An inspiring ‘abang’ departs

I first experienced the death of a friend at the age of eighteen. A friend with whom I used to discuss Sufism in tuition class (when I should have been absorbing add maths!)  had died from a motorcycle accident. At such a young age, mind you! When life had promised an open highway, six lanes wide and not a car in sight, he died. I still remember his name and our conversations, over twenty years later.

Two weeks ago, another friend departed. This friend was an abang, an elder brother in arms, so to speak. I first met him when I started to get directly involved in Malaysian political activism. At the time I had already contributed to Malaysia Today for a few years but had not met any actual activists as I lived in London. Then in 2010, Anwar Ibrahim came for a visit and through the organizers of this event, I met this Abang.  We first met at a gathering in a Chinese restaurant near Green Park, a rather swanky part of town. I remember him inquiring about my political views and nodding approving at my non-partisanship. We were both politically neutral, neither pro-government or opposition. To me, this was not easy to find in a fellow Malay.

I was invited to his flat in the Arab quarter of London, off Edgeware Road. I remember his flat to be very well situated, just a road away from Abrar House, where all the political talks about the Middle East as well as the more controversial talks about Islam were held. The view from his balcony was of a rather nostalgic part of London. One would be peering into the sixties or seventies. I totally fell in love with the place.

Abang and I discussed the Malays’ political and religious direction. We agreed that the political parties to which the Malays gravitated were relatively unimportant compared to their cultural development in general. We both saw that our culture was being impeded by the juggernaut-like Arabic culture masking as religion. This was making the Malays reject their own cultural heritage. While we are attached to our Islamic identity, the nature of that identity was changing. It was no longer being Malay Muslims, it was fast turning into being Muslim Malays. That would not have been a bad thing if the term was accurate. In truth, we were actually putting Arabic culture before our Malay identity. We were not internalizing the ethics and theology of Islam but rather the cultural proclivities which carry the label.

What was the cause of this cultural subjugation? For a particular culture to absorb the elements of another on such a great scale, it must be part of a particular cultural dynamic. Were Malays ashamed of our erstwhile culture that we became empty cultural vessels ready to be uncritically filled with a foreign culture? We came to the conclusion that the Malay psyche was being manipulated to feel inferior to the dominant Islamic (read – ancient Arabic) culture. Hence indigenous elements of the Malay culture are said to be originated from our original religion which some say were Hindu although others think actually predate Hinduism itself!

In any case, the Malays could benefit from cultural empowerment and this is what Abang and I talked about. We discussed how this empowerment could take place without racism. This was crucial for both of us. The Malays are currently in a situation where we expect, nay demand, special rights. Yet paradoxically, if we do not especially focus on the Malay race in terms of cultural empowerment, we would still cling to this handout mentality. This mentality, we agreed, was borne out of a lack of confidence in our own cultural achievement. This very same lack of confidence has allowed racism to take root (in order to overcompensate the shortcoming) and Islamofascism to fill its emptiness with its teachings. The result is a potent mix of extremist ideologies. So while we opposed racism, we are not averse to cultural empowerment as long as it did not discriminate.

We then drew up a plan for this project. The plan involved creating programs which empower various avenues of the Malay experience. I was very much into the literary and artistic side of empowerment. I felt that when the Malays felt a deep cultural rooting to the two, we would have a strong cultural presence and not be prone to cultural invasions so easily. Malays need to experience their own literature throughout the modern period (from pre-colonial to post-colonial). For Abang though, the key lay in political empowerment. Yes, it is true that the Malays have achieved independence but unfortunately, we are still caught between very narrow choices in politics – oligopoly masking as Malay nationalism (Umno), Islamofascism (PAS) and a cultic organisation which can stand wherever it suits it the most (PKR). Malays need to be aware of the wide ranging choice in political philosophy. Yes, we were both very enthusiastic about our plans to empower the Malays. Readers should note that this is not a racist idea but rather using Malay language and culture as a medium and anyone would be welcome to participate. We did not believe in racial segregation in the least.

Unfortunately, Abang made the choice to return home to Malaysia and continue the struggle while I did not. Over time, we lost communications and this project fell by the wayside. “Terbengkalai”, as housing project experts would say. I learned of his passing two weeks ago from a mutual friend. I was shocked but mostly sad. As time goes on, more and more of our initiatives are falling by the wayside, yet no major changes are taking place and on the contrary, things are getting worse. Another major figure has departed. At least his inspiration remains.  – April 22, 2015. 

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