Destroying Capacity...

...as opposed to capacity building. 

I am referring to Muslims in Malaysia and to the Malays in particular.

When the New Economic Policy was formulated in 1970 a few things were not factored in. 

One is the negative influence of religion on impeding the economic progress of the Malays. The NEP did not foresee that the Malays would become so arabised and talibanised beginning from 1983.

Another one would be the rise of China and its huge impact (positive) on the economic progress of the non Malays (especially Malaysian Chinese) minus the Malays playing any significant part in the China trade.

From before WW1, until WW2, Independence in 1957, until the 1960s and into the 70s the Malays were none too paranoid about religion. Those were the decades when they were perhaps better Muslims. 

You can argue this but in my opinion the Islamic missionary indoctrination in this country began with the mamaks. Yes my people. After the May 13 incident, many people began getting involved in martial arts (kung fu for the Chinese, silat for the Malays, silambam and kalari payat for the Indians). People wanted to be ready for the next fight - just in case. 

It was paranoia. As a nation we are not the type to pick a fight. It was wasted anxiety.   The spinoff was that many people became physically fitter. 

Among the Malay silat groups, quite a few of their major gurus were mamaks. They are still there until today. Silat, Malay identity, the martial spirit, self reliance, religion and more were taught by these silat organisations. Led by the mamaks.

The mamaks have a longer history of struggle in the name of bangsa, agama and negara. In India the mamaks had strongly supported the creation of Pakistan. It was an Islam versus Hindus thing. 

The mamaks had much earlier on caught on to the colonial exploitation of Muslim lands including Palestine and grimaced at the "invasion" of Jerusalem. This would be  pre WW2 (Jewish settlement in Palestine), to 1948 (first Arab Israeli War) until 1967 (Israeli occupation of the West Bank) and beyond. 

The infamous Maria Hertogh riots in Singapore in 1950 came just two years after the birth of the State of Israel in 1948. The riots were led almost entirely by mamak Tamil Muslims. Two Tamil Muslims, Karim Ghani and Othman Ghani  were among the five sentenced to death. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison after the intervention of Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1951. The Maria Hertogh riots are not part of the Malay narrative in Malaya. The mamaks always had a heightened sense of   identity with religion.

The mamaks also had serious nostalgia about the Ottoman Empire and its overthrow. Then they also had serious nostalgia about Mustafa Kamal Ataturk who overthrew the Ottomans. They admired both. 

Quite a number of mamaks named their children 'Mustafa Kamal'.   Hence if there are any Malays who bear this name 'Mustafa Kamal' - you can be quite certain they are of mamak ancestry.  This includes Tan Sri Mustafa Kamal of course.

Lets take an example of Ottoman influence - the Maulidur Rasul or celebrating the Prophet's Birthday. The celebration of the Prophet's Birthday was a Turkish Ottoman thing. The Ottomans made a big thing about the Prophet's Birthday or Maulidur Rasul.

Since the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks who were Sunnis were challenged by the Persian Saffavids who were Shiahs.  To stir up anti Sunni Ottoman feelings, the Shiah Saffavids promoted the Shiah remembrance of the Massacre of Kerbala where they would cry 'Ya Hassan, Ya Hussain" (or the 'Hobson Yobson' as the Brits would say it). 

To rebut the Shiah Saffavids, the Sunni Ottomans played up the Maulidur Rasul or Prophet's Birthday - with marching, drums, singing the Qaseeda Burda Sharif (songs praising the prophet) and such.

The mamaks in India and all over the world were great admirers of the Ottoman Milladul Shariff aka Maulidur Rasul. I recall the 'Miladul Sheriff' as a child in the 1960s.  There were the prayers and singing the qaseeda in the mosque.  

 
Here is an example of the Qaseeda Burda Shariff  but from elsewhere in the world.

The best part of the Milaadul Rasul  was the special fragrant rice (nasi minyak) that was cooked in the masjid (Masjid Jameeah India in Ipoh) and distributed to everyone. The rice would have cashewnuts and raisins in it. It was best eaten with dhalcha.  

The milaadul shariff was a big thing in all mamak communities throughout Malaysia. 

At that time the celebration of the Maulidur Rasul was rather subdued in the Malay community. There were hardly any parades with the exception of perhaps Johor.

Post May 13, 1969, there was a heightened sense of religious identity. There were more Malays celebrating the Maulud Nabi all over the country. Much later there would be the Maulud Nabi parades in Kuala Lumpur. Now it is almost mandatory for the PM to attend these parades as well. Even Lim Guan Eng walked in the parade in Penang.

The 1970s also saw the rise of Islamic missionary activity in Malaysia. Again the guys who kicked this off seriously were the mamak Tabligh people. Tabligh began in Delhi in the late 19th century and became established throughout India. 

In those days, almost every mamak family in Malaysia would have participated in Tabligh. It was very widespread in all the Masjid Indias located around the country.  As I mentioned before my own father died in Pakistan while travelling on a Tabligh mision. I used to accompany my father in the Tabligh congregation at the Masjid Benggali in Leith Street in Penang.

In the 1970s, Malays began participating in the tabligh. Up to the early 1980s it was still known as 'Tabligh India'.  By the mid 1980s the Malays far outnumbered the mamaks in Tabligh. So the "India" was dropped and it became just Tabligh. 

Then the Iranian Revolution happened in 1979. The Iranians began flexing their Shiah muscles.  To fend off the Iranian Shiahs, the Wahhabi Saudi Arabians (thanks to excess funds from their oil embargoes) began funding Wahhabism all over the Islamic world. This influence soon spread to Malaysia. Saudi money helped create the many dakwah movements in Malaysia. 

