Letter to The Straits Times
SEPT 3, 2009
I am a Malay Singaporean and I am proud of it though the label “Malay Singaporean” often seems to make little sense to people outside of South-east Asia.
In my travels to other countries and in my current place of residence in the United States, I am often quizzed as to the meaning of this label.
“You mean, you are Malaysian?” I am asked. Or: “I thought Malays are Malaysians?”
My answer, each time, is “no”. Regardless of how often I have to repeat myself, I try, each time, to explain the differences between Malay Singaporeans and Malay Malaysians.
I say that history had united us and then separated us. Political leaderships and national policies have made us very distinct from one another.
This was not always the case. For many years after Separation, the racial and religious identities of Malay Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore took precedence over their national identities.
However, things have changed drastically over the past few decades and much of that has to do with how politics shaped the two communities.
I first realised how different I am from Malay Malaysians when I stayed in a kampung in Negri Sembilan for a week. I was there for a mini research project with some students a mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans, plus a few foreigners. We stayed with host families in a Malay village.
After the first four days in the village, I felt something was amiss. I could not put a finger on what it was. It was only when I was hanging out at a roadside stall and saw a Chinese man that it dawned on me what I was missing: I had not seen a single non-Malay person (outside of my student group) for four whole days!
The Chinese in the area lived in a separate village across the street while the Indians lived in yet another village near some plantations. In Seremban, I saw a building for a Chinese leisure club and another for Malay games or social activities.
Singapore was once like that. But over the decades, it changed. Every day now, when we step out of our flats, we see our Chinese, Indian and perhaps Eurasian neighbours. We share the same lifts, corridors, void decks, community parks and common spaces. We go to the same schools and workplaces. Our parliamentary representatives are multiracial. Malay Singaporeans are as much a part of the everyday realities of Chinese, Indian and Eurasian Singaporeans as they are of ours. This cannot be said of Malay and non-Malay Malaysians. In short, Malay Malaysians and Malay Singaporeans live in different political and social realities.
In a recent column published in Utusan Malaysia, former Malaysian information minister Zainuddin Maidin said that Malaysia’s current racial controversies mirror the issues that surfaced in the country during the May 1969 riots. He also said that Malaysia was right to remove Singapore as it had been a thorn in Malaysia’s flesh. The “poison…spilled by Kuan Yew more than 40 years ago,” he suggested, is the reason race relations remain fraught in Malaysia.
I wonder how wanting a system that promises equality for all, as compared to one that is biased and discriminating, can be “poison”. Well, perhaps one man’s meat is another man’s “poison”. Thanks to the “meat”, Singapore has become a city state where different races co-exist peacefully and all benefit from a meritocratic system.
Should Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew have ruled Singapore using the Malaysian “model”, with discriminatory policies favouring one racial group over others, people like me might have failed to enter university though our grades are good while people of another race are admitted though their grades are poor. We would then, understandably, have felt aggrieved and over time this would have manifested itself in unpleasant social tensions.
This brings me to Datuk Seri Zainuddin’s comment that “Singapore sticks to a Third World democracy despite having a developed world mentality while Malaysia has a Third World mentality but a developed world democracy”.
I accept his point that Singapore has a developed world mentality and do not deny that Singapore’s democracy is not like that of other First World countries’. Whether we will be better off having such a democracy is another debate
altogether. However, I think Singapore has greater political, economic and social democracy than Malaysia.
There is no money politics here, and our system of equity based on merit pervades almost all sectors of our society.
Singapore has changed phenomenally since its separation from Malaysia. There are still challenges to overcome in the different communities, including among Malay Singaporeans, but we are at least at peace with one another.
History teaches great lessons – but only to those who want to learn from it.
I am a Malaysian living in Singapore for over 20 years and throughout my years of working in Singapore I have not changed my citizenship for one reason, I still have an attachment to my own country.
However, the same cannot be said on my respect for the present ruling party. the result of their strategy forms most part of my reasons in hessitation to come back to contribute to my country.
I agree very much with the writing to Straits Times. While staying in Singapore, I experience what I never have in Malaysia, racial harmony. Just my floor alone have 1 Indian family, 2 Malay families and 4 Chinese families. My closest neighbour ( in terms of friendship ) is the Malay family. We would be visited by a Minister in a near future and guess what? We discuss with each other on what issues to be raised during the visit.
Same cannot be said about Malaysia, because of years of divide and rule strategy, Malaysia has become a country with territorial grounds. Except for its religious majority of Muslim, there is no difference with Isreal. How ironical that Malaysians are forbid to visit Isreal when the system deploy is similar in nature.
In Singapore, the government is the only one who is still not confident of racial harmony. they might have a lot of screw ups and known to be blood suckers, but they are unrelentless in ensuring the promotion of racial harmony, which one quality that I value.
