Alex Tan says Indian Muslims are Malays and Christian Malays are not Malays

DEFINITION OF 'MALAY' IS NOT A NEW DEFINITION

Article 19B(6) of the Singapore Constitution defines a Malay as "any person, whether of the Malay race or otherwise, who considers himself to be a member of the Malay community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Malay community by that community".

This is not a new definition 'suddenly' introduced for the reserved election as some claimed.

DEFINITION WAS INTRODUCED IN 1988

This definition also applies to Malay candidates intending to stand in a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in a general election.

This definition was already in place in 1988. That's a long time ago.

A CAMPAIGN OF MISINFORMATION TO CONFUSE PEOPLE

So why does the question pop up suddenly again? It's a campaign of misinformation to try and confuse people.

“As this question has suddenly come up, again I think there has been a campaign of misinformation to try and confuse people. The criteria to who is a Malay was set out in 1988 in the Constitution,” said Minister Shanmugam at a recent IPS dialogue.

DEFINITION OF 'MALAY' IN ARTICLE 19B HAS NO MENTION OF RELIGION

Folks, as you can see, this definition of a Malay does not make any mention of religion.

This is a non-exclusive definition of a Malay. It is a common sense, non-restrictive approach because the concept of race is always evolving especially with a high percentage of inter-racial marriages in Singapore.

At the recent IPS dialogue, the issue of what it means to be a Malay was brought up. Is he a Muslim also? What if a candidate is Malay and Christian? Is he considered Malay? Can he represent the Malay community?

The answer is for the community to decide.

As Minister Chan Chun Sing said, “The community must come to terms (with) who best represents them. If the community accepts someone… then who else outside the community will want to dispute that and who else in the community will want to dispute that?”

This is the reason why Article 19(B) does not take a strict definition of the race of a person.

It has deliberately left the definition 'fluid, malleable and changeable over time' to accommodate changes in aspirations in the community.

If the Malay community changes its aspirations and its sense of what makes a Malay five years from now, this change can be reflected in their choice of candidate without having to amend the Constitution.

In other words, the definition of a Malay is an INCLUSIVE definition, not a restrictive, exclusive one.

Meanwhile, the pathological liar Alex Tan of States Times Review was up to his usual thing, putting words into the ministers' mouth and claiming that ministers said 'Indian Muslims are Malays and Christian Malays are not Malays.

No, the ministers certainly did not say that. Guess who said that? Alex Tan of course.  

By now, people should know better than to believe Alex Tan.