It was early yesterday morning when my handphone vibrated tantalisingly in my pants' pocket, signifying an incoming SMS. It was from a lawyer friend who said he was going to have breakfast at Petronas Twin Towers and invited me to join he and his girlfriend.

I replied that I already had mine at the Faber Towers, and that I was well on my way to KL Tower. And since I work at Jade Tower and he at University Tower, I simply couldn't resist the temptation to add that we seem to make shining examples of this new catchphrase that is the Towering Malays.

So, what is this Towering Malay phenomenon all about? Malays are hardly tall enough to be described as 'towering', a fact which I can readily vouch to. Some time ago, I had the unfortunate experience being on board a Eurostar bullet train from Amsterdam to London. It had a routine brief stopover in Brussels and before I knew it, the coach was cramped with big, burly and rough football supporters off to watch a local but important match.

For someone who used to literally 'walk tall' in Malaysia, I felt strangely dwarfed and intimidated by the noisy half drunk six-footers. Who wouldn't, when your head is just up to their broad shoulders. If someone dared to try and instill the idea of a Towering Malay at that particular time, I'd immediately ask somebody to shove him into that coach with me right there and then.

It's all about the shoe

So, surely it must have something to do with personality, I hear you say. Or about achievements. Probably even about some relentless, and preferably pioneering pursuit of something worthy of, well, being pursued. Something like being the first to climb somewhere high, or to go somewhere cold, or simply to do anything that nobody has dared to do.

So you get all types: The Everest Climber, The World Sailor, The Artic/Antarctic Adventurer and what nots, all in the hope of being recognised as a prototype of this elusive special breed of Malays, with a fairly good chance of being incidentally knighted with a Datukship in the process.

In a way, all this might not be totally without virtue. It helps to create a mentality distinct from that era when greatness is merely associated with position and wealth. An era when you are seen as a great Malay only if you are a successful property developer, or own an oil & gas conglomerate, and drive (or preferably, being driven) around in a BMW, play polo or golf and ideally bred in a good boarding school like the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

And though there's nothing really objectionable in all that, it puts others in great stress. Of being Nobodies. Mediocres. Unsung and uncelebrated. Of being so ordinary, ungrateful, forgetful, complacently and lazy Malays.

So now you are told that you don't actually have to be rich to be considered a Towering Malay. You just do, and excel, in whatever it is that you are doing. The latest certified example of a Towering Malay is said to be that girl from that suburban school somewhere in Ulu Tiram who scored a record 17 A1s in the recent Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.

She was praised and hailed, by no less than the education minister, and even the prime minister himself announced her as a perfect prototype for this new breed. Problem is, will this prodigy spur the growth of a whole new generation of Towering Malays, or was this a one-off achievement peculiar to her? What hope do the hundreds of thousands of our normal Malay kids have, to emulate or better such phenomenal success, just to prove that they, too, are worthy Towering Malays.

Spitting Malays

Then again, perhaps things are not that complicated after all. Perhaps this Towering Malay criterion that we so much desire actually comes from simple virtues that could be easily instilled in each and everyone of us.

In simple things like lining up before getting into an elevator, not overtaking on the emergency lanes, clearing your leftover food and putting back your tray after your KFC meals or simply refraining from spitting into that sink in that stall at Ampang Point when other people are trying to get a decent bite of Ikan Siakap Kukus.

We can go on calling ourselves anything from Melayu Moden to Melayu Baru, but if we can't even do just that, then let's forget all about wanting to create a new breed of Towering Malays. A tower, by any other name, is high. So, before scaling such heights, let's be mentally and emotionally prepared for it first.

ZAIM AL-AMIN is on many MCKK committees, such as MCOBA Theatre Group aka Bargreaves Ballerz Editorial Board Member, Berita MCOBA Chairman, MCOBA Welfare Culture & Heritage Committee Member and the MCOBA Management Committee. He is a lawyer by profession. He has two blogs: zaimhq.blog-city.com and zacknina.blogspot.com. Email him at zaimhq@gmail.com.