(Note 1: Warning very long post ahead – which already appeared in the comment section of many many other blogs)
(Note 2: I want to put this up because I think the politicians in this country has long abused the classification of Malaysians by incorrect & unfair notion of “supreme” race – nothing more, nothing less)
(Note 3: Accruacy of the facts in the post below has not been verified – it is produced almost verbatim. I made some “minor” editing but otherwise the words are from the commentator himself. )
(Note 4: In case you disagree with what Michael Chick is saying, read his “additional” comments in this blog. I have read them and it made sense.)
By Michael Chick
From http://www.discovermalaysia.biz/
It has been interesting to read such free-flowing comments on an all “Malaysian” free for all. I hate race classifications and here’s why….
How many of you have read the book entitled “Contesting Malayness – Malay Identity Across Boundaries” (edited by Timothy P. Barnard & published by Singapore University Press)? It reflects the Anthropologists views that there is no such race as the “Malays” to begin with.
If we follow the original migration of the Southern Chinese of 6,000 years ago, they moved into Taiwan, (now the Alisan), then into the Phillipines (now the Aeta) and moved into Borneo (4,500 years ago) (Dayak). They also split into Sulawesi and progressed into Jawa, and Sumatera. The final migration was to the Malayan Peninsular 3,000 years ago. A sub-group from Borneo also moved to Champa in Vietnam at 4,500 years ago.
Interestingly, the Champa deviant group moved back to present day Kelantan. There are also traces of the Dong Song and HoaBinh migration from Vietnam and Cambodia. To confuse the issue, there was also the Southern Thai migration, from what we know as Pattani today.
Of course, we also have the Minangkabau’s which come from the descendants of Alexander the Great and a West Indian Princess. (Sejarah Melayu page 1-3)
So the million dollar question… Is there really a race called the “Malays”? All anthropologists DO NOT SEEM TO THINK SO.
Neither do the “Malays” who live on the West Coast of Johor. They’d rather be called Javanese. What about the west coast Kedah inhabitants who prefer to be known as “Achenese” or the Ibans who simply want to be known as Ibans? Try calling a Kelabit “Malay” and see what response you get – you will be so glad that their Head-Hunting days are over.
Who are the Malays? In an article in the Star paper, this is what they said (an excerpt is reproduced here below):
“The Malays – taken as an aggregation of people of different ethnic backgrounds but who speak the same language or family of languages and share common cultural and traditional ties – are essentially a new race, compared to the Chinese, Indians and the Arabs with their long histories of quests and conquests.
The Malay nation, therefore, covers people of various ethnic stock, including Javanese, Bugis, Bawean, Achehnese, Thai, orang asli, the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak and descendants of Indian Muslims who had married local women.
Beneath these variations, however, there is a common steely core that is bent on changing the Malay persona from its perceived lethargic character to one that is brave, bold and ready to take on the world.”
The definition of “Malay” is therefore simply a collection of people who speak a similar type language. With what is meant by a similar type language does not mean that the words are similar. Linguists call this the “Lego-type” language, where words are added on to the root word to make meaning and give tenses and such. Somehow, the Indonesians disagree with this classification and insist on being called “Indonesians” even though the majority of “Malays” have their roots in parts of Indonesia?
They refuse to be called “Malay” no matter how you may define it.
The “Malay” definition also includes the Champa, Dong Song, HoabinHian, Taiwanese Alisan and Philippine Aetas. The “Orang Asli” are (for lack of a better term) are ex-Africans. If you try to call any one of our East Malaysian brothers an “Orang Asli”, they will beat you up! I had to repeat this because almost all West Malaysians make the same mistake when we cross the South China Sea. Worse, somehow, they feel even more insulted when you call them “Malay”. Somehow, “kurang ajar” is uttered below their breath as if “Malay” was a really bad word for them. I’m still trying to figure this one out.
Watch “Malays in Africa”; a Museum Negara produced DVD and also, the “Champa Malays” by the same. With this classification, they must also include the Filipinos, the Papua New Guineans, Australian Aborigines, as well as the Polynesian Aborigines. These are of the Australo Melanesians who migrated out of Africa 60,000 years ago.
Getting interesting? Read on…
The “Malay” should also include the Taiwanese singer “Ah Mei” who is Alisan as her tribe is the ancestors of the “Malays” and you will need to define the Southern Chinese (Southern Province) as Malay also since they are from the same stock 6,000 years ago.
