Walaupun retorik ini wujud sebelum Malaysia mencapai kemerdekaan, frasa ketuanan Melayu tidak menjadi satu perkara yang disebut ramai hingga ke awal tahun 2000-an. Kebanyakan tentangan konsep ini adalah daripada parti-parti yang tidak berdasarkan kaum Melayu, seperti Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP), tetapi sebelum kemerdekaan orang Baba dan Nyonya juga menentang konsep ini. Konsep keulungan kaum Melayu mendapat perhatian dalam tahun 1940-an apabila orang Melayu bersatu untuk menentang penubuhan Malayan Union dan kemudian, berjuang untuk kemerdekaan. Semasa tahun 60-an, terdapat usaha yang cukup besar untuk mencabar ketuanan Melayu, diketuai oleh Parti Tindakan Rakyat (PAP) dari Singapura — yang merupakan negeri Malaysia dari 1963 hingga 1965 — dan DAP selepas pemisahan Singapura. Walaupun begitu, sebahagian Perlembagaan berkaitan ketuanan Melayu berakar umbi selepas rusuhan kaum Mei 13, 1969 yang terjadi akibat kempen pilihan raya yang menjadikan hak-hak orang bukan Melayu dan ketuanan Melayu sebagai isu tumpuan. Tempoh ini juga menyaksikan kebangkitan ultra yang mendesak agar kerajaan parti tunggal diketuai UMNO, dan pertambahan penekanan bahawa orang Melayu merupakan "orang asal" Malaysia — iaitu hanya orang Melayu boleh dianggap penduduk asal Malaysia.
Rusuhan kaum mengakibatkan perubahan besar dalam pendekatan kerajaan kepada isu perkauman, dan menyebabkan pengenalan Dasar Ekonomi Baru iaitu dasar tindakan pengesahan yang secara agresif menyebelahi kaum Melayu. Dasar Kebudayaan Kebangsaan yang juga diperkenalkan pada tahun 1970, memberikan penekanan kepada asimilasi orang bukan Melayu ke dalam kaum Melayu. Tetapi dalam tahun 1990-an, Perdana Menteri Mahathir bin Mohamad menolak pendekatan ini, dengan dasar Bangsa Malaysia yang menekankan bangsa Malaysia dan bukan kaum Melayu sebagai identiti negara. Dalam tahun 2000-an, ahli-ahli politik mula menekankan ketuanan Melayu semula, dan membidas secara keras menteri kerajaan yang mempersoalkan kontrak sosial.
Semangat nasionalisme Melayu sebagai pertubuhan politik tidak wujud sebelum Perang Dunia II. Konsep ketuanan Melayu tidak relevan; kaum Cina dan India tidak anggap diri mereka sebagai orang Malaya. Kajian "British Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies" pada awal 1930-an mendapati bahawa kebanyakan kaum bukan Melayu tidak menganggap Malaya sebagai tanah air mereka.
Pada 11 Mei 2008, bekas Presiden Partai Gerakan Lim Keng Yaik menyifatkan UMNO memberi layanan pengemis kepada partai-partai komponen Barisan Nasional bukan Melayu seperti MCA, MIC dan Gerakan. Lim berpendapat bahawa walaupun Hak Keistimewaan Orang Melayu dinyatakan dalam Perlembagaan Malaysia, namun hak-hak asasi Orang Bukan Melayu harus dihormati.
Bekas Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Zahid Ibrahim berpendapat bahawa model Ketuanan Melayu telah gagal dan mengakibatkan pembaziran sumber, tenaga dan masa dan juga telah dipesongkan daripada isu sebenar yang dihadapi negara. Zaid Ibrahim turut mengkritik dasar yang berasaskan kaum.
The definition of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) is not about the Malays being in a position to dominate, rule over and force their power upon other races, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He said Malay supremacy meant that the Malays, as the indigenous people in Malaysia, needed to strengthen themselves to ensure they were successful and developed.
“If they are not successful and developed, then they are not tuan (masters), therefore they will be coolies. I am sure we do not want to become coolies who do not play any role in development because we are weak and not able.
“So when we talk about that (Malay supremacy), we mean we must be successful in many fields. It is never about ruling over others, or forcing our power upon them,” he told reporters after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting last night.
Abdullah, who is also Umno president, was asked about Malay supremacy being weakened due to Barisan Nasional’s losses in the general election and because the Malays were split between Umno, PKR and PAS.
He added that there were still matters related to the Malays that needed to be further improved and enhanced, although their successes were evident.
“We are not going to be a race that dominates others. We want to be a party that represents the Malays and that is ready to co-operate for the future of Malays and the people, as Malays will also succeed when all Malaysians are successful.
“That is Malay supremacy and I hope people will understand it,” he said.
On Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s apology for wielding the keris (Malay dagger) at the party’s annual assembly that had upset non-Malays in the country, Abdullah said it was a brave act by the Youth chief.
“He wanted to put the issue to rest. I must say it is a brave move because he knows that many Malays might get angry with him.
