About 15 years ago, I was invited by Allahyarham Ebrahim Marican for a meeting at his office in Golden Landmark.
He was a brilliant man. Already 67 years old then, he was still active in various community causes. He was a leader of the Indian Muslim community in Singapore and was on MUIS council in the 80s.
He was also a PAP cadre and shared with me quite a bit of information about the PAP.
He invited me to speak with him after reading some of my posts in cyberummah. We would meet every few weeks to discuss various issues.
In one of our conversations, we discussed the supposed minority status of the Malays in Singapore.
He argued that Malays should not see themselves as a minority community.
According to Allahyarham Ebrahim, “If I have a house and some people come to stay in my house, no matter how many of them there are, it is still my house.
Even if there are only 4 people in my family and 30 other people come to stay, it is still my house. I cannot be classified as a minority. I am the house owner.”
Malays are not a minority community in Singapore. They are the house owners.
There is a majority community (Chinese), Indigenous community (Malays) and minority communities.
We need to stop seeing Malays as minority. No matter how many come to stay, the Malays are still the house owners.
Source: Zulfikar Shariff
