Musings - Melayu tidak memegang janji

 These images below explain the long hiatus in my postings.

My constant friend

My constant ( for the last six weeks) enabler.

From my constant spouse - comestibles like nasi goreng kampung.

But just as constant is the black news about the shenanigans of  Malaysian politics and of Malay politicians at home which only serve to cripple the rakyat, especially the Malays.  Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi.  

It was my abah who, - when I was growing up in Singapore, often reminded me - "Orang Melayu kuat dengki sesama sendiri.   Rela naikkan lain bangsa untuk menurunkan bangsa sendiri.  I have lived and worked long enough in three Malay countries - Singapore, Brunei and Penang - to experience this foible.    No, 'foible'  is not a strong enough word - it should be 'sickness', a canker that eats at the heart and spirit of a people known to be gentle, easy-going and tolerant.  Our previous imperial masters regarded the Malays as backward and unambitious.  Today, after 58 years of  Merdeka, they have discarded  unambitious for greedy and envious: backward for  "progressive liberalism" ........

..... and  alim-ummah.

Now a septuagenarian, I look back and I reckon the most sincere and steadfast friend I ever had was......

My best friend Sim L.L. and AsH  stepping on Greenwich Meridian, 1975

............ my Chinese girl friend, Sim L. L.  She recognised my frustration and dissatisfaction as a Malay Graduate teacher in Singapore and she advised me to leave for Malaysia where I will have a better future.  She would do the same if she had been a Malay.  ( But I left for Brunei instead.).

Malays today - be they belacan Malays or mayonnaise Malays or tahini Malays must take heed of the sincere and honest voices of people like Helen Ang and Ridhuan Tee who are concerned enough for their country to remind the Malays that they must keep together.

Can our 21st century Malays learn from this simple gesture of unity that the Chinese uphold for their bangsa?

The Chinese in China, like Indians in India, or the Brits in UK will not cut themselves up - despite their political and social differences - in the way that the Malays are doing to themselves in their Tanah-Air.  One country, one culture, one religion and what keeps them apart is the loss of their sense of Malayness - greed, envy, conceit and self-righteousness have taken over asohan budi.

Asohan budi .... once upon a time, that had such meaning for the Malays.      And once upon a time, it seems, Malay parents forgot that meaning .... and forgot to pass it on.

                                                           ***********************


The following aspects of 'Budi' are from my collection of dictionaries that hark back to the 1960s.

1. From

1957

2. 

1963 - 5th Edition

3. 

1976

4. 

1966

What is missing among present-day Malays is " bangsa Melayu yang budiman".

                                                    ************************************


Terang bulan dan bintang pun berchahaya.
Duduk termenung memikirkan kita.
Pikirkan tuan yang jauh di mata.
Sampai hati meninggalkan saya.


Translate kita as negara ku: tuan as tanah air and meninggalkan saya as membelot bangsa!!!