One may not be too wrong in drawing similarities between the concept of Ketuanan Melayu and the notion of white supremacy which was most amplified politically in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Both Ketuanan Melayu and white supremacy are founded on the basis of insecurity. In the former it is the insecurity of the Malays against other races in almost all socio-economic fields, while in the latter it is the insecurity of the whites politically against the sheer number of the black native population. The concept of 'supremacy' therefore, over another segment of society, serves to safeguard the mental anxiety of the Malays and the whites when faced with an inherently difficult situation.

But one may also argue that Ketuanan Melayu is also fueled by a sense of inferiority. The whites when they governed the colonial Malay states, have succeeded very well in propagating the white supremacy concept to the extent that even the Malay royalty and aristocracy had to address the ruling whites as Tuan or ‘Sir’. It must have been a heavy mental stress and burden to have been subjected to such degradation in one's own land.

The Chinese and the Indians were, of course, also subjected to the same kind of treatments being coolies and labourers that toiled and mined the lands but they were able to accept this 'master- slave' relationship much easier than the Malays as they were in foreign land and had no choice but to accept and adapt - back in imperial China or India things were perhaps much worse. When the whites abandoned the colonies by granting them independence, the Malays, after suffering centuries of inferiority complex, went on overdrive to reclaim their 'master of the land' position by imposing Ketuanan Melayu on the fragile Chinese and Indian immigrants.

Ketuanan Melayu is a racist ideology as it promotes the idea that one race is superior (whether in their claim to certain rights or ability) over another . Ketuanan most accurately translates into supremacy, and if the white supremacists are today widely and rightly known as racists, the same should be ascribed to anyone who preaches Ketuanan Melayu.

In all sensibilities, the racist Ketuanan Melayu should be replaced by the more noble Kedaulatan Melayu as represented by the Malay rulers. Drawing from the concept of 'the king is the nation', the sovereignty of the Malay rulers transcends all stratum of society as it encompasses the virtues of independence, dominion, rule, unity and protection of society.

Kedaulatan Melayu through the Malay rulers will be more readily accepted by all as it does not subjugate any one race over the superiority of another. Instead , Kedaulatan Melayu embodies the supremacy of the nation via the constitutional responsibilities conferred upon the Malay rulers.

If it's of any consolation to adherents of Ketuanan Melayu , Kedaulatan Melayu or the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers, and hence the nation, effectively seals and recognises the fact that the Malays are the modern-day founders of the states that today form Malaysia.