THE SELFISH AND HYPOCRITICAL MALAY

Malays, by nature, are very friendly, humble, hospitable, accommodating, considerate and make wonderful hosts. They can actually be very nice people. But that is only when they are wearing their Malay hat. When they are wearing their Muslim hat they can be the opposite of all that.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

If I were asked what is the biggest flaw with the Malays I would most likely say Malays are confused. Whether confusion can be regarded as a crime is debatable but certainly there is someone or some people guilty of this crime of confusing the Malays. And you can detect this state of confusion in the way Malays talk.

Are the Malays to be hated for this? I would say no, pitied maybe, but not hated, because it is not really their fault but the fault of those who have been indoctrinating and brainwashing the Malays. And the fault has to definitely lie with the educators, politicians and religious authorities.

If you were to argue that racism is when you feel you are from a superior race then this would probably mean that Malays are racists. Malays, of course, do not see themselves as racists because they do not really think they are superior. In fact, they feel they are handicapped and this is why many still cling to policies such as the NEP. They feel they are not strong or clever enough to survive without the aid of the NEP, what the Chinese and Indians call crutches, which is meant as an insult, of course.

But then, while the Malays may feel they are weak and disadvantaged, and hence need government help, at the same time they feel they are at an advantage because they are God’s chosen people. And is this not why many condemn the Jews, because Jews think they are the chosen people? So what difference does this make the Malays from the Jews? And this is why Jews and Muslims fight, because both feel they are God’s chosen people.

In Malaysia, to be Malay means you are also Muslim. You cannot separate Malays from Islam. Once you are born Malay you are born Muslim as well and just as you cannot leave Malay, obviously, you cannot leave Islam as well. You are Malay for life and you are Muslim for life as well. You will die Malay and you will die a Muslim as well.

You can see Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Atheist, etc., Chinese. You can see Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Atheist, etc., Indians. But you can, by law, only see Muslim Malays. There is supposed to be no other type of Malays other than Muslim Malays.

I would say that Malays are Muslims by accident. And I say this because Malays happen to have been born into a Muslim family. Hence they are Muslims by birth and hence by accident. If the parents of the Malays were, say, Christian, then for sure their children would be Christian as well. Hence I say Malays are Muslims by accident of birth.

Malays, however, do not see it this way. Malays see it that they are Muslim because they are chosen by God to be Muslim. It is a privilege which God gave them and which God does not offer 80% of the other people on earth. Hence that makes them special. And until God opens the heart of the other 80% to also make them want to become Muslim then these unfortunate people are going to die a non-Muslim and will suffer an eternity in hell because of it.

Hence Malays are chosen people and privileged. And not every single human receives this same privilege or is chosen by God. And that is what makes the Malays special and above the rest.

On top of that, Malays believe that God chose the Malays to receive the ‘proper’ Islam. Not all Muslims follow proper Islam. Many follow the wrong Islam or are deviants. Malays, however, are not unfortunate enough to receive the wrong Islam, which would make you a deviant such as those Shias, Wahhabis, etc.

Malays, by nature, are very friendly, humble, hospitable, accommodating, considerate and make wonderful hosts. They can actually be very nice people. But that is only when they are wearing their Malay hat. When they are wearing their Muslim hat they can be the opposite of all that.

And this is what is most puzzling because we would expect that when the Malays wear their Muslim hat they would be even better Malays. Alas, that is not the case. And this is because once Malays wear their Muslim hat they believe they are special, they are privileged, and God chose them to be Muslims whereas not everyone enjoys that same privilege.

I sometimes wonder what would happen if the Malays had remained Hindus and Buddhists, like what they were before Islam came to Malaya, instead of en bloc converting to Islam. But then when I see what is happening in Buddhist and Hindu countries I am not so sure things would be different. The situation in Buddhist and Hindu countries is not really any better if you consider what has been going on for more than 2,000 years in those countries as well.

Maybe the fault is not really Islam or the fact that Malays are Muslims. I think the problem is that religionists by nature are very arrogant and have a superiority complex and imagine themselves as better than others. Maybe religion was invented by the Devil after all if you believe in things such as God, Devils, Angels, and so on.

Over the last week or so there are many comments in Facebook by Malays calling me a hypocrite. This is because of my articles that favour the PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang. These Malays appear very angry with this. Some even call me a coward and accuse me of running away to England instead of staying back in Malaysia to face a jail sentence.

That could be one way of looking at it, I suppose. But what these Malays seem to have forgotten is that God commanded Prophet Muhammad to run away from Mekah to the safety of Medina to continue the struggle. That is known as the Hijrah. Since Muhammad is God’s Prophet can’t God protect him? God just needs to utter ‘be’ and all Muhammad’s enemies can be wiped out. Why ask Muhammad to run away to Mekah in the middle of the night? Is the Prophet also a coward?

So you see, while screaming about how superior Islam is and how special the Malays are for being chosen by God to be Muslims, they forgot the episode of the Hijrah on which the Muslim calendar is based upon.

Malays then talk about how just Islam is and some Malays actually want Hudud as the law of the land because, according to them, God’s laws are just and hence Malaysia should apply God’s just laws such as Hudud and not the unjust kafir laws based on the British judicial system.

But these same Malays do not see the injustice in being given preferential treatment at the expense of more deserving non-Malays such as quotas for places in the universities, government jobs, etc. Equality and meritocracy only applies to fellow Malays. It does not apply to non-Malays. And this is not unjust.

It is comical to see Malays scream hypocrisy and cowardice when they are recipients of special treatment even when they are not deserving and are too cowardly to compete on a level playing field.

Zaid Ibrahim said that it is time to end the policy of preferential treatment for the Malays. I can endorse that if this is what the Malays want. And it is important that it is the Malays who say this and not the non-Malays to avoid it becoming a racial issue.

Then we have the ‘Eminent Malays’ talking about liberalism and moderate Islam and their opposition to what they call ‘extremist’ or fundamentalist Islam. I can also endorse this if this is what the Malays want and, again, it has to be the Malays and not the non-Malays who say this to avoid it becoming a racial issue.

But then we have to be clear on the details. The devil, after all, is in the details. If not it will just be empty rhetoric. How would this meritocracy and religious liberalism work? Pray tell so that more Malays can support these ideas and will know what they are getting themselves into.

Does this mean we are going to end financial support for Bumiputeras who want to go to college or university? Does this mean local institutions of higher learning will take in students based on results/merit and no longer based on race? Does this mean there will no longer be discounts for Bumiputeras who want to buy houses and developers will no longer be asked to set aside quotas for Bumiputera buyers? Does this mean there will no longer be quotas for government jobs and employment will be based on merit and not on race?

Those and many more need clarifying.

And does this mean Malays can now leave Islam and become Christians or Atheists? Does this mean Malay girls can marry Christian, Hindu or Buddhist husbands and the spouse does not need to convert to Islam? Does this mean Malays can drink liquor and eat pork plus need not fast during the month of Ramadhan?

How liberal is liberal and how moderate is moderate. Those and many more need clarifying if not all this is just empty rhetoric.