Shaping the mind of the Malay

You can see the Malay swing in 1946. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1959. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1969. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1990. Then there was another swing in 1999 after swinging back in 1995 (and then swung back in 2004). In 2008, we saw another swing and a slight swing back this time around in 2013. Will the Malay ‘pattern’ prove true and will we see yet a bigger and maybe a ‘terminal swing’ (for Barisan Nasional, that is) in the 2018 general election?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Basically, Malays live by the principles of rukun. And the fact that Malays, by definition as well as according to the law, also means Muslims, then the Islamic rukun plays a big part in shaping the mind of the Malay.

We must understand that Malay kids are sent for Qur’an recital classes and religious lectures (kitab/scripture classes) before they learn how to read and write (at least the Malays in the rural heartland are). Hence the ustazshapes the mind of the Malay before the teacher in primary school does.

Hence, also, don’t be too fast in labelling Malays as stupid, as some of you love doing. Any society that has been subjected to indoctrination would turn out the same. It is not about whether the Malay mind is stupid or not. It is about how the Malay mind has been shaped.

Remember this: there is so such thing as a bad student -- or someone who is born ignorant or stupid. It is only because there are bad teachers that we have bad students. Hence, how the student turns out depends a lot on the teacher.

The first rukun the Malays have to follow is Rukun Islam. According to the ‘Jakarta Charter’, Rukun Islam is ‘the five pillars of Islam’, also called ‘Sharia Islam’ (or Shariat Islam in Bahasa Malaysia). This has nothing to do with the Islamic laws, also called Sharia laws.

The five pillars of Islam are:

1. Belief (that there is only one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is God's messenger).

2. Worship (the five daily prayers).

3. Giving charity (paying Zakat and Fitrah).

4. Fasting (during the month of Ramadan).

5. And embarking on the pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj, to be done at least once in a lifetime).

Then we have ‘Rukun Iman’ or the commandments. Iman generally means faith.

The six pillars of faith are:

1. To believe in Allah, in His Existence, His right to be worshipped, His Oneness, His Attributes, and His right to legislate.

2. To believe in God's angels.

3. To believe in the Holy Qur'an and the other Holy Books, (the Torah, the Gospel of Jesus, and the Psalms of David).

4. To believe in God's Messengers (of whom Adam was the first and Prophet Muhammad the last).

5. To believe in the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment.

6. To believe in Divine Preordainment.

The above two rukun makes a person a Muslim and, by extension, a Malay. A Malay is not a Malay unless he or she subscribes to the above.

Finally, we have the Rukun Negara. And as follows is what the Rukun Negara is all about, basically the doctrine of what makes you a Malaysian.

A rejection of even one part of the Rukun Islam or Rukun Imam causes you to cease to be a Muslim. And a rejection of even one part of the Rukun Negara causes you to cease to be a loyal Malaysian. You may still be a Malaysian citizen by operation of law but you will be regarded as a treacherous or treasonous Malaysian and therefore can be tried for treason as far as the government is concerned.

And the Malay-in-the-street would not deviate too far from the thinking of the government regarding what makes a Malaysian a treacherous or treasonous Malaysian.

Remember the Al Maunah episode 13 years ago back in 2000 (photograph above)? These people were arrested and charged for the crime of waging war against the King and were subsequently found guilty of treason and then executed by hanging.

This may sound ridiculous (it did to me at least), but when the Rukun Negara says ‘loyalty to King and Country’, waging war against the King, therefore, would be considered treason and punishable by death.

Those hung (and jailed for life) were all Malays. But did the Malays express outrage? They did not, and neither did the non-Malays for that matter. Malaysians never questioned this charge and never protested the hanging of those alleged to have committed treason by waging war against the King.

Now study the rest of the Rukun Negara. When the government classifies someone as a traitor to the country, they are basically referring to the Rukun Negara as this yardstick. Of course this is mainly a political ploy. I do not need to tell you that nor do you need to tell me. However, to the ‘conditioned’ mind of the Malay, this may not sound too silly or preposterous. To demonstrate disloyalty to the King (Agong or the State Rulers) constitutes treason. And the same would apply if you dispute the Constitution, God, the rule of law, and so on.