I am not alone, I have a group of friends whom I knew since years ago, we are Malaysians still but the inequality in this country is so great that it has prevented all of us to even think of migrating back. I really hope to see a greater change in the next election to kick out race politics.
it was a pleasure to read this article , will go down later to have a chat with people older than me all singaporeans (no matter what race) after my malay friends break their fast——hey a couple of them may bring titbits for the discussion.
Something the present government ought to read and to reflect deeply on …..
Thanks for this. A letter worth passing on!!!
Something the government of the day should read and reflect deeply on …….
As a minority in Singapore, the writer could speak so proudly of the melting pot in their country.
As a minority here, there is nothing for me to brag about.
At least Singapore have 1st world mentality.
We are stuck with both 3rd world mentality and 3rd world democracy.
Seems like our formal Information Minister Maidin giving distorted and false information all together.
Yes, I worked in Spore and met many Malay Singaporeans. They are very different, very efficient, open minded and did not want to have any association with Malay Malaysian. Sometimes, I tried to converse in Malay but they seemed prefer to converse in English. They prefer to keep their mother tongue to their own.
It is the same, if I encountered any other races say a French converses hokkien to me, I’ll be surprised and uncomfortable too. But I’m impressed as he probably be 1 out of 100 who can converse the same language. But believe he will be equally impressed if I can reply him in French. That’s how we blend with international community.
But then, not the case here. Looks like it, sounds like it but we are not united inside. Thks to BN policies that split this nation.
Over in this country most of the politicians prefer playing with racial fire, prefer to stay under tempurung.
It is refreshing and edifying to read your letter Malay Singaporean. Thank you. I spent my childhood days in the Krian District, Nothern Perak which is predominately Malay. I had many Malay friends then and I still regard Malays as nature’s gentlemen. I recall vividly and fondly the 60s and early 70s and according to my dad during his time when interaction among Malays and non Malays were at its best. Sadly the situation is so different these days.
This is certainly a thought provoking theme. Are Malay Singaporeans different from Malay Malaysians? This is something that could have been dealed with more thoroughly. The main premise of the letter however really questions the racial divide / harmony between the different races living in our mutual countries.
As the author himself put it, he stayed in a malay village. I gather this means this was an area of land in which malay families settled into maybe 50-100 years ago. The fact that he saw no chinese people then in this village is not at all surprising ..right?
Malaysia is a country blessed with the abundance of land. Families that settled into this area years ago have had not faced the threat of resettlemend due to urbanisation. If they do not move, how then can other people move in? This holds true for the chinese and indian villages.
I think it highly unlikely that singaporeans choose to make their homes based upon an analysis of the the diversity of races in their apartment blocks.
This is merely a consequence of urbanisation and that the fact that every singaporean has to fight for a unit in a highly affordable HDB housing schemes unless they are wealthy enough to afford private property.
Unfortunately, what the Author has described is in fact a WEALTH DIVIDE amongst singaporeans.
The apartments merely highlight a fact that singaporeans live their lives in a world that is stratified by wealth and not a reflection of racial harmony.
A further example of racial integration in Malaysia can be seen in that all malaysians speak malay & increasingly malay children are being sent to chinese primary schools.
The policies of malaysia and singapoe in the past could never have been the same due to the vast discrepancy in land size & population size & demographics.
History teaches great lessons – but one must be careful what lessons one takes away from it.
A very good letter by a Singaporean from a Malay race.
The only diffrent with Malay in Malaysia and Malay in Singapore is:
Malays in Singapore work hard to come up in life eversince Singapore separated from Malaysia and become a Republic. They know the value and need of hard work to earn good life.
Malays in Malaysia were spoon feed by The UBN Regime since the time of Razak Era. Under the name of New Economic Policy. The policy which make the rich become richer and the poorer worst.Only Umno malays and their cronies get reacher and earn easy money just by sleeping on bed at home by the name of “Bumiputra License”.And these are the group of Malays talking about racial day and night.
If we were to see some of our Malay brothers and sisters who are not racial and have close relationship with the non Malays here means the group are from the hard work and earn catogeris. Not by the goverment subsidies.All the Malays in these groups are mostly in Pakatan Now now.
Those malays in Umno is the racist .The worried their future will be taken away by the non in future.If its happen they cannot get free money and must work to feel their stomach.
Dr M always said the Malays in Singapore are victimised one minister even said Singapore is a 3rd world democratic country whereas Malaysia is 1st in terms of democracy. Have they no shame or they think that all the Malays in Malaysia are gullible fools that have never seen the world.
The way things are going in Malaysia very soon ( remember cow head incident ? )it will lack behind Indonesia and goes the way of many other underdeveloped countries. Its glory days has past prepared for the darkness. The rich will migrate leaving the poor to fend for themselves