Jamal had earlier asserted that Chinese Malaysians have the option of returning to China,

compared to Malay Malaysians who only have this country to call home. Picture by Choo
Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 Anyone who has Malaysian citizenship cannot

be deemed to be a pendatang or immigrant, historian Professor Tan Sri
Khoo Kay Kim proclaimed at a public forum here last night.
The phrase Malaysian immigrant is self-contradictory, the Universiti
Malaysia lecturer explained, and faulted poor education for the
perpetuation of the myth that has been revived in the latest racial flare-up
between the Malay majority and the ethnic Chinese minority.
Pendatang or immigrants is a term, someone who came from another
country. Let's say this country, and he is a citizen of another country, then
he is an immigrant.
But if he has been living here for a long time and applied for citizenship,
then he is no longer a pendatang, he is a citizen, Khoo told a forum on
Defending Malay Dignity organised by a non-government group,
Gabungan Merdeka Rakyat.
Pendatang is only for people who are not citizens, he reiterated.
However, he noted that the misunderstanding of such phrases, like the
term bangsa were commonplace and present even in government forms.
Our leaders made a mistake on forms, where youre supposed to tick
Malay, Chinese or Indian. Bangsa means nationality so if we are
Malaysian, we should just write Malaysian.
If we write Chinese on forms it indicates that we are citizens of China.
Terms and words are different, terms only have a singular meaning, he
explained.
To illustrate his point, he gave the example of Malaysias membership in
the United Nations and said that the global organisations name in Bahasa
Malaysia translates to Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu.

Its United Nations, not United Races, he stressed.

Khoo said phrases or terms differ in meaning from individual words.
Here, education is at fault. We are not taught the meaning of a term. An
istilah is not the same as a word, he said.
Earlier this week, Sungai Besar Umno division chief Datuk Jamal Md
Yunos asserted that Chinese Malaysians have the option of returning to
China, compared to Malay Malaysians who only have this country to call
home.
His assertion was in response to the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia
Huang Huikangs reported remarks last Friday, that Beijing would not
hesitate to speak out against any threat that may affect the countrys ties
with Malaysia.
Jamals assertion is seen to be a variation of the balik China calls hurled
by some Malays in the past against ethnic Chinese, much to the minority
groups consternation as many identify themselves as Malaysians and not
citizens of China.
In 2008, then Bukit Bendera Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail was
suspended from Umno and stripped of all party posts for three years
following an uproar over his remarks describing Chinese Malaysians as
pendatang during a political rally in Permatang Pauh.
No criminal action was taken against him, though a journalist was arrested
under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for reporting his speech