Try calling the Bugis “Malay”. Interestingly, the Bugis who predominantly live on Sulawesi, are not even Indonesians. Neither do they fall into the same group as the migrating Southern Chinese of 6,000 years ago nor the Australo Melanesian group from Africa. Ready for this?
The Bugis are the cross-breed between the Mongolian Chinese and the wandering Arab Pirates (a runaway Ming Dynasty official whom Cheng Ho was sent to hunt down). Interestingly, the Bugis were career Pirates in the Johor-Riau Island areas and the nephew of Daeng Kemboja was appointed the First Sultan of Selangor. That makes the entire Selangor Sultanate part Arab, part Chinese! Try talking to the Bugis Museum curator near Kukup in Johor – Kukup is located near the most south-western tip of Johor.
Let’s not even get into the Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekiu, and Hang Lekir, who shared the same family last name as the other super famous “Hang” family member – Hang Li Poh and who was she? Legend tells us that she is the princess of a Ming Dynasty Emperor who was sent to marry the Sultan of Malacca. Won’t that make the entire Malacca Sultanate down line “Baba”? Since the older son of the collapsed Malaccan Sultanate got killed in Johor, (the current Sultanate is the down line of the then Bendahara) the only other son became the Sultan of Perak.
But wait a minute, that is what the legend says.
Let’s look at the proof – the solid evidence. There is a well next to the Zheng He Temple in Malacca which is supposed to be the well built by the Sultan of Malacca for her. According to legend, anyone who drinks of it shall re-visit Malacca before they die. Hmmm smells like a romantic fairy tale but let us look at who Hang Li Poh actually is. Which Ming Emperor was she a daughter to? So I got into researching the entire list of Ming Emperors. Guess what? Not a single Ming Emperor’s last name begins with Hang. In fact, all their last names begin with Tzu (pronounced Choo). So who is Hang Li Poh? An Extra Concubine? A Spare Handmaiden? Who knows? But one thing for certain, is that she was no daughter of any of the Ming Emperors. Gone is the romantic notion of the Sultan of Malacca marrying an exotic Chinese Princess. Sorry guys, the Sultan married an unidentified Chinese commoner.
Next question…
If the Baba’s are part Malay, why have they been marginalized by not being bumiputera? Which part of “Malay” are they not? Whatever the answer, why then are the Portuguese of Malacca bumiputera? Did they not come 100 years AFTER the arrival of the first Baba’s? Parameswara founded Malacca in 1411, the Portuguese came in 1511, and the Dutch in the 1600’s. Strangely, the Baba’s were in fact once classified a Bumiputera, but some Prime Minister decreed that they were to be strangely “declassified” in the 1960’s. Why? How can a “native son of the soil” degenerate into an “un-son”? The new classification is “pendatang” meaning a migrant.
Wait a minute, isn’t everyone on the Peninsular a migrant to begin with?
The Sultan of Kelantan had similar roots to the Pattani Kingdom making him of Thai origin. And what is this “coffee table book” by the Sultan of Perlis claiming to be the direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed? Somehow we see Prof Khoo Khay Khim’s signature name on the book. I’ll pay good money to own a copy of it myself. Anyone has a spare?
In pursuing this thread, and having looked at the history of Prophet Muhammed (BTW, real name Ahmad) we could not figure out which descendant line the Sultan of Perlis was. Perhaps it was by the name Syed, which transcended. Then we would ask which of the 13 official wives named in the Holy Koran? or was he a descendant from the other 23 names of the non-wives? Of the 13 were (at least known), there are 3 Israeli women. Then you would also ask yourself, isn’t Prophet Muhammad an Israeli himself? The answer is clear. All descendants of Moses are Israeli. In fact, the Holy Koran teaches that Moses was the First Muslim. Thus confirming that all descendants to be Israeli, including Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. It is also found in Sura 2:58 & 59 which specifically mentions that the Torah and the Kitab (Bible) are Holy Words of Allah.
(Note alfatihmurad’ comments – Prophet Muhammad is not an Israeli. He is not descendant of Moses. Prophet Muhammad was descendant of Ismail, the son of Prophet Abraham. Through Ismail is which the Arabs originated from. Abraham has another son, Isaac, from which the line of Israeli came from. From the bloodline of Isaac came Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus. That’s why the Arabs and the Jews are called semitic. It is because they are very closely related. And yet each are a race of its own, which develop after some time)
(Note Syed’s comments – Prophet Moses AS is from Israeli family, meanwhile Muhammad SAW is from Arab Quraisy from the Kabilah of Hashim. Raja of Perlis from Al-Jamalulail family have their prove of Nasab (family trees chart) to Prophet Muhammad and its been proving by all around the world from Saudi Arabia, Yaman, and to all Islamic country)
But since this is not a religious discussion, let’s move on to a more anthropological approach.
