Whither the Malays? - and - Wither the Malays

That badge could even be earlier because the photo below, of Abah setting up an UMNO Branch at Kampung Abu Kassim,  Pasir Panjang, Singapore showed him with my brother Mus who was five or six years old.  That would date it around 1952.  The other founding members were made up of local Malays from the 4ms (milestone) to 7ms Pasir Panjang Road and soldiers from the Federation of Malaya serving in the British Army.  Remember this was a few years after the end of the Malayan Union of 1946 when the Malays realised what their fate would be if they allowed the British to erode their rights and heritage.  Also this was at the height of the insurgency by the Communist Party of Malaya which started in 1948.   Read my postings - (1) http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/romance-of-history.html
   (2)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/between-python-and-cobra-csh.html
   (3)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/between-python-and-cobra-csh.html
   (4)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/04/raking-cupboard-under-stairs.html
   (5) http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2010/04/school-books-i-have-known.html

But my father and all those men were no wild-eyed Malay fanatics.   This was their tanah air..... it was all they had - there was no other 'motherland' to return to.  They did not want their people to end up like the natives of North America, Australia, New Zealand, or the indigenous tribes in Taiwan.  They wanted a future for their children and grandchildren.  It was not an easy ride but the dreams of these brave men did materialise albeit in a form they would not recognise and accept.  They, for those who are still here, now see their anak and cucu and cicit - the beneficiaries of their struggle and sacrifices - biting the hands that fed them.   For a good many of those who prospered under the NEP have sold their souls to the very people that their forefathers were worried about.  It's all right for them because their children's futures are secure - huffing and pouting they can migrate to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA, bringing their high qualifications which were paid for by the rakyat.

And there are other ways they use to show their contempt and discontent.  I know of academics in USM who refuse to buy Proton because that will profit the UMNO cronies, so they buy a French Peugeot (sports model) instead - truly vanity dressed as principle!  The cost of a car like that would be enough to pay for part of their post-graduate studies overseas, paid for through an NEP instituted by the 'bad' and  'good 'in UMNO.  Then there's another self-hating Malay who failed after several attempts to obtain his PhD (paid for by the rakyat) and then demanded PhD pay - as he had been working for several years sans the PhD.  Then there's the Malay PhD who threatened a student and retorted  " Ingat, aku ini Professor dan Doctor.  Kau ingat senang nak dapat  PhD?   Ingat siapa durian, siapa timun!"   He forgot to mention he got to be a durian on the backs of the rakyat and the despicable NEP!

Yes, there are bad apples in UMNO, worms and cankers of the worst sort - another bye-product of  so-called progress.  Yes, for some of the Malays what they've been given is like "kera di beri bunga".  But the Brits have a term to describe this propensity.  "Yes, they are bastards, but they are our bastards".  So it's up to the beneficiaries of NEP to take up the cudgels to rid society of these "Melayu bangsat" and do what their forefathers did.    And to remember: their forefathers did not  'run with the hare and hunt with the hounds'.

My father often reminded us:  " 'Kau orang adek beradek tak ramai, jangan bergaduh sesama sendiri."  Transfer that to the bangsa :  "Orang Melayu tak ramai ......"  This beautiful country, unlike any other country in the world,  has a racial makeup (set up by the British so as to maximise their profit ) that can be toxic if not handled properly.  Western ideals of freedom and equality  have to be tempered  by local soils and temperature.  Do not ever believe that Westerners practise in their own countries all those lofty ideals they sell and  preach to others not of their kind - especially the brown and liberal middle classes of the world.

The Chinese, wherever they are - in Singapore, USA, Australia, Britain, South Africa, and Malaysia preserve their unity in the concept of tong pao (of the same womb), of themselves as a family.  Now they are inspired in their commitment by their conversion to Christianity.   The unity born of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism had no global agenda.   You can't say the same about Christianity.

If this complacency, smugness and disunity of the Malays persist then they  deserve to be Lunchais and Lebai Malang.  

Teras terunjam, gubal melayang.  ( The core of the tree is fixed deep in the ground, but the sapwood is blown away.)

When the upwardly mobile Malays have risen - to be sapwood - then shall the Malays wither.

This has been a hard and painful piece to write - seperti meludah ke langit.

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NOTE :  Comments are welcomed.  Racist statements, allusions and connotations will be publicised if they will submit their names as well.  I know anyone can call themselves Mat and Minah, but they cannot escape the intent of their words.