In American history there is this case of 187 Americans including the famous Davy Crockett who withdrew to a fortress called the Alamo to resist the advance of 4000 Mexican forces. The Mexicans laid siege to the fortress and then executed an intensive assault lasting 12 long days. Needless say, all but six of the outnumbered American defenders were killed in the fighting. The six survivors were ordered killed by the Mexican commander Santa Anna.

This brief event in history can be used to analogize the modern day experience of the Ketuanan Melayu mentality. Ever since Independence in 1957 the Malay mindset has been developing a siege mentality. It perceives that the Malay race is about to be wiped out; that the Islamic religion it practices is surrounded by ‘musuh-musuh Islam’, or enemies of Islam; that the purity of the Malay language is being eroded by foreign influences; that its culture, morality and etiquette similarly are being polluted by corrupt western values.