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Monday, September 03, 2007

Pure Malay?

I love this letter to malaysiakini by Jamiliah Kassim titled These people are not pure Malays.

In the land where the terrible word ‘non’ is used regularly, even by the 'nons' themselves (like kaytee), to denote a second class citizenship, as in non-Malay, non-Muslim, non-bumiputera, non-UMNO, and last though not least non-sense, Jamiliah has upped the ante.

Jamiliah, asserting herself as an ‘anak Melayu jati’ (pure Malay) wrote (extract):


In recent years, we can see a lot of ‘non Malays’ appearing in Umno as leaders. By ancestry, these people are not pure Malays. They managed to change their identity by using Islam.

As an ‘anak Melayu jati’, I would like to voice out a grievance on behalf of our whole Malay community.

We know well that these people are not sincere in that they can even disregard and disrespect their ancestors and join the Malay race.

Their motive is to enjoy privileges of the Malays. And Umno doesn't bother to do much on this. We are desperate regarding this policy of simply allowing people to change their race through conversion to Islam and even offering citizenship to Indonesians who are later made bumiputeras as well.

Where is the standing of the ‘anak Melayu jati’ or ‘bumiputera’? Tell us where on this earth can a person change his or her race through religion except in Malaysia? It is ridiculous.


Wow … but who or what is a ‘anak melayu jati’? Is there such a person as a 'pure Malay'?

Jamiliah explained:
The word ‘bumiputera’ is a combination of ‘bumi’ and ‘putera’ which should be construed as the ‘anak cucu’ to this land. Bumiputeras should be defined as: ‘Anak anak Melayu yang nenek moyang telah bermastautin di bumi Tanah Melayu sebelum kemerdekaan, biarpun agama yang dianuti bukan Islam’.*

* loose translation: Malays whose ancestors were domiciled in Malaya before Merdeka (Independence in 1957), even if their religion wasn't Islam

No more Johnny and Jeannie-come-lately ... eh? Though I am impressed by her '... biarpun agama yang dianuti bukan Islam’.

I am reminded of a former girlfriend who informed me rather arrogantly, when I first knew her, that she was ‘pure Sinning*, a Toisan nui of the nth degree of purity.


* one of the southern Chinese ethnic stock

Like all good bf I chatted up her mum to get on to her good side, and inadvertently found out that ‘Auntie’ was Cantonese – hahahahaha!

Her Royal Haughtiness, the Toisan nui was humiliated, and never quite forgive me for ‘accidentally’ discovering her mixed ethnic stock – oh yes, for that she 'punished' me severely at times, but it was rather enjoyable when I teased her as 50% Sinning – 50% Canto, and God alone knows how many of those percentages could have been of other ethnic stock, considering she has really large beautiful round eyes.

I suspect that Jamiliah is one of the following: (1) ........ (2) ........ (3) ........ - I decided not to jot down my suspicions ;-) you work it out yourself.

8 comments:

  1. Malaysia never had a pure MALAY PM.
    Tunku Abdul Rahman had Thai blood.
    Tun Hussein Onn was part Turkish.
    Mahathir's dad is Malayalee from Kerala.. and a few years back we saw on the front page of newspapers that Badawi's relatives from China had arrived.
    Now if only someone would remind me what Tun Razak was.. he wasn't pure either..
    So apa tu anak Melayu jati.. semua ciplak, rakyat Malaysia barulah tulen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm half chinese (lets not even start dividing the canto/hokkien part), part Irish, Dutch and probably Sri Lankan.

    Like most people who have the guts to admit it, "I'm proud of my diverse Heritage!"

    They do say mix-blooded ppl are better looking :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. I suspect that Jamiliah is one of the following: (1) ........ (2) ........ (3) ........

    1. Bugis
    2. Thai
    3. Orang Asli

    1. Doesn't know Malaysian history
    2. Doesn't know Malay history
    3. Doesn't do history

    1. Terribly inbred
    2. From a shallow gene pool
    3. Carry a dangerous mutated gene

    1. Deluded as to her 'purity'
    2. Has the mentality of Goebbels
    3. Suffering from inferiority complex


    There is only one pure race for this country and it is Bangsa Malaysia.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The desire for a creating pure race was the ideal of Adolf Hitler, and his Nazi Party.
    Here in Malaysia we should all denounce those people and institutions requiring that "RACE' or "RELIGION" to be stated on any type of form, including the NRIC.
    If a space to fill in 'Race' is printed on any forms, 'Bangsa Malaysia' would be an acceptable thing to fill in, or why not just fill in "HUMAN"
    If 'Religion' needs to be filled in, be creative, just write "Private Matter', put a line across the space, or follow your own preference.
    Race, ethnicity and / or the purity thereof, and religion are totally irrelevant information for forms, and are used as divisive tools which the politicians and others may use to segregate and label us.
    We are all members of the human race, this is the only relevant race. Religion should be a personal and private matter of no concern to others.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Anon at 10.23,

    I tried to do so at MyKad registration as there is no information on Race and Religion from my old i.c registration. When I stated that my ethnicity and creed is not important as it already says that I am Malaysian (hence MyKad) and I'd like it left blank, the officious lady behind the counter took one look at me and my name and wrote "Melayu" and "Islam" in the form. And that was that. I don't even have a choice in the matter.

    (Who says being Malay and Muslim in Malaysia is easy?)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jamiliah explained:The word ‘bumiputera’ is a combination of ‘bumi’ and ‘putera’ which should be construed as the ‘anak cucu’ to this land. Bumiputeras should be defined as: ‘Anak anak Melayu yang nenek moyang telah bermastautin di bumi Tanah Melayu sebelum kemerdekaan, biarpun agama yang dianuti bukan Islam’.*

    weiii how can bumiputra be defined only for pure malays (if sure purity exists). though i am no bumi, how about other bumis like ibans, dusuns etc..... *cough*

    ReplyDelete
  7. Its all about greed. She thinks she did not get enough and wanted more. Sharing means less share for her. She wanted everything and refuse to share with the mamaks

    ReplyDelete
  8. As I understand if a child is born to an Indian father, he is classified as an Indian, If chinese father, it is chinese.

    But how come a child born to a Indian Muslim is called a Malay?.

    TDM's definition of Malay is (if I remember clearly) either one of the parents is a Malay , practices Malay customs and is muslim, then the person is a Malay.

    I believe he came up with this definition because otherwise mamaks like him should be considered Indian.

    Any thoughts?

    ReplyDelete