Malays without Malay Culture?
One of the things that tick me off most in Malaysia, are Malays that think they're more Malay than others, but have no valid reason to believe so. On top of that, they would gladly share with others, the fact that they think the other person is "kurang Melayu" - because we express ourselves in English.
They think that they're more Malay than others simply because they speak in Malay most of the time or they belong to a certain party that asserts their Malayness or they have the "Melayu comes first" mentality. Or they come from a Malay village or an all-Malay boarding school.
And sometimes, it's about the constitutional definition in Malaysia. If being Muslim is a pre-requisite to being Malay, then the more religious you are, the more Malay you become. Or so they think.
In my "baby boom" generation, (those born between 1967 and 1978), there's so many of them who think like this. They are Malays purely by assertion, not by knowledge of their history or leaders, or their appreciation of their music, culture and literature.
Most of the "baby boom" generation only know Dr. Mahathir and Pak Lah, and very little of those that preceded them, like the quiet genius of Tun Razak. Tun Razak was the one who assembled the young leaders in the Malay Forum (average age: mid 30's) to discuss the implementation of the NEP and of issues affecting Malay and national development.
Some names from the reservoir of thought leaders from Tun Razak's time are still with us today: Dr. M, Pak Lah, Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Dato' Shahrir Samad, Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz, Prof. Diraja Ungku Aziz, Professor Syed Hussein Alattas, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, etc.
Some have left us but have certainly left their mark on the system: Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn, Raja Tun Mohar Raja Badiozaman, Syed Jaafar Albar, Tan Sri Harun Hashim, Tun Ismail Ali, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie and a few others.
Many of those who assert their Malayness have not really read Usman Awang or A. Samad Said, Baha Zain or the thoughts of Zaa'ba or Rustam Sani, in literarature or political science.
Aside from the works of P. Ramlee, they hardly have any appreciation for the cinematic works of U-Wei Ashaari, Shuhaimi Baba, Mahadi. J. Murat, Aziz M. Osman, Othman Hafsham or the acting skills of Abu Bakar Omar, Meor Hashim Manap, Khatijah Tan, the late Mahmud June, Rahim Razali, Azean Irdawaty, Noorkumalasari, Ahmad Tarmimi Siregar, Sidi Oraza, Eman Manan, Khalid Salleh, Ellie Suryati Omar or Rosyam Noor.
Nor would they spend on the singing skills of former song queen Salamiah Hassan, Ramli Sarip, Ella, Jay Jay, Ziana Zain, Zainal Abidin, Anuar Zain, Shafinaz, the late Sudirman, Hazami, Tan Sri S.M. Salim, Nuraniza Idris and of course, the divine Siti Nurhaliza. The excuse: Radio ada, buat apa beli? Before they pick up their copy of Coldplay's new album.
Most of them don't even watch Malay movies! Unless it comes out for free on Astro during Raya. God forbid that we start paying to go watch Malay movies, just to distinguish the good ones from the bad ones. But we can buy a DVD copy of Kill Bill, of course.
Malayness has to go beyond just language, politics and special privileges. It means nothing without the context of history, culture, literature, movies, theatre and music. Without all these things, the assertion of Malayness rings hollow and you will have nothing to pass on to the next generation.
Nothing, but potential bigotry, prejudice and crutches (for the non-deserving), which will hold back the Malay race.
And our Malay teenagers dressed like Usher, Beyonce and Eminem with Malay parents who are middle-class professionals asserting their Malayness and expressing themselves equally badly, in both formal English and Malay.
Isi Melayunya mana? Can we go beyond assertion of rights?
They think that they're more Malay than others simply because they speak in Malay most of the time or they belong to a certain party that asserts their Malayness or they have the "Melayu comes first" mentality. Or they come from a Malay village or an all-Malay boarding school.
And sometimes, it's about the constitutional definition in Malaysia. If being Muslim is a pre-requisite to being Malay, then the more religious you are, the more Malay you become. Or so they think.
In my "baby boom" generation, (those born between 1967 and 1978), there's so many of them who think like this. They are Malays purely by assertion, not by knowledge of their history or leaders, or their appreciation of their music, culture and literature.
Most of the "baby boom" generation only know Dr. Mahathir and Pak Lah, and very little of those that preceded them, like the quiet genius of Tun Razak. Tun Razak was the one who assembled the young leaders in the Malay Forum (average age: mid 30's) to discuss the implementation of the NEP and of issues affecting Malay and national development.
Some names from the reservoir of thought leaders from Tun Razak's time are still with us today: Dr. M, Pak Lah, Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Dato' Shahrir Samad, Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz, Prof. Diraja Ungku Aziz, Professor Syed Hussein Alattas, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, etc.
Some have left us but have certainly left their mark on the system: Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn, Raja Tun Mohar Raja Badiozaman, Syed Jaafar Albar, Tan Sri Harun Hashim, Tun Ismail Ali, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie and a few others.
Many of those who assert their Malayness have not really read Usman Awang or A. Samad Said, Baha Zain or the thoughts of Zaa'ba or Rustam Sani, in literarature or political science.
Aside from the works of P. Ramlee, they hardly have any appreciation for the cinematic works of U-Wei Ashaari, Shuhaimi Baba, Mahadi. J. Murat, Aziz M. Osman, Othman Hafsham or the acting skills of Abu Bakar Omar, Meor Hashim Manap, Khatijah Tan, the late Mahmud June, Rahim Razali, Azean Irdawaty, Noorkumalasari, Ahmad Tarmimi Siregar, Sidi Oraza, Eman Manan, Khalid Salleh, Ellie Suryati Omar or Rosyam Noor.
Nor would they spend on the singing skills of former song queen Salamiah Hassan, Ramli Sarip, Ella, Jay Jay, Ziana Zain, Zainal Abidin, Anuar Zain, Shafinaz, the late Sudirman, Hazami, Tan Sri S.M. Salim, Nuraniza Idris and of course, the divine Siti Nurhaliza. The excuse: Radio ada, buat apa beli? Before they pick up their copy of Coldplay's new album.
Most of them don't even watch Malay movies! Unless it comes out for free on Astro during Raya. God forbid that we start paying to go watch Malay movies, just to distinguish the good ones from the bad ones. But we can buy a DVD copy of Kill Bill, of course.
Malayness has to go beyond just language, politics and special privileges. It means nothing without the context of history, culture, literature, movies, theatre and music. Without all these things, the assertion of Malayness rings hollow and you will have nothing to pass on to the next generation.
Nothing, but potential bigotry, prejudice and crutches (for the non-deserving), which will hold back the Malay race.
And our Malay teenagers dressed like Usher, Beyonce and Eminem with Malay parents who are middle-class professionals asserting their Malayness and expressing themselves equally badly, in both formal English and Malay.
Isi Melayunya mana? Can we go beyond assertion of rights?
posted by Stingrayz | 9:25 PM
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