It was the Indian Muslims who created 'Malay nationalism', not the Umno Malays

Young Malaysians in particular have increasingly suspected for long that our history has been highly politicised by Umno for their self-serving reasons. Their suspicions have been reflected to a certain extent in the proceedings of the Malaysian History Colloquium on Feb 25 at Universiti Malaya.

Panelist Professor Ramlah Adam, for one, pointed out that the British never really colonized Malaya -- an Anglicised term derived from Tamil, for the southern half of the Kra Peninsula – or peninsular south. If anything, it follows therefore, that it was various communities from the Archipelago who colonised or squatted in the Orang Asli country of the peninsular south which was then ruled by Bangkok.

The Malacca Empire, started by a Hindu prince from Palembang, was also a squatter colony. Today, Muslim missionaries are trying to get the Orang Asli to “masuk Melayu” to create a fait accompli and erase their history. The Orang Asli are forbidden to build their Christian churches and denied their land.

Ramlah did not mention it but malai means hill in Tamil. The first in history, away from Cambodia where Malay originated as a dialect, was Malaiur (hill country in Tamil) in the Jambi Province, Sumatra. Now, the proverbial cat is out of the bag so to speak, albeit historically.

The Lee Kim Sai experience

The British, according to Ramlah, merely administered the peninsular south, ostensibly on behalf of the "Malay" sultans, arranged a monthly purse -- stipend or pension -- and did away with the post of Bendhara (Chief Minister) and Temenggong (Defence Minister).

Ramlah's outburst, like her other peers' previously, had to happen sooner or later given that Umno leaders embark, from time to time, on a propaganda binge on what constitutes the history of the peninsular south.

Umno leaders, being the self-serving lot they are, have gone more than overboard on our history once too often. Sometimes, a Sultan or two joined the Indian Muslim-infested Umno in its political bull on our history.

Many people still remember that the previous Sultan of Selangor once "stripped" then MCA Deputy President Lee Kim Sai of his datukship for pointing out that the Malay-speaking communities in the peninsula south were also immigrants and descendants of immigrants just like the Indians and Chinese.

The Sultan, a Bugis, then sheepishly gave back Lee's datukship by the backdoor when the latter returned the award's medallion to the Palace. Lee was made to promise that he would not repeat his "offending" statement, even if true, given the "sensitivity" of Umno's mantra on bangsa, agama, negara, the three sacred cows in the peninsular south.

Lee Kim Sai is a well-known anecdote, especially in the Kelang Valley Region (KVR), and illustrates the sheer hypocrisy that takes place whenever our true history is pointed out.

Orang Asli the true natives of the peninsular south 

It's true that the British were in our country at one point in our history. They left behind a Federal Constitution which despite Article 153 and Malay Reservation land does not state that the Malay-speaking communities in the peninsular south are Natives of the land.

This is not surprising since the Malay-speaking communities comprised many different ethnic and linguistic groups from various islands in the Archipelago, and Muslims from the Indian sub-continent and the Arab states, among others.

Many from the Archipelago were runaways for one reason or other including slavery and crime and made for hideouts in the swamps of the peninsular south. Their numbers increased dramatically during the British administration. In his Origin of Malay Nationalism, Professor William Roff estimates that as many as 85 per cent of the Malay-speaking communities in the peninsular south in 1885 were either immigrants or the descendents of immigrants

The one and only true Natives of the peninsular south are the Orang Asli just as the Dusun – including the Kadazan or urban Dusun and the Murut -- and the Dayak are the one and only true Natives of Sabah and Sarawak respectively. In fact, the whole of the great island of Borneo is Dayak, a term which also covers Dusun.

As for the British...

The British were like the bull in a china shop but were nevertheless sufficiently focused to go to war with Bangkok, not once but twice, to carve out the peninsular south from Siam, the Thai kingdom. The British now had their own slice of Thai territory to plant rubber and mine tin.