So, how many of you have met with orang Asli?
The more northern you go, the more African they look. Why are they called Negrito? It is a Spanish word, from which directly translates “mini Negros”. The more southern you go, the more “Indonesian” they look. And the ones who live at Cameron Highlands kinda look 50-50. You can see the Batek at Taman Negara, who really looks like Eddie Murphy to a certain degree or the Negritos who live at the Thai border near Temenggor Lake (north Perak). The Mah Meri in Carrie Island looks almost like the Jakuns in Endau Rompin – half African, half Indonesian.
By definition, (this is super eye-opening) there was a Hindu Malay Empire in Kedah.
Yes, I said right – the Malays were Hindu and it was, by the old name Langkasuka. Today it is known as Lembah Bujang. This Hindu Malay Empire was 2,000 years old – pre-dating Borobudur and Angkor Watt who came about around 500-600 years later. Lembah Bujang was THE mighty trading empire, and its biggest influence was by the Indians who were here to help start it. By definition, this should make the Indians bumiputeras too since they were here 2,000 years ago! Why are they marginalized?
Of the 3 books listed, “Contesting Malayness” (about S$32 for soft cover) is “banned” in Malaysia; you will need to “smuggle” it into Malaysia; for very obvious reasons or read it in Singapore if you don’t feel like breaking the law.
The other, “Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsular” (about RM84) are openly sold at all leading bookshops. You should be able to find a fair bit of what I’ve been quoting in this book too, but mind you, it is very heavy reading material, and you will struggle through the initial 200+ pages. It is extremely technical in nature. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t banned (yet) because our authorities couldn’t make head or tail of it? (if I wasn’t doing research for my film, I wouldn’t have read it in its entirety)
The final one is the “Sejarah Melayu” (about RM 35) is available at the University Malaya bookshop and I have both the English and Royal Malay version published by MBRAS. Incidentally, the Professor (Author) was invited to speak on this very subject about 2 years ago, in KL, invited by the MBRAS. You can imagine the “chaos” this seminar created.
There were actually many sources for these findings. Any older Philippino Museum Journal also carries these migration stories. This migration is also on display at the Philippines National Museum in Luzon. However, they end with the Aeta, and only briefly mention that the migration continued to Indonesia and Malaysia, but fully acknowledge that all Filipinos came from Taiwan and before Taiwan, was from China.
There is another book (part of a series) called the “Archipelago Series” endorsed by Tun Mahatir and Marina Mohammad, which states the very same thing right at the introduction on page one:-
“… that the Malays migrated out of Southern China some 6,000 years ago…”.
I believe it is called the “Pre-History of Malaysia” Hard Cover, about RM99 found in (mostly) MPH. They also carry “Pre-History of Indonesia” by the same authors for the same price.
It is most interesting to note that our Museum officials invented brand new unheard-of terms such as “Proto-Malay” and “Deutero-Malay”, to replace the accepted Scientific Term, Australo-Melanesians (African descent) and Austronesians (Chinese Descent, or Mongoloid to be precise) in keeping in line with creating this new “Malay” term.. They also created the new term called the Melayu-Polynesian. (Which “Melayu” exists in the Polynesian Islands?) Maybe they were just trying to be “patriotic” and “nationalistic” – who knows? After all, we also invented the term, “Malaysian Time” when the rest of the world calls it “tardy” and “late”. It’s quite an embarrassment actually – Singaporeans crossing the border are asked to set their watches back by about 100 years, to adjust to “Malaysian Time”
In a nutshell, the British Colonial Masters, who, for lack of a better description, needed a “blanket” category for ease of classification, used the term “Malay”. The only other logical explanation, which I have heard, was that “Malaya” came as a derivative of “Himalaya”, where at Langkasuka, or Lembah Bujang today was where the Indians were describing the locals as “Malai” which means “Hill People” in Tamil. This made perfect sense as the focal point at that time was at Gunung Jerai, and the entire Peninsular had a “Mountain Range” “Banjaran Titiwangsa”, as we call it.