“At least by his action, he has also made non-Malays understand about the function and position of the keris in Malay society. It would also no longer cause others to be frightened or worried.”
He said that Hishammuddin also wanted to clear the misunderstanding with the other component parties.
“We must acknowledge that we are friends in Barisan. This is Umno’s assurance to the other component parties,” he said.
Tetapi kerana Melayu tidak berusaha melawan penjajah maka di zaman Tanah Melayu dijajah yang jadi "Tuan" dan yang dipanggil "Tuan" oleh orang Melayu sendiri ialah penjajah terutama British.Kita boleh panggil diri kita "Tuan" tetapi jika kita terpaksa bergantung kepada orang lain dan kita menjadi kuli kepada mereka, memanggil diri kita Tuan tidak bermakna.
Hari ini kuasa politik pun sudah terlepas dari tangan orang Melayu. Dan orang bukan Melayu tidak lagi menghormati orang Melayu dan institusi-institusi Melayu. Segala-gala yang dianggap sebagai hak istimewa orang Melayu disoal dan dicabar. Dan orang Melayu tidak membuat apa-apa untuk menangkis semua ini dan mengukuhkan kedudukan mereka.
Sebaliknya mereka meminta-minta orang tertentu mempertahankan kedudukan orang Melayu. Tetapi ini adalah usaha "passing the buck" kata Mat Salleh, termasuk alasan bahawa semua ini adalah kerana Dr Mahathir yang memerintah 22 tahun dan pilih Dato' Seri Abdullah sebagai penggantinya.
Nasib orang Melayu ada ditangan orang Melayu. Kita tidak jadi "Tuan" dengan mengungkit sejarah semata-mata. Kita boleh jadi "Tuan" jika kita berani bertindak, kita sanggup menghadapi risiko, kita berusaha untuk menguasai semua ilmu dan kecekapan sehingga tidak perlu bergantung kepada sesiapa.
Penafian hakikat yang nyata dan benar tidak akan menghasilkan apa-apa. Hanya dengan mengakui kita mempunyai masalah yang besar dan kita bertindak untuk mengatasi masalah itu barulah dapat kita tebus balik maruah kita.
Ketika itu tanpa memanggil diri kita "Tuan" dunia akan iktiraf kita sebagai Tuan yang sebenar".
Put an end to Ketuanan Melayu, Azly Rahman, February 7th, 2008, writes.....
‘O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person, except in piety. Indeed the noblest among you is the one who is deeply conscious of God.’ - a saying of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him)
Instead of defining Ketuanan Melayu as ‘Malay superiority’ which is quite meaningless, philologically inaccurate, and philosophically arrogant, I think the word ‘dictatorship’ is closer in meaning. To dictate connotes to tell, which connotes to narrate. To narrate means to weave a story based on an ideology. To ideologise means to encapsulate. To encapsulate means to be trapped. Dictatorship, here might also mean an entrapment. Instead of acknowledging one’s freedom to rule, one is acknowledging being in an entrapment - and to rule out of that condition. This is a form of false consciousness.
The idea of social dominance and racial superiority might all be primarily about economics, if we are to read the history of the development of ideologies of superiority. But my question is - who has the right to claim that this or that land belongs to this or that group of people. At what point does culture and citizenship meet and negotiate the issue of egalitarianism? When does ‘the truth of one’s culture’ reach its limit and the question of ‘the truth of citizenship’ dominate?
For Muslims in Malaysia, this saying by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is familiar: ‘Your descent is nothing to be proud of. Nor does it bring you superiority. O people! All of you are the children of Adam. You are like equal wheat grains in a bowl … No one has any superiority over anyone else, except in religion and heedfulness. In order to consider someone a wicked person, it suffices that he humiliates other people, is mean with money, bad-tempered and exceeds the limits…’
I would say that ketuanan Melayu is a dangerous concept that is threatening race relations. It is an arrogant interpretation of selective history; of a history that is largely benefiting those who profits from the ideology.
Those promoting this concept are not well-versed in the matters of philosophy of history. I do not think thinking Malays these days subscribe to the idea of ‘Malay dominance and dictatorship’. If there is a ketuanan of one race, then the rest are ’slaves’ and ’serfs’ and ’sub-citizens’, if we are to analyse it from the point of view of ‘Master-Slave’ narrative?
As a Malay wishing to see the withering of and an end to the concept of ketuanan Melayu and the birth of a new consciousness that will respect the dignity of all races and the humility of all ethnic groups, I call upon Malaysians to continue to be critical of any attempt by any race to project their own sense of false superiority that would only breed dangerous ethnocentrism bordering on xenophobia.
We should work together to deconstruct all forms of race-based political arrangement and work towards establishing a new order based on a more egalitarian economic design that takes into consideration the basic needs and dignity of all races.
We should teach our schoolchildren how to deconstruct such sense of racial superiority, through the teaching of not only tolerance but social egalitarianism - via peace education strategies. We will have a lot to gain for generations to come.