We need to slowly and carefully un-indoctrinate the Malay mind. We need, as they would say in the IT world, to reformat the hard disk and reinstall the updated version of the operation system because the old operation system has been corrupted or is just outdated like hell.

But you do not do this by taking a hammer and by beating the computer. That will just damage the hardware and no amount of new software can make the machine run better.

Two weeks after I started Malaysia Today, I told BBC during the interview they did with me outside the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on 2nd September 2004 that it was a long six-year battle to free Anwar Ibrahim from jail (referring to the Free Anwar Campaign, of course). Now that Anwar is free, I need to go into phase two of my job, the Free Malaysia Campaign.

BBC asked me what I meant by the Free Malaysia Campaign and I replied, “We need to free the minds of Malaysians. The minds of Malaysians, in particular the Malays, have been shackled due to indoctrination. We need to recondition the thinking of Malaysians and drag them screaming and kicking into the modern world.”

And you may have noticed that in the beginning (in the early stages of Malaysia Today) I targeted the Malays. I insulted them. I whacked them. I called them Melayu bodoh (stupid Malays). I criticised the Muslims and theulama’ (religious scholars). And that, of course, resulted in me getting detained for the ‘crime’ of ‘insulting Islam’.

I admit that I lost many Malay-Muslim friends as well as Malaysia Today lost many Malay-Muslim readers. However, against that backdrop, many Malays also started thinking and started rationalising. Some Malays began opening their minds.

Then I eased up on the Malays. The seed had been planted. We must now allow the seed to germinate. In time the Malays would be able to see that just because DAP opposes the Islamic State or DAP leaders such as Karpal Singh says ‘over my dead body’ (in reference to the Islamic State), this does not make them the enemy of Islam.

Malays must begin to accept ‘modern’ values such as freedom of speech and allow others to disagree with Islam if they so wish based on the principle of freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of association, etc. Malays must accept the doctrine of agreeing to disagree and live and let live.

In the past, that would have been a resounding “no way!” Today, the Malays can accept this. For all intents and purposes, the Malays have come a long way. The Malays can now allow you to disagree with Islam or reject the Islamic State and still call you friend (when before they would have called you enemy).

I have always been telling you: leave the Malays to the Malays. Let us Malays slowly coax the Malays out of the old feudal era into a new era of tolerance and moderation. It is not easy for the Malays. This is a paradigm shift in doctrine. It took the Chinese 5,000 years to reach where the Chinese are today. It took the Europeans 2,000 years.

How long are you prepared to give the Malays? Just 56 years?

I know many of you are puzzled as to what I am trying to do, my Malay ex-friends in particular. However, as they say, there is a method in the madness however mad it may appear to you.

Do you think March 2008 could have happened had the Malays remained the Malays of 1957? More importantly, do you think 5th May 2013 could have happened had not the seed of change been planted in 1946, 1959, 1969, 1990, 1999, and finally in March 2008?

Some societies took thousands of years to change. Some took just a few hundred years. Nevertheless, whatever time it took, it still took time to see that change. And someone must always be the one to bell the cat.

We must also remember one thing. The non-Malays suddenly swung only in 2008. Before that the non-Malays were living in ignorance as well. The Malays have been swinging back and forth since before Merdeka. The Malays swung this way and then that way from time to time. However, each swing the Malays make, it is always larger than the last time.

You can see the Malay swing in 1946. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1959. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1969. Then they swung back and took another swing in 1990. Then there was another swing in 1999 after swinging back in 1995 (and then swung back in 2004). In 2008, we saw another swing and a slight swing back this time around in 2013. Will the Malay ‘pattern’ prove true and will we see yet a bigger and maybe a ‘terminal swing’ (for Barisan Nasional, that is) in the 2018 general election?

That is all up to you. If you know how to handle the Malays you are going to see that. But how do you handle the Malays? I think I have written about that so many times in the past I really do not need to repeat myself.

So you see, Malaysia Today is not just about exposing corruption. It is also not about kicking out Umno. And for sure it is not about campaigning for Pakatan Rakyat or helping Anwar Ibrahim to become Prime Minister.Malaysia Today has a much bigger fish to fry. This goes beyond just the general elections, which is merely a means to an end.

And if by this point of my article you are very confused, then this just means you are not the type of reader that I want and you are welcome to leave us and never come back.

Good-bye!