The Mandarin and Cantonese accurately maintain the accurate pronunciation of “Malai Ren” and “Malai Yun” respectively till this very day where “ren” and “yun” both mean “peoples”.
Interestingly, “Kadar” and “Kidara”, Hindi and Sanskrit words accurately describe “Kedah” of today. They both mean “fertile Land for Rice cultivation. Again, a name given by the Indians 2,000 years ago during the “Golden Hindu Era” for a duration of 1,500 years.
It was during the “Golden Hindu Era” that the new term which the Hindu Malay leaders also adopted the titles, “Sultan” and “Raja”. The Malay Royalty was Hindu at that time, as all of Southeast Asia was under strong Indian influence, including Borobudur and Angkor Watt. Bali today still practices devout Hindu beliefs. The snake amulet worn by the Sultans of today, The Royal Dias, and even the “Pelamin” for weddings are tell-tale signs of these strong Indian influences. So, it was not Parameswara who was the first Sultan in Malaya. Sultanate existed approximately 1,500 years before he set foot on the Peninsular during the “Golden Hindu Era” of Malaysia and they were all Hindu.
The book “Pre history of Malaysia” also talks about the “Lost Kingdom” of the “Chi-Tu” where the local Malay Kingdom was Buddhists. The rest of the “Malays” were Animistic Pagans but you may say that the “Sejarah Melayu” calls it “Melayu”? Yes, it does. Read it again; is it trying to describe the 200-odd population hamlet near Palembang by the name “Melayu”? (Google Earth will show this village).
By that same definition, then, the Acehnese should be considered a “race”. So should the Bugis and the Bataks to be fair. Orang Acheh, Orang Bugis, Orang Laut, Orang Melayu now mean the same descriptions of ethnic tribes, at best. And since the “Malays” of today are not all descendants of the “Melayu” kampung in Jambi (if I remember correctly), the term Melayu has been wrongly termed from day one. Maybe this is why the Johoreans still call themselves either Bugis, or Javanese until today. So do the Acehnese on the West coast of Kedah & Perlis and the Kelantanese insist that they came from Champa, Vietnam.
Moreover, the fact that the first 3 pages claiming that “Melayu” comes from Alexander the Great and the West Indian Princess doesn’t help. More importantly, it was written in 1623. By then, the Indians had been calling the locals “Malai” for 1,500 yrs already. So the name stuck.
And with the Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals in page 1-3) naming the grandson of Iskandar Zulkarnain, and the West Indian Princess forming the Minangkabau. Whenever a Malay is asked about it, he usually says it is “karut” (bullshit), but all Malayan based historians insist on using Sejarah Melayu as THE main reference book for which “Malay” history is based upon. The only other books are “Misa Melayu”, “Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa”, and “Hikayat Hang Tuah” which is of another long and sometimes “heated” discussion. I find this strange.
I also find that it is strange that the “Chitti’s” (Indian+ Malay) of Malacca are categorized as Bumiputera, while their Baba brothers are not. Why? Both existed during the Parameswara days. Which part of the “Malay” side of the Baba is not good enough for Bumiputera classification? Re-instate them. They used to be Bumiputera pre 1960’s anyway.
Instead of “Malay”, I believe that “Maphilindo” (circa 1963) would have been the closest in accurately trying to describe the Malays. However, going by that definition, it should most accurately be “MaphilindoThaiChinDiaVietWanGreekCamfrica” and it is because of this even our University Malaya Anthropology professors cannot look at you in the eye and truthfully say that the word “Malay” technically and accurately defines a race.
This is most unfortunate.
So, in a nutshell, the “Malays” (anthropologists will disagree with this “race” definition) are truly Asia! For once the Tourism Ministry got it right. We should stop calling this country “Tanah Melayu” instead call it, “Tanah Truly Asia”.
You must understand now, why I was “tickled pink” when I found out that the Visit Malaysia slogan for 2007 was “Truly Asia”. They are so correct (even though they missed out Greece and Africa). By the way the name UMNO should be changed to UTANO the new official acronym for “United Truly Asia National Organization”. After all, they started out as a Bugis club in Johor anyway.
As I said, I hate race classifications. This is so depressing and even more depressing is that the “Malays” are not even a race; not since day one.
“Truly Asia Boleh”
Read Also
80% of this is just pure imagination, like you said. I rest my case!
