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After details on the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) membership structure emerged last week, the newly-formed party was almost immediately inundated with brickbats about its race-based nature.
Among the issues of contention was Bersatu’s plan to extend associate membership to non-bumiputera Malaysians, with full membership open only to the bumiputera.
However, a look into the history books shows that this arrangement is nothing new among race-based parties.
In fact, the idea dates back to pre-independence Malaya, and so does the controversy accompanying this issue.
In Umno’s fledgling years in the late 1940s, the party’s founder Onn Jaafar mooted the idea of extending associate memberships to non-Malays.
“It is absolutely important for Malays to obtain closer relations with other people in this country. It is time for us to take the view wider than the ‘kampung’ view.
“Let it not be said that Malays are narrow-minded and suspicious,” Onn reportedly told an Umno divisional assembly in Arau in 1949.
According to a New Straits Times report last year, a single associate member of Sri Lankan descent attended Umno’s general assembly in Butterworth later that year.
However, that is as far as Onn’s initiative went.
Onn’s bid to rebrand the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) as the ‘United Malayan National Organisation’ had him branded as a traitor to the Malays.
He eventually left the party to set up a new party, but never returned to the political mainstream.
Under Umno’s present constitution, associate members are not individuals, but are instead political parties willing to cooperate with Umno and abide by terms set by its supreme council.
Apart from this, the constitution is silent on what rights and responsibilities Umno associate members have.
An example of an Umno associate member in its present form is the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma), which was admitted as an Umno associate member in 2010.
According to various media reports at the time, Kimma may attend Umno general assemblies and divisional meetings as an observer, but otherwise have no role in Umno’s internal affairs.
A non-Muslim contested for PAS
Meanwhile, PAS has used a similar tactic to expand its political base.
While not a race-based party, the Islamist party sought to broaden its appeal to non-Muslims.
That is where the PAS Supporters Club came into the picture, which is now known as the PAS Supporters Wing.
The PAS Supporters Club was founded prior to the 2008 general election, and was 'upgraded' to a party wing in 2010.
One of its members, Clement Bayang, even contested in the Sarawak state election in May as the party’s first non-Muslim candidate. A delegate from the wing would also address the party at its annual muktamar.
However, despite this, members of the PAS Supporters Wing cannot vote at the muktamar, despite them lobbying for the right to vote.
More recently, MCA has also been tinkering with the idea of offering affiliate memberships to non-Chinese Malaysians through the party’s Youth wing.
A report in theSun on July 28 quotes MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon as saying that the wing has been told to engage with the non-Chinese and enrol them as associate members.
The plan has reportedly been approved in principle by the party president Liow Tiong Lai and will be raised at the MCA annual general meeting later this year.“Remaining a single-race party will eventually make MCA weak, when we try to get support (only) from the Chinese community, especially when Malaysia is a multi-racial country that practises multi-culturalism,” Chong reportedly told the daily.
It has not been made clear what rights and responsibilities MCA associate members would have, but Chong is reported to have admitted that the move has prompted criticism from within the party.
In Bersatu’s membership scheme, full membership is open only to the bumiputera, while the non-bumiputera may join as associate members.
Associate members will not have the right to vote on party decisions or stand for party elections. However, they can be appointed as office bearers, according to the planned rules of Bersatu. - Mkini