马来西亚首任首相东姑阿都拉曼卸任后，历任首相强化了马来人作为土著对这国家拥有特殊权利和主张的前提。通过将沙巴和砂拉越原住民纳入土著类别，这一前提得到了加强，马来人在政治和政策上获得更大优势。
这一前提的强化也意味著，非马来人社会虽然比新来的“马来人”和来自印尼和其他国家的穆斯林以及那些被视为“入籍马来人”的人于此定居时间更长，但仍被排除在土著享有的权利之外。这种意识形态和日益通过神权上合理化公民权利的基础，可被视为边缘化的非马来人和非穆斯林社会创伤的主要根源。
然而，没有相关非马来人移民他国以及人才外流对国家造成的损失数据和分析，因为挑起这课题会被认为政治敏感且不正确。
公民权概念中的种族和宗教偏见，以及马来人和伊斯兰教拥有“特权”和“特殊地位”的主张，被这观念认同的支持者吹捧为无可辩驳、永恒和灵活的，是理解马来人至上意识形态和心态关键。这种马来民族主义与种族优越观念的融合，已融入巫统、伊党和最新马来政党土团党等的政党宣言和宗旨，并深入到党员的意识中。这种融合了种族优越观念的马来民族主义论述已经渗透到马来群众思维和国家的发展机制和流程。
这不仅对国家的治理和发展方式产生影响，也对种族态度、种族关系以及国家发展和团结的理解和实践产生作用。
马来人至上主义的心态
马来人至上的意识形态和学说的核心是强调马来人的社会经济劣势，并需要透过给予马来社会的特殊援助和关注来纠正这种劣势。特别是在1969年5月13日之后，我们看到的是一系列不断扩大的计划和项目，表面上旨在解决马来人的贫困问题，并介入其他被视为马来人薄弱的领域。这也针对存在自卑感或被剥夺感的领域。然而，公务员所推行的政策，并非只是为了弥补马来人在经济、社会和公共生活领域参与的不足或不够。
他们还旨在加强马来人的份额（尤其在纳入数量更多、规模更大的弱势土著类别而被掩盖掉），并提高了马来人的代表性，及加强对经济和社会的更大控制。
追求马来人的优势——塑造马来霸权和至高无上——几乎是每个政府机构和马来非政府组织都认同的目标，尽管没有公开表明，而有时被称为“使命”，其的意思是任何特别援助政策或计划并不以达到最初设定的目标而结束。通常，其会扩大或延伸到更高的目标和新的排列，以满足精英、上层和中产阶级要求，一些是新的，许多是原有的──马来人、土著或伊斯兰份额的特殊权利或特权的要求。
尽管许多人已从上一轮的新经济政策提供的种族福利和特权中受益，但这种优惠至今仍在持续，新经济政策本应在1990年结束其使命。基于特权受惠者试图为他们的孩子甚至孙子保留这些特权，这样政策很大可能会延伸到未来。
从其他国家的历史经验告诉我们，基于我国的种族和政治的结构，争取种族和宗教权利的呼声和压力，会成为一个主要的、有争议的问题，也就不足为奇了。
殖民主义与马来人保护政策
如何帮助落后社会发展并发挥其潜力的问题，在西方国家已经争论了150多年。这课题是19世纪中叶后席卷欧洲的自由主义知识分子论述所涉及的广泛主题中重要议题。最初仅限于与国家选区，后来在欧洲帝国主义和殖民主义浪潮中，课题进一步扩展到殖民地社会，尤其随著英国的殖民统治，从最初的海峡殖民地建立，接著在1874年后扩展到马来州属。
虽然殖民者在马来亚和非欧洲世界其他地区扩张的主要动机并非是无私的，更多地与经济和政治利益有关，但英国殖民当局有道德和政治责任确保在马来亚的发展中，马来社会受到保护，却是殖民官员一再强调的主题。此类援助或“保护”被视为是必要的，因为马来人被认为无力与华人和印度人的移民社群竞争，因后两者被认为拥有来自更古老文明的优势。
因此，我们看到殖民政府专门为马来人制定了计划，并为马来社会提供了特别援助。亲马来人的政策可以追溯到英国在马来亚殖民统治的最初几年。在马来各州，马来人特殊权利的法律基础是在1870年代英国参政司统治时期奠定的。这可以从4个马来联邦的马来传统土地法规看出，即雪兰莪、霹雳、森美兰和彭亨。随后，马来人优惠政策被纳入殖民官僚机构的招募、教育系统和其他社会经济领域，而殖民地（即英国）的经济利益并未受到威胁或不利影响。
● 本系列的下一篇文章将探讨马来人的特殊权利，即马来人至上的意识形态核心支柱，是如何在独立时期得到落实的。
林德宜《马来人至上意识形态关键支柱》原文：Key Pillars of Ketuanan Melayu Ideology
Following the departure of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first Prime Minister, successive Prime Ministers have strengthened the premise that the Malays as the indigenous people -have special rights and claims over the country. This premise has been reinforced through the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak natives in the Bumiputera category for the greater political and policy advantage of the Malays.