Zubin, this shows you did not really read the details – otherwise you would have read my notes (at the very top) and you would appreciated where Michael Chick (the writer) is coming from.
See earlier comments by one mak jun yeen and Icha and see how they respond to Michael Chick’s writing. Then read the comments by H. Rahman Ibrahim who says “In the context of today’s debates about race and it’s origins ” Malay ” is a political term”.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Gulo takdo, kopi takdo, topung pun tak do! Inilah Melayu … (No sugar, no coffee, not even flour. We are Malays …)
My uncle, who is in his 80’s now, used to tell this story (and he still does) and this is something that he had been telling people since the early 60’s to whomever who wants to hear it:
“The Malays have always been pioneers and have always been a resourceful race. In the early days, they would come from parts of Indonesia and Thailand and some other places and they clear jungles and then would invite their relatives and their friends and their friend’s relatives and their friends’ friends and so on and build a village. They would plant padi, grow rubber trees and vegetables and fruit plants, the latter two for their own consumption, and some would earn extra money by getting produce from the nearby jungle to sell. The village grows and prospers and then a sole Chinese family would discover the village and then decides to come to the village to start a shop to sell provisions and, a sole Indian would come too.
The village grows and prospers further.
After some time, the village folks needs increases but they couldn’t afford them. So, the Chinese and the Indian trader would still supply them – on credit, to anyone who accepts their terms. The person who accepts the terms will then start taking things from the Chinese and the Indian traders. His debts accumulate until it became so big that he couldn’t afford to pay. What would happen next is the Chinese trader would take the land as payment from the debtor and the Indian trader would take one of his daughters as a wife; loan settled.
The Chinese man then starts building a town after accumulating more land and invites other Chinese from his village in China to come and they would start other businesses such as transportation and build houses to sell and build factories. The Indians would normally send their money home and start a new family with his newly wedded Malay wife as well as keep part of the land that he would have obtained in return for the money he lent to some of the Malay folks at the village because not all of them have daughters and he cannot be marrying too many Malay girls.
He then gathers a few friends and clear up the jungle further and the whole thing repeats itself until there’s no more jungle to clear. He moves to another area and start clearing up again and this would go on and on. The Chinese become landowners, businessmen and become very rich at the same time.
There would be some Chinese who would take in a Malay wife and converts to Islam and their offsprings would be fairer, have a Malay name and they are still Malays. The mixed Indian-Malay children would be darker and have sharp features and their names that are normally spelt with an ‘i’ would be changed to ‘ee’ like Hakim (to Hakeem) and those with one ‘o’ or ‘u’ would be spelt with ‘oo’ like Daud (to Dawood). Some would even add Syed, Sheikh, Shaikh and Siti as prefixes to their childs’ names and in few cases you would find prefixes such as ‘Raja’ and ‘Tengku’ even.
So, you would find Syeds, Sheikhs, Shaikhs and Sitis who are not descendents of people from Yemen (Hadhralmauts) or Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries but from India. The darker skinned Rajas and Tengkus with sharp noses and big eyes are ‘so-called’ royalties from India but not the descendents of Sultans, Rajas or Yam Tuan from the unfederated Malay states of Malaya” and then, there’s even a Tengku Abdul Manaf a/l Haneefah.
Besides having Malays with many types and styles of names, we also have Malays of many colours and some even look like Mat Sallehs – those Pan Asian types. Interesting hah!
The Malays are still pioneers and very resourceful today but in many different ways.
To carry on from the story above, as the country develops, the Malays would become civil servants, teachers, soldiers and policemen taking over from the British and they are very proud of that. The Chinese continue with their businesses and the Indians, some become civil servants, teachers, soldiers and policemen and some would continue with their businesses, until now. These people become richer than the Malays and control the country’s economy.
Fast forward to the present time and you will find many Malays, men and women, in very high decision-making positions either in politics or the civil service and many would become lawmakers and planners.
Malays do not clear jungles and hills anymore because the Chinese now have excavators, bulldozers, cranes, wheel-loaders, etc. to do that job and they sometime even do them without first getting approval because some YB, Raja or Tengku told them earlier that they could proceed, no problem. After that, money talklah, what else!
You now hear a minister announcing the increase in taxi fares; during a period of recession mind you, but he totally forgot about the need to re-calibrate the taxi meters first and this would cause a confusion and dissatisfaction to many people because the effective date for the new rates takes place before all the meters in the taxis are calibrated. To diffuse the situation, he issued a directive to all taxi drivers not to charge the new fares until they have their taxi meters calibrated and, please do tell me Hon. Minister; which taxi driver would listen to you?
