When will being Malay no longer be the topic du jour?

I may enjoy researching about Muslims and Malays in Malaysia, but I felt quite drained after attending a few too many gatherings to discuss about Malays/Muslims in all aspects.

Last month at the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), which organised a Roundtable on the Politics of Race in Malaysia, with speakers such as GMM CEO Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming, associate professor of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Dr Meredith Weiss, Merdeka Center executive director Ibrahim Suffian, Parit Buntar MP Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa and Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli taking to the floor, pondering and debating on the state of race and religion in the country.

Last week, I was privileged to have attended a closed-door roundtable on Malay leadership, attended by corporate luminaries and public intellectuals. It is not always that one attends such gatherings, and for that I am very appreciative.

Yet as all these roundtables proceeded, I wondered to myself as to whether such gatherings would always revolve around the same topics, attended and participated by the same people, and observed by the same audience. 

I do not mean to demean these efforts, as these are very important issues to contend with, but I wonder (1) if everyone else in Malaysia is as concerned about these problems, and whether (2) the conversation would go beyond media coverage and columns, and yes, the boardroom.

That we are almost 60 years old and the conversation is still the same worries me: is this bubble the true voice of (Malay)sia?

(Oddly enough, religious issues don’t play much on an impact on the electorate; it was more about bread and butter issues, and political alliances.)

The fact that the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) has yet to resolve our racial-religious issues is testimony to our not being able to meet halfway – we are still debating what it means to be a native Malay/Chinese/Indian!

One thing is for sure, more Malays identifying themselves as Muslims first is a fact that we must accept.

One can scream hell and high water, and blame "Islamisation" for all the "ills" that is happening in the country, but as I have said many times before, more Muslims – Malay, Chinese, Indian – are becoming more observant of their faith.

Frankly, I do not like the word "Islamisation" as it connotes hysterical images of terrorism, Muslim women being beaten up, honour killing, every negative perception about the religion and Muslims.

Muslims asserting themselves is also a global phenomenon. This is not something new, and neither is it embraced by all and sundry. As a friend pointed out, Malaysian Muslims might seem to identify themselves more to religion as compared to other "moderate" Muslim countries  but other countries show similar trends.

A quick look: The Ministry of Education Malaysia Quick Facts 2014 Report reported a demographic drop in government primary school enrolment as well as (government) lower secondary. 

In 2011, there were 2,860,340 students enrolled in government primary schools; in 2012, there were 2,811,264. However, in 2013, there were 2,742,989 students enrolled in government primary schools.

(Lower-secondary numbers were similar: in 2011, there were 1,385,574 students, and in 2012, 1,368,172 students and in 2013, 1,363,395 students. Upper-secondary saw quite a drop: in 2011, there were 837,288 students; in 2012, 844,821 and in 2013, 845,712.)

However, there is an increase in students attending Government Aided Religious Schools (GARS). Add to that the rise in popularity of private religious schools in Malaysia.

“What we need to look at is whether these schools, the private and non-accountable religious schools, are equipping these students with enough skills for the modern world,” my friend said.

The conversation we should be having (especially among Muslims) is what strain of Islam does Malaysia want for her Muslim citizens, and how this will impact multicultural Malaysia that is seeing a huge demographic shift with migrant workers now making our country their home, temporarily or not.

How are we going to mainstream all religious practices and rituals to become a norm in a dominantly Muslim country, and accepted by Malaysians?

How are we to challenge all of these when there is a huge population of Malay(sians) who believe in their stereotypes? Facebook rants and babbling don’t count.

But back to GMM’s roundtable in August 2015. Institutionalised racism is in our DNA. I quote Rafizi Ramli when he spoke at the roundtable, “There will always be an audience for race politics in Malaysia.”

Here’s a conversation all of us should be having, since we are on the topic of the Malay malaise: What would happen if we started collecting data on how the people it serves actually feel about their lives?

What would the conversation be like if we allow the Malays out of the political and civil society spheres, to speak for themselves? An addendum: let’s include every Malaysian in the picture too. (Do read if you have the time).

I suggest this because the conversation is owned by so-called liberal/educated Malay class and they come from a centre of privilege. They have options. The other Malays may not.

I also suggest that these exercises be done for all Malaysians across the spectrum.

Malaysia is at a political and economic crossroads. As it reaches its 58th year of independence, the nation is now facing a crisis in leadership, and many structures in education, social development, the law, to name a few, are falling apart. This is part of a growing democracy.

If the country’s vision for 2020 is that Malaysia becomes fully developed along these dimensions - economically, politically, socially, spiritually, psychologically and culturally – then by 2050, we must be already be practising national unity and social cohesion, economy, social justice, political stability, system of government, quality of life, social and spiritual values, national pride and confidence.

We need a contemporary narrative of Malaysian voices on society and religion today, and for the next decade. These voices have to be new, robust and from the ground. And they cannot be from urban areas any longer.

The discussions must leave the hallowed halls of the academic and political elite, and go to the ground. – September 18, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.