“What if Malays in the 1940s were not united and Malayan Union became a reality?” asked Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to Universiti Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM) staff and students during the “Seminar Bangsa: Perpaduan Asas Pembangunan Bangsa”, jointly organised by Institut Pemikiran dan Kepimpinan Melayu (IMPAK) of UiTM and Yayasan Pembangunan Insan on 6th January 2011. One the objectives of the Seminar was to expose to Malay solidarity issues to the UiTM community particularly the students.
Among the audience attending the Seminar
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Honorary President of the Perdana Leadership Foundation then narrated the historical perspectives of Malay unity from his point of views and asked the audience to visualise what would have happened today if Malayan Union was carried out in 1946. He went on to say that MARA, let alone UiTM would not be established because the country would be in similar situations like Singapore where meritocracy is being practised and the Malays would not be able to compete with other races or to stand on their own despite being the majority in the country.
During question and answer session
Following the keynote speech was a dialogue session with the audience and among the questions asked were on his opinion on the New Economic Model (NEM) and how to become a successful “Bumiputra” especially in the private sector. Before the programme ended, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad reminded university students to appreciate opportunities given by the government, whether in the form of scholarships or other financial aids to fund their studies instead of getting busy with politics. He further advised students who are interested to join politics to postpone it until they have graduated and earned their own incomes as it would be wasteful if the students neglected their studies and busied themselves with political matters.
During press conference
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