The regime to keep its grip on power has defined a Malay as anyone who is an adherent of Islam and who practises Malay customs. But this is not as straightforward as it seems. Many of the customs which the Malays practised were of Indian origin. Anyway, over the years a very large percentage of Malays have adopted western customs and the few residual 'indigenous' practices they retain all relate to rituals peculiar to Islam. In Kuala Lumpur between 50 to 70 % of the patrons of betting outlets are Malays.If you dont believe me then make a circuit of the betting shops in the capital and you will be able to verify my statement. According to a letter published in malaysiakini.com recently many young Malays frequent night clubs and pubs and consume alcohol. The main radio and TV channels regularly feature Hindi film songs whose fans are more than 80 % Malays, and what are Malay pop songs but those which copy the simian cavortings of the late Michael Jackson. Nothing therefore can be more imprecise than to speak of Malay customs.
As as been pointed out before only an insignificant number of people occupying some small islands in Indonesia can rightfully be called Malays. I am told that they amount to no more than 17 % of the total population of Indonesia but when Malaya was a colony of Britain, the heterogeneous collection of Bugis, Batak, Sundanese Minang etc, immigrants chiefly from that country for purely administrative convenience were classified as Malays. Not only has the present regime retained this unscientific taxonomy but has made it considerably more elastic so that from a scientific standpoint the term Malay is void of meaning, at least in the Malaysian context. Khir Toyo the former Chief Minister of the state of Selangor is the son of indigent immigrants from Jawa who should be classified as a Jawanese has instead chosen to branded himself as a Malay with the white hot iron of expediency and as a result enjoys all the privileges and benefits which the religio fascists grant to 'Malay' citizens. Ethnic Tamil and Chinese citizens have on the other hand been relegated to 2nd class citizenship although nearly all of them can trace their domicile in this country to many decades before the arrival of Toyo's parents. Najib Abdul Razak the current prime minister is of Bugis stock not a Malay. Worse, a former prime minister Mahathir anak lelaki Iskandar Kutty whose father was an immigrant from Kerala, South India also got himself branded as a Malay, and underwent a name change as well. Is it any surprise then that Zainuddin Mydin a pure Tamil -- he was a former cabinet minister --- has also become a Malay and that pure ethnic Chinese have also been granted the Malay classification. Please do not think that this apparently confusing system is capricious. No, not by a long shot; what is clear is that the regime to build a system of Apartheid based on Religious Exclusivity and sustain it has bestowed the Malay brand name on hundreds of thousands of recently arrived Muslim immigrants principally from Indonesia and the Philippines. For a background to this attempt to create a Muslim state in flagrant violation of the social contract entered into by the founding fathers of Malaya kindly read the several articles published in Malaysiakini on PROJECT M a diabolical scheme to make the Borneo state of Sabah a Muslim majority state. Indeed the flood of Muslim immigrants allowed into Sabah has altered the demography of the state radically with the result that the indigenous peoples are a minority, and the state which previously never knew nothing except inter ethnic amity is today a very religiously polarised society. Federal officials posted to Sabah who had been indoctrinated with the BTN creed of Religious Supremacy are in small measure responsible for this state of affairs.
As as been pointed out before only an insignificant number of people occupying some small islands in Indonesia can rightfully be called Malays. I am told that they amount to no more than 17 % of the total population of Indonesia but when Malaya was a colony of Britain, the heterogeneous collection of Bugis, Batak, Sundanese Minang etc, immigrants chiefly from that country for purely administrative convenience were classified as Malays. Not only has the present regime retained this unscientific taxonomy but has made it considerably more elastic so that from a scientific standpoint the term Malay is void of meaning, at least in the Malaysian context. Khir Toyo the former Chief Minister of the state of Selangor is the son of indigent immigrants from Jawa who should be classified as a Jawanese has instead chosen to branded himself as a Malay with the white hot iron of expediency and as a result enjoys all the privileges and benefits which the religio fascists grant to 'Malay' citizens. Ethnic Tamil and Chinese citizens have on the other hand been relegated to 2nd class citizenship although nearly all of them can trace their domicile in this country to many decades before the arrival of Toyo's parents. Najib Abdul Razak the current prime minister is of Bugis stock not a Malay. Worse, a former prime minister Mahathir anak lelaki Iskandar Kutty whose father was an immigrant from Kerala, South India also got himself branded as a Malay, and underwent a name change as well. Is it any surprise then that Zainuddin Mydin a pure Tamil -- he was a former cabinet minister --- has also become a Malay and that pure ethnic Chinese have also been granted the Malay classification. Please do not think that this apparently confusing system is capricious. No, not by a long shot; what is clear is that the regime to build a system of Apartheid based on Religious Exclusivity and sustain it has bestowed the Malay brand name on hundreds of thousands of recently arrived Muslim immigrants principally from Indonesia and the Philippines. For a background to this attempt to create a Muslim state in flagrant violation of the social contract entered into by the founding fathers of Malaya kindly read the several articles published in Malaysiakini on PROJECT M a diabolical scheme to make the Borneo state of Sabah a Muslim majority state. Indeed the flood of Muslim immigrants allowed into Sabah has altered the demography of the state radically with the result that the indigenous peoples are a minority, and the state which previously never knew nothing except inter ethnic amity is today a very religiously polarised society. Federal officials posted to Sabah who had been indoctrinated with the BTN creed of Religious Supremacy are in small measure responsible for this state of affairs.
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