So what is a Malay?

AUG 3 — Fifty-four years down the road, and we Malays still have yet to figure out who we are.

Let’s backtrack a bit. On the eve of the Bersih rally, friends asked me what the demonstration was about. Upon hearing the explanation, there was an outburst that the rally was against Malay rights, and that if we chose to stand up for free and democratic elections, we Malays would be buried alive by the Chinese.

I couldn’t see the link between free and fair elections and Malay rights. What I did observe was the anger of professional Malays; they were upset that their financial rights as the dominant ethnic group were being trampled upon.

Mind you, the Malays with whom I discussed Bersih were not semi-urban or rural Malaysians. They were all educated locally and abroad, and middle-class. Those who could be described as the aspiring middle-class also expressed similar sentiments.

“The Chinese will bury us alive.”

From that discussion, I surmised that today the issue of Malay rights is no longer racial or religious, but economic. Now this is inconsistent with another identity of the Malays. I am told again and again by many Malays that they are Muslims first, Malays second, if not at all. The latter will be discussed later, in another article.

The most vehement sentiments were expressed by someone in his mid-30s, earning five figures and dealing with internationals and non-Malays on a professional basis.

He is considering a million-ringgit house and his children attend private schools, because he has no faith in government schools.

I don’t know about the Chinese burying HIM alive, because I know many Malays, Chinese, Indians, Orang Asal who cannot even dream of buying such a property.

Many Malaysians baulk at paying for a RM300,000 apartment or house, so it’s a bit rich for the person mentioned above to say he was being marginalised for his race and that non-Malays were going to bury him alive economically.

The debate then spiralled to another topic: I asked, while we quarrelled about our rights, did we “successful” urban Malays have any empathy for the poorer ones?

Silence. After a while, a rather insensitive response: The poor do not matter. What matters are our families whom we have to feed, clothe and educate.

Somewhere down the line, I think we have lost the plot, as we compete and race to keep up with the Joneses, and feed, clothe and educate our families.

It is this disconnect that worries me. Since we’re talking about what it means to be Malay, let’s have a little discussion here.

What does it mean to be Malay? I ask, because when I probe, and let me reiterate that I am not an expert on Malay culture, I discover that many of them have no sense, curiosity or drive to find out who they really are.

Their ideas of what it means to be Malay are based on their sentiments, uneducated research, the media, but very rarely have they reflected on their histories.

When faced with research and facts, they brush them off or are so antagonised by the findings that they label the research as blasphemous, liberal and morally wrong.

I am not discounting racism in the country. I have witnessed and faced it first hand, but perhaps I am an equal opportunity victim of bigotry: There have been some Malays, Chinese, Indians, Caucasians, you name it, who have been quite unkind.

I, too, become a rabid racist when I drive, and any crazy driver that crosses my path will receive all kinds of insults. To say that we are not inherently racist would be a fallacy. We all have our prejudices.

However, to talk about Malay rights, when one does not even know what rebana is (I’ll keep this for another day), and has very little empathy for the Malay poor, and would rather be associated with high society events promoting attractive causes that feeds one’s agenda, is offensive.

I brought this up with a couple of my friends who work in corporations, non-profits, to see if I was overly idealistic. Some of my friends have benefited from government financial support for their education, and collectively agreed that “... the hypocrisy is rather disturbing — the middle-class Malays who are against the rally, do they know that the Malays who were on the streets were mostly lower-middle class, from rural communities who feel that their rights, whether as Malays or Malaysians (probably the latter, if we are being honest) are already being taken away from them?

“(It’s) not just the middle-class Malays but middle-class in general — we are afraid of the masses, of having the status quo shaken up. Truth be told, while we have liberal thoughts, and sympathies, we wouldn’t want our current lifestyle to change for the betterment of the nation. Although I think it’s already changing, how is the middle-class supporting itself? I don’t know.

“Yes, it is more economic than anything else. We just use race as an excuse.”

*****

I recently participated in the Penang Georgetown Festival forum, I Am Malay. Luminaries such as Dr Maznah Mohamad of NUS, Prof Haji Mohd Salleh of USM and Amir Muhammad discussed the history, origins and the reconstruction of the neo-Malay, and how films captured the psychological, religious and cultural changes Malays faced.

Some of the insights shared in brief are as follows:

Professor Dr Maznah reminded that the Malays in Malaysia were a political construct. But first we must ask what are the origins and identity of Malayness: geography; allegiance of Malays and religion and how they shaped a race. Maznah continued by saying that the polarisation of the ethnic races in Malaysia was due to colonisation. The Filipino and Indonesian Malay do not behave and think like Malaysian Malays.

Prof Haji Mohd Salleh stressed that while we are Malaysians, we are also our own cultures and ethnic races. Thus, we must learn about our histories and language, for these shaped us. He lamented the new crass, crude ways of modern Malays. Our gentleness should not be seen as a vice, for being gentle and moderate are strengths.

Towards the end of the forum, a member of the audience asked, surely in this time and age, culture, race and language are not relevant?

Why this navel gazing when we have been independent for over 50 years? Surely we Malays are not in a state of decline.

Perhaps, we are.

Next week: Continuation of the I Am Malay forum. Holy Men, Holy Women is on a hiatus while the writer recovers from her adventures.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.