Disclaimer: They always say that it is highly sensitive to write about race, religion and nationality. I’m about to write my brutally honest thoughts of all 3 - specifically about the Malays in Singapore. I understand that this may potentially verge on controversial and I take full responsibility for what I’m about to write. But I’m doing so for a specific reason and purpose; so to you who may be reading this, I hope you’ll be able to be somewhat open minded and bare with my confession at least till the very end of this post before making your judgment or letting fly your emotional reaction. Race. Religion. Nationality. Some people are confused with the differences so I’ll clearly state that I’m writing 5 personal observations/anecdotes about the Malay race, who are Muslim by religion and of Singaporean nationality. 1) Religion Most, if not all Malays, are born into the Islamic faith. It’s a blood-line religion which I personally think is a beautiful legacy and amazing testimony to their beliefs through the many family generations. But because of the unfortunate 9/11 incident, the eyes of many towards Islam and Muslims have been wrongly tainted. Which is probably one of the saddest false accusation/ misassumption in this modern world – I feel. I am Christian by religion, and I have nothing but complete respect and appreciation towards my Muslim brothers and Islam. The thing is, I don’t avoid religious topics when I have conversations with them.. on the contrary, because I grew up a Christian, I am very curious, perhaps even fascinated by Islam (especially because there are certain similarities between the two religions). On several occasions over my growing years, I’ve sat down for hours with some of my Muslim friends talking about Christianity and Islam. We never once had a conflict over our different religious beliefs. Instead, these conversations made me realize and understand a lot more about Islam and completely opened my eyes and heart towards Muslims as people, as a culture and Islam as a religion. I have a lot more to say regarding the religion aspect but I’ll just end this part here urging fellow non-Muslims to (if you can) have an open minded heart to heart conversation with your Muslim friend(s). What might strike you at the end of just one conversation is how beautiful Islam is and how devoted Muslims are to their faith and being better (religious) people during their time on earth. 2) Stereotype(s) Here’s the brutally honest part (please bare with me).. generally, people who are of a certain other race, might stereotypically view Malays in a certain way.. lazy. Poor. Uneducated. Troublemakers. The ones who think that way don’t or won’t say it out loud but when the opportune arises, they’ll be the first to say, “see see, I told you so.. expected what!”. I was from a neighborhood Secondary School. Then, my ‘clique’ was a mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians. On a few occasions when my friends came over for a bbq or swim at my place, my local neighbors of a particular race would come to my mom (who is Korean) offering ‘friendly concerned neighborly advice’ to keep an eye on me and the (race of the) friends I keep close because.. well, because my friends were Malays and Indians and blahblahblah. My Mom bought into their bullshit. It made me bloody mad. To those snobbish neighbors on your high horses badmouthing my friends to my Mom when you don’t even know and never bothered to get to know my friends, I say shame on you! Shame on me too. Here’s where I’ll make a confession.. even though my close friends in Secondary School were Malays and Indians, they were the more motivated and respectful kind of individuals. I personally never liked the ‘mats and minahs’ very much. I never did anything to provoke or diss them, but I’d make a conscious effort to stay out of their way. So too with the ‘ah bengs and ah lians’. Theirs was just a kind of lifestyle and behavior that I didn’t want to involve myself in, so if I had to, I tried to tolerate them but I did my best to keep my distance from these individuals. It was only much later (in more recent times) that I finally erased this particular stereotype and wall that I had against them – for the better. I’ll write about it further below but for now, I’d like to write about my next sentiment of the Malay race.. 3) The community I absolutely love the ‘kampong spirit’ of the Malay community. Period. It’s actually quite funny, but the Malay community is either too small or so tight that everyone knows each other somehow.. there’s no six degrees of separation, every other Malay is probably a distant cousin or friend from another friend. It’s not a bad thing at all. Well, unless shit happens then yea word spreads pretty fast. But I love how connected and supportive the Malay community are of each other. I don’t think I can say the same for other races who are probably more individualistic and self-centered. It’s an observation I first noticed when I was hosting in the studio during the third season of Singapore Idol. Some people were unhappy about having a third Malay Singapore Idol.. here’s the truth behind it – firstly, the fact is, the Malays are talented. They deserved to win. Secondly, a Malay represent won each season because the whole community got behind him. What viewers don’t actually see on tv during Idol is this.. for the contestants of other races, his or her supporters will only bother to cheer/vote for that particular person. But when it’s a Malay contestant, every other Malay in the studio, regardless of who they’re actually there to support, will get together and behind the represent on stage. They are actually proud of their own whether they are related or not. Just go to any of the LionsXII home game and it’ll be testimony to that. Majority of the cheering fans getting behind our Singapore team are Malays. One might argue that ‘the LionsXII team are mostly malays anyway’, but you know what, the Malay community has made me a believer in the “kampong spirit” and honestly, I think even if the entire Lions squad were made up of Chinese or Indians, the majority of fans who’d still bother turning up to support our national team will be the Malays. Because regardless of race in this football example, I reckon they’ll still proud of their own; which brings me to my next point.. 