Pt 3: Keagungan Melayu - Reclaiming the keris from the UMNOputras

3. The keris is a weapon for the strong in character

The keris is a weapon unlike a sword. While a sworn allows for some distance between the combatants and can be used to attack and defend, the keris is a close combat weapon and is not designed to block or parry. It is an attacking weapon and can only be used at close range.

Close combat takes great courage and skill because there is no room for mistake and there is no second chance. In a keris battle, the enemy is right in front of you and defeat comes immediately at the slightest mistake. So strong focus and determination to win is absolutely essential. (In fact, the keris' design implies that this is the preferred mode of battle!)

Why is this significant? Because it is an indication of the culture that created it. A culture that is not afraid to get up close and personal with its enemies. In a broader sense, it shows that the Malay culture has tremendous courage to tackle its problems head on. More than that, it shows a incredible determination to win.

Surely a culture with such courage and determination can produce success stories galore! And I don't mean the UMNO type of success where who you know decides how much profit you are guaranteed. I mean the type of success that comes after struggle and hardship, where the person is rewarded for his determination to succeed. Surely 30% Malay share of the country's wealth should be no problem for a culture that has these qualities in abundance!

But UMNO declares again and again that the Malays are weak, constantly “under threat”. How can you expect the Malays to be eminent when your whole Ketuanan Melayu ideology is based on the premise that the Malays are weak? That they can't stand on their own two feet? That they must be always be defended? That they must fear their “evil, greedy and stronger” non-Malay fellow citizens? That they need socio-political crutches?

But instead of developing the human capital of the Malays, UMNO maintains that the Malays are permanently crippled and unable to fend for themselves!! How can an organisation that thinks so lowly of the Malays be allowed to continue representing them?! UMNO has sold out the Malays!

UMNO's Ketuanan Melayu sees the keris as the last defense for a socio-politically crippled race.

Above that, Keagungan Melayu sees the keris as the symbol of courage, strength to overcome adversity and determination to succeed.