The imposition of this premise meant that non Malay communities, though longer settled than newly arrived 'Malays' and Muslims from Indonesia and other countries, and those regarded as "masuk Melayu", were excluded from similar entitlement. This ideological and increasingly theologically justified foundation of citizenship rights may be considered to be the major source of trauma for the marginalised non-Malay and non Muslim communities.
Data and analysis on the non Malays out migration response and the cost of this brain drain to the country is unavailable as it is regarded as politically sensitive and incorrect to raise up.
The racial and religious skewing of the conceptualization of citizenship and the proposition that the Malays and Islam have "privilege" and a "special position" that is touted by its proponents as irrefutable, timeless and open-ended are key to the understanding of the ketuanan Melayu ideology and mindset. Embedded in the party manifestos and objectives of UMNO, PAS and the latest Malay parties of Bersatu and others, and driven into the consciousness of party members, this articulation of Malay nationalism fused with notions of racial superiority has penetrated into the mindset of the Malay masses and the national
development machinery and processes.
It invariably has implications for not just how the country is managed and developed. It also has implications for and impacts in racial attitudes, race relations and the understanding and practice of national development and unity.
Mindset Underlining Ketuanan Melayu Ideology
Central to the ketuanan Ideology and doctrine is the emphasis on Malay socio-economic disadvantage and the need to redress it through targeting of the Malay community for special assistance and attention. What we see especially after 13 May 1969 is an expanding array of programs and projects ostensibly aimed at addressing Malay poverty and to operate in other areas of perceived Malay weakness. It is also directed towards where a sense of inferiority or deprivation is found. However the policy actions implemented by the civil service are not simply to make up for the inadequacy or insufficiency of Malay participation in
whatever sphere of economy, society and public life.
They are also to strengthen the Malay component (now obscured by its inclusion in the more numerous and larger disadvantaged Bumiputera category) and to push for ever higher levels of Malay representation and greater control of the economy and society.
The quest for Malay advantage - leading to superiority and supremacy - is an objective subscribed to though not openly stated by virtually every agency of government and Malay non governmental organisation. Sometimes described as a "mission", what it means is that any special assistance policy or program does not end with the attainment of the initial set target. More often than not, they are expanded or extended to higher targets and new permutations to meet the demands of elite, upper and middle class claimants - some new, many old - for their own Malay or Bumiputera or Islamic share of special rights or privilege.
This development is continuing today even though many beneficiaries may have already taken advantage of an earlier round of racial perks and privilege provided by the New Economic Policy that was supposed to have ended its life span in 1990. It is a development that is likely to extend into the future as receipients try to protect and preserve similar priviledge for their children and possible even grandchildren.
Hindsight and historical experience from other countries tell us that it is not surprising that the clamour and pressure for racial and religious entitlement should become a major and contested concern given the racial composition and politics of the country.
Colonialism and the Ushering of Malay Protection Policies
The question of how to assist lagging communities to develop and attain their potential has been debated in countries in the west for over 150 years. This concern was an important one in the broad range of subjects taken up by the liberal intellectual discourse sweeping Europe after the mid 19th century.
Initially confined to concerns related to national constituencies, the subject matter was extended to the colonial population in the wave of European
imperialism and colonialism which saw British colonial rule, initially established in the Straits Settlements, subsequently extended to the Malay States after 1874.
Whilst the key motives for colonial expansion in Malaya and elsewhere in the non European world were less altruistic and had more to do with the expectation of economic and political gains, the view that the British colonial authorities had a moral and political responsibility to ensure that the Malay community would be protected in the development of the Malay states was a recurring theme for colonial officials. Such assistance or 'protection' was considered
necessary in view of the perceived inability of the Malays to compete with the immigrant communities of Chinese and Indians who were seen as having the advantage of coming from longer established civilizations.
Hence we see the establishment of programmes specially for Malays as well as the provision of special assistance to the community by the colonial administration. Pro-Malay policies can be dated to the earliest years of British colonial rule in Malaya. In the Malay states the legal basis for Malay special rights was laid down during the period of residential rule in the 1870s. This can be seen in the Malay customary land regulations of the four
federated Malay states of Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. They were followed by the incorporation of Malay preference policies in the recruitment of the colonial bureaucracy, educational system and in other fields of socio-economy where colonial, that is British, economic interests, were not at stake or adversely affected.
● The next article in this series will examine how Malay special rights, which is a central pillar of the ketuanan ideology, was taken up during the independence period.