4) Minority representation This might be highly sensitive but I feel it needs to be out and the question(s) should be asked. Right now, I’m serving my national service with SCDF. I never wanted to be in SCDF – it was SAF all the way but on the day I received my enlistment letter, I was like “wtf is this?”. A reason why I wasn’t looking forward to serving my national service with SCDF was because I grew up having a military officer as my Dad so naturally I was inclined towards SAF only. The second reason was because.. SCDF is ‘known’ to be the home base of the Mats. I was not looking forward to it at all. But that has changed. And because it has changed.. I’m writing this particular bit regarding minority representation. Had I been in SAF, I probably wouldn’t have known or cared about this, but being in a force where I’m now the minority race, I think I fully understand the feeling of being categorized (and denied), and for that reason, I want to put the spotlight on this matter regarding the distribution/ allocation of men to the different forces over our two years (or even career wise). While it is commonly ‘known’ that SCDF and perhaps the Police Force have a higher racial representation of Malays.. the one that not many people talk about is the other fact that most of the personnel from the other forces, particularly the Navy and Air Force, are.. well, non-Malays. Rumors have it that this racial “distribution” is due to the demographics of our neighboring countries – if that’s the truth behind it, i’m sorry but I think this is pathetic. If I am a Singaporean citizen of a Malay race.. I’d like to know why am I denied the privilege and honor of serving my country in certain sectors just because the ones who made these decisions judge(d) my loyalty based on the color of my skin? If the selection is based on merit and one does not make the required cut, fine.. that is fair. But if the powers that be instantly (and continues to) categorize citizens based on their race, and in so doing, deny opportunities to our own born and bred who want to and can contribute to our country.. it’s time to relook certain decisions made years ago. Because I am not Malay.. but I don’t wonder or question the loyalty of my fellow countrymen based on the color of his skin. In fact, if it ever comes to it.. I’m willing to bet my life that he’ll fight to the death as a Singaporean. 5) Malays I’ll admit, I never wanted or liked the hand I was dealt.. but being forced into circumstance where I had to adapt has turned out to be one of the blessings in disguise and in life that I’m thankful for. Before I enlisted into National Service, I was Singaporean only by status. As in, I was very ‘non-local’ (think angmo-pai or the mat salleh kind).. I knew nothing much about local cultures and struggled to even speak singlish. Being in an environment now where it’s almost 70% Malays, and having to do a lot of things together with them during our firefighting duties.. I’ve almost successfully transformed from Matt to Mat. And surprisingly, it’s not a tag that I despise. I’ve learned a lot from the ones around me (I can even understand conversations in melayu now). There are many qualities about the Malay race that I’ve come to discover and admire.. one of which, is how selfless they are. To me, the Malays are one of the most giving and sincere race in Singapore. Sometimes, they might not have much but they’d still give you all they’ve got. True case example – a Malay would offer you his food before even taking a bite whereas someone of another race is more likely to eat his fill and then offer you what’s left of what he can’t finish. True that it isn’t entirely a race thing and things like that varies from each individual and the way they were brought up.. but in terms of being brought up, the Malay race, because of their religion and family upbringing, have certain values instilled in them from young which generally puts them on a path to be a better person and I really like how they continue passing on these values from generation to generation. Some may stray and give Malays/Muslims a bad name, but they do not represent the whole. To me, Malays/Muslims are people that I may not have known very much about and tried to keep my distance from initially.. but having gotten to know them, their culture and religion, it has changed my perception entirely. For the better. I’m writing this as a reflection piece and also in the hopes that this piece of sharing may shed a bit of light to fellow non-Muslims; maybe encourage a few more to get to know our Muslim friends a little better this Ramadan? Because at the end of the day, as individuals, all of us have our own flaws and differences. But instead of simply tolerating and/or hating when things go wrong, perhaps we should make that little effort to understand and work together towards building a mutual appreciation of our uniqueness? After all, this is Singapore - they say regardless of race, language or religion.. but I think it IS because of our races, languages and religion that creates this beautiful blend. It’s what makes me proud to say that I’m Singaporean.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 14:17:38 +0000
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