The Malay Dilemma Revisited

Me often ponder what will happen to the Malays in the next few decades given the sorry state they are in today. Many of us may not have read or even heard of the book “The Malay Dilemma” written by the former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir some 40 years ago, nonetheless, the book had then managed to stir up the “hornet’s nest” with its controversial new theory put forth to expound the roots of the Malay dilemma, until it was considered as being too insensitive to the Malay’s psyche and was banned shortly after its publication.

Fast forward 40 years later and after half a century of independence from the British, the characteristics of the Malays are still not much different from what were described in Tun Dr M’s book – as easy going, fun loving folks not known for the hard work that often characterizes a progressive society which to the uninitiated could easily led them to believe that the Malays are simply “lazy people”.

Why so? Me sure many of us would seriously contemplate over this matter. Moreover, if we are ourselves Malays, we would of course be concern and would want to know what ills our society and what could be done as a people to absolve us from such an unwarranted “lazy people” stigma.

Yet again, me often wonder what brave new theory can be put forward to address this matter by revisiting “the Malay Dilemma”. One thing is certain, as was then and now, there is nothing wrong with our DNA’s make up since God has created us all equal as human being. Further, to do more social engineering and experimentation after 50 years of trying would be futile as there is no such thing as a quick-fix-solution to mobilize a community to make them more progressive and at par with others.

From me own perspective, we are left with no other choice but to tackle the issue “head-on” using our very own internal resources in which only us Malays would know better our own latent strength and capability – as embodied in our Malay/Muslim heritage.

Looking inwards, we have to realize that as a community, we have in fact been very resilient and have managed to survive through the “thick and thin” for centuries and has thus far remained steadfast and intact either as Muslims or as one people known as the Malays.

Me was told that the word “Melayu” or Malay means “people who run away” to settle in another land which was then known as Tanah Melayu or Malaya. So in effect we are not really the native people or the “Bumiputra” in Malaya as our ancestors were also “Pendatang Asing” or migrants to this land that we lovingly called our homeland now known as Malaysia.

The only comparison that me can think of is whilst nowadays the “Pendatang Asing” is known as PATI (Tanpa Izin), our ancestors would have been known as PADI (Dengan Izin) ie. one migrants without permission – from the state authority, and the other, our ancestors, migrants with permission – from God!.

Me strongly feel that our salvation as a respected community would come from us emulating the pioneering spirits of the years gone by PADIs as exemplified by the present day PATIs in our country. As many of us would have now realized, the many PATIs that came to our shores with nothing except the burning desires to change their living conditions at home had actually succeeded in their quest to secure a more comfortable niche in the society – only as a result of their intense desires to survive the odds of living in an alien environment with their never ending struggles and sacrifices through their willingness to take risks and not knowing the meaning of failures…

Many of them PATIs are now economically well of as compared to the locals who had given “shelters and opportunities” to them in the first place. As compared to the PATIs, our locals – who are descendents of the PADIs, had seen only stagnation in their lots as reflected in their economic backwardness as they have been stuck to their outmoded economic model in believing that they are the Son-of-Soil (SOS) or Bumiputra and thus entitled to being the “rightful master of their own land”.

Sad to say that the reality and prospects of having the coveted title of SOS is no longer a guarantee for success to the locals as me had seen with so many other people who are also SOS in their own country, be it in the West or the East.

In this era of a borderless world, changes are the only permanent thing in life. Movement of people and goods across international borders are almost unstoppable as the information flows across the cyber space. Progress is thus being measured by the “quantum leap” in people movement and economic activities.

This is surely not good news for those SOS if they still remained static and stuck in their own make believe world – not willing to move away from their comfort zone. As compared to the progress made by the PATIs, who are “fortunate” enough to have experienced the trials and tribulations of being transplanted and “forced” to survive in an alien country, which in the end was proven to be their own salvation!.

In a nutshell, we Malays are at a critical crossroad and must quickly move to come out of our own dilemma – to either revert being PADIs like our forefathers and erasing the Bumiputra (SOS) mentality or get stuck to the status quo of being the “rightful-master-of-the-land” and be merry with stagnation and living with the unenviable stigma of being known as the “lazy people”…