Monday, November 13, 2017

How the Malays see nons

On a couple (or more) occasions I had written of earlier Malay movies which stereotyped us Malaysians as:


Malay actress 

(a) the cool mature wise elderly Malay patrician, with well groomed greying or imposing white hair and likewise moustache, sitting on his rattan armed chair beneath a gently swirling fan in an impressive bungalow with gi-normous veranda. Dressed immaculately in a spotless white long sleeve shirt complete with cravat, he puffed slowly on his briar. He paused before he spoke in a gentle deep sonorous tome to some villager-audience, calmly delivering pearls of wisdom that were balanced, fair and wise.


(b) the sweaty fat half-bald Chinaman in singlet sometimes even rolled up halfway to his armpits (wakakaka) with shifty fearful eyes in loud squeaky voice argued his points with crude gestures, while leaning in a indiscipline pose besides his Toyota half-truck which has his dodgy dacing and other tricky apparatus.


Malay actress 

(c) the clownish Indian, sometimes skinny as a scarecrow, sometimes obese as Fats Domino, in dirty dhoti and with wild jerky hand movements and rolling eyeballs, speaking loudly on some points of discontentment in a raucous voice, only interrupting his monologue with frequent expectoration of red beeda-lime coloured sputum.

Thus the stereotypes as summarised would be the Clint-Eastwood-silent wise dignified Malay Patrician with the greasy questionable Chinaman and a clownish noisy Indian.

If a Chinese woman was involved, she would be a flirtatious slut madly in love with the hero (a Malay of course) or be converted into a repentant pious Muslim eventually.

Today the above Indian stereotype has metamorphosed into gangsters with tacky thick gold chains around their necks as they swaggered around in loud Hawaiian shirts, 2 buttons undone, while terrorising sweeties in colourful saris.


Malay actress  

And Aneh, Commander (retired) Thayaparan provided a version of this in his title-telling
Peaceful Malays and gangster ‘pendatangs’, in which he wrote (extracts):


This is really about how a majority of the Malay community, be it urban or rural, view non-Malays – Indians in this case – and the belief systems foisted on them through years of indoctrination and partisan politics, that they are a peaceful community, whose way of life – courteous, religious and sedate – is always at risk because of non-Malay presence on Tanah Melayu.

When inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun (photo) says that Aidi did not have any intention
of making a racial remark, what he was getting at was that Aidi was merely promulgating the greater narrative that Malays are a peaceful religious people, who would be living in religious harmony were it not for the influence of the “other” races.


Malay actress  

This relates to what Terengganu police chief Aidi Ismail had said, to wit, that the majority-Malay communities In Terengganu were exempt from 'gangsterism' because the population there was 97% Malays.

Some quarters were outraged at his remarks because by implication Aidi has insinuated or indirectly implied other races were the source of gangsters.

Though Aidi did not mention any specific non-Malay community, the Indians which have in recent years been blamed for a variety of crimes took umbrage. That galvanised Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy into demanding an apology from Aidi Ismail for his “race and crime” remarks.


Malay actress  

Aneh wasn't too pleased with what Ramasamy has done as it in turn implies a 'kalau makan cabai, baru rasanya pedas'.

Besides, Aneh believes in our race-conscious society, Malay politics will not countenance any apology for the type of perceived 'wrong' that the Terengganu CPO has done, wittingly or otherwise. To paraphrase Eric Segal, 'ketuanan means never having to say sorry'.


Malay actress  


6 comments:

  1. rpk n his type will respond y only u can label the malay terrorist n lanun? when they call u indian gangster n prostitute, u complain pula.

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  2. Stereotypes often have foundations in fact, but people need to be aware that stereotypes are not always applicable.
    The Malay stereotype of Chinese DAPsters, exclusively entrenched in Chinese culture and society, barely able to speak Bahasa, for example, is often to be found, but not all DAP members are like that.

    Just as folk tales have often been found to have been linked to actual historical incidents.

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  3. It is very much true that rural Malays have virtually no interest in gangland activities.
    Even in urban areas, the involvement of Malays in criminal gangland activities is a fraction of Chinese and Indian activities.

    The truth may be too hard to handle for some.

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    Replies
    1. The truth by Mariam Mohktar will be even harder for you to handle...go read and weep, wakakaka.

      https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/401732

      A comment by one by the name of Abasir on the article by MM :

      Abasir13/Nov/2017 at 2:04:11pm

      MM's long list of dark deeds by malays is indeed impressive - ranging from high corruption and embezzlement by the well-heeled defenders of bangsa & agama to snatch-thieving, incest and a variety of sex-related offences by mat rempits and other bottom feeders. The question though is this - has this caused any disquiet among the Malays? Obviously not since no Jakim-scripted sermon, to my knowledge, has even obliquely addressed it. Could it all be the fault of the DAP?


