Rilek1Corner

Tag: Malays

  • Lee Kuan Yew’s Belief In Hierarchy In Genetics Explains The Position Of The Malays In Singapore?

    Lee Kuan Yew’s Belief In Hierarchy In Genetics Explains The Position Of The Malays In Singapore?

    Lee Kuan Yew’s perception of racial equality is based on genetics hierarchy…

    Where the Chinese are on top…and the Malays at the bottom.

    During a speech at the University of Singapore in 1967, Lee Kuan Yew said:

    “Three women were brought to the Singapore General Hospital, each in the same condition and needing a blood transfusion. The first, a Southeast Asian was given the transfusion but died a few hours later.

    The second, a South Asian was also given a transfusion but died a few days later. The third, an East Asian, was given a transfusion and survived. That is the X factor in development. (145)

    Lee revealed in this speech, as reported by Chandra Muzaffar a perception of a racial hierarchy of Asians, in which the Chinese and other East Asians are at the top,

    Malays and other Southeast Asians are at the bottom, and Indians and other South Asians are in between. (149)

    Singapore’s multiracialism…encourages a high consciousness of one’s race even as it insists on tolerance.

    Further, it has been considered by many as a covert form of discrimination in favour of the majority Chinese

    and against the minorities, especially the Malays. (145)

    Reference:

    Barr, Michael D. “Lee Kuan Yew: race, culture and genes.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 29.2 (1999): 145-166.

     

    Source: Almakhazin SG

  • Has Islam here been robbed of its True Essence?

    Has Islam here been robbed of its True Essence?

    My ancestors came to the Malay World to spread Islam among the Malays. They preached tolerance and love for humanity. They shared useful knowledge that Malays learnt until they became better than those who brought Islam to them.

    My ancestors were Sufis. But they were Sufis who adhered closely to the Sunnah, to the traditions of the Prophet and Sahabah. Why? Because their greatest ancestor was the Prophet himself.

    But today, the people who claim to follow the path of these righteous predecessors have become intolerant. They seek to ban groups that do not conform to their line of thought. They lobby for speakers to be stopped from coming into the Malay world.

    They have departed far from the Ways of the Sufis in the past. They have forgotten the heritage of peace that was presented to them. They have substituted knowledge for positions and praise. They have forgotten their own selves.

    And because of this, I say that Islam here has been robbed of its True Essence. Will we ever return to the times when tolerance was a way of life? The moment in our past when ideas were fought with ideas and not with oppression?

    Source: Khairudin Aljunied

  • Abang-Abang Melayu SCDF Put Out Fire At Causeway Point, Even Though They Just Ended 24Hr-Shift

    Abang-Abang Melayu SCDF Put Out Fire At Causeway Point, Even Though They Just Ended 24Hr-Shift

    This morning, 8 off-duty firefighters from Bukit Batok Fire Station were having breakfast in a food court at Causeway Point after their 24-hour shift when they saw excessive smoke emitting from one of the stalls.

    They went to the kitchen to take a look and were alerted by the staff that a stove had caught fire. The Regular officer and 7 National Servicemen immediately sprang into action as their lifesaving instincts took over. 2 of them evacuated the staff from the kitchen while the rest evacuated other members of public to safety.

    They extinguished the fire with a hose reel and fire extinguisher. Due to their quick thinking, the damage was confined to the kitchen stove and no one was injured.

    Gentlemen, you have done us proud!

    ‪#‎ANationofLifesavers ‬‪#‎everydayheroes‬

     

    Source: Singapore Civil Defence Force

  • Zulfikar Shariff: Remember The Malay Regiment?

    Zulfikar Shariff: Remember The Malay Regiment?

    The Malay Regiment was established in 1933 as “a body of Malay
    troops who would share the responsibility of military defence and protection of their homeland”.

    The British were initially hesitant to train the Malays since they were known to be warlike and were fighters.

    They felt the problem was “not to get the Malays to fight (at which they had shown themselves only too ready) but to prevent them from fighting.”

    Johor established a Malay Regiment in 1885 and its success was used as proof of the efficacy of the project.

    The first batch of 25 soldiers from Malaya were selected from 1,000 applicants. This ensured a very high standard of recruits.

    During the Japanese invasion of Singapura, the Malay Regiment fought with their heart and their blood to defend the island.

    In the words of General Percival, the Malay Regiment “acquitted themselves in a way which bore comparison with the very best troops in Malaya.