Religion started creeping into many aspects of Malay life.  The crowning glory for the dakwah movement was when their main proponent was abosrbed into the government and made a Minister in 1983. 

That sealed the fate of the Malays. The country has been steadily going down the road to talibanisation since then. Here is a rough list of what happened in Malaysia since say the 80s:

• male muslim athletes had to wear longs during sports activities
• muslim girls began to disappear from the sports arena
• male Muslim swimmers were discouraged from wearing swim trunks 
• news readers began wearing the head cover
• a slew of "religious offenses" were legislated
• the religious courts were given more powers
• entertainers like Anita Sarawak, Sheila Majid etc were frowned upon
• 'Islamic' music like Raihan was promoted, Siti Nurhaliza was favoured
• the Constitution was amended to exclude Mulims from some parts of it
• religious education in schools became amplified
• religious teachers became 'religious commisars' over all school affairs
• girls were discouraged from rhythmic gymnastics
• the rise of religion based politics
• the who-doed song began to play loudly
• morning prayer & religious talks were introduced in all govt departments
• government departments had religious advisors
• prayer was introduced in all govt functions
• islamic banking became established
• banks had syariah advisors
• halal certification / halal stickers introduced
• Malay students travelled to India, Pakistan & M. East in large numbers 
• plus many more (please feel free to add to the list)

So the Malays became overly religion conscious since the 1980s.  This heightened religious consciousness is therefore still a new phenomenon among Malays.

Unfortunately it is the sectarian religion of the 16 century Ottomans, Saffavids, the 15th century Arabs and so on.  It is not the Islam of the Quran.

This is actually a huge step backward for the Malays.  Unfortunately the pace of this going backward is still accelerating. It has not peaked.  The Malays still have a long way to go - to hit the bottom of the hill. 

Recently I was talking to an expatriate Muslim who has "moved" here from the US (ikut bini), where he was a scientist. His describes the Muslim society  here as an 'intellectual desert'. He says "there is no thinking among Muslims in this country".

In brief all this is destroying the capacity of the Malays and Muslims to become modern, progressive people. 

Their new found infatuation with Islam since the early 1980s is taking them headlong back to the 10th and 15th centuries. It is not taking them even to the 20th century. This is not capacity building but capacity destroying.

Just a little bit more. Bear with me. 

This destroying capacity or capacity destruction has many, many sides to it. Here is another example.

This negative influence of religion (I never use the word 'Islam' in the negative, only 'religion') is also destroying the usefulness of the fully residential school system (sekolah asrama penuh) which played such a huge - but very, very short - role in uplifting the standing of the Malays.

In 1970 the NEP identified the poor social, cultural and economic environment of

the kampongs and Malay society in general as unable to nurture progressive Malay students. 

Hence the fully residential schools or sekolah asrama penuh were hugely expanded.

The sekolah asrama penuh were not only centers of academic study and excellence but they provided a completely new and different social and cultural environment for the young Malay students. 

Their teachers were of a multi racial background (true of many fully residential schools) and also included Mat Salleh teachers. The sekolah asrama penuh nurtured the students in debate, performances, activities and sports - minus religious influences.   

An old friend, an old time student of the MCKK (a classmate of Anwar Ibrahim) told me how other than learning maths, english, geography etc, students in his batch would discuss buddhism, socialism, Islam, music, art etc.  

The residential schools were a completely new and invigorating experience for the kids from the kampongs and the districts. The environment inside the residential schools was modern and contemporary with the 20th century.

But this is not the case anymore. The religious creep has affected the sekolah asrama penuh as well. By the year 2000 the sekolah asrama penuh had also been infected with 15th century religionism. There was also less "multi culturalism" on the campuses. They also became breeding grounds for the latent "ketuanan" philosophy.

Just a few days ago, a friend who is a graduate of one of these residential schools said quite proudly of his MRSM days, "We were a fully Malay school".  Somehow I dont think that is a very useful thing to say in the 21st century. Or even in the 20th century. 

It is evidence enough that these schools were teaching an exclusive mentality in the kids. "Us versus them".  Kita lawan depa. Inclusiveness was not in the vocabulary. 

In 2000, my son was offered a place at the fully residential Sultan Abdul Halim school in Jitra, Kedah. We politely turned down the offer.  I knew their minds would not get that all round exposure that is so critical in the real world. We made the right decision.  Both my sons are now wonderful, all rounder, at-home-anywhere-in-the-world type of young men.   No hangups, no baggage, no ghosts behind every door. 

The "environment" in the sekolah asrama penuh has now metamorphosized (morphed) into the very same "village environments" from which they were supposed to save the Malay kids. It has gone quite the other way. 

The  biggest nightmare is of course the so called MRSM Ulul Al Bab campus. These are the MRSM "madrassahs" which are full fledged "religious campuses". They do teach school subects but the girls wear the tudung labuh and the boys wear kopiah to class. Religious subjects are compulsory. I dont think the students will be discussing socialism or buddhism (other than perhaps saying that they are 'sekular', of the 'unbelievers' etc.)   I doubt the kids will have any worldview other than that of their own cocoon.  

The question is 'are we giving them the capacity to become world citizens? Especially in this 21st century world? I dont think they can become citizens of the world anytime soon. They will need their cocoons where they can be champions (jaguh).

Our system is destroying capacity folks. Especially the capacity of our young people. I hope the Malays and the Muslims take note.