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    2. More comments on MM's article of Malay Gangster Activities :

      Existential Turd14/Nov/2017 at 7:46:35am
      When the police force becomes thuggish, of course they do not see gangsterism as a problem.

      Existential Turd14/Nov/2017 at 7:22:10am
      The biggest gangster organization in Malaysia is a certain political party that rhymes with dumno.

      MTU13/Nov/2017 at 11:16:13pm
      Champions of corruption are the melayus in PDRM, Custom, local municipal, AG office etc

      Hamzah Paiman13/Nov/2017 at 9:37:38pm
      It's not that there are no gang related activities because they are all Malays. The probable cause just like what has always been happening in Malaysian schools is that these cases are swept under the carpet to make the school look good. I've even heard of complaints by teachers that school heads say that kita jangan heboh-hebohkan kerana semuanya orang kita

      Andy Vinodovich13/Nov/2017 at 12:44:08pm
      The insecurities and the inferior complexities of this race is just overwhelming. I need to read again Syed Hussein Alatas. Wake up and lose your cane

      Tan Kim Keong13/Nov/2017 at 12:31:40pm
      I hate to say it but Mariam's 'racial profiling' of the litany of crimes mentioned are facts. However, racially profiling crimes is also reek with racism, but unfortunately in Mariam's deliberation it is based on facts.

      Anonymous 171940149691991613/Nov/2017 at 11:44:55am

      Well said Mariam and we were all wondering why we have little or no respect anymore for PDRM and police personnel. Aidi's statement also showed what we thought of most police top brass - yes men, morons and empty tins. These top brasses think they can say anything and get away with it because they are the law. It is time this stop. Hopefully, when PH wins, a.minor re-shuffle is done within PDRM. Get rid of all the dead wood and bring those who brought disrepute to justice.

      Anonymous 243647147641472613/Nov/2017 at 11:42:57am
      A well written piece Mariam. No doubt this would cause a lot of red faces amongst the "pious" Malays. All too often we are quick to point fingers at other people, race and religion when we should take a deep look at our race and religion first. While we preach to others the virtues about integrity we not only look the other way but even defend those who commit corruption, simply because the perpetrators are leaders with power. The classic case is the RM2.6 billion "Arab donation". As you rightly pointed out government agencies such as Felda, Mara, NFC are ravaged by none other than the Malays. Similarly the wanton destruction and felling of timbers in Sarawak and Sabah which are done with the blessing of the powers that be, the Malays , who have enriched themselves to become billionaires in the process. Sadly we cannot see or refuse to see what hypocrites we are.

      Anonymous 181135150458675514/Nov/2017 at 10:08:15am
      Puan Mariam Mokhtar lay bare what are obvious but yet many Malays are in denial. We are witnessing a number of those in the power corridor or beneficiaries of the Umno gravy train system exhibit blatantly “ Ketuananan Melayu “ syndrome with self justified “ social contract “ as rent seekers. Trengganu CPO should not have glorified the Malays are free of gansterism or crime in the state but have a hard look at how many rape cases , child abandoning , drug addicts and thieving in the state compare to nation wide statistics instead. Indeed any civil servant using race profiling should be admonished instead. The Police Chiefs can do a better job by maintaining public security both on the roads and in our neigbhorhood instead of involving politics and hoping for a fat retirement second career in GLCs by busy currying favour with the Power that Be . We should not allow civil servants to be seconded to GLCs upon retirement as this is certainly an enticinsing incentives perfectly legal and yet obviously compromising.















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  4. Ya loh, the truth may be too hard to handle for some.

    Especially for those who r dreaming their wet dreams under the tempurung le!

    For a group (defined as in man made prerequisites of the Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution rather than genes) who claims to 'invent' amok-mengamok, usually in a groupie, virtually no interest in gangland activities is a twisting of a definition aka in the wordplay of that professor emeritus' bugi pirates!

    For the ketuanan freak, tiga lines is not a gangland outfit. The red shirt is not a gangland outfit. Neither is those who created riots around plaza lowyat after one of them been caught red-handed in stealing!

    Those snap thieves that terrorizing the housing estates r Indo imports mah!

    They r all defenders of the alifbata... wakakakaka...sigh..

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