Entering the Malay mind

by Azly Rahman

[Lecture notes of a recent speech given to Malaysian students in New York]

In this digital age of postmodernity, hypertextuality, alienation, and of chaos and complexity in which the historical march of capitalism has dictated the way nations think, it is becoming difficult for us to understand how the mind of a people work – unless we build a metaphysical chariot (like the one Krishna prepared for Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurusektra) to journey into it, through the eyes that will also bring us through their soul. At strategic points in that much the soul is corrupted by the material condition created by those who own the means of controlling the march of “progress” and the definition of “history”. At every epoch in the history of nations, there will be those who will be clueless of what they exist for and who they exist for; marginalized by those who have a better command of the art and science of social control and in the art of war.

I realize that the above sentences, for some, are dense and complex and require clarifications through simpler language; but like the monologue of Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic, “Apocalypse Now,” we ought to try to understand the meaning of such a statement. Like James Joyce’s stream of consciousness, sentences may flow gracefully with intensity.

The subject of our inquiry is the Malay mind in this time of chaos and complexity, cynicism and uncertainty. These are the times that try the Malaysian soul and it is through cognitive science and the archeology of the mind, and through deep probing questions alone that one may accomplish the task of entering the mind of the Malay.

How do we do this?

Interpretations of what the Malay is – from the time of Frank Swettenham, Munsyi Abdullah, Tun Sri Lanang, the Sumatran Sufi scholars of ancient times, and others paid or unpaid writers of Malay history or from scribes who do not know the meaning of neutrality – all these are useful to a certain extend for us to understand what exactly the mind of the Malay.

Because we are rooted language and language constructs one Inner sensibility and determines how we construct our social reality and next, because we then use language to define how we create our economic condition, educate our tribe, govern each other, and work and play, we will need to define how the Malay mind works through the use of definitions.

But however we define what a Malay is, we will have linguistic difficulties and we will have problems determining from what and from whose historical perspective we are defining it.

Each definition of what a Malay is is contingent upon premises that are rooted in culture as some point and the Constitution in modern times. The world “Malay” is elusive, as argued by many a Malay and non-Malay cultural analysts trying to justify this or that rights and privileges. At every argument in history, conflict either bloody or bloodless may happen – because we are trapped in the prison-house of language. Only philosophy may free us from this shackle. Only by consistently attacking words and definition and demanding for their clarity may we be liberated. Connotations and denotations arise not only out of history but also out of the class divisions and antagonisms as a result of the evolution of who gets to own the tool of domination called “literacy”.

Malaysia has prepared herself to enter the Age of Deconstructionism in which in every sphere of our lives we are experiencing rupture and waning of affect; an age in which relationships have become meaningless and power is used to set fire to the voices in the wilderness. Consider these in we enter our very own “postmodern condition” wrought but the “cultural logic of our own brand of late capitalism”. We are experiencing rupture in our Judiciary, Executive, and Legislature. We know we want justice for all but we may have none. We know we want power to be executed the good of all, but we may have power concentrated in the few to let evil prevail. We want to be governed by the rule of law but we may end up seeing our lives governed by the iron fist of lawlessness.

How do we enter the Malay mind? What set of questions do we need? What will our metaphysical chariot look like? We need the following questions:

What is a Malay? Herein lies the need to consider the idea of “Constitutional versus cultural” aspect of the definition

What shapes the Malay mind? Herein lies the need to consider the idea “The Historical material condition”

How has history define Malay culture and consciousness? Herein lies the need to consider the idea of “social construction of reality”

How has economic condition create the Malay mind? Herein lies the need to consider the idea of “technology and culture”

How has globalization affect the consciousness of the Malays? Herein lies the need to consider the idea of “border crossings and heteroglossia”

How has modernization and hypermodernity shape the newer character of the Malay mind? Herein lies the need to consider the idea of “the neo-feudalistic cybernetic capitalistic Malay

Herein lies the beginning of the phase of self-reflection of the Malays as a people who has arrived at a historical juncture in which more and more rhetoric and words left undefined are used to construct the meaning of the word “Malay”.

Entering the postmodern Malay mind is a complex journey worth taking. It will be a journey like the poems of T.S. Elliot or Rilke. But to engineer this Copernican Revolution, we must take the first step.