    In particular, by their stubborn defence of the Pasir Panjang Ridge at the height of the Battle of Singapore, they set an example of steadfastness and endurance which will become a great tradition in the Regiment and an inspiration for future generations.”

    On “the morning of the 14th again saw enemy shells falling steadily on the Malay Regiment area and casualties mounted.”

    After heavy fighting, including some hand to hand combat, the Japanese army tried to trick the Malay Regiment by dressing like Punjabi soldiers.

    But the Malays quickly realised the trick and gunned down the enemy “at close range (which) left about 22 (Japanese) lying on the ground dead or wounded.

    The ruse having failed, the Japanese staged a determined attack about two hours later in overwhelming strength. Although the defenders fought bitterly with grenades and automatic weapons they were unable to hold the hill.”

    “Lt. Adnan, commander of Platoon No. 7,… encouraged his men. Mortally wounded he ordered his men to fight on to the last man.”

    Many of the men and all the officers (except Second-Lieutenant Abbas) died in the close and at times hand-to-hand fighting which developed. A number of the captured survivors were massacred by the Japanese.

    Lt. Adnan who, along with his brother officers, fought gallantly in this action was shot down and bayoneted by the enemy.

    His body was then hung upside down from a nearby tree; no one was allowed to cut it down for burial.”

    British “surrender did not mean the end of casualties to the Regiment.

    Within a fortnight five Malay officer-internees of the Regiment were summarily executed for refusing to serve under the Japanese or, alternatively, to put on civilian clothes and accept release.

    Most officers and men who escaped internment at Singapore were arrested on their return home during the year and imprisoned for a while.

    A number of the other ranks were pressed into forced labour gangs and sent to work as far afield as Siam and Indonesia.

    The majority were released from prison camps in Singapore at different dates in March when all up-country evacuees in Singapore were ordered to return home.

    Several of them in a party of 98 Malay personnel serving with the Imperial forces were removed by the Japanese military police and machine-gunned near the Gap.”

    Reference:

    Ramli, Dol. “History of the Malay Regiment 1933-1942.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965): 199-243.

    Picture: NCOs and Men of The Malay Regiment 27th May 1941.

     

    Source: Zulfikar Shariff

  • Zulfikar Shariff: Don’t Dilute Role Of Malays In Building Singapore

    Zulfikar Shariff: Don’t Dilute Role Of Malays In Building Singapore

    Growing up, I read and heard about Lim Boh Seng, Tan Kah Kee, Tan Tock Seng, Elizabeth Choy.

    And I wondered, apart from Lt Adnan and a few other rarely mentioned names, where are the Melayu, Indian, Eurasian personalities?

    Surely Singapura was not built solely on the back of Chinese migrants.

    It was later that I realised how Singapura’s history is Sinicised.

    And why we need to make sure we magnify the history of the other communities. Insha Allah in this post, I will briefly discuss a little bit of the colonial history of the Indians in Singapura.

    There were more than 100 Indians who arrived with Raffles in 1819, including Sepoys, clerks and the famous trader Naraina Pillai.

    Naraina Pillai was a trader and philanthropist who gave out substantial amounts of his wealth to build temples and other social causes.

    By 1873, there were about 12,000 Indians resident in Singapura. They were mainly labourers, financiers, traders, administrative workers and shopkeepers.

    But the British also brought a substantial number of Indian convicts. When the British left Bencoolen in 1825, they brought 600 Indian convicts with them. By 1860, there were 2,275 convicts residing in Singapura.

    However, British residents were not happy with the arrangement and by 1873, the remaining convicts were sent to the Andamans islands.

    Skilled Indian convict labourers contributed substantially to the city’s development.

    As Governor of the Straits Settlements, Colonel Blundell noted

    “The whole of the existing roads throughout the Islands… every bridge in both town and country, all the existing canals, sea wall, jetties, piers, etc., have been constructed by convict labour. But not only is the community indebted for these essential works to the mere manual labour of convicts, but by the introduction among them of a system of skilled labour, Singapore is indebted for works which could not otherwise have been sanctioned from the State funds.”

    The next time we walk pass St Andrew’s cathedral or the Istana….take note…

    They were built by Indian convict labourers.

    Reference:
    Sandhu, Kernial Singh. “Some Aspects of Indian Settlement in Singapore, 1819–1969.” Journal of Southeast Asian History 10.02 (1969): 193-201.

    Picture: Construction of the Government House (Istana)

     

    Source: Zulfikar Shariff