Malayness, Religion, and Living Out “Bangsa Malaysia”
Tunku Abdul Aziz writes a column in the New Sunday Times. He is a former special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on ethics. Yesterday I read his comment on the Bar Council Forum entitled “When common sense should prevail.”
The article, which superficially sought to apportion blame to all parties, was a disappointment as a whole. The Bar Council was cast as a group bent on exercising their right to free speech, to the total disregard of “the safety and well-being of their fellow citizens.”
For all the good they thought they had done on behalf of humanity, I fear the verdict is that they had acted out of a sense of bravado that was plainly reckless in the circumstances, to say the least…
By their seemingly arrogant act which flew directly in the face of the Muslim sense of unease and insecurity, my learned friends showed that the safety and well-being of their fellow citizens was the least of their concerns…
On that fateful Saturday morning, the Bar Council suffered the ignominy of a complete moral catastrophe because they did not have the courage or strength of character to recognise the incendiary nature of the issues over which they were presiding…
A surfeit of soulless legal knowledge is really no substitute for good old-fashioned common humanity, “sense and sensibility”.
All that, to merely conclude that while the issues discussed were legitimate and urgent,
The Bar Council should discuss the issues dispassionately with clear objectives, with the government and other relevant parties, in a small focus group and develop a working plan to be implemented within a realistic time frame.
What caught my attention however were two things he wrote regarding the Malay and religion.
You see, the Malays are nature’s gentlemen — conservative, sensitive and tradition-bound who, while generally forgiving, are easily slighted. For the overwhelming majority, their religion is central to their existence. Form is often more important than substance, or so it would seem. Whether this outlook is right or wrong is not for us to debate. It is part of “Malayness”.
I must confess that the first part of the description, “conservative, sensitive and tradition-bound and generally forgiving” is very much my impression and experience. I have found our Malay brethren to be generally helpful, generous, humble and friendly.
The second part of the description, “they are easily slighted” and where religion is concerned, “form is more important than substance” surprised me. He seems to imply that truth and true intentions are not so important to the Malay. The Malay is more “reactive” than “reflective”.
Applied to the Bar Council Forum then, the fatal mistake was the badly worded forum topic. Once the impression is given that the Forum is about conversion, no amount of explaining can undo the damage.
I honestly have no clue if this analysis of the Malay mind is indeed generally true. Perhaps readers can weigh in with their own experiences so we can understand and better relate with our brethren. However, if this is true, it also means that the Malay can be easily manipulated, especially by people they either respect or trust.
What I find puzzling is Tunku Aziz’s last statement, “Whether this outlook is right or wrong is not for us to debate. It is part of ‘Malayness’.” I guess it is not for non-Malays to debate. But surely there is a need for deeper understanding and some clues given to the other communities as to how then we can relate with each other. Surely it cannot end with “we are like that; deal with it”.
What can be done, for example, is that Malay leaders, cognizant of this, can take the lead in initiating dialogues to sort out issues that affect other communities. We have to assume that efforts by other communities will in some ways rub the Malay the wrong way, precisely because when these dialogues are needed, it is because some “difficult” issues have arisen. This is why for me, the Prime Minister’s call to avoid open discussion was a disappointing display of leadership. The fact that there is such a gulf between the perceptions and concerns of one group of people and the legitimate issues of another group of people necessitates a lot more open discussions, initiated and led by people who are respected and trusted by both parties. As the Prime Minister, a Malay leader, and a respected Muslim, he is in a unique position to help the Malay understand the issues and concerns that the Bar Council sought to discuss, and allay their fears. Televise these discussions. So that people may know and understand. The more you hide behind close doors, the more misunderstandings will arise. The Prime Minister, the Muslim leaders, should take the lead to acknowledge the schisms that have been exposed by this incident, and take steps to help all parties understand. Instead, we hear of threats to use the ISA on the Bar Council.
The other thing that Tunku Aziz wrote is this:
We should never forget that reason is not and has never been part of any religion’s lexicon. Reason or logic is the antithesis of blind faith, which is the staple or cornerstone of any religion.
Blind faith is what will lead adherents to mass suicides.
It seems that Tunku Aziz does not think very highly of religion. I will not comment on Islam except to say that I have met at least one muslim who uses his mind, training and resources to understand his religion. I found him to be reasonable, philosophical and knowledgeable.
True faith must be a reasoned and reasonable faith. For faith to dwell in harmony with reality, we must allow our experience and intelligence to inform our grasp and interpretation of the Scriptures. Of course this cannot be one way. It is a two-way dialogue between the Word of God and the World that God has created for us to dwell in. Paul in Romans 7 captures this very well in his famous cry of despair at being caught between the ideal of his faith and the stubborn frailty of his sinful self:
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7: 22-25)
True faith is expressed in love. And love, contrary to the popular saying, is not blind. Blind love is false, because it is based on a false premise. To truly love, we must truly know, understand and respond in truth, in reality, in love.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3: 16-18)
Thus the unthinking Christian, who is not willing to listen and understand, who does not seek truth, who does not care for his fellow man but expresses his piety coldly, culculatingly, even cruelly; such a person does not possess true faith.
Let me end this article with something that Tunku Aziz wrote and I fully agree with:
National unity in our country remains essentially a work in progress and requires plenty of care and effort to develop its full potential.
We still have a long way to go on this slow, painful journey. But with mutual goodwill, respect and understanding, we will get there. We deserve nothing less than a united and prosperous Malaysia for all.
While the reaction to the Bar Council Forum has exposed the festering sores that our society suffers from, we must not react; we must reflect. Unity is not beyond us. The question is what can we do to achieve that unity. I believe that we need to work towards a more open society, able to bring issues that are divisive into the open. My experience in interacting with members of different communities is that we are generally friendly, generous and reasonable people. We need to build on these wonderful qualities.
Secondly, we need to elect leaders who are willing to help bring the communities together, not by sweeping things under the carpet, but by example, by helping to create and foster greater dialogue and understanding. There are people out there who are interested in the “divide and rule” concept. We need to know who they are and deny them opportunity.
Finally, we need to reach out, to deliberately make friends with our brethren in other communities. We need to not only speak of Bangsa Malaysia, but live it as well.
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