Tag: tradition

Ismail Kassim: A Malay Triology – Part II – Why Can’t Malays Take Islam In Their Stride?

To be a respected race, the Malays have to return to their roots. You don’t need to change your clothes or your culinary tastes but only change your minds. Discard the feudal thinking. Be modern, rational – not western, not Semitic.

The irony is that the good customs that the Malays should keep they discard; those that should be changed they retain like the way they have to cringe and debase, calling themselves vermin and dogs, every time they come face to face with their Sultans.

To his credit, Mahathir refused to indulge in such self-deprecating un-Islamic language during his long tenure as PM. The Sultans know better than to insist otherwise.

I agree that choice of dressing and greeting is personal. If someone wants to walk the Semitic path, that’s their privilege and there really is no harm at all.

What I disagree is the simplistic notion among some Muslims in this part of the world that behaving like Arabs bring them closer to the Lord and paradise. Some even seem to elevate such dressing into a cardinal principle of the faith.

Islam does not belong to the Arabs or to the Malays. It is a universal religion; a gift to mankind. Do not diminish its appeal and reduce the faith into one fit only for the kampungs and the fearful, and for the bigots and the psychopaths.

A good Muslim must also be a good human being, someone who is charitable, honourable, responsible, and upholds universal values that are shared across all ethnic and religious boundaries.

All religions, especially the established ones, face the same challenge: How to enhance faith in their set of theological beliefs and at the same time encourage their faithful to become more spiritual and better human beings?

In the case of the Muslims, I see many getting trapped in the religiosity of the faith, obsessed with the rituals and practices, the dos and don’ts and the can and cannot as laid down by long forgotten figures from the distant past.

As a result, instead of becoming more spiritual and better human beings as they should be, they sometimes end up the opposite – the result of not practicing the rituals as a means to a more enlighten goal but as an end in themselves.

For instance, the tudung is supposed to reflect the outward manifestation of an inner faith and not just a must-use piece of female attire to satisfy public opinion or to identify oneself with a particular religious group.

But obviously this is not always the case, judging by the number of women in traditional head garb going behind bars for CBT or abusing their maids or some other crimes.

How also to explain the endless supply of Sunnis volunteering for suicide missions? And mind you, not against infidels or imperialists but against fellow Muslims such as the long oppressed Syiahs.

We cannot sweep under the mat these mindless acts as just the work of mentally unstable individuals or the sub-normal or the misguided fanatics. We have to raise and ask the pertinent questions.

We cannot keep on excusing such actions by saying ‘tis the singer not the song. The time has come when we have to ask: Could it perhaps be a defect in the song? Or is it the way the song has been sung by the Al-Sauds that turns a perfect divine song into a defective one?

We also have to ask the extent of culpability of the community for the acts of these individuals. Do we, perhaps, because of our obsession with religious practices unwittingly provide cover to the suicide bombers and the foolish youths seeking martyrdom?

They cannot exist in a vacuum. Like fish that need water, these people could only survive in a sea of irrational religiosity, lying dormant most of the time until tipped over the precipice. We have to identify respectively both the push and pull factors.

The Islamic religious authority too appears to be trapped in the same religiosity syndrome. I have yet to hear any local preacher or a Friday sermon making the connection between religious rituals and, moral and ethical values.

Actually, as many atheists have demonstrated you don’t need to belong to any faith to become a good human being. Likewise, you don’t need to be very religious in your particular faith to travel the path of enlightenment.

To me, religion, unless accompanied by high moral and ethical standards, is quite meaningless, and this holds true for all believers irrespective of what faith they adhere to.

Religion is not meant just for the next world. The guidelines drawn up by the founders, the values they espouse and the obligations they impose on their followers are meant more to make life in this world more pleasant for all mankind.

If practised in the right spirit, fasting, the five daily prayers, ritual cleansing will not only be a joy but also bring immediate health benefits to the faithful; regard anything else that you may accrue for the next world as a bonus.

I believe if you take care of your life in this world, the next world will take care of it. You don’t have to worry needlessly.

But Muslims, especially Malays, are a fearful lot when it comes to religious practice. One of their greatest fears in life is the ‘’takut aqidah rosak’’ (fear of their faith being undermined or corrupted) syndrome.

That’s why many become blind followers, accepting everything thrown at them and reluctant to take any initiative on religious practice without first getting the blessings of their ulamas.

Source: Ismail Kassim

June 5, 2015
Ismail Kassim – A Malay Triology: Part 1 – Culture – Why Can’t Malays Be Malays?

Part 1: Why can’t Malays be Malays?

Outspoken Marina Mahathir, finally says it: ‘’I will go into exile if hudud is implemented.’’

For years I have been telling my friends: ‘’I rather face discrimination as a minority than risk getting my hands chopped off or my head lobbed off elsewhere.’’

