KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has slammed Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy for criticising him over the use of the word "foreigners".
"Ramasamy is annoyed that I still distinguish the descendants of migrants from China and India as 'orang asing' or people of foreign origins.
"It is not me, but they themselves who wish to identify themselves as of foreign origin.
"It is they who identify themselves as Malaysian Chinese or Malaysian Indians.
"Malays identify themselves with this country, Malaysia, in being Malaysian.
"Yes, my ancestors came from India. But I don't call myself a Malaysian Indian. I am a Malay in the sense that my home language is Malay and my culture is Malay.
"The constitution says that a Malay is a person who habitually speaks Malay and practices the Malay 'adat' (customs) and is a Muslim," Dr Mahathir said in a post on Facebook today.
On Monday, Ramasamy wrote a lengthy post on his Facebook page on Dr Mahathir.
He claimed that Dr Mahathir was harping on how Malays had lost their economic and political rights to "foreigners" or non-Malays.
He had said it was downright insulting to call fourth and fifth generation non-Malays "foreigners" or even "guests".
Last month, Ramasamy was heavily criticised for allegedly urging the government to break the racial monopoly in the public service sector.
He allegedly made the statement in a Facebook post on Feb 10.
Two days after he made the post, he claimed that some publications had misquoted his Facebook post on reforms in the public service sector.
In defending his views, Dr Mahathir said it was not racist for a Malay to speak about his own race.
"When Malays speak about Malays, they are not being racist. They are the nationals of this country.
"Anywhere in the world, when nationals speak about themselves, they are not being racist.
"The British people talk about their problems and are not accused of being racist."
Dr Mahathir also wrote at length about vernacular schools and about the medium of teaching.
He claimed that some quarters rejected the idea of putting vernacular and national schools on the same campus.
He made comparisons with other countries and highlighted the cultural backgrounds of some world leaders.
"Former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower was of German origin. But he fought against Germany as an American during World War II. Of course he did not habitually speak German, he spoke American English.
"(British Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak is of Indian origin, but in speaking and behaviour, he is totally British.
"Thaksin Shinawatra is of Chinese origin, but he habitually speaks Thai and behaves like a Thai.
"So is Corazon Aquino of the Philippines.
"In all other Asean countries, there are no government-aided Chinese schools. In fact, I have not seen any Chinese schools in these countries."
He took a jab at Ramasamy and insisted he was not being racist.
"Ramasamy keeps on accusing me of being racist. As I said, I am not racist. I am a national of the country called Malaysia. I have a right to a fair share of the country's wealth.
"Multiracialism in Malaysia means everything goes to the most capable, the most financially strong and (the people) with the most wide business network, the best trained and experienced. Only non-Malays qualify. Malays get nothing from multiracialism."