All this is in our history books except that a political slant has crept in to depict the Siamese in a fairy tale as outsiders in the occupation of "Malay" land which, thanks to the British, had been freed from their control. In that case, why didn't the British also seize what is now known as South Thailand, also inhabited by Malay-speaking Muslim communities besides other Thais professing the Buddhist faith?

The British found the sultans descended from Bugis pirates governing river states - kerajaan sungei - which did not extend beyond their toll collection points and the narrow stretches on both of the river land near the coastline. In early Arab and Muslim history, a sultan was not aristocracy but a democratically elected spiritual head - a mini Pope or mini Caliph - of the local ummah (Islamic faithful).

The British could not fathom a ruler - albeit of the squatters - who did not have territory in the western sense. They lost little time in drawing the territorial boundaries of various states, stopped the toll collection, and as aforesaid arranged for the sultans – convenient British puppets -- to get regular pensions/allowances from their administration and stopped slavery, among other practices. They also started the Conference of Malay Rulers and stopped the practice of the Sultans sending the Bunga Mas – taxes in the form of tribute – to Bangkok. In future, the British would collect all taxes.

Again, all this is in the history books but it's the highly politicised interpretation that's misleading. Indians and Chinese, for example, have been trying to point out for decades since the British left that the Orang Asli are the one and only true Natives of the peninsular south and that the Malay-speaking communities don’t enter the picture here.

Muslim world influence?

There’s also Umno propaganda in our history books that the "independence" movement in the peninsular south was inspired by the Muslim world. Reference has been made to Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey.

Nothing could be further from the truth. How can anyone in the peninsular south look past the great freedom movement in an India on the march to places so far away for "inspiration"? Indonesia is an exception.

The reality is closer home. Muslims from Kerala, India, created the concept of Malay nationalism in Singapore to oppose Chinese economic domination. These Malayalees started the first press to print in the Malay language, reaching out to a wider population, and the first newspaper i.e. Utusan Melayu in Jawi and later Utusan Malaysia in Rumi.

Out of this first group of nationalists came Yusuf Ishak, whose portrait adorns the Singapore currency, and who became the first president of the island republic and city state. Another brother, Aziz Ishak, was sacked by first Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman as his Agriculture Minister. Aziz, alleged the Tunku, misused some money meant to buy feed for chickens. Rahim Ishak, the youngest of the brothers, became a Minister in Singapore.

Malay nationalism created by the Indians

The bottom line is that Malay nationalism had nothing to do with the Malay-speaking communities across both sides of the causeway.

It was a purely Indian creation, by failed anti-Chinese businessmen, drawing inspiration from Indian nationalism which led to Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience fueled-"Quit India" movement urging the British to leave the subcontinent.

Is it any wonder therefore that Mahathir Mohamad, of Malayalee roots, became the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He remains, after retirement, the de facto Prime Minister.

The efforts of the Malayalee Muslim creators of Malay nationalism have been rewarded in the Federal Constitution through the definition on Malay, Article 153 on Special Position – extrapolated in the New Economic Policy (1970-1990) --, Article 152 on the Malay language and Article 3 on Islam and Freedom of Worship, among others.

Malay language

The existence of a Malay language does not mean ipso facto that a Malay race follows. Language is no proof of the race.

Malay became the lingua franca of the Archipelago, hence Malay Archipelago, after the Hindu and Buddhist missionaries developed it from its Cambodian dialect origins into a medium of communication for religion, trade, administration and education.

The Hindus injected Sanskrit words into Malay.  The Buddhists injected Pali – a Sanskrit dialect used by Buddhists – into Malay. Both Hindus and Buddhists found Malay to be an easier language to learn and promote unlike the major languages in the region like Javanese and Sundanese.

All these facts should be mentioned in our history books and credit given where it’s due. We should get the self-serving politics, and cheap at that, out of our history.

Malaysia Chronicle