The Sultan of Johor’s recent rebuke of Malaysians who copy the ways of the Arabs has attracted widespread approbation, especially from Malays who fear the erosion of their culture.
The Sultan said he was proud to stick to his Malay traditions and customs and told Arabised Malays that no one would stop them if they wanted to live in Saudi Arabia.
“I’m real and not a hypocrite,” he said. “The people of Johor know who their ruler is.”
There have always been some similarities between Malay and Arab culture because of a shared religion, but about four decades ago, there began a trend towards increasing Arabisation at the expense of customs that were specifically Malay.
Older Malaysians know that Malaysia is no longer the Malaysia they lived in before the early 1980s. The Malays then were not less religious, but were more tolerant and inclusive.
A Malay who practises Islam diligently but despises the Arabisation of his community said, “Do these wannabe Arabs think that the display of rituals is more important than the practice of the real essence of the faith?”
Arabisation has crept into many aspects of our daily lives. We no longer say “Selamat Hari Raya,” but “Eid Mubarak.” We no longer “buka puasa,” but partake in “iftar.” Our walls were once adorned with paintings from various traditions, but we now see only Islamic art.
Some mothers complain that in some nurseries, children are separated into different sexes at playtime. Girls cannot play with dolls because that might encourage idol worship.
The influence of the strict form of Islam, perhaps in deference to our close ties with the House of Saud, means that we are slowly being indoctrinated into a version of Wahhabism.
Some people have noted that women and men are now segregated even at wedding celebrations. Jogets, which used to liven up Malay weddings, are now frowned upon. Wayang kulit has been banned. In music, string instruments are banned, but drums are allowed. Ballet is discouraged and women gymnasts must be covered in loose clothing that conceal the “aurat.” Malay girls are barred from beauty contests.
In speech, the usual everyday greeting is no longer “selamat pagi” or “selamat malam,” but “as-salaamu alaikum.” “Selamat datang” is hardly used.
Purists have been known to forbid non-Malays from using the Arabic greeting when meeting their Malay friends. One Chinese man said, “Selamat pagi is hardly heard, and I thought that perhaps it had grown out of fashion. So I used the Arabic greeting and was promptly told that I could not use it because I am non-Muslim and will corrupt the religion.”
It appears that Arabisation is more divisive than the three Rs of race, religion and royalty. It pits Muslims against non-Muslims, and Arabised Muslims against Malays who are still true to their culture.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.