merdeka, Bumiputera rights, the sultans’ rights and Islam as the official religion – this is the red line. Other than that, we’re OK.

* Mohd Ali Mohamed, 47, businessman from Kampung Peramu in Kuantan, Pahang:

We’re not confident that the government will keep its word that ICERD will not be ratified. The government has also lied in their (election) manifesto. 

We are afraid if they change their minds on ICERD then we might lose our Malay reserve land. We want peace and we want to protect Bumiputera rights. 

* Mohd Sopian, 38, businessman from Penang:

ICERD wants to make all of us equal. We have Article 153 (in the Federal Constitution) which some claim affects the rights of other races, but if we look around, who is controlling the economy? Who is successful in education? We have never stopped their success.

Article 153 is special to the Bumiputera, but it doesn’t take away anything from the other races to be a part of this country. So, what is there to equalise anymore…which part do they want to equalise?

Till today there has been no clear statement that Malaysia will never (ratify)… just postpone.

* Noraini Hariri, 41, self-employed, came with her five children aged 4 to 13:

I don’t know, but we have been independent for over 60 years. We don’t want any outside influence (when asked if ICERD will affect Malay rights).

I brought my five kids along for the rally because I want to instill patriotism in them.

I also don’t believe this government. They said they are not going to ratify ICERD but they didn’t produce any white paper, there’s no guarantee they won’t turn around in the future. So, this rally is to protect my kids’ future as well.

* Norariff Samsuri, 26, administrative assistant from Kuala Selangor:

The longer this government is in power, the more Bumiputera rights are being degraded, so we protest.

Commodity prices and oil prices have gone down and rural areas are suffering. The government is staying silent.

When they can’t even uphold their manifesto promises, how will we know that they will not ratify ICERD? One day they say one thing, the next day they change their story. 

ICERD is about making all rights equal between Malays and non-Malays. All we want is to uphold the rights of the Malays. 

For 60 years we have had peace without signing any agreement, why should we sign ICERD? Who are we trying to prove (ourselves) to?

* Azri Azmi, 43, labourer with six children from Gombak:

Ratifying ICERD means changing our rights from what is written in the constitution. If the government lied about their manifesto promises, how do we know that they are not lying about stopping the ratification of ICERD?

ICERD gives equal rights to all races and this will change the constitution and even remove the powers of our sultans. All this time we have been living in Malaysia, it’s been peaceful, why do we need to ratify ICERD? This treaty is basically saying that all this time, the Malays have been unfair. 

My family are rubber tappers and palm oil smallholders, and we are suffering because of the drop in commodity prices. I’m also not satisfied with the deputy prime minister saying circumcision for women is a crime. That’s questioning our ways and traditions.

* Zainal Ariffin, 67, retiree from Penang, living with one wife and a child:

Someone sponsored a whole bus of us to come here but I don’t know who it is. Altogether, 30 buses came from Penang. We are celebrating that ratification of ICERD has been stopped.

I know that ICERD will reduce our rights as Malays because they want us to have equal rights with everyone else. The government didn’t consult the grassroots on this and how we feel. They just decided they want to do it.

Our Malay rights in the rural areas have been decreasing, In the national budget for 2019, low-income Malays are feeling it; there is no money allocated for us.

The ministers today are acting on their own accord, the government does not act as one whole unit. If they aren’t united, how can the people be united?

* Ali Osman, 50, from Kedah:

Other Muslim countries that have ratified ICERD, look at how the races there fight with each other, look at how the rights of the indigenous people there are gone, no one protects them. To equalise everyone’s rights, I think that is not fair. (When asked why shouldn’t Malaysia ratify ICERD when other Muslim countries have.)

* Abdul Mutalib Bahuddin, 50, private sector employee, from Kedah:

We are certain that behind the prime minister is DAP’s hand working behind the scenes. We are not confident that the plan to ratify ICERD is really off.

It’s hard to explain what I understand about ICERD. It denies Bumiputeras their rights by making every race equal.

After 60 years, now that they (new government) are in power, they want to do this. They want to make a Malaysian Malaysia. We will continue to protest this.

* Rizal Yusof, 43, self-employed, from Shah Alam, Selangor:

I thank the prime minister for not letting the government ratify ICERD, for allowing us to rally and for looking after security.

But I am still worried. There are not enough Malay seats in Parliament; we are no longer the majority. The government’s decisions don’t take into account the majority people in this country.

We are still wary about the government’s decision not to ratify ICERD this time. We want a clear stand. 

* Mohd Zaka Nizal, 34, scrap metal dealer with three children, from Kota Baru, Kelantan:

I don’t know anything about ICERD or what it means, but we must support this rally. We want support those who are championing Malay rights.

This government is still new and we will see how they fare. We don’t know about the future but if they don’t perform, we will change them.

* Asyraf Ismayatim, 27, student activist, from Kuantan:

Ever since the new government came in, we have faced a lot of issues affecting Malay and Muslim rights. Some statements made by ministers are absurd, for example, regarding ICERD. They deny that ratifying the treaty will change the constitution.

It is obvious from ICERD that the constitution will be affected, simply because the treaty demands equality and is against the discrimination of other religions.

This is against several articles in our constitution (cites articles pertaining to Islam as the religion of the federation, on the reservation of quotas for Bumiputeras and natives, and on the definition of a Malay).

With ICERD, at least five articles will be affected if Malaysia signs the convention. Once Malaysia ratifies the convention, the constitution will be ignored.

The govenrment’s denial of ratification was announced through media statements and not recorded in Parliament on the Hansard. Also, the prime minister has mentioned he would try his best to support other UN conventions. These are among the reasons why we don’t absolutely trust his statements on stopping the ratification of ICERD.

* Siti Halimah, 39, entrepreneur:

Malay rights are slowly being demolished such as removing quotas for tertiary (institutions). And why is Chinese used on (road) signboards? Our lingua franca is Malay and sometimes we use English. 

What I know of ICERD, it is meant to remove racial discrimination and was signed by a few countries. But we have never had apartheid like South Africa. In Malaysia, we don’t have those issues. 

By ratifying ICERD we are changing the constitution. If ICERD is ratified, then our own kids will be able to convert out of Islam.

We want to urge the prime minister and government to remove (mention of) ICERD in the Hansard of Parliament and to denounce it in United Nations and to not bring it up ever again. – December 8, 2018.