He didn’t even think about how to enforce his directive before opening his big mouth! So, everybody gadolah – typically Malaysian – ‘Malaysia Boleh’.
Due to some poor planning, sugar is now scarce. It used to be rice, chicken, cooking oil and then flour not very long ago and God knows what else will be in short-supply next.
So, what happens next? Unscrupulous people with the help of people who are in authority start hoarding these goods. Prices of major essentials go up, what else! Who benefits? You know who, I don’t have to tell you …
Do you notice how far the LRT and train stations are vis-a-vis the places you want to go; to your housing estate, to the car park, to the nearest bus terminal, to the shopping complex, to the schools, colleges, offices, markets and what-not? They never think about convenience.
Why? Because they do not use these facilities at all. They all have big cars and drivers too to get them anywhere they want so, why bother!
What about the commuters? To hell with them!
The government builds huge, modern, state-of-the-art twin towers, skyscrapers, stadiums, halls, universities, colleges, schools, mosques, parks, roads and so on but they totally forgot about their maintenance and this is not even accounted for in the budget. Not long after that, they all become dilapidated and they would look like buildings that have been neglected for years and become eyesores. Why? The answer is: “Let others worry about it, I’ve made my money already”.
We build high-rise residential units and some at choice locations near major highways and people hang their clothes to dry in full view of everyone and nobody cares. If it’s too neat and tidy, people may think this is Singapore, not Malaysia.
Why Kuala Lumpur floods whenever it rains even though we have the Smart Tunnel?
Because, the Smart Tunnel is for something else and generally the drains around the city are to shallow and too narrow, and already very badly silted. Doing drains do not cost very much so the few guys who are going to benefit from it will get very little. Geddit, you moron!
They will probably build another bigger Smart Tunnel. Don’t be surprised!
Even when it’s cheaper to build deeper and wider drains, nobody bothers because, building another Smart Tunnel costing billions of Ringgits would be more beneficial to the few selected and so-called privileged people, but not deeper and wider drains.
Adam Road, Farrer Road and Thompson Road next to the Police Academy in Singapore used to flood very badly whenever it rains before and after all the drains there had been widened and deepened and continuously maintained, it doesn’t anymore even if it rains everyday for all the seven days of the whole week. There’s no Smart Tunnel there.
And, why can’t we build bigger roads even when there is space available? Answer: If we build them now, in future, nobody will be able to make money.
Do you notice where pedestrian overhead bridges which are built to help people cross busy roads are placed? Always far away from train stations, bus stands and the places you want to go to. So what happens? People, including schoolchildren and old folks do not use those bridges and they prefer to take the risks crossing the road at points nearer to where they are going.
The next thing you would notice is insufficient parking space at government complexes, hospitals, markets, public parks, etc. I wonder why it is always like this. Don’t the developers, designers, planners and builders ever thought about this?
Sometimes, you see perfectly working streetlights in some Majlis Bandaran township being changed to those with fancy designs and you and I know why. They could use the same funds better by repairing roads and bridges and other infrastructure at the kampungs or villages, but no, there are no BN/UNMO bigwigs staying around there and you can’t make money this way.
Many would argue that the owners, developers, builders and even the contractors are not Malays. Yes, but who approve them especially after all the ‘approvers’ pockets have been very thickly lined with crisp new Ringgit notes.
Why can’t things be done better here? The answer is: “Because we are Malays!”
Then, you start seeing contractors building houses and condominiums on very steep hill slopes where even commonsense tells you that they are not suitable. Still, the construction continues, then the residential units were sold after the buildings were completed and the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation was issued. A few years later, during the monsoon season where the place was hit by not stop rain, the buildings collapsed and several people were killed. Fingers start to point at each other and what’s the cause they they eventually found out? Corruption!
Money changed hands and the designer and the developer got their plans and designs approved. Not by one authority but by several and all have received their fair share with the biggest share going to some bigwigs, sometimes fronting for others, politicians especially, at the local council. However, after the tragedy and the disaster, people still never learn and continue to give approvals and waiting for the next disaster to occur. All should be blamed; developers, designers and the approving authorities and the biggest of all idiots: the buyers.
No, some would answer: It is already fated that the tragedy and the disaster occurred and we must believe in fate otherwise you would be considered an infidel. That’s another story.
Malays are known to be very tolerant, practise ‘give and take policy’ all the time and are very easily influenced. It used to be but now, they already know how to benefit from these and are able to name their price for a favour in return, regardless of the implications. And there are many people who are willing to pay!
Worse still, they are now being used by some unscrupulous people to demonstrate the latter’s feelings and frustrations; these are also done without even thinking what would happen to them next, their families and their people.
The demonstration in KL two Saturdays ago shows.
Melayu oh Melayu!
truly agree with you!
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I wonder those Red Indians in America.. they were many clans but still refered as Red Indians as a whole. They arent any Indians in them, but the invaders labelled them as Indians, since Columbus thought he found India. They were in different clans, but same race.
They are many researches done regading the root of Malays. It would be unfair not to include a Malay thought into it. The most interesting research regarding Malays root in detail, written by a Malays, so far can be read at:-
http://riwayatmelayu.blogspot.com/
I guess you need to learn Malays to understand Malays. Do Michael Chick speak Malays well?
Yes..you are right…Micheal Chicks knows nothing about Malay, and I ‘m sure he can’t even speak Malay fluently..He’s trying define Malay in his own term to suit his political agenda (taking from unknown writer from Sing, as reference..) ..
Try to divide Malays by clans..same goes to Chinese and Indian in Malaysia..Why are they called Chinese? They are also Hokkien Hakka and so on..Telugu, Singh etc are called Indian. If you really hate to call us Malay, then, call us by the name Austronesian or Bani Jawi..
Greetings,
I realised this one piece of big mistake and I know the rest of the writings are unreliable.
“Then you would also ask yourself, isn’t Prophet Muhammad an Israeli himself? The answer is clear. All descendants of Moses are Israeli. In fact, the Holy Koran teaches that Moses was the First Muslim. Thus confirming that all descendants to be Israeli, including Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. ”
Prophet Muhammad is not an Israeli. He is not descendant of Moses. Prophet Muhammad was descendant of Ismail, the son of Prophet Abraham. Through Ismail is which the Arabs originated from. Abraham has another son, Isaac, from which the line of Israeli came from. From the bloodline of Isaac came Jacob, Joseph, Moses,David, Solomon and Jesus.
That’s why the Arabs and the Jews are called semitic. It is because they are very closely related. And yet each are a race of its own, which develop after some time.
Btw, Moses was not the first muslim. Adam was, since we are all his descendant. Therefore there is not such thing as real chinese, or real indians base on your argument in this article.
Your comments noted in the post
Well well well……if it ain’t one of those that don’t know what it’s all about.
The concept of “monotheism” tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity Mormonism Catholic [Ect] and Islam, before that all were Pagan.
So for you to say that Adam was Muslim is wrong, he could well be a pagan. Abraham came up with the idea of monotheism not Adam.
So going back to the word Melayu, I personally think they are the run away race from the Indonesian archipelago, because in Javanese “Melayu” mean “run, running, run away”, hence Tanah Melayu mean “land of the run away”. Also the Malay language is of lingua franca (is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue), of which is more than 50% sanskrit.
So go put your math together and figure this out.
gud day
hi, i dunno what ur religion, thats why i say Hi..
about the things that u wrote here..i don’t agree especially about Prophet Muhammad SAW and his family that later on called ‘syed’. But when i look at ur header (80% imagination) so i realized that we should ignore this coz this is such another cracks imagination.
Prophet Moses AS is from israeli family, meanwhile Muhammad SAW is from arab quraisy from the kabilah of Hashim.
before u go to far i would like to wake u up to reality if its the facts that u try to sabotage with your dream or dunno nothing. Raja of perlis from Al-Jamalulail family have their prove of nasab (family trees chart) to Prophet Muhammad and its been provin’ by all around the world from saudi arabia, yaman, and to all Islamic country. for more details u should ask urself to the perlis ‘syed putra jamalulail royal family’, that i will fwd this behind imagination to em..tq.. thats all
Hi Syed, if you have read Notes 1 – 4, you will realize that this post was done by one Michael Chick (I am not sure whether you can still contact him at his older website) which appeared in a dozen other blogs which came at the height of the madness and arrogance before the 2008 General Election. Anyway, I have updated your comments in the post and as Michael Chick have mentioned that it is more of an anthropological approach in trying to identify who can be called the real Malay. Try reading the readers’ earlier comments as well – there is very interesting anthropological point of view from them.
