Keagungan Melayu - Reclaiming the keris from the UMNOputras

Hishamuddin has decided to give the shouting and keris-waving a miss this year, settling instead to kiss the unsheathed weapon.

So...ya-ay. Whatever...

However, it is significant that the UMNO Youth has decided to present Hishamuddin with the Panca Warisan. And he has vowed to carry the kris to the Supreme Council meetings. Would that mean that he would be unsheathing the keris and threatening blood with the higher authority invested in him? Only time will tell...

But the very fact that the keris was gifted to Hishamuddin shows that the UMNO Youth appreciated his previous threats of violence towards non-Malays so much that they decided to honour him with the keris. This shows that they have not repented at all. They are only in strategic retreat now, waiting for the right time to again unsheath the keris and threaten death to non-Malays.

As I have said previously, these characters have absolutely no idea the real Malay power represented by the keris. Instead, their base and shallow minds can only equate power with the ability to kill and harm.

However, the keris is not just a killing tool. Anyone who has spent any time to understand the Malay heritage would understand this. Looking beyond the obvious at the deeper significance, we will understand that the keris is the height of Malay nobility, creativity and mastery.

And THAT is Keagungan Melayu – the inherent qualities that make a person eminent and respected.

So how does the keris represent Keagungan Melayu? I can perceive 5 ways.


1. The keris is a unique weapon

The keris is absolutely unique to the Malay archipelago. Its artistry, effectiveness, and mythology simply has no equal anywhere else in the world! It can be said that it represents the highest level of Malay creativity. Only a unique culture is capable of creating such a unique weapon!

The keris is irrefutable proof of an incredible level of outside-the-box thinking! And this characteristic is inherent in the Malay culture and psyche. Such a creative culture has vast potential – it can be applied into any other field of work that the Malays choose to. And surely, the culture that gave birth to the keris is able to adapt itself and create unique Malay successes in other fields!

But UMNO has sold the Malays bigger and bigger lies that they are inherently “weak”, that they will never survive without government crutches and that only the UMNO government can defend the “weak Malays” from the threat of being conquered by the “evil & greedy” non-Malay fellow citizens. In all of this scare-mongering, UMNO has utterly failed to help the Malays reclaim their natural strengths. Instead, UMNO has crippled the masses of Malays by denying them their self-confidence and self-independence.

So, UMNO's Ketuanan Melayu sees the keris as a symbol of “defending” the “weak Malays”.

But above that, Keagungan Melayu sees the keris as a symbol of the creative power that the Malays already possess within themselves!

to be continued...