It’s no secret that religious freedom doesn’t exist in Muslim-ruled countries. As for human rights,the record everywhere is appalling.

If you belong to the majority group, life may not be too bad provided you conform to all the dos and don’ts. If you are a minority – irrespective of whether it is ethnic or religious or belong to the wrong Muslim sect, then be prepared for the worst.

I am happy that my friends on the WhatsApp network have begun to voice their disgust at the turmoil in the Muslim world. Intolerance and bigotry reign unchecked amidst mutual slaughter.

The evil that ISIS spouts continues to attract a handful of youths and other misguided Muslims round the globe. Don’t they realise how despotic and self-serving a caliph will eventually be?

What has ISIS done since its emergence? Helping Palestinians or the Rohingyas, coming to the aid of oppressed Muslims? No, all they have been doing is killing other Muslims like Kurds, Yazidis and others who do not belong to their intolerant version of Islam.

Marina’s complaint against Arabisation of the Malay mind further stokes the embers of discontent among my friends. It is Arab colonialism, no less she adds.

One says it is high time the Malays bring Islam to the Arabs. Another suggests – drop the use of Arabic names for our children and our mosques. Someone chips in: We must make it clear we are Malay Muslims and not Malay Arabs.

To stoke the fire further, I decide to become the agent provocateur: ‘’Malays must go to civilise the Arabs. I support that.

’’My brothers, has anyone ever wondered why the Lord above sends prophets only to the Semitic people? Why the Malays have never got one? Think, think. Obviously, we don’t need one. Has anyone of us drown our new-born daughters in the seas?’’

Several instant responses: ‘’The only Arabs we need to respect are the Prophet and his close companions’’; ‘’when we eat Malay food even in public, we must use our right hands and not fork and spoons’’; and ‘’we must bring back the sarong kebaya and the ronggeng.’’

A convert adds, ‘’the problem is that Malays suffer from severe inferiority complex. They sacrifice the beautiful aspects of their culture in pursuit of so-called religious obligations.’’

Even in the 80s when I was reporting from KL, I noticed with distaste the spectacle of Malays trying to behave like brown Arabs.

Imagine the unsightly scene of two heavy weight men, or two fat, middle-aged, brightly painted women in embrace, trying to give each other a peck on the cheek Arab-style. It was a common sight at Umno meetings then.

What’s wrong with the Malays salam bersalaman ? How gracious….. palms lightly clasp and fingers exchanging touches and then the hands back to the chest!

Likewise, why exchange the Malay tudung or selendang and the sarong kebaya for the drab and black shapeless gowns that have been designed for use in the hot desert sands.

Both are gifts from our forefathers and both are among the most gracious female apparel ever designed by humans for use in our humid tropical climate.

After a recent tour of the small towns of Johore, I see more signs of Arabisation and Westernisation. Fast food joints such as KFC chicken, pizzas and burgers are easily available, but the mee rebus, rojak, tahu goring and gado-gado can hardly be found andmaybe on the path to extinction like the Malay selendang and kebaya.

So used are they to eating the Western fast food, I found many of them, including the older generation, seems to have forgotten to eat with their hands at the nasi padang stalls.

Have they forgotten the berkat traditionally associated with eating Malay food with hands and fingers?

I know how pernicious such food can be. Within a generation of receiving halal certificates, the Singapore Malays have been transformed from a tough and resilient ethnic group to become the unhealthiest.

In my youth, I used to envy Malay boys who can play in the rain, swim in the flood swollen drains without falling sick; now I look with amusement at the number of plumb, fat and overweight Malays especially among females that I come across in the streets. Sometimes, I think Malays have only two preoccupation: eating and religion

Have the Malays forgotten a saying that goes back generations that says customs must be preserved even at the cost of one’s child. (biar mati anak,jangan mati adat)

Nampak-nya sekarang, melayu celup macham saya, saudara baru and kaum Jawi Peranakan lebih menghargai adat2 Melayu daripada Melayu tulen. Dunia sudah terbalik.

The British describes Malays as Nature’s gentlemen – always polite and gracious with their own endearing traditions, customs and ways of dressing.

And those who have mixed with the Malays in the past have also largely become a more pleasant people – witness the Baba Peranakan, the Jawi Peranakan and the Arabs in our midst.

P/S: Ordinary folks everywhere are not be blamed; it is their leaders and the elites that must shoulder the responsibility for any shortcoming in the society.

Source: Ismail Kassim

June 4, 2015
Malay Weddings Don’t Cost $50 And Other Facts About Malay Culture By Hidayah Amin

ADA pelbagai buku tentang budaya dan warisan Melayu dalam bahasa ibunda tetapi hanya segelintir dalam bahasa Inggeris.

