mamakk!!!

Jeffrey wrote:

On this particular day though, the conversation somehow shifted to the subject of “Malay rights”. Again, I can’t remember what brought that up or what conclusion we all came to, but I do remember someone saying something like, “Of course the Chinese and Indians aren’t happy about our rights and I don’t blame them. But I’ll fight to keep our rights.”

Let me first say that none of my cousins are racist bastards. They’re smart, streetwise, hardworking, good people with not a xenophobic bone in their body. Furthermore, this conversation took place many years ago, and minds can (hopefully) change as people become wiser. We’re not as close as we used to be, but I’d stand by them today.

I brought this up after reading the comments section of Haris Ibrahim’s blog (more on that later) to make a point about just how damaging the New Economic Policy has been to the Malay psyche.

Link

via NST:

ISMAIL’S immaculately dressed elder brother Suleiman met him on his arrival, and quickly briefed him on the controversy over the Malayan Union. What immediately struck Ismail after being six years in Australia was how “political feeling engulfed Malaya as a fire engulfs a forest on a hot dry day”.

Ismail’s family was deeply involved in the resistance against the Malayan Union that the British, after the fall of Imperial Japan, were trying to impose on the whole peninsula. After the Sultan of Johor signed the MacMichael Agreement, a treaty with the British accepting the Malayan Union idea, seven men, led by (Ismail’s father) Abdul Rahman Yassin and including his eldest son Suleiman as well as son-in-law Awang Hassan, issued a pamphlet criticising the move. These men, all government servants, were consequently suspended for six months.

Ismail’s reading of the times was that Malaya was undeniably bound for independence, with “the pace (being) dictated by the national leaders while the British would try their level best to thwart them”. He also thought that Onn feared for the Malays should the British simply withdraw and felt the “wealth and the intellectual power” of the Chinese “would submerge the Malays” if independence was achieved too soon.

Apologies to our loyal readers. Postings will be sparse for another 2 weeks at least due to the earthquake.

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[pic source]

ES Chua wrote:

I refer to the letter Fantasy-ventilating and ignoring facts where the writer states: ‘Right. So are most Malays, I understand, who can trace back their origins to the Bugis, Minangkabau, and other peoples from Java and Sumatra. Just like the national language. Correct me if I am wrong but the original people of Malaysia, as far as memory goes, are the Orang Asli and aboriginal tribes of Sabah and Sarawak.’

He said this in reply to the writer of the letter Chinese M’sians must accept their lot who made the racist statement: ‘Not to forget, Chinese are only immigrants’.

The good Malaysian-minded person who passionately replied to the above racist statement reflects a large number of non-Malay Malaysians disillusioned with the unfairness of extremist Malays in positions of power who are bullying (and some say oppressing and marginalising) them.

However, his reply that Malays are immigrants from foreign lands such as Indonesia who robbed the country from its original inhabitants (the Orang Asli) is a fallacy which was invented by British colonialists, and later amplified by Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and company.

The Malays are the Orang Asli - just that they are the Orang Asli of the lowlands (downriver) while those categorised as Orang Asli now are those who live in the highlands (upriver). The Malays are descended from the Temuan aborigines of Selangor and Melaka and Bahasa Melayu (Bahasa Malaysia, I insist!) is the Temuan language ‘upgraded’ with English, Sanskrit and Arabic.

Is this true?

Link

[pic source]

mdshah wrote:

This is an excerpt from the finding of telephone survey by New Straits Times on 1200 respondents which confirm that racism runs deep in Malaysia.

Negative stereotyping is well entrenched:

• 58 percent of Malays, 63 percent of Chinese and 43 percent of Indians polled agreed that Malays are generally lazy.
• 78 percent of Malays, 60 percent of Chinese and 40 percent of Indians think the Chinese are greedy.
• 60 percent of Malays, 58 percent of Chinese and 20 percent of Indians believe that Indians cannot be trusted

The findings confirm my own gut feel about the state of ethnic relations in Malaysia.

There’s a popular saying that goes “Numbers don’t lie”. I know this sounds stupid so don’t shoot me but let’s put a positive spin on it to make us feel a lil’ better =)

Positive stereotyping (assuming there’s nobody who answered “I’m not sure-lah”, “Don’t know-lah”, “WTF?”, etc):

• 42 percent of Malays, 37 percent of Chinese and 57 percent of Indians polled agreed that Malays are hardworking.
• 22 percent of Malays, 40 percent of Chinese and 60 percent of Indians think the Chinese are generous.
• 40 percent of Malays, 42 percent of Chinese and 80 percent of Indians believe that Indians are trustworthy.

Wow…sounds much better…lol

Link

Malaysian Housewife in London wrote:

It seems that to this man, without one’s husband, a woman is a non-entity. This is the type of man who takes it for granted that the woman of the house will provide the drinks and food – it’s her job (not unlike a maid’s) - and therefore it is not necessary to acknowledge the woman and say ‘thank you’ or at least, the malays like to say ‘susah susah je..’ (you needn’t trouble yourself) ..and then, without even blinking an eye, the man goes on to consume the food served.

My husband defended his conclusion by saying that, most Malay men, when confronted with a Malay woman will feel that way; they’re not completely at ease, they just feel like they need to keep their distance a bit so as to not be ‘over-doing it’ because most Malay women will not ‘welcome’ any extra attention. Basically, they just don’t feel ‘free’ enough to chat or speak to a Malay woman in fear of trampling on certain ‘barriers’. On top of that, he says that most Malay men find it easier to speak with women of the other races because that ‘barrier’ is not there.

What the heck?!

maybe he’s just shy?

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