The Javanese can say whatever they want, but the word Melayu has it sources somewhere in South-Central Sumatra, where there is a kingdom of Malayur, part of Srivijaya. It seems that the Malay peninsula were peopled by the Austronesians, a slow migration of peoples from S. China, to Taiwan, Philippines (some went eastwards to the South Pacific, by sail boats), Borneo, Java, Moluku, Sumatra, and lastly, Malaya. Of course, there was also a migration of peoples (the Tai races) from Yunnan to Thailand, and possibly, to the northern part of the peninsula). However, in terms of polities, there is always a link with Sumatra: the court cultures, the language (Malayur), the religion (Islam, it used to be Hindu, Buddhism), and the relationship between the kingdoms of Sumatra and those in the Malay peninsula (Sriwijaya, Samudra-Pasai, Melaka, Acheh, Johor Rhio). The Malay language (Melayu) has been the lingua-franca among peoples in the Nusantara (S. Phillippines, S. Thailand, Indonesia, Champa), so, it is common for groups of migrants from one part of the region, to settle in other parts of the Nusantara (at least, until the era of western colonialism), even though they are from different sub-groups. And they are, collectively, termed as Malays, as they share the same religion, culture, and language (and the same skin-color).
Of course, Mr. Chick is free to disagree, but racism is within the human DNA, even though we may deny this. For eg., Americans are now not happy when there are too many Hispanics, France, Sweden, Britain, and Holland are now tightening immigration because they are afraid that Muslims may change the religious and racial profile of their countries, and I guess, Australia, too, when there happen to be too many Afghans and Iranians there. So, why is it such a big deal when Malays are not happy when there are too many non-Malays within the country?
As for genealogies, especially for royalties, just ignore them, they are doctored, to elevate their status.
A stupid article, with a political agenda..to divide and rule the Malays into small ethnicity..
To Micheal, please don’t try to be smart..brush up your bahasa first..then only you will get to know the Malays..
I’m Bugis, and proud to be..and Bugis are part of Malay, and proud to say that we are Malays.
Hello All,
Let the truth remain true to the facts despite what Michael Chick here is trying to do! He can be a good writer if only he did/does more in-depth research with profound enthusiasm and focus. He just wrote what struck his head at the time he felt elated. These are not qualities of the sound researcher. I am sad and I do call on all researchers to avoid this way. Go forth and reach the real truths and then explain correctly the actual situation and status. QED.
People are free to say whatever they like, but if they do not like MALAYSIA, they are free to move elsewhere, but not for us, Malays. Idiots should realize that Malay is a political category. Of course, there is ONLY one human race, but anthropologically, a race connotes a large group of people that shares a similar religion and culture.
I am sure that Mr. Chicken, if he happens to be Caucasian from Canada, USA, or Britain, will not be happy, if there happens to be a large-scale, overwhelmimg migration of Malays (millions, of a different religion, and skin-color, and culture), within a short time-span (50-100 years) coming to his country, acquiring his land, and dominating the economy, just because they (the malays) were smarter, and have access to technology, and global capital. Of course, it was not their fault (hypothetically), if the Caucasians happens to be dumber, and culturally inferior.
The indigenous inhabitants of America, Australia, New Zealand, realized this, but they were intellectually and technologically inferior, not to mention the free access to global capital (money laundering from illegal means: money-lending, drugs, prostitution, gambling, arms-sales) to the migrants. Without the safe-guards, the Malays will suffer the same fate as the Aeta, Native Americans, the Australian Aborigines, the native Hawaiians, and even the Palestinians; marginalized, and in no time at all, becoming the minority, because of laws and policies that gives an advantage to these migrants once they are in control, because they were superior; intellectually, technologically, and more importantly, to capital.
The Malay response to these outsiders is natural, even though they are citizens, too, and this response is universal, in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and whatever. Of course, the Malays is a broad grouping, and consists of other sub-groups, but, in times immemorial, before the era of colonialism, people from the Nusantara, are free to move and settle within the region, as they share the same religion and culture, not to mention, the same skin-color. lisof course, I have no problem if the Orang Aslis or the native Borneons are categorized as Bumiputras, too.
My take on this is, if you do not like it here, just leave, or stay, and work for a better Malaysia, let the races sort everything out in a mature, respectful manner. Of course, this may take time, to rebuilt trust, honor, and respect.
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