Atas dasar itu, penulis buku, Cik Hidayah Amin, merasakan sudah tiba masanya untuk mencetak buku, Malay Weddings Don’t Cost $50 And Other Facts About Malay Culture (Majlis Perkahwinan Melayu Tidak Berharga $50 dan Fakta-fakta Lain tentang Budaya Melayu).

Beliau, lulusan sarjana sejarah Universiti Cambridge, pernah menulis sebanyak 47 rencana mengenai budaya dan warisan Melayu di blog ‘Let’s Lepak’ bagi satu laman web milik Yayasan Antarabangsa Singapura (SIF), www.singaporekopitiam.sg.

Maklum balas positif yang diterimanya mendorong beliau membukukan rencana lama dan baru itu selepas laman web tersebut tidak lagi aktif.

Buku itu hasil syarikat penerbitan Cik Hidayah, Helang Books, merangkumi 42 rencana yang memberi panduan tentang budaya dan warisan, gaya hidup dan persona Melayu.

Bagi mempersiapkan buku itu, Cik Hidayah telah memilih dan membuat kajian tentang satu senarai topik yang luas termasuk satu bibliografi.

Antara topik dalam buku itu ialah When Visiting a Malay Home (adat istiadat semasa mengunjungi sebuah rumah orang Melayu); Khatan – The Journey from Boyhood to Manhood (amalan khatan); dan Potong Andam (adat mengetahui dara atau bukan).

“Penulisan saya membolehkan pembaca mudah mencerna maklumat padat dan seronok dibaca,” kata Cik Hidayah.

Katanya lagi, beliau juga mahu setiap esei dipadankan dengan gambar-gambar yang relevan untuk meningkatkan pembelajaran pembaca.

Justeru, selain mencetak gambar koleksinya, beliau telah mendapatkan beberapa gambar daripada kawan dan anggota keluarga.

Beliau juga telah membelanjakan sekitar $620 untuk membeli gambar luar biasa dan mendapatkan khidmat seorang pelukis ilustrasi untuk menghasilkan beberapa ilustrasi.

Selain itu, beliau juga telah membayar hak cipta untuk menerbitkan lima setem dalam bukunya kepada Muzium Filatelik Singapura.

“Buku ini ialah satu projek gotong-royong. Kawan-kawan menolong dengan membaca draf, mengambil atau meminjam gambar-gambar untuk buku, memberi sokongan moral, menyumbang tenaga di pelancaran buku dan sebagainya,” ujar Cik Hidayah.

Bagi memastikan agar kandungan buku itu jelas difahami buat pembaca bangsa asing, beliau telah bekerja sama dengan seorang bangsa Cina yang menyunting buku itu.

Sebelum ini, beliau pernah menulis buku koleksi 28 cerita tentang kehidupan keluarganya di rumah pusaka keluarga, Gedung Kuning, dari 1850-an hingga 1999.

Buku Gedung Kuning: Memories of a Malay Childhood diterbitkan pada 2010.

Beliau juga telah menerbitkan sebuah buku kanak-kanak berbahasa Inggeris berjudul The Mango Tree (Pokok Mangga Itu) pada tahun lalu.

Ia satu-satunya buku kanak-kanak yang terpilih dalam senarai kategori bukan fiksyen berbahasa Inggeris bagi Hadiah Sastera Singapura (Singapore Literature Prize) tahun ini.

Namun, Cik Hidayah menghadapi beberapa rintangan semasa menulis buku itu, antaranya kegagalannnya mendapatkan dana daripada pihak-pihak berkenaan kerana menurut pihak yang dimohon, beliau menulis adat istiadat yang tidak lagi diamalkan dan beliau menulis tentang pengalaman hidupnya di luar negara, selain menulis dalam bahasa Inggeris dan bukan Melayu.

Namun, beliau tidak berputus asa.

Akhirnya, beliau mendapat Geran Penyertaan Warisan (HPG) daripada Lembaga Warisan Negara (NHB) untuk mendapat subsidi bagi kos penerbitan.

Beliau juga mengalami cabaran lain yang melengahkan jadual melengkapkan buku itu, antaranya, editor buku terpaksa menjalani pembedahan kecemasan dan rawatan, manakala pereka grafik, Masturah Sha’ari daripada Maya Gallery, perlu berpindah ke pejabat baru.

Kini, Cik Hidayah, yang bakal menghasilkan buku kanak-kanak kedua, Mina Meets Cambridge, sedang membuat kajian untuk buku-buku tentang Kampong Gelam dan Kampong Tempe, berharap penulis dan penerbit tempatan mendapat sokongan.

Nota: Buku Malay Weddings Don’t Cost $50 And Other Facts About Malay Culture boleh dibeli di semua gedung buku utama Singapura dan Malaysia pada harga $29